Cienfuegos, Cuba

Yesterday was a sea day, a relaxing day playing trivia with Mary, Andy, and Sunny; a little sun on deck, and a lot of reading. Today’s port was Cienfuegos on the south western side of the island. This is primarily an industrial town today with a population of 100K. It was founded in 1819. It was interesting to see that even though cell phones seemed prevalent, there were still many public phones in the city. We journeyed outside the city to the Botanical Gardens, founded by an American in 1901 on an old sugar cane plantation. He started it as a research center for sugar cane. The gardens is primarily an arboretum with trees from throughout the world. We learned that there are over 90 species of palm trees in Cuba, 70 of them endemic. The stripper palm tree starts with leaves all around it, but as it grows more of the truck becomes visible. We also saw an 85 year old ebony tree, it takes over 200 years until the wood can be harvested, making it a expensive wood. The seed takes 9 months to mature and is covered by a brown dust, making it look dried out, to discourage animals from eating the seed. We also saw several variations of Brazil Nut pods, one looking like a muffin tree.

Muffin Tree

Our guide was excited because Cuba is rewriting their constitution. She attended a meeting earlier this month to have it explained and asking for the people’s input. She was personally interested in some provisions creating animal rights and gay marriage. The referendum on the constitution will be in February. Government has become more representative since Fidel. The people elect their neighborhood representatives, who in turn elect provincial representatives, who then choose the national representatives.

Valle Palace

We had lunch at one of the local hotels and then had drinks at the Valle Palace built in 1917. Each of the towers of this building is a different style: Arab, Indian, and Roman. In the afternoon, we had a concert by Coro Cantores De Cienfuegos, an acapella choir.  They have toured the world in various competitions, including Montana in the U.S. 

We took a brief tour of the city, ending up in San Marti square, the spot where the town was founded. Surrounding the square are government buildings, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and the local theater, which is undergoing reconstruction for the 200^th anniversary of the city. It’s unusual feature is a stage with a 7% slope to help the audience see the entire stage, but imagine the challenge to the actors!

Opera House