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SANTIAGO Wednesday, December 5. Our ship entered Santiago Bay as we were getting up, passing the Morro Castle (Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca del Morro) that guards the narrow entrance. Once inside, we were amazed at the size of the Bay.
After breakfast we went to the lounge for the 9:45 lecture on Santiago de Cuba: The Hero City. We learned that Santiago was founded in 1514 by the infamous Spanish conqueror Velazquez. Santiago (St. James) was one of the island's seven original villas (towns). It has long been Cuba's second largest city (after Havana). It was the capital of Cuba from 1522 to 1589. Like Havana, Santiago's history is peppered with sackings and battles, by pirates, by the French (mid-16th century), and by the British (mid-17th century). After pirates sacked Santiago in 1554, the Spanishdecided to buils a fortress
to defend themselves against the endless waves of attacks, but it took a lot of
planning. Construction of the huge Morro Castle did not start until 1638,
and it took 62 years to complete. By 1898 when the Americans fought
the Spanish at nearby San Juan Hill, the fortress was of little help. The entire
Spanish fleet was destroyed in Santiago's harbour, We wondered why so many of the Spanish fortresses were called El Morro. Eventually we discovered that morro in Spanish means promontory, and costal forts were almost always built on promontories jutting out from the coast.
We had lunch before our ship anchored off the city around 1:00 p.m. Shortly after, we went to the lounge for our 1:30 tour, Colonial
Santiago. We took a tender and arrived ashore just before 2:00. Already the weather was very
hot.
A bus took us to the Morro Castle, several miles outside the city. There we had about 45
minutes to explore on our own. Because the Castle was built on such steep
terrain, it had a series of terraces, one above another, linked by a series of
stairways. In addition to the main Castle, there was a chain of smaller forts
and other defensive works running down the promontory, and many others behind
the Castle.
The next stop was at San Juan Hill, not too long a drive on the circumvalacion (by-pass). The Hill was the site of a decisive battle during the Spanish-American War (1898), in which future U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt participated, leading his Rough Riders., We arrived about 3:30, and had less than half an hour to explore on our own. Most of the original battlefield is now occupied by residential areas, a zoo, an amusement park, a parkway and parking areas, but some of the crest of San Juan Hill has been set aside as a memorial park. There were multiple monuments, many canon, and a pink replica of a blockhouse, but much smaller than those the Spanish had used.
On the way back into the city center, our guide tried to get the passengers to agree to a stop for shopping at a cigar and rum store, apparently motivated by the possibility of getting a cut of all purchases (a common practice around the world)). However, she got only opposition and abandoned the idea.
Not giving up on making a little extra money, she then began talking about Santeria, a mixture of
native African religions and Catholicism that is prevalent in the Carribean. This time, though, she
did not seek our approval. About 4:15 the bus suddenly stopped in a rough neighborhood, and we
were waved into a large hall in an old building. It was very hot and stuffy, cooled by a single fan.
Once we were inside, our guide announced that we were being treated to a Sentaria “ceremony,”
but it involved only dancers performing to the sound of extremely loud drums.
The performances consisted entirely of the dancers moving in a straight line
from the back of the hall to the front while violently shrugging their shoulders, staggering, twisting and
jumping. There seemed to be little "art" to it.
The men were shirtless and dripping sweat. Some of them came
into the audience. One of them leaned over Jane for a good 30 seconds,
holding his face less than an inch away from hers while his sweat dripped
all over her. Then the female dancers came into the audience with baskets,
seeking donations. At that point I found that I had not brought
my wallet. (I did not carry it aboard the ship which had a “cashless” system.) One of the
women repeatedly insisted that I give her money, but I had no choice but to ignore her.
The whole Santeria episode took about 40 minutes, but it was a very unpleasant experience. We discovered later that ours was the only bus that made such a stop. At 5:00 p.m. our bus arrived at Céspedes Park, Santiago’s first square and still the heart of the city. The square is srrounded by famous buildings. To the south is the Cathedral (Our Lady of the Assumption)(1526 but last rebuilt in 1932). To the west, the Diego Velazquez House (1516-1530), the oldest surviving house in Cuba (and probably in the western hemisphere). To the north, the City Hall (Ajuntamento)(built in the 1950s from a 1783 plan). To the west, the elegant Hotel Casa Grande (1914) and next door the San Carlos Club (1912)(now the Casa de la Cultura).
Our guide provided no information whatsoever, not even when to be back at the bus. Luckily, the two of us found restrooms in the Hotel Casa Grande. We also visited the Cathedral, but only after a young man on the street corner helped us find the very inconspicuous entrance (not on the square). We were the only visitors. We got back to the bus about 5:30
Twenty minutes later we were at the tender dock. (Since he had forgotten his wallet, Darrell did not have any money to tip our guide and driver.) There was a long line of passengers waiting to take a tender back to the Sirena, but we were finally aboard about 6:30. We rushed to the lounge for the daily lecture but missed the first ten minutes. This one was called The Jamaican Sugar Roots of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. After dinner in the main dining room, we went to the 9:30 show in the lounge. It featured Broadway show music by the ship’s cast. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
