Santiago De Cuba

Birthplace of Revolutions

Santiago was the last of the seven cities founded by Spain in Cuba, and it bears the namesake of one of Spain’s favorite saints, the apostle James.  Santiago was also the birthplace of both of Cuba’s revolutions, first of independence from Spain and then the ejecting of the US controlled government. We spent the day in Santiago learning about these times in Cuba’s history, while gaining more insight into the daily lives of modern Cubans.

I stand in the fort Castillo de Morro that guards the narrow opening of the bay of Santiago.

City of One Hundred Fires Cienfuegos

Cuba's French Roots

Cienfuegos is located on the south coast of Cuba, only a few hours drive from Havana.  The name of the city translates literally to one hundred fires, and I think most foreigners at hearing this would think some great traumatic event must have occurred for the city to garner this name.  However, the city was named for a Frenchman of the same Surname.  This French heritage is what makes Cienfuegos so unique in Cuba.  It was the only city founded by the French, the influence of which can be seen all over the city.

I stand in the main square of Cienfuegos, surrounded by French architecture and a statue of the ever present Jose Marti.

Two Days in Havana

A Contrast in Old and New

Havana is the capitol of Cuba and one of its largest cities.  Therefore it occupied more of our trip to Cuba than the other cities we visited.  I did not know what to expect from Havana.  So much of what I thought it would look like was influenced about American-made movies that took place in the 1950’s.  What I found was a city not much updated since then.  Many of the cars are American made cars from that era, cars maintained more out of necessity than anything else since new cars are hard to come by in Cuba.  Many of the building were from that area or even dated back to the early days of the city.  These oldest building are located in old Havana where our walking tour occurred on our first day in the city.

These practitioners of Santeria (known as Voo Doo in the US) perform traditionally dances accompanied by narrations.

I Cruised to Cuba

The Deal With Cuba by Cruise Ship

You may have noticed that the Why Travel Why Not homepage has not been updated recently, or maybe you haven’t because you don’t pay that close of attention to my blog.  Most of my lapse in posting has been because I am going through some major life changes (getting a new job and moving to a new city).  This past week however, I spent cruising to Cuba, touring famous cities, eating tasty food, limping through conversations with local with my rusty Spanish, and writing posts in my down time.  In all I visited Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santaigo de Cuba on Fathom’s Adonia.  In the weeks to come (on my regular posting schedule of Thursdays) I will post about each of these cities, but for this post I am going to broach some of the big questions about why Americans can all of the sudden cruise to Cuba and why.  I will also give a few of my first impressions.

 

I watch Cuba pass by as we sail along its east coast.