Typing My Brain...: January 2020

If you haven’t read my Cuba pre-travel tips, check them out here.

Other posts from this trip can be found using the label Cuba2018.

Cuba Day 3 – Australia Sugar Mill, Hemingway’s Finca Vigia, arriving in Havana

Maternity Ward

Before leaving Cienfuegos we visited a maternity ward. If I understood correctly, this facility catered to women from the city with an at-risk pregnancy as well as women from surrounding villages who can no longer make the journey to the city to see their doctors. We learned that Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world*, something they attribute to widely available healthcare, and that the life expectancy in Cuba is 78.5.

*While Cuba’s infant mortality rate is quite low, I was unable to find statistics to back up this claim of ‘lowest in the world’.

We stopped at Hotel La Union near Parque Martí for a bathroom break before getting on the road. The swimming pool in the courtyard looked soooo inviting!

Australia Sugar Mill

We departed Cienfuegos for the small town of Australia, Cuba. Australia is best known for its former sugar mill, and for being Fidel Castro’s base of operations during the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Bay of Pigs is about 20 miles south of Australia, and we’d come to learn that “bay” is a bit of a misnomer. “Swamp” might be the more appropriate term. But we weren’t visiting the Bay of Pigs, so let’s talk about Australia. The town itself is small, and I only remember there being dirt roads.

Australia Mill Smokestack

We went to the train museum and were greeted by a small group of people giving the women flowers for their hair. The museum workshop held several old steam engines, some of which were kept running by Cuban creativity. Some of the engines were from Philadelphia and Chicago, from back when the US and Cuba were friends.

An old steam engine from approximately 1910-1930

Good service is good business

We were given a tour of the museum and a brief history of the town by a woman who used to be an engineer at the sugar mill, but now manages the museum. She introduced us to several men who used to work for the mill, either on machinery or actually harvesting sugarcane. One of the men told us that he cut several tons of sugarcane each day, with a machete, when the mill was operational. He demonstrated how to cut sugarcane, and I was struck by how fast he must’ve worked to harvest so much every day.

There was a small field of sugarcane at the museum, and we learned that if the ‘knots’ on the cane are closer together, it indicates a poor growing season. More space between the knots indicates a better growing season.

As an extra fun surprise, we tried local Manzano bananas (which were delicious!), chewed on some sugarcane, and then got to juice some sugarcane… and of course, add rum to the drink. We were serenaded while we ate and drank.

It was hard to say goodbye to the people we had just met. The woman who runs the museum explained that she was thankful for the opportunity to show us around, but that it meant the world to the men who keep these old trains working, and who used to work in the mill. It really hit home for me, being from Bethlehem, PA. A few years after Bethlehem Steel closed its flagship plant, the Australia sugar mill was closed. Local residents in both places had the same concerns about their livelihood, their families, and the fate of their towns. The fate of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Australia, Cuba could not look more different.

Time to collect ourselves and eat lunch.

Lunch at Finca Fiesta Campesino

We ate lunch at Finca Fiesta Campesino, which is a restaurant, souvenir shop, and zoo all in one. We were in a covered patio with chickens wandering around and a band serenading us. I even got to play a giant animal’s jaw as an instrument!

Refreshing beer at lunch

Hemingway’s Finca Vigia

It took us about 1:45 to get to Hemingway’s Finca Vigia along Autopista A1. This is the major highway that connects Havana to Santa Clara. There are plans to complete the highway from Havana all the way to Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. The reason I’m calling this out is because there were barely any cars on the highway for most of our drive. Our driver also suddenly swerved a few times to avoid potholes.

There’s plenty of information online about Ernest Hemingway’s residences in Cuba, so I’ll spare you yet another take. Suffice to say that this place was beautiful, and had a great view of Havana.