1

hola lou, i absolutely Loved your photos. exactly what i imagine and hope to see in december. thank you for sharing. i just point and shoot so my quality will not be the same, but you take the same shots i like. peace, deb

2

Nice evocative fotos thanks lou!

3

Nice pics. While in Cardenas, did you visit the local history museum? It is fairly new and is heavy on the Elian Gonzalez controversy, which is one of my favorite scandals of all time. While in Matanzas, I spent part of a day in Cardenas. I had read that local jineteros will offer to show you Elian's house, but we were not approached and asked. The museum guide did point out Elian's street from the roof of the museum, which was all I wanted to see. I have heard that a small police sub-station opened practically next to Elian's home. Don't know if there is any truth to that.

Juan Antonio Echeverria, who as the leader of the DRE student movement led the failed assassination attempt on the presidential palace in 1957, is also honored in his native city. Batista had been tipped off and hid, and most of the assailants died in the attempt.

4

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time in Cardenas and I didn't know about the museum until after the trip. I only went to Cardenas after we passed through it and I liked the look of it. Next time I will spend more time there. I am also fascinated by the Elian story so I was disappointed to miss the museum. When I got home and tried to find out more about Cardenas I ended up on a US website claiming to tell the true story of Elian, it was illustrated with photos of Cadenas which made it look like a complete slum so I was glad to have taken the photos that I did.
I wasn't aware of the other story, sounds intriguing too.
And Matanzas is also on my list for the next trip, hopefully next February.

5

I actually thought Cardenas was not badly off, considering that a lot of the Cubans who work in Varadero live in and around there. The Cuban cities I have been to that seem most battered by post- Soviet economic austerity were Matanzas and Manzanillo. Life there seems to have come to a stop more than 20 years ago, at least that was my impression. Matanzas was like a museum of it's former economic greatness.

I frequently encourage people here on LP to read up on Cuba before going, and a situation at the museum in Cardenas justified my opinion. I was with a random European guy on that trip to Cardenas, I convinced him that the home town of Elian Gonzalez was worth a look, so he decided to tag along. As we were being given the tour, he saw the bust of Juan Antonio Echeverria and asked the guide who he was. Much to my surprise, she had no idea, so I jumped in with an explanation. She then went to ask one of the other older guides and returned confirming my story. I chalked it up to youth, since the guide was very young, I believe she told us she was 19.

I frequently lament the version of history that is presented in Cuba, I never thought I would run into a museum guide that had no clue about history.

There are many conflicting stories of Elian, and I am sure one day he will finally get to tell all. One thing that Cuba did right was keep all foreign journalists away from him, to try and give him a semblance of normality as he grew up. I think he is 17 now, and many foreign journalists have attempted and been denied permission to interview him. That will eventually change after the kid is an adult. One of the undeniable repercussions of the Elian saga was that it was a factor in Al Gore losing the 2000 US election to George W. Bush.

6

I also thought Cardenas was an attractive town and certainly looked nothing like the photos posted in the US after Elian's return which attempted to portray it as extremely poor and squalid. You are right, it will be fascinating to hear Elian's own story some day. I was surprised to find such an interesting town so near Varadero. I had read up on the other cities we visited and Varadero was my daughter's treat for putting up with walking miles and miles around Havana. I knew nothing about Cardenas, of course now I know more about it I want to go back. We didn't see another tourist the whole time we were there.

Matanzas is top of my list for my next trip as I have had to promise a few days at the beach to my kids again. Any tips on particularly interesting spots there would be much appreciated.

7

I did not think there was that much to go for in Matanzas. I saw few other tourists, and they were all in casas by the central park. I do recall wandering to the top of the hill for a great view of the city below you, that was nice. We also randomly crossed several bridges over the various waterways around Matanzas. Although they were all old, they had been built for much heavier traffic so there was no danger of collapse. There are a few old/ abandoned buildings and train station with the Hershey signs still there, a testament to the past when Matanzas was an economic powerhouse. I believe the largest sugar mill in all of Cuba was once located in Matanzas, but has been shut down in the post- Soviet period.

I actually thought those waterways would be a nice place to put some Gondolas to give rides to tourists, or where one could bring a small canoe and just paddle around since the water was not turbulent and the vegetation very green. I do not recall seeing a single boat in those waters (Obviously). I also thought the maze of waterways could be great for smugglers.