We had an easy downwind run from Casilda to Cienfuegos. As soon as we sailed into the entrance of the
harbor, we were greeted with a huge painted wall that read “Bienvendios a Cuba Socialista”. Even with my bad Spanish, I knew that it said
“Welcome to Socialist Cuba”! The
anchorage is quite a ways into the Bahia de Cienfuegos, but it is a well-marked
channel. We anchored outside of the
marina and dignied in to clear in. All
of the offices are right there at the marina and was very easy to check
in. As always, the officials were very
friendly and respectful. We did have to
pay to anchor outside the marina, but it was only about $5 a day. The marina had a nice bar with cold beers and
appetizers. They also have a small convenience
store which sells eggs, some canned veggies, juices and of course, rum! We didn’t find their prices to be much more
than the stores in town.
After clearing in and having our necessary cold beer at the
bar, we decided to go hit the town. We
walked a little way toward town and came across a local watering hole. Wanting a little local culture, we decided to
stop for a beer. This was a local joint,
with local beer from a keg, and thus local prices – 6 local pesos per beer,
plus 5 pesos for the cup, which equaled about $0.25 US for the beer. To be honest, you get what you pay for, but
nevertheless, we stayed for another before we moved on! We continued to walk in the general direction
of town and found ourselves on the Malecon, which is the wide sidewalk that
runs along the seawall. It seems as if
the entire population of Cienfuegos was hanging out on the Malecon, so we
decided we were in the right spot. We
did as the thousand or so other locals did – bought a bottle of rum, or two,
and sat up on the wall and watched the young and old Cubans strut their
stuff. What entertainment! The guys were mostly dressed all in white –
tight white jeans, a loose fitting white shirt and a styling belt and pair of
shoes to finish the outfit. The girls
were dressed to kill in the tightest, sexiest dresses or skirts they could
find. And everyone just paraded up and
down the sidewalk, stopping to talk to friends and then continued to saunter
along. It was quite a site. When we got hungry, we walked over to the
local Rapido, (their version of McDonalds and KFC combined into one) and fed
our bellies. Then we decided to parade
up and down the Malecon, but not as successfully as the locals. We did met some really nice people
though. We got wind of a concert going
on and went to find it. It was basically
pretty bad music set up in a parking lot with a ton of people milling about, so
we decided to head back to the Malecon and then back to the boat as it was
getting pretty late.
The next morning, we took a horse taxi to the center of town
to go exploring. It was a Sunday so not
much was open, but we sat in a pretty courtyard for a while and admired the
government buildings. We walked around a
bit and then headed back to the marina.
The following day, we went back to the center of town to see what it was
like on a weekday. It was definitely
much livelier. We traded some of our
goods (old clothes, tooth brushes and tooth paste) for some fresh veggies and
fruit. We got some of our much loved
street pizza, and then took a bike taxi back to the marina for about $2.
 |
| Yacht Club |
Every time we walked to town, we would pass by a beautiful
colonial style building that turned out to be the Cienfuegos Yacht Club. On our last night we were walking by and all decided
we needed to see in side of course we weren’t really dressed for what event
they had planed . We to put on our best high class attitudes and face. And made
our way up the red carpeted stairs to the entrance of the Yacht Club. No one even questioned us and we went inside
to have a beer. It was beautiful inside
with all old pictures of Cuba and old cups and other trophies from the winners
of yacht racers. They were having a
concert at the club later that night, but we decided not to stay as we had to
get moving early the next morning, and no one wanted to sail with a
hangover! So, we made the mature
decision to boogie home and got an early start the next morning. The officials are at the marina 24 hours, so
we were able to clear out at 6am and be on our way by 7am for the 40 or so mile
run to Cayo Guano del Este, which was just a jumping off point to Cayo Largo.
 |
| Malecon during the day |
We had an easy downwind run from Casilda to Cienfuegos. As soon as we sailed into the entrance of the
harbor, we were greeted with a huge painted wall that read “Bienvendios a Cuba Socialista”. Even with my bad Spanish, I knew that it said
“Welcome to Socialist Cuba”! The
anchorage is quite a ways into the Bahia de Cienfuegos, but it is a well-marked
channel. We anchored outside of the
marina and dignied in to clear in. All
of the offices are right there at the marina and was very easy to check
in. As always, the officials were very
friendly and respectful. We did have to
pay to anchor outside the marina, but it was only about $5 a day. The marina had a nice bar with cold beers and
appetizers. They also have a small convenience
store which sells eggs, some canned veggies, juices and of course, rum! We didn’t find their prices to be much more
than the stores in town.
After clearing in and having our necessary cold beer at the
bar, we decided to go hit the town. We
walked a little way toward town and came across a local watering hole. Wanting a little local culture, we decided to
stop for a beer. This was a local joint,
with local beer from a keg, and thus local prices – 6 local pesos per beer,
plus 5 pesos for the cup, which equaled about $0.25 US for the beer. To be honest, you get what you pay for, but
nevertheless, we stayed for another before we moved on! We continued to walk in the general direction
of town and found ourselves on the Malecon, which is the wide sidewalk that
runs along the seawall. It seems as if
the entire population of Cienfuegos was hanging out on the Malecon, so we
decided we were in the right spot. We
did as the thousand or so other locals did – bought a bottle of rum, or two,
and sat up on the wall and watched the young and old Cubans strut their
stuff. What entertainment! The guys were mostly dressed all in white –
tight white jeans, a loose fitting white shirt and a styling belt and pair of
shoes to finish the outfit. The girls
were dressed to kill in the tightest, sexiest dresses or skirts they could
find. And everyone just paraded up and
down the sidewalk, stopping to talk to friends and then continued to saunter
along. It was quite a site. When we got hungry, we walked over to the
local Rapido, (their version of McDonalds and KFC combined into one) and fed
our bellies. Then we decided to parade
up and down the Malecon, but not as successfully as the locals. We did met some really nice people
though. We got wind of a concert going
on and went to find it. It was basically
pretty bad music set up in a parking lot with a ton of people milling about, so
we decided to head back to the Malecon and then back to the boat as it was
getting pretty late. 
The next morning, we took a horse taxi to the center of town
to go exploring. It was a Sunday so not
much was open, but we sat in a pretty courtyard for a while and admired the
government buildings. We walked around a
bit and then headed back to the marina.
The following day, we went back to the center of town to see what it was
like on a weekday. It was definitely
much livelier. We traded some of our
goods (old clothes, tooth brushes and tooth paste) for some fresh veggies and
fruit. We got some of our much loved
street pizza, and then took a bike taxi back to the marina for about $2. 
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