Mesoamerica 2019 - Sixth Cuba Pictures! Bay of Pigs and Cienfuegos

Still catching up with Cuba pics while we are adding even more to the backlog as we are marching around Mexico City! These come from our day driving from the Northeast in Havana into the south central part of the country. The Bay of Pigs has a lot of significance for those of the Cuban Revolution and for Americans of a certain age who remember the importance and the fears that were coming up at that time. But unlike our visit to Vietnam, there was no overt 'we need to tell you how bad you were' this time. In fact the Bay of Pigs visit was much more focused on nature and natural beauty.

On our way out of Havana we stopped at the fortress we'd seen from the center city and took pictures looking back into Havana

In addition to the large Jesus statue which according to LÍvan has much more African like features than the traditional European Jesus figure

As we headed Southwest, we are struck again by how little motor traffic is on the roads

Then on to the wildlife preserves

This sign for the Cuban Gar, a fish that dates back to Cretaceous times, says, "We are not primitive...we are persistent"

To a hummingbird sanctuary which works to preserve the smallest known hummingbird, the bee hummingbird

An unknown variety of woodpecker

Other nature

Turtles

Epiphytes, plants who can 100% live in the air

The rare Cuban Dove

Some of the wildlife was very shy and spooked easy

Flooded cave that is 70 feet deep

Fossilized coral and sponges

 Wild almond trees

In one direction a pristine beach

In the other it is overrun by tourists

Further on we really did find beaches with no one

Wife plays Hamlet's ode to the skull of Yorkick with a Sea Fan

Let's not forget this is where the mercenary invasion backed by the CIA was beaten

Back on the road

We found two guys who set out this fishing trap

It was clear from the rum and beer bottles that catching fish was not of major importance lol

It has been rice harvesting time and these are bags of rice that have just finished having been dried

Pictures of laundry, de rigeur

Good fences make for good neighbors?

Well a fence of cactus must make for the best of neighbors

(I really need one of these!)

It is critical for us to maintain our Revolutionary fervor during the trip

Not something you see every day

Plowing a field with the edge of a grader blade

From what LÍvan told us what I could have seen happen was some guy who works construction told his buddy who farms that he didn't need to use the grader and he should borrow it for a few pesos to do his field

On to the city of Cienfuegos

This city felt very prosperous

It too is on the cruise ship circuit now

It is much younger and was build in the late 19th century. It has that same neo-classical design feel of many of the cities we saw in the US South

Wife with creator of the Son music style 

Obligatory statue of Jose Marti in the center plaza...

...with pigeon

Signs of the ancient enemy

We arrived at our B&B in time to run out and take a bunch of sunset pictures

Lovely lady from Brazil to close out our day

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