0830 – Depart by bus for the Valley of the Sugar Mills
Valle de los Ingenios, or the Valley of the Sugar Mills, is just east of Trinidad and was combined with Trinidad in UNESCO’s 1988 World Heritage Listing. The valley is a living museum, with over 50 former sugar plantations, and provides tremendous insight into the dominant role that sugar, and by extension, slavery, has played in Cuba’s history and economy.
1000 – Depart for Santa Clara
1200 – Arrive Santa Clara
Further north, a stop in Santa Clara at the Che Guevara Mausoleum introduces us to the lift and times of perhaps the most revered of Cuba’s revolutionary leaders, along with Castro. Argentinian by birth, medical doctor by profession, and Marxist revolutionary in his political views, Che’s image has become a nearly universal symbol of countercultural rebellion in popular culture, and is one more key to understanding the Cuban conundrum.
1430 – Depart for Havana following lunch in Santa Clara
1800 – Arrive Havana
We finish the day back in Havana in the same hotel, looking forward to a farewell dinner and one final time to share and reminisce.
On the way back we stopped at a shop to allow everyone the chance to purchase cigars, rum and coffee. I purchased cigars from the tobacco farmer a few days back, so bought a kilogram of coffee and a pint of rum - that I gave to our son Tim. He took us to the airport at 3 in the morning and picked us up again at midnight. What a good boy!
In the Valley of Legends we heard background about the slavery utilization on the large sugar plantations and looked at the ruins of one of them
Traveling back to Havana, stopping for lunch, got a hamburger. Could have been water buffalo.
At the Che Guevara Mausoleum we were not allowed to take pictures inside, or speak, or nothing
Back in Havana we went to a store to allow us to purchase the big three - Rum, Cigars, Coffee
And our last dinner together, some gifts were handed out, everyone had a good time
