Camagüey, hundres of colours in the “City of Squares”
Camagüey is the third-largest city in Cuba, located in the central part of the island. It is famous for its maze-like streets meant to confuse. Camagüey is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town has an irregular urban pattern, with a system of large and small squares, serpentine streets, alleys, and irregular urban blocks. The city centre is really beautiful and pleasant.
Camagüey first impression
I had taken the morning bus from Santiago de Cuba, a about six-hour ride. I was prepared for the roads to be bad, but those who say that have not been to Türkmenistan. They were not that bad. I will not say Camagüey seemed like a large city, but the bus terminal was situated a bit outside the centre. It was about 45 minutes to walk to my Casa Particular. There was a very friendly woman who wished me welcome.
The hostess was a widow, and living with her old mother. It was pretty obvious that she was not suffering financially, but still, I guess it is a welcoming income, to recive dollars from tourists. She was also over the moon when I gave her some jam that I did not want to bring with me any longer, and also a packet of paracet. Since I only travel with a small backpack, it is limited what I could bring with me, but I had some sope and pills that I divided out as I travelled along.
The old town centre
As I mentioned in the title of this post, Camagüey is truly a city of squares. There are several of them, arranged in no particular order. Suddenly, you turn a corner and find yourself in a new square. For example, the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, which is very typical of colonial style, with this old hospital, now a museum, in the yellow building. Around the square, there are several restaurants. Some boys are playing football on the cobbled surface. Additionally, many of the smaller buildings are painted in bold colours.
The house of an important hero
If Santiago of Cuba played an important role in the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, Camagüey played an important role in the struggles for independence from Spain in the 19th century. Museo Casa Natal de Ignacio Agramonte is the house where Ignacio de Agramonte (1841-1873), a hero of independence, lived. He was a farmer who guided the revolt against Spain in this area and was killed while fighting the Spaniards in Camagüey when he was only 32. The Museo Casa Natal Ignacio Agramonte is the most important historical house in the region. It was a nice house to visit, but it was a bit annoying to have a guard following me every step of the way.
Small observations
The thing that was annoying throughout my stay in Cuba was the constant power cuts. The power was off for hours at a time, and several times during the day. For me, as a tourist, having a power bank at least for my phone wasn’t a big issue, but walking out at night meant you often had to use your phone’s flashlight. But to run a business of whatever kind, it must be so difficult. Like this hairdresser taking his customers outside, when there was no power.
Time to move on
I had two quiet, pleasant days in this charming city. Not too much was going on, but my host was fantastic, serving a nice breakfast. It was a convenient place to stop on my long journey from Santiago back to Havana. Therefore, I took the night bus from Camagûey to the capital. Unfortunately, the bus was a couple of hours delayed, but hey, it was in the middle of the night, nothing else was happening.
