Sierra Maestra .... and the day Fidel died

Ok....we thought it couldn't get more boring than Camagüey, until we arrived in Bayamo. The city offers nothing...absolutely nothing (okay, the national anthem was premiered here) and is solely a base for excursions to places like Sierra Maestra. The only interesting thing that happened to us in this place was a special evening restaurant visit. Normally, we have dinner at our accommodation as it turned out that most landlords are excellent chefs. So we have to revise our initial complaints about the food in Cuba...well, a little bit, but not when you make the big mistake of going to a normal (state-run) restaurant. No matter what kind of restaurant it is, you can be sure that the menu is the same everywhere...just a reminder: pizza with cheese and/or ham...spaghetti with cheese and/or ham...etc. There isn't much choice and most of the time it is also limited. Since our accommodation in Bayamo unfortunately did not include dinner this time, we were forced to find something edible somewhere else, which turned out to be quite a bizarre experience. National institutions of any kind, including restaurants, do not necessarily show great willingness to work, because the money will be paid anyway, effort or not. The restaurant we chose greeted us with closed doors and covered windows, even though it should have been open according to the opening hours. We were told to knock. So be it...knocked, door opened, behind it a rather dissatisfied-looking lady with a stony face. She was clearly unhappy to receive us, new guests. The menu offer was clear, as always, but it seemed to offer a little bit of variety at least. We each ordered a water, but got a sugary orange soda, 2 different soups (clear broth came...one with and one without a few vegetable-like leaves...so actually the same soup), rice with vegetables (about as much as a small cup), and a cucumber salad (we ordered a bell pepper salad). And in the end, an unbelievable bill of 22 pesos. We were shocked at first, and then shocked again when we realized that it was not CUC but the national pesos. So we paid about 1 euro for 2 dinners with appetizers, salad, and drinks. It felt a bit weird. Do not tell me that Cuba is more expensive. In the end, we even managed to put a little smile on the waitress's face when we answered her question "if we wanted to order something else" with "No." She seemed overjoyed when we finally left the place and she immediately locked the door behind us. The danger of another guest seemed to be too great ;-) .... The dark side of socialism.... Anyway, we had a great time laughing about this evening!

We used our presence for a day trip to the beautiful Sierra Maestra mountains and hiked in the footsteps of Fidel, Raúl, Che, Camilo, and their bearded companions to the Comandancia de la Plata, where the revolutionaries hid to prepare the revolution after their landing by boat named "Granma". A nice trip that provides special insights into this past time. Among other things, you can see Fidel Castro's hut.

....and then something had to happen at some point...on November 26th, the news of the death of the great Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz was announced. At that time, we didn't know exactly what that would mean and what would happen next...but we knew that this was a historic moment for Cuba...and we were right in the middle!