Mesoamerica 2019 - Nineth and Final Cuba Pictures! Santa Clara

On our last full day in Cuba we went to the town of Santa Clara. It is known as the location of the last battle of the Revolution against Batista, the battle leading to victory. The battle was led on the side of the Revolutionaries by Che Guevara. Hence it is a town that is dedicated to his memory.

Before we left Trinidad there were still a couple of sights to see

Including the ubiquitous 'man on horse with cell phone'

Driving out from Trinidad we passed the Valley of Sugar, the source of Trinidad's wealth in its glory days

 

And a church that LÍvan said we should shoot from afar if we wished to avoid the gauntlet of vendors selling to tourists

At last we arrived in Santa Clara

All Che all the time

This statue is in front of the local branch of the Communist party

Like so much sculpture I've seen in Cuba, I was impressed with its action

 

Not to mention there are miniature scenes from his life on the main statue

We went to a museum dedicated to the last battle that was honestly lacking quite a bit

The train cars were to represent the actual scene of the battle but when you looked at the pictures this was very whitewashed

We passed through the center of Santa Clara and since I know you have been dying for more pictures of neo-classical and neo-Soviet style buildings I will oblige you

 With bullet holes from the battle retained

And in the central plaza

NOT a statue of Jose Marti

But of a woman who was the benefactor of the town in the late 19th century

According to LÍvan the only town in Cuba without a Marti statue

We finished up with a visit to he mausoleum and monument to Che

Children of the Revolution

And for a last image of Cuba

A final selection of Revolutionary images

Mesoamerica 2019 - Day Eleven,Santa Clara

This is our last day of our guided tour in Cuba. What a great experience. I have learned so much. I have extolled the praises of our guide, LÍvan, I know frequently but he has been such a wealth of knowledge and so open about what was good and bad about Cuba (which is like all places right? Good and bad.) I’d have to rate him at the top of any list of guides we’ve experienced.

Today Wife was hurting from the climb up the tower yesterday and the long after lunch walk so we wanted to take it easy. After a few more pictures in Trinidad de Cuba, we headed for the inland town of Santa Clara. Once again we were driving through the Cuban countryside and through very ‘non-tourist’ towns. The combination of things that they have in Cuba (like free healthcare for all) and don’t have (much in the way of private transportation, people using so much horsepower for work and transportation, people constantly hitching rides all over the country to get around) makes you very aware that this is a different place.

Santa Clara is the site of the last major battle of the revolution led by Che Guevara against the forces of General Batista which culminated in the success of the revolution. It is also the site his mausoleum and memorial. You will see when I get in a position to post pictures, that the ideas of the revolution are still strongly extolled throughout the countryside. But here in Santa Clara, the full force of the importance of the revolution to Cuba today is felt.

We didn’t spend a whole lot of at the site. Wife and I are pretty tired and we had a three hour drive back to Havana. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we fly to Mexico City. After Cuba, I think it is going to seem like going back to normal!