6 cities in 4 days!

This weekend our group took the second weekend trip of our program. It's been my favorite trip so far!! We left Thursday and came back yesterday (Sunday). In four days we visited 6 cities!!!!! In order they were: Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Remedios, Caibarien, and Santa Clara. So the whole time we were in the province Las Villas. Here is a map of Cuba so you can all get a better idea of where I was geographically!



CIENFUEGOS

This was the first city we visited. Cienfuegos is so beautiful! The city was founded much later than many other Cuban cities and was founded by French and people from New Orleans. Upon arriving, we were instantly greeted by Orlando García, the historian of the city as well as the president of the UNEAC (Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba) of Cienfuegos. He is a personal friend of Professor Behar. He greeted us in front of the Hotel Union, where we stayed that night. It was a GORGEOUS hotel that was right in the middle of the historic part of the town. Orlando graciously showed us around the city. Then, we went to the UNEAC and met with some students from the University of Cienfuegos. Orlando is also a professor there and when his students heard that there were American university students coming, they were very eager to meet us and talk to us. They were soooo nice!! We told them about our university and they told us about theirs. It was really great to get to talk to students that were our age, our direct counterparts. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We had dinner at the old Cienfuegos Yacht Club! It was soooo fancy and the dinner was delicious! After dinner we went back to UNEAC for a night of amazing music. Orlando invited a band, Los Naranjos, to perform for us and some guests he had invited. They were a són band. IT WAS AMAZING! It was also nice to get to hang out with the university students for a little longer! If you ever visit Cuba, make Cienfuegos one of your stops!

TRINIDAD

The next day we were off to Trinidad, one of the oldest towns in Cuba. The whole town has been declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site! It was very small and very beautiful. The entire historic part of town looked like a postcard! The houses were all painted with different bright colors and the streets are all in stone. The stones that make up the streets were stones that were brought on slave ships to help even out the weight. We walked around the historic part, but then wandered off into the busier, less touristy part of town and i got a DELICIOUS slice of pizza for 5 pesos cubanos (~20 cents). That night we stayed in a hotel that overlooked the entire city and the Caribbean sea. It was BEAUTIFUL.

SANCTI SPIRITUS & REMEDIOS

The next day our final destination was Caibarien. However we stopped in Sancti Spiritus and Remedios on our way there. We only spent about 2 hrs in Sancti Spiritus and 20 mintues in Remedios. Not much to report. They are both beautiful cities, but since we didn't get a chance to really explore them, I don't have much to say. I did get some kickass ice cream in Remedios! :)

CAIBARIEN

Later that day we finally reached Caibarien. We arrived at our hotel, Brisas del Mar and were instantly greeted and given a welcome cocktail. MOJITOS! They were so good! This hotel was my favorite! The staff was so attentive and the rooms overlooked the beach!! When we got there all of us instantly went to the beach. It was a little breezy and cold so I didn't swim, but I layed out my towel and read and chilled for hours until the sun set. The next day, another one of Professor Behar's friends, Julio, who was lived in Caibarien his whole life, showed us around the town. Caibarien is a very small and relaxed fishing town. I would definitely recommend stopping in Caibarien.

SANTA CLARA

On Sunday we headed off to the last city of our trip: Santa Clara. I was SOOO excited to go here because this is where the Che monument, museum, and memorial are. Las Villas was the province that El Che was in charge of liberating from the Batista regime. Thus, El Ché is deeply involved in the history of Santa Clara and neighboring towns. The monument is located right at the entrance of the city...you can't miss it. It is a HUGE concrete rectagular block with "Hasta La Victoria Siempre" written on it and a HUGE metal Che standing on top of it. The museum and memorial are right behind it. You are not allowed to take pictures of either the museum or the memorial. The museum was definitely cool. It had a lot of pictures of Che throughout different parts of his life as well as artifacts that were his and/or were used by him. But what was really moving was the memorial, where his remains are along with the remains of the fellow guerilla fighters that fought and died with him in Bolivia. Can't really explain it, but it was a moving experience. Afterwards, we had lunch and walked around the city of Santa Clara.

I had such an amazing time on this trip and learned so much. It was definitely nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Havana and see different parts of Cuba. P.S. No place is like Havana. It definitely stands on its own! Upon arriving back in Havana, I definitely got the "it's good to be home" feeling. It's crazy that I now feel like Havana is home! Anyway, today we had a rain day....kinda like a snow day...only with rain! It has been raining so hard since last night and the power at Casa de las Americas went out so we didn't have class today!!! Yay! I'll take a rain day over a snow day ANY DAY!!!!

Sending everyone warm wishes!!!

Love, Carla