After an infinite taxi ride thankfully shared with our irish/canadian friends, we have finally arrived in Santa Marta. Starting from Holguin, we’ve pretty much travelled from side to side of the island with only a short stop to eat and relax in Santa Clara. How did the taxi-driver made it ? We don’t know. But we’re here now ! There’s a reason why we decided to come here and not Varadero: here in the town of Santa Marta everything is cheaper (food and accommodation) and Varadero is just 7km away. Luckily, the beach is only a couple of km away and you can easily reach it by walking or with a taxi (3-5CUC).
You won’t believe it… Although its kind of high season and most of the places are full, on the same road we manage to find two rooms for the four of us ! In the casa where we are staying, we have a fully equipped kitchen, access to a huge terrace, funny birds singing the cucaracha and four little dogs welcoming us back every day. The atmosphere is simply too good to be true ! Time for bed now, tomorrow a long day is awaiting for us !
So warm ! On our way to have breakfast in typical place (next to RIA Bar), we cannot believe how warm it feels to simply walk around. Fortunately, the cheap & quick breakfast loaded with scrambled eggs, sandwiches, fruit and juice bring us back on our legs; next stop is Varadero beach. In order to avoid taking a taxi, we decide to walk to the beach and in all honesty it isn’t that far; true you need to walk to the bridge (connects Santa Marta to Varadero) and cross it but once there you just need to find your spot on the beach. And what a beach ! Crystal clear waters, white sand, no waves… Time for a swim in the Caribbean Sea !
Laying in the sun can be a pretty time-consuming activity but for those who wonder what else can you do in Varadero beach there is a good news: snorkeling ! Like in other playas, the snorkeling excursions can either be arranged with the few “beach-sellers” wandering nearby or go to the Snorkel Hut in front of the big hotels. The other good news is that apparently, although the place is very touristy, there is a bit of room for bargaining about the rates; initially they asked us for 25CUC/pp but in the end we managed to settle for 30CUC for couple. Unfortunately, even though the catamaran will sail you a couple of kms away from the coast and straight on the reef, the recent Hurricane Irma has not left much alive. For this reason, most of the corals are destroyed but you still get a chance to see plenty of colorful fish wandering around the spot (especially because guides will thrown some bread in the water to attract them).
After hours of sun, water and salt (an easy recipe for relaxing) we go for a walk to visit Varadero downtown. The first thing we see is the huge Artisan Market on Avenue 1. Granted that the place is very touristy, we enjoyed wandering through the labyrinth of small shops and handcrafted souvenirs. We even end up buying our first and only souvenir of Cuba: a small painting of Havana for just 10CUC for our future house !
Few blocks ahead on the same road, we end up in a small agglomerate of restaurants, hotels and small bars of a very touristy look. Needless to say that after half an hour walking there, at dinner time the whole place becomes alive; plenty of europeans, americans, asians, russians… the only cubans around are the waiters inviting us inside the restaurants. After some time we decide to go for a relatively cheap fondue restaurant where food seems to be good. Tonight no meat & rice ! The evening end up with a beautiful beer + free rock&roll concert at the famous The Beatles Bar; the group playing is really good and for the price of a couple of beers we enjoy the spectacle for more than two hours.
Back in Santa Marta, close to where we had breakfast (near to an ETECSA wifi spot), the party goes on ! Here, though, its something more original, something more cuban. People are listening to music from speakers, drinking Havana Club, showing a couple of dance moves and most importantly of all, laughing like no tomorrow ! We decide to join the club and after buying a bottle of Havana Club and we all sit down to talk with the locals. We meet cubans from the North, South, West, East and even a Greek guy considering himself cuban after living in varadero for more than 15 years. What a truly cuban and real town Santa Marta is, definitely worth to hang around.
And tomorrow the beach will still be awaiting for us… at this pace we’ll end up not wanting to go back home !
PLANNING A TRIP TO CUBA? CHECK MORE POSTS BELOW!
[pt_view id=”f12e95aw5h”]