Matanzas

A mural of Che in Matanzas

After three weeks of being in Havana, most of the group was ready to go out and explore the Cuban countryside. Some of the group went to Viñales, located east of Havana, while Emily, Rachael, Katie, Maeve, Ani and I decided to go to Matanzas, a small city located about two hours from Havana, on Saturday morning.

We left for Matanzas on a Viazul (read: tourist bus which cost $7, $6 more than the rate that nationals pay) because we didn’t have our temporary residency cards that allows us to pay the national rates. Matanzas is a small city founded by immigrants from the Canary Islands who picked the location because of the large natural harbor. It’s a very Cuban city – very few tourists ever venture there, even though it’s on the way to Varadero, Cuba’s largest tourist destination. We decided to stay in Casas Particulares, which are private homes that have government licenses to rent out rooms to foreigners – an innovation that came about during the 1990s during the Special Period. Rachael and I stayed in a nice old colonial house owned by an older lady who was extremely accommodating, while Katie, Maeve, Emily and Ani stayed in a different Casa down the road. The room was simple but nice, with two beds, a closet and a radio, with a bathroom down the hall – we couldn’t really complain, since we were only paying $10 each.

Our casa particular

After we had left our stuff, we walked to Plaza de la Libertad, Matanza’s main square, and waited 30 minutes in line to enter a “hamburgue” – hamburger – restaurant. After we finally got in, it took another 45 minutes to bring out the burgers, which I think were made of pork or some combination of other mystery meats. In Cuba, you tend to not ask questions, especially since the burgers only cost 12 cents. Apparently the place was a favorite among locals because many Cubans ordered 10 to 15 hamburgers and put them in bags to take home – we only saw one person actually eating the burgers in the restaurant.

mmm... tasty

After lunch, we caught the guagua (Cuban slang for bus) to go to the beach. We asked the bus driver where to let us off and he told us to wait with him – when we got to the last stop, he told us to get off and drove off. We didn’t really know what to do, so we just sat at the bus stop and waited for another bus to come by. Then, out of nowhere, the bus driver came running past us yelling “Vengan, vengan” and ran after a bus that had just driven past us, so we took off running after him and jumped onto the bus. It took us to the airport, where we got off and walked for 45 minutes to get to the beach.

There wasn’t much of a beach – in fact, there wasn’t any. The entire shore was made of dried coral that extended into the water and turned into a coral reef. Rachael, Emily and I decided to go snorkeling. We found a guide who had snorkeling gear and agreed to take us out for $5 each. The ocean was kind of rough so the guide told us to stay right behind him as we got in, but soon enough we were out past the reef. What we could see was amazing – the water was crystal clear and we could easily see 20-30 meters deep. The guide kept a bottle of fish food with him as he swam, so that was kind of cheesy, but it ensured that there was a school of fish surrounding us.

After we got out, we walked about 10 minutes to the “beach” – an area of coral where sand had been brought in to attract tourists. The actual opening to the ocean was only about 10 feet wide, so it definitely wasn’t the most attractive beach we’d been to, but it was nice to lay out on the sand for a while.

At the beach

We caught the bus back to Matanzas and got ready for dinner at our Casas Particulares, then went out and had a decent dinner at a slightly-touristy restaurant down the street. After that, we went to a bar down by the old square, where we were accosted by a Cuban man named Tony who had an unhealthy interest for Emily. We tried walking away from the place and he followed us in his car, and then found us again when we ran away. It all ended up working out though – we lost Tony and went to sleep.

At the bar in downtown Matanzas

The next morning we got up early to go to Cueva de Bellamar, a huge limestone cave in the outskirts of Matanzas. Katie, the resident geology major, had a field day working it looking at the rock formations, and it there were some crazy rock and crystal formations in there. There was also another creepy Cuban who started calling Maeve his princess and asking if she had a boyfriend, so that was fun.

In the cave

After the caves, we took the bus to a viewpoint above the city. We had lunch – fried chicken with rice – and the restaurant staff tried to charge us $6 more than it was worth, but it worked out. We walked around and then headed back to the Casas and picked up our bags so we could head to the Hershey Station.

View of Matanzas from the restaurant

The Hershey Electric Railway was built in 1921 by the Hershey Corporation to connect the chocolate giant’s sugar plantations with Havana, where the sugar was loaded onto ships destined for the US. In 1959, the train was nationalized and renamed, but its old moniker stuck and today remains in service. The train stops at just about every house and village on its route from Matanzas to Havana, so it takes a good two hours longer than the bus to get back to capital (if the train doesn’t break down).

On the train

The train also hasn’t changed since 1921 so the cars have a historic (if uncomfortable) charm to them. The ride was very bumpy – I thought we were going to derail a couple of times – but the Cubans on board didn’t seem to think much of it so I kept quiet. We got into Havana only about half an hour late, so it was a fairly successful ride. Once we got back in, we took a ferry across the harbor into Habana Vieja, then walked and caught a cab back to the Residence.