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Cuba
Over the next few days my thoughts will be in the Carribean, as Ivan continues its path of destruction. I took the above photo of Scarlett in the sea off Cayo Largo in 2002 when it was still recovering from hurricane Michelle of November 2001. The resort in the background of the photo was still closed.
This is a photo of the resort that we stayed in, Club Sol, on the island of Cayo Largo del Sol. The official tourist website for the Island is here. Under the history section I was interested to read that the Island was used by pirates in the past, including
the renowned terror of the seas Francis Drake.
After leaving the turtle farm we drove on to Playa Serina and Playa Paradiso, where we sat on the beach and each had a cold drink. Scarlett had her first stint behind the wheel, captured on camera by Pinkie. I contributed the sound effects, mainly in the form of instructions about slowing down and avoiding certain potholes in the road.
Maria is a female loggerhead who came to Cayo Largo in the summer of 2002, laid a nest of eggs, and then hung around. The turtle farm people tried to help her to get back to the open sea, but she kept swimming back again. They then decided that she was unwell, and let her stay in her own pool in order to get better and regain her strength before giving another stab at the long swim back to her feeding grounds.
Both Scarlett and Pinkie declined to have a ride around the pool on the back of Maria.
The “turtle farm” on Cayo Largo is situated near the marina, and one day we hired a jeep and paid it a visit. We met this man working there, who doesn’t speak English, but explained the work of the farm to us in Spanish. As we don’t understand Spanish the conversations were very long and animated. We ended up speaking French to him, and he may or may not have understood this better.
He explained that the farm is linked to a University in Havana, and they come and do studies here. The turtle eggs hatch after about 2 months after they have been laid, just after dawn. The sex of the turtles is determined by the temperature at which they incubate. A higher temperature of incubation apparently favours females and a lower temperature favours males. (This would be determined not only by the climate, but by the depth of the hole that their mother has dug in the sand, and whether the eggs are at the bottom or the top of the nest). After hatching they head straight towards the sea. Here they are vulnerable to birds, and other predators. So he gathers them up and puts them into large tanks of sea water on the farm. He feeds them jellyfish, and protects them for a further 3 months as they swim round and round the tanks until they are too large to be eaten by the birds. He then releases them into the ocean. He suggested that only one turtle out of every 1000 will reach maturity and return to lay eggs on the island. The conservationists are trying to raise the odds in favour of the turtles, but it is a long-term project.
I noticed that when we left the farm we argued among ourselves about some of the facts that the conservationist had given us. For example we had some confusion about how often the females return to the nesting grounds, and how old they are when they return to lay their first batch of eggs. Nevertheless, I think I have summarised the above points accurately.
On our first night on Cayo Largo a marine turtle hauled herself up onto the beach, dug a hole and laid her eggs before heading back to sea, and her feeding grounds which are several thousand kilometres away. These creatures, which have lived on earth since the dinosaurs (200 million years ago) are now endangered due to human activity.
On Cayo Largo is a turtle conservation office, and they tend to collect all the eggs and move them into designated hatching areas (where they can be better protected and easier monitored). If the eggs are not moved, then they are still roped-off and clearly marked so that visitors to the island won’t accidentally disturb the nest. The nests are all individually dated.
This is a shot I took of Pinkie’s hand on one of the beaches on Cayo Largo. The sand on the island is very pale, and it reminded me of the beaches of Bilene, and its Uembje Lagoon, which I remember from when we lived in Swaziland and took holidays there.
Cayo Largo is just 21 degrees North of the equator, accounting for the warmth of the sea. However, apparently due to its whiteness, the beach is always cool. We could walk barefoot in the midday sun on the beaches without feeling any heat from the sand.
On 4 November 2001 Cayo Largo was struck by Hurricane Michelle, with devastating effect. During our stay we were advised that only the one resort was open, as they were renovating the others. I believe that they are all running smoothly now.
While we were in Cuba there was plenty of cloud in the sky, and it was continually hot and humid. I took this photo on the beach in Cayo Largo, of the girls swimming in the sea. The water was 20 to 22 degrees Celcius, so very comfortable. We didn’t manage to go snorkelling because it was cancelled due to choppy waves. Most of the time on the island we spent next to the pool in the hotel, or lying on the beach.
The flight to Cayo Largo was an amazing experience: it was a propeller plane with few windows, and had the feel of an ex-army issue. It flew low, which was as well because it flew slowly and was not pressurised. On the way we stopped briefly at the resort of Varedero where we picked up some passengers.
When we got off the plane in Cayo Largo there was a short walk to the terminal building. After the (very) bumping landings I felt I just had to stop and take a picture of the airplane we had flown in from Havana to this Cuban island.
We didn�t have a very long time in Havana, but we took in quite a few of the sights. It was sweltering hot, and humid, and we relished the air-conditioning (when we found it). The three of us drank lots of bottled water, which seemed to be imported from Spain.
We got up early one morning and caught a taxi to the airport, where we discovered that we had just missed our plane to Cayo Largo. So we had one more day in Havana. Half of this day was spent rescheduling our reservations for Cayo Largo with our travel agent. They were great, but asked me to sign a form acknowledging that I renounced all further claims for compensation from them due to the mix up. On this basis they would then reschedule all the flight & accommodation bookings to one day later than originally planned. I did this with pleasure because it seemed to acknowledge some fault on their part (and up till then the girls had been blaming me for the misunderstanding).
The next morning we got up an hour earlier and went through to the airport again. There we met a French/Dutch couple, who were going to be spending the same period as us in Cayo Largo. This time we caught our plane.
Here’s a photo of the coco taxi from above. Given the summer heat, this was quite a pleasant means of getting around, but the coolest we experienced was the air-conditioned vintage chev. Another, less practical, option is by horse-drawn carriage. I should have mentioned that most of the taxis have meters, but of course the coco taxis do not. For this reason you normally negotiate a rate up-front, or you hire one at an hourly rate (normally 3 USD’s minimum).
Most of the photos I have been showing here are stills from the camcorder, hence not very good quality. On the other hand I like the authentic feel to them, compared to Dan Heller’s beautiful and artistic photos for example.
Here’s another photo from inside the Coco taxi heading along the Malecon. In front you can see the back of another Coco taxi. The driver of that taxi was engaged in a race with our driver, which he won because there were three passengers in our taxi and only one in his. The old American car ahead of us is also a typical sight in Havana. Any romantic notions I may have had of these cars was shattered when I encountered one for the first time on the road. They are generally noisy, smelly and polluting. Then again, so are the Coco taxis.
This is another photo taken along the Malecon during a ride in a coco-taxi. Most of the architecture along here is extraordinarily beautiful, as above. Hopefully this building will be restored too. The taxi dropped us off at the craft market near the castle, and the cathedral, and the cost was very reasonable. Each time we took a taxi we discussed a price with the driver before embarking on the journey. The guidebooks suggest this and also give you a guideline of expected costs for different journeys between different districts of Havana.
One day the girls and I rode a coco-taxi from Vedado to Havana Vieja (and back), and this photograph was taken along the way. These buildings are on the Malecon and face directly towards the sea. Most of the buildings on this route were very weather-beaten, but the closest ones in this photo appear to have been renovated.
This photograph is also taken from the balcony of the apartment where we stayed in the Blue Building, but faces in the opposite direction. The tall building in the distance, on the right of the photo is the Hotel Melia Cohiba, situated about a block inland from the Malecon. It is also in the Vedado district.
Apparently, the district is named Vedado because in the early days of Havana nobody was allowed to build on this land so as not to obstruct the view of the sea from the look-out posts higher up. Most construction took place between the 1930�s and 1960�s, much of it in the Art Deco style. In this district you find the Colon Cemetery (Columbus Cemetery, apparently one of the most artistic in the world).
The apartment in the Blue Building has air-conditioning. I don�t think we could have slept comfortably without it. There were the occasional power failures, but these were of short duration. The apartment has two bedrooms, and my daughters slept in one and I in the other. There is also a kitchen, lounge, bathroom and the terrace from which these photographs were taken.
As Carles commented the other day, I think a lot of people anticipate that there will be big changes in the country when Castro dies. Personally I hope that any changes will bring the most good to the most people.
There is speculation about some of the changes to come in this reflective Guardian article, No more bets.