Club Bucanero, Santiago Cuba

February 15 – February 22

Last year Roger and I went with my golfing friends, Marty, Mickey and Jim and wives to Cayo Largo. This year just the two of us went to this budget resort. I had always wanted to go to this area of Cuba since I had not been there before and like to see new areas. For $718 each for an all-inclusive week I was not expecting too much.

I had not flown Sunwing before and their service on the plane is above average. They serve a warm meal and have a decent movie.

The resort is not far from Guantanamo and the hills where Fidel Castro started his revolution. The hotel is in the Gran Parque Natural Baconao.

The hotel is a half-hour from the airport and that was good because we had gotten in late. There was a snowstorm the day before in Toronto so there were delays. The room was interesting in that the walls are made out of big round rocks cemented together. We were in room 111, which is about as far away as you can get from the main part of the hotel but near the beach bar/disco. The room was probably used as a nautical shop like the room next door. We didn’t complain. The view of every room is of the ocean but we had a defunct tennis court in front as well.

The hotel has basically a couple of bars: one near the pool and one at the small beach. They tend to run out of beer and that was a sore point with us. Apparently there is a lot of theft there by the staff. They get the stuff out of the resort by bribing the guards. The place just opened up after getting hammered by the Wilma hurricane so I imagine things are not up to scratch yet.

Getting a dinner at the a-la-carte was a farce. Enough said but we finally got it by the last night. Eddie and Laura had dinner with us. Dinners at the resort were quite foul and not enough fowl for Roger. Breakfast and lunch were all right.

The Internet did not work because the server had died. When we had the tour to Santiago the guide proudly pointed out the big school of computer science. I wondered why they didn’t have the Internet working!

There are a lot of good things about the resort. The rocky shore and the bluffs are quite interesting and good to photograph. There are caves and rock climbing to do. Eddie and I climbed the bluffs one day; that is where we met the bull on the path. The plants there have lots of sharp prickles on them and they got me bloodied. There is a canyon behind the beach bar, which is very cool. The weather was the best I ever had in Cuba.

We met Laurie and Steve who rented a car so we went with them to the Big Rock (see the photo album). That is a long ride up hairpin turns to a look out which is 1234 meters above sea level. Apparently you can see lights on Jamaica at night; it is 77 miles away.

Roger and I had a long ride out on the Hobie Cat catamaran with the Cuban driver who was quite hung over. We did a tour of Santiago. One of the interesting places is the barracks where Castro tried to get guns in 1953; I have a reprint of the story below. We also used the bikes to go for a ride in the countryside. Roger’s chain broke about 2 km from the resort and a Cuban man helped us. He used two rocks to hammer the chain back together again and that seemed quite ingenious. Eddie and Laura went on a paddleboat ride with us along the coast; after swimming in the sea we saw a big splash from some huge fish!

The bar by the little beach is just wonderful. You sit there drinking a beer, watching the sea and have iguanas visit you. They have a chicken or fish lunch available too. In dire times they will have tube steaks or hamburgers from Chile. The beach is somewhat rocky and Roger cut himself the first time. But the water is teeming with fish so snorkeling was a breeze.

The resort is not for everyone but budget minded souls. I think we would go back if not just for the perfect weather. Moreover, the toilet worked and had a seat!

Here is the story about Castro’s first attempt at revolution. See the photo in the album of the Moncada barracks and you will see the original bullet holes from the attack!

(reprinted from The Rough Guide to Cuba, Fiona McAuslan and Matt Norman, May 2005)

The Attack on the Moncada Barracks

Summing up his goals with the words "a small engine is needed to help start the big engine", Fidel Castro decided in 1953 to lead an attack to capture the weapons his guerrilla organization needed and hopefully also spark a national uprising against the Batista regime. Santiago's Moncada Barracks seemed perfect: not only was it the second largest in the country, with some thousand-odd troops, but it was also based in Oriente, where support for the clandestine movement against the government was already strongest.

The attack was organized from Havana in such secrecy that only two members of the group, besides Castro himself, even knew of the plan - some of the supporters thought they were being taken to Santiago carnival as a reward for hard work. Castro shrewdly chose July 26, reckoning that many soldiers would be unfit to fight in the early hours of the morning after carousing at carnival the night before. He rented a farm at Siboney, about 14km from the city, and the attackers mustered here. With limited funds and only a few secondhand weapons, it was an ambitious military debut for the small cell of 135 men and two women who would stage the attack.

A three-pronged assault was planned, with the main body of men, led by Fidel Castro, attacking the barracks themselves, while Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, would attack the nearby Palace of Justice, overlooking the barracks, with ten men to form a covering crossfire. At the same time, Abel Santamaria, Castro's second-in-command, was to take the civil hospital opposite the Palace of Justice with 22 men; the two women, his sister Haydee Santamaria and his girlfriend Melba Hernandez, were to treat the wounded.

The attack was an unqualified fiasco. At 5.30am on July 26, the rebels' motorcade of 26 cars set off from Siboney headed for Santiago. Somewhere between the farm and the city limits, several cars headed off in the wrong direction and never made it to the barracks. The remaining cars reached the barracks, calling on the sentries to make way for the general, a ruse which allowed the attackers to seize the sentries' weapons and force their way into the barracks.

Outside, things were going less well. Castro, who was in the second car, stopped after an unexpected encounter with patrolling soldiers and the subsequent gunfire alerted the troops throughout the barracks. Following their previous orders, once they saw that Castro's car had stopped, the men in the other cars streamed out to attack other buildings in the barracks before Castro had a chance to re-evaluate the situation. The rebels inside the first building found themselves cut off amid the general confusion and as free-for-all gunfire ensued, the attackers were reduced to fleeing and cowering behind cars. Castro gave the order to withdraw, leaving behind two dead and one wounded.

By contrast, the unprotected Palace of Justice had been captured successfully, although Raul Castro's group were also forced to withdraw once their role was rendered useless. Similarly, the attack on the hospital had also been successful, although the attackers did not receive the order to retreat and had to hide in the hospital itself, disguised as patients.

The aftermath

The real bloodshed was yet to come, however, as within 48 hours of the attack somewhere between 55 and 70 of the original rebels had been captured, tortured and executed by Batista's officers after an extensive operation in which thousands were detained. The casualties included Abel Santamaria, whose eyes were gouged out, while his sister, Haydee, was forced to watch. Her boyfriend, Boris Santa Coloma, was castrated and other prisoners were beaten with rifle butts before being shot. The soldiers then attempted to pass the bodies off as casualties of the attack two days before.

Thirty-two rebels survived to be brought to trial, including Fidel Castro himself. Others managed to escape altogether and returned to Havana. Although a disaster in military terms, the attack was a political triumph: the army's brutality towards the rebels sent many previously indifferent people into the arms of the clandestine movement and elevated Fidel Castro - previously seen as just a maverick young lawyer - to hero status throughout Cuba.

Quebec City Carnival

January 29 – February 1

Last summer Johnson and I were in Quebec City and liked the place so much we decided to visit it in the winter and take in the Winter Carnival. So we went back and again stayed at the fabulous Fairmont Chateau Frontenac. Well, we didn’t get the Gold Room this time but had access to it anyway.

We had just come back from Mexico and now were experiencing extreme cold in Quebec. Each day was quite different. The first was the most frigid and windy but the sky was bright blue. The other days were cloudy and slightly warmer.

The Carnival was a fairly low key event and there were only a few venues in service. As we were there during the week all we could see was the display on the Plains of Abraham and the Ice Castle in front of the Provincial Parliament buildings. You have to buy a pass for $10 to visit these places. There are more activities on the weekend.

As usual, we did a lot of walking and taking of pictures. Johnson found out that his super camera did not like the cold too much and had battery problems. My little camera never had a problem and the batteries would go on forever. That was a good topic for teasing Johnson.

We took the ferry to Levis that was a great ride. The ice on the St Lawrence river doesn’t freeze up in the cold winter due to the strong current. Now, the surprising thing was that the ice started to actually run uphill toward Ontario! The reason, of course, is that the tides are strong enough to overcome the current and send the ice to the west.

There is a wine store called SAQs beside the Frontenac. It is really worth a visit to see the prices. Many big bottles had price tags of over $3000! The normal bottles were easily $175. If you are cheap like I am I’d recommend Henry of Pelham Cabernet Sauvignon for $17; this is what the Fairmont uses for big buffets.