Cuba Part 5: The road to Camaquey

After Santiago, our next stop was Camaguey. The day before leaving, we slogged up to the bus terminal and tried to book tickets on the Viazul bus. The man at the desk had obviously had a hot, difficult day, and said flatly there were no tickets available and there was not going to be be any, so tough. Bugger off (or the Cuban-Spanish equivalent). The people at the Casa were more positive and said we should go to the bus station in the morning an hour or so before departure (another early one), and indeed the husband accompanied us to act as interpreter if required – this was typical of the friendliness we found pretty much everywhere. Anyway, there were tickets, and we made it on to the bus. So began our gradual return across the island towards Havana.

Camaguey, looking towards the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Soledad

But this does raise a point. Given the current state of infrastructure and transport, travelling around the island does require effort and resilience, unless you’re prepared to pay serious money for taxis and drivers at every stage. Internet access and functioning ATMs are virtually non-existent in most places. It’s hot, and getting any form of service, whether buying a ticket, changing money, or finding accommodation, is a test of character. You wouldn’t want to do it with a heart condition. And, we were told, this is true even if you speak Spanish. So I wouldn’t recommend Cuba if you just want to relax – unless you go on an organised tour (and see nothing really) or just slump on to a beach at Varadero (in which case you might just as well go to Ibiza). There were moments when I said to myself that at 67 I’m getting a bit old for this sort of thing. But that mood always passed. It’s the price you pay for going to somewhere unspoiled – for now – by mass tourism.

Camaguey, church of San Juan de Dios

So, on to Camaguey – another bus journey through an uninteresting landscape. According to the guidebooks the narrow streets of Camaguey are laid out so that they intersect at unpredictable angles, so as to confuse intruders. It’s true that there’s no discernible grid, and it’s easy to get lost. We were staying on the south side of town, close to the Plaza San Juan de Dios, which was one of most atmospheric and unspoiled of all the squares we saw in Cuba.  (Great restaurant.) Beside the main square, the Parque Ignacio Agramonte, is the cathedral.

Camaguey, sculpture by Martha Jimenez

Apart from all the picturesque side streets, the main highlights of Camaguey were the churches. Two stick in my mind, for very contrasting reasons. Close to the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen is the studio of Martha Jimenez, who specialises in fat ladies. One of the sculptures displayed in a garden behind the studio is unusual – see above. I suppose it's the original of that little boy in Brussels.

The church of Santo Cristo del Viaje has a cemetery with some over-the-top funerary monuments. I quite like cemeteries – there’s nothing depressing about them, unless they’re designed and maintained in a depressing way.

All over Cuba, you see colonial architecture with elaborate arcades at street level. Many of the columns are cast iron, with elaborate classical ornamentation. The main road leading north out of central Camaquey has a particularly good array of these. Some of the buildings are run down, their glory days behind them, but the effect is still there. I think that’s how urban architecture in a hot climate should look.

Columns (and lunch) in Camaguey

Shopping in Camaaguey