Maggie and I rented a taxi to visit Santa Clara to visit my great grand father's grave, and to check out the sites outside of the resort. We were able to rent a taxi, and the taxi driver (Jorge Luis Chong - El Chino) was able to bring along a interpreter, who happened to be his step-daughter. Her English was not perfect, but it was good enough for us to communicate fairly well together.
The church that was closed.
We saw a flight of flamingos as we left the cayo. This would happen to be the only time that we see any flamingos, which is disappointing considering that Cayo Coco was known for their flamingos. Our first stop was in a town who's name I forgot. We were to visit a church in the centre of the town, but we found out once we got there that the church was closed! That was a little disappointing. However it did give us a chance to walk around and stretch our legs for a bit.
Maggie in the Santa Clara town square.
Afterward, we headed to Santa Clara to find my great grandfather's old shop and his grave. We already had directions and GPS coordinates so it should be a fairly easy job right?
Well the first step was to get to the town square and get oriented by the tallest building in town: The Green Hotel. Actually, we didn't know what the name was, but it was easy to spot. Then we just had to follow the directions..
Me with the tallest building in Santa Clara in the background.
Although it was a little annoying trying to find out the names of the streets, and we did not know the name of great grandfather's shop, so we spent some time asking around for directions. (My GPS was taking forever to get satellite signal.)
Me and Maggie in front of La Pera.
We did manage to make our way to the shop, but it was closed. It looked pretty empty inside as well. Our interpreter asked a neighbour where the shop owners were and we were told that they had no food to sell, which is why the store was closed. That was a little disappointing, but the cemetery was only a few blocks further down so we continued walking.
I should have mentioned that late August is not a great time to be outside in Santa Clara if you do not like heat or humidity (I dislike both). The sun did not help either! It was HOT! We did find the cemetery no problem. I took a video of the occasion.
Even with the directions and instructions and plot location it still took us quite some time to find great grandfather's grave, so I took another video to direct people to the grave from the right (not the main) entrance.
Oh yes, and we took a picture as well, although we did forget to bring any incense, flowers, or fruits.. Our interpreter offered to help us look for my great grand uncle's grave, but I was already dying from the heat and we were getting hungry, so we decided to go for lunch.
Maggie and I in front of grade grandfather's grave. We forgot the fruit and incense.
But we did manage to go to a really nice (authentic apparently) Cuban restaurant that our taxi driver found. The food we plentiful and cheap! ($15 to overfeed four people with enough food to feed two more!)
Lunch at Big Bang Latino restaurant.
For those of you wondering where the restaurant was, Big-Bang Sabor y Frescura Latina was located at Buen Viaje #70 e/ Union y Maceo. After lunch, we headed over to check out monument and museum for Che Guevara.
Che Guevara's monument.
I found the blocks that they used to build the monument very interesting. It's made of coral and you can see the old sea creatures embedded in the rock.
A close-up of the stone they used for the monument.
There were plenty of other interesting sites during our tour to Santa Clara, including all of the classic cars, horse drawn carts, Canadian paraphernalia, sugar cane, and the houses that people lived in. It is certainly an educational experience, and I certainly appreciate poor John Gorrie's efforts.
That night at the resort Maggie and I watch the evening show which showcased dancing styles from the different parts of Cuba. Before the show started, the dancers actually came into the dining room for some sample dancing which got everyone excited to watch.
So I am used to the soft chimes that you hear in the neighborhood when the ice cream truck comes by. This year we already had three visits, mostly on cold or rainy moments of the day. This was in contrast to the infrequent visits to our old neighborhood when I was a child. In addition, we were too poor to really enjoy a cone of soft ice cream when it did show up so I never built up that sense of tradition that others would share with their children. As suck, when the truck does drive by, I don't rush out to grab a cone for my kids. Also, the pandemic does not help either. Still, maybe one day this summer we will indulge our kids. Maybe. Oh, but that was beside the point. Today I heard the ringing of a bell. This was not the sound I'm used to for an ice cream truck so I decided to investigate with Serena. As the truck drive by, I wondered to myself how such a small truck could be used to sell ice cream much less any kind of food. But then it dawned on me: this was not a food tru
We were planning on going to the beach this morning but our plans got derailed when Serena stomped on Elsy's face and we had to wait for the bleeding to stop. It took so long that there was a chance we needed to go to the hospital. In the end, we thought it too risky to leave the house this morning lest the gusher started again, and so we set up the water table at home instead.
So it seems as if the link I had to the Polynesian Cultural Centre was flagged as a bad site. I double checked the link and, yup, I got a warning when I tried to visit it. I double checked if the link was changed and no, the search and Wikipedia still point to the same page so.. I just removed the link. We will see how the repost goes.
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