We got to bed at 2am, and then got up at 6.30am. I NEVER stay out that late anymore as I love my sleep too much, but we all had a lot of fun dancing so I’m glad we did.
This morning we were all on the bus at 8am, and our first stop was a charity in a town called Manaca Iznaga that G Adventures had set up. We saw some local women creating traditional Cuban crafts.
Our second stop of the day was to the town of Santa Clara, AKA the ‘City of Ché Guevara’. Ernesto “Ché” Guevara was born in Argentina into a wealthy family. He became a doctor and could have set up a private practice there and made a lot of money, but instead he chose to travel around Latin America on a motorbike. Throughout his travels, he was inspired and influenced by those he met along the way, and developed a lot of ideas and beliefs. In 1956, he met Fidel Castro in Mexico. Castro convinced him to travel to Cuba with him and help with the revolution. Apparently he had a very good sense of orientation, so was a good commander for guerrilla warfare groups.
The reason Santa Clara is famous is that on the 29th of December 1958, Ché and others derailed an armoured train bound for Havan. It was full of weapons, ammunition etc. They used a tractor to damage the tracks, and then Molotov cocktails to blow up parts of the train. Fidel Castro said it was one of the decisive victories of the revolution, because it meant that Batista had lost control of the east, west and now the central part of Cuba. He fled a few days later.
After the revolution, for a while Ché was the Minister for Industries and the President of the National Bank, but he decided that office/roles of wealth were not for him. He went to the Congo to try and start a revolution there, but it didn’t work. So instead he went to Bolivia in 1966 to try the same thing, but the communist party there didn’t back him up. The CIA were concerned about Guevara trying to spread communism everywhere, and after 11 months of being in Bolivia they tracked him down and killed him on the 29th of October 1967. His remains were cut up and buried in many different places in order to try and prevent him becoming a martyr, and it wasn’t until the 90s that some of them were found.
Despite the CIA’s efforts, Ché is definitely an icon here in Cuba. His face is on everything – houses, signs, magnets, T shirts, stadium scoreboards. He’s a symbol here of fighting for what you believe in, and helping those in need. Even if you aren’t a communist I think he represents those things. He knew he would probably be tracked down and die, but he helped out anyway.
Our first stop in Santa Clara was the sight of the train derailment, where we explored the train carriages that remain which contained photos and artefacts. Then we headed to the Ché Guevara Mausoleum. It was built in 1988, but his remains were placed there in 1997 after some of them were found. There are 39 graves here in total, but five of them remain empty due to the remains of those people having not been found. From what I can tell, I think the other graves were for people killed and found with him in Bolivia.
The graves themselves were plaques on the wall with a carving of the person’s face. We weren’t allowed to talk in that room so it was very eerie and quiet. Then in the next room there was a museum with more photos and artefacts. We saw lots of Ché’s equipment from when he was studying to be a doctor and getting ready to go to Bolivia. During this time, he shaved off his iconic facial hair and looked like a completely different person (which I guess was the point!). We also learned that he had five children.
Next we looked at the front of the mausoleum, which had a huge 7.5m sculpture of Ché on top. Afterwards we had lunch, and I thought about how strange it is that I have seen the graves of all these people that are linked. Lenin and Stalin in Russia, JFK in Washington and Ché.
After a couple more hours of driving, we went through the underwater tunnel in Havana and arrived in the city. Carlos took us on a short walking tour through some of the squares, where we saw the building in which Havana was founded on the 16th of November 1519, El Templete. We saw the Plaza de Armas and the fortress behind it, and a statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, who in October 1868 freed his slaves and asked them to fight beside him in the Wars for Independence here.
We walked past the Palace of the Captain Generals, which has the only wooden street in Havana outside of it. Apparently it’s because the wife of one of the captain generals could never sleep due to street noise on cobble stones, so they replaced them with wood. This was Obama’s first stop in Havana during his visit in 2015.
Our tour ended in Saint Francis of Assisi Square, where we saw the very sad looking cruise terminal. Until June, this cruise terminal had ships arriving in it. But since the rules have been changed by Trump, they are no longer coming. We also saw canons used as bollards here. Apparently there were so many left over after the Independence Wars that they buried them face down in the ground to use them as bollards.
We checked into our casas and said goodbye to our driver, José. Carlos then took us out for a farewell dinner and afterwards to a music and dance show at the Buena Vista Social Club. It was good, but not quite what I expected. I thought there would be more costumes and dancing etc., but it was mostly lots of singers and musicians. We had a really great time, but 1.5 hours in started to feel really hot and tired so headed back. A few of us stopped at the Hotel Plaza on the way back to use the internet, as we’ve booked tours etc. in Havana and needed to check the times for them.
The tour group was fantastic and we really enjoyed our week together in Cuba. Our guide, Carlos, felt like a friend instead of a guide and was so helpful to us. I can’t believe how quickly the week went!
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox
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