5/3/10

This morning we got up early for breakfast buffet in the hotel. I hate staying in these touristy places and not eating in the actual town, but they are the cheapest options available (by a lot). We were all packed and ready to go before hand so after the meal we hit the van and drove into town. Camagüey isn’t known for a particular event in the recent revolution here, but instead used to be a big sugar mill and cattle stock town. We went to a few museums, one remembering the students who fought for Cuban Independence (and later died with Che in Bolivia) and another that was an old Spanish colonial mansion dedicated to the 19th century of Cuban history. It was definitely cool to see what one of these old houses might have looked like. In one square we were admiring some public statues of local people sitting on benches, two lovers and the last statue depicting a man reading the newspaper. For this last one, we did a double take. There he was! The actual man (Norberto) was sitting next to his statue reading the paper. We talked to him a bit and kept exploring.
We are now approximately 8 hours drive from Havana. Even on the map it looks far! After our museums we drove two more hours to Las Tunas where we will pass the next two days exploring the city and the museums.