Cienfuegos & Santa Clara (and some guy called Ché?)

After only a short bus ride from Trinidad we were in Cienfuegos another colonial styled town, this time with much more of a French influence to the buildings. The surroundings of Cienfuegos were sprawling urban and industrial but the centre was calmer and more serene.


We again stayed in a Casa, but this had to be the worst one. This is the one with the dodgy speaking shower and bad bed, so needless to say Kip did some magic and got us out of our 2 night stay after only one lumpy/bumpy nights sleep.

Cienfuegos was not the spectacular show of buildings like Habana or the quaint cobbled streets of Trinidad, but it had a safe, clean and laid back feeling. The central square here was a nice place to walk round aswell as their own Malécon.


It also has to be told that this was the place that hosted the bar and barman that made the best Mojito I have tasted to date. Now I know that it quite a bold statement and from me who has tried a lot of mojitos in my time - but it was bloody nice ! It also helped that is was in a roof top bar that overlooked the city and we watched the sunset, so a nice setting to boot!

Our second day In Cienfuegos was spent taking a day trip to nearby Santa Clara. We hired a taxi (it is worthwhile mentioning now that all the cars in Cuba are not all old nice cars, the other half are Ladas, yep as in Skoda and Lada, the good old Russian bricks - even the police use them!)


We wanted to visit Santa Clara for one of 2 reasons, the first is for Cigars and the second is some guy called Ché. We had not been able to visit the cigar factory in Habana so the nest largest and famous one was in Santa Clara. We arrived and were instantly told to hand over cameras (boo!), apparently for reasons of company secrets. Ah well. The factory was fantastic. Such an amazing scene, rows and rows of what looked like old school desks, tightly packed in to rows and columns in one room. Each desk having a lady or guy sitting there rolling one of 150 different types of cigars. They each have to train for 9 months to learn the skills involved. Different lengths, shapes, sizes, girths, ends. They can muster up to 80-170 in one day depending on the type. All very cool to watch. What surprised me the most was the amount of checking and quality control. Each cigar is tested to make sure it can draw through the right amount of air. Too much or too little air and it is sacked off (and they are paid less that day!).


The cigars are bunched, sorted, colour matched and then labelled and packed into the array of tubes, boxes and cases for export or sale. A great little excursion and insight into one of Cuba's main businesses.


Incidentally their main export and business is in sugar cane, for sugar but also for RUM!


So what's all the fuss about this guy called Ché. I mean I know there are national heroes but his face and picture is everywhere! And you know what the guy is not even Cuban, he's from Argentina!!!!

It all boils down to him helping the Casteo brothers (Fiedel and Raul) to overthrow the old Batista Dictatorship in 1959 and with the aid of Ché they succeeded. It just so happens that Ché made a big push and victory in Santa Clara, so hence why this town is famed for him. Hence the massive status, museum, plaza and mausoleum for him on the outskirts of town.
Another great little road trip and sight of some of the real Cuba.