We had a relaxed start to the day as Sancti Spiritus is only about an hour away. I am not sure if it is a Saturday thing or something to do with the International food festival but there were a number of musicians in the square this morning who played for about an hour then went away, also a group of children turned up on rollerblades and were skating around the square then as quickly as they came they went. By this time it was time for us to check out and go and get in our taxi. We had been told the journey would take about an hour and the taxi driver had obviously been given the same information as he seemed to put his foot down which would have been ok if the roads were in slightly better condition but it ended up being quite a bumpy ride. We drove past the sugar plantation we saw the other day then onto the main road into Sancti Spiritus, this was one of the original towns founded in Cuba around 1514 and is the only one that has a Latin name. We are staying in a Casa tonight rather than a hotel and it is very impressive, there is an open courtyard and our room is on the first floor overlooking the courtyard. We dropped the bags in the room then went up onto the roof to have a look round it is always really interesting seeing how people use the rooftops as part of their houses but also with the system of courtyards it is quite easy to see into their houses when you are looking from above. We went back down to the bar and had a quick drink before heading off to explore the town. This is one of the smaller towns we are visiting and the old town is quite a small area. After our drink we set off down towards the Yayabo river, there is a bridge that was built in 1831 and was the main route into town. On the way down to the bridge we passed the Colonial Art Museum which we didn’t go in but is said to contain one of only two American brought piano’s on the island, we also passed Teatro Principal which is Bright Blue and built in 1876 by public donation. We stopped at the Taverna Yayabo to have lunch then went for a walk round. The roads that lead from the bridge are the oldest in Sancti Spiritus, they are paved with cobble stones and have quite colourful houses that in places seem to have sculptures on the wall, but rather than statues of people they seem to be banisters or stairs they are quite strange but in funny sort of way they are quite appealing. We walked up towards the main square and stopped at the Hotel Peoria de Cuba, this was once one of the most exclusive hotels in Cuba but is now a shop, we went in and the ground floor was dedicated to selling slow cookers! The upper floor seems to be dedicated to selling flip flops and sanitary pads. it is quite strange that the opulence of the hotel is still very much in evidence but there are very few goods on the shelves. We walked from here to the Parque Serafin Sanchez, this is the centre square with impressive buildings around the square and seats and trees in the middle, we looked around the buildings which contained more shops, Saturday shopping seems to be going out with the family and seeing what the shops have rather than writing a list and buying what you want. We walked back to the hotel which on a square dedicated to Dr Rico who was a physician, scientist and illustrious citizen it is also the name of the hotel so we are not sure if it was named after him or if it was his house. We went back up to the room to freshen up before heading down for dinner, we have booked a table in the hotel as it gets quite good reviews and we are on the move again tomorrow so hopefully it will live up to the billing.
