Cuba! A step back in time ....: Baracoa. Thursday Dec 11

Baracoa. The dream that got washed away!! A dream of sunny skies and relaxing on a beach before returning home to face the European winter! It was not to be! At least not the sunny skies or relaxation on a beach!

But let's start with the how we got from Guatanamo to Baracoa. The road winds through lovely green trees and bushes along the coast to Playita de Cajobabo before the mountain pass crossing to the north coast.

It was around lunch time when we arrived in Cajobabo and we drove past this tiny house with a paladre (small family owned restaurant) where we decided to stop. The mother and two boys were really friendly and as expected, spoke no english. We sat down outside amidst cats, dogs and hens with chickens running around and got served a very typical Cuban lunch of rice, shrimps in a red sauce, fried bananas, a green salad and freshly squeezed fruit juice. A really tasty meal and far more than we could eat for just 4 euro per person!

The road over the mountain already showed signs of hard rain as we often came across rocks and debris and the clouds started getting heavier and darker the further we went.

When we reached Baracoa it was raining lightly. And it never really stopped!

Colorful buildings in Baracoa town center. The main street with Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in the background.

During our first night in Baracoa the rain only got worse. We had dinner at our casa and spent the rest of the evening reading and playing dominoes on the porch. Some time during the night I woke up wondering if the clouds in the town never empties! We woke up the next morning with the whole household busy sweeping and mopping floors and watched the water streaming down the streets. It often rains here, but apparently not as much!

Later in the morning the rain sort of stopped and we took the chance to go outside and wander the streets with our cameras.

Our street, Mariana Grajales, leading town to the foot of the hill.

The first evening we went to Baracoa's Casa la Trova to watch a local band perform, but they never turned up! We tried it again the next night and had lots of fun drinking beer with the owner, chatting and dancing! I made the very touristy mistake of asking them to play Guantanamera one last time before we leave Cuba and ended up singing and clapping hands on the stage with a few other tourists.

Wall painting calle in Mariana Grajales.

Casa de la Trova

In light rain we walked up the hill to the Museo Arqueológico La Cueva del Praíso with displays in a series of caves, all about the Taíno, original inhabitants of the area. It again started poring and we sat in the cave staring at what should be a lovely view of the town.

As if the rain was not enough already, we also had a flat tire which got fixed by Mario. Then we wanted to drive further east along the coast but only got as far as the next town, Jamal, where our trip was cut short due to a bridge that got washed away!

Mario in front of his workshop where we got our flat tire fixed.

What has been the bridge in neighbouring town Jamal.

We stayed at Casa Isabel Castro Vilato with a very friendly hostess Isabel and a lovely back garden and porch.

Our room at Casa Isabel. (never try too hard to hide from the camera!)

The porch at Casa Isabel where we spent our valuable time smoking cigars, reading and playing dominoes.

And then it was time to go home. We arrived at the Baracoa airport at 7 thinking we were really much too early for our 9 oçlock flight but ended up standing in the back of a long row stretching outside to where it was raining again! We later realized that the row moved really slowly because all boarding passes are being written out by hand! We then went through security and sat down still thinking things are going well!

It turned out to be a very long day! The airplane that was supposed to take us back to Havana, never turned up and we left Baracoa only at half past 4 in the afternoon on a flight to Holguín on the other side of the mountain. There we spent another 5 hours waiting and were still sitting there in the Holguín airport waiting room when our Air France flight to Paris left from Havana at 9 in the evening!! Round half past 9 we got onto a flight coming from Haiti which took as back to Havana to arrive there at half past 2 on Monday morning! Just a 16 hour delay!

At Havana airport and again the next day at their offices in town, we spoke to Aero Caribbean trying to get some kind of compensation. We did get a spannish letter explaining that the flight was delayed due to bad weather conditions. And they were also really surprised that we did not know any better than to book an international flight on the same day as an domestic flight! And we though a international flight leaving 10 hours after the arrival of our flight to Havana would leave us with more than enough time even if there was a delay!

But then, this is Cuba!