Santiago de Cuba

Onto Santiago after our short stay in Camagüey. Another long bus ride of about 6 hours with only a couple of stops. We organised our excursions as we were doing Santiago, Baracoa, and then back to Santiago so needed to make sure we made the most of our time.

Arrived at our hotel and wondered what the hell we were doing there, it looked crap (especially after a long bus ride). Went up to San Pedro de la Roca del Morro Castle to see the canon firing ceremony but we got there and as far as we could tell the canons were not operational because it had rained! Not to self when attacking a castle with canons, attack after it has rained.

We postponed the canon firing for when we were back in Santiago after Baracoa, and preceded to do the city tour instead. Didn´t see much of the city, but did go to the Moncada Barracks which on July 26, 1953 was the site of the first attack of the revolution. The raid was planned at the time of the Carnaval when the soldiers would be hungover and it´s goal seizing weapons for the revolution. The attack failed but did start what was to become known as the 26th of July Movement and even to this day 26 and the flag used by the movement is seen everywhere in Cuba. The tour was guided and covered a lot that we´d already seen but with some new information and we got to see inside part of the barracks which is now a museum and school. Out the front there are bullet holes from the attack, which we were later told by the guide were covered up by Batista right after the attack and later reinstated when Fidel came into power to commemorate the battle.

That night we didn´t get up to much, just played 21 (or some variation that Kevin came up with) outside our hotel room. And we managed to get Nicola worried about her foot with various horror stories.

The next day we had a free morning before we headed off on another long bus ride to Baracoa. Nicola´s foot was not looking so hot after her scuffle with the coral so we saw the doctor at the hotel, she was of course not there at the supposed opening time and when she did open she disappeared so it took quite a while before we got to see her. She couldn´t do anything so we went in search of better medical help as our concern was growing, particularly after my experience (landing in hospital with an infected knee many years ago).

Our tour group leader took us to the nearest international clinic which as it turned out was just up the road and we could have got there a lot early if we´d gone straight there instead of seein the hotel doctor! Anyway we got to the clinic and straight to see Doctor Pedro who wasn´t too concerned and wrote Nicola a script for some antibiotics and some topical creme. Seeing the pharmacy was eye opening, very sparse compared with anything in NZ and while they seemed to have what we needed it took a while to get it (my guess figuring out which of the few medicines would fit best). Definitely an area feeling the impact of years of trade embargo.

Back on the bus for another long ride, this time through mountains which we´d had up till then only driven past. There´s some long bicycle rides for the people selling wares at the lookouts.