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Posted On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at
at
11:39 PM
by Alvin
We had read up on Camaguey as the Cuban city with a city plan that was laid out to confuse and deceive invading pirates and buccaneers through the use of hidden corners, dead-end streets, twisted and curved avenues - so the likes of Jack Sparrow or Captain Hook could not capture the city's women and treasures so easily; all these interesting urban features were there alright, but little did we expect that there were also live performing art troupe waiting for us ! The Camaguey Ballet Company had been a world renowned act over the past many years and similarly, performance arts formed a main part of the city's cultural scene. On the afternoon when we arrived and close to Parque Ignacio Agramonte, we were greeted with a band of artists dressed out in carnival gear and they were carefully balancing themselves on 2 meters tall stilts and surrounded by an encouraging and joyous crowd as they progressed slowly through to the main plaza. This carnival drama was followed by a number of well-rehearsed acts - dancers dressed in football gear (with knee high football socks), clowns working a huge doll constructed out of twenty or so wooden parts and joints as well as different street dramas. It was such fun to watch these acts in the shades of the cool plaza.
Camaguey also boasted its fair share of enchanting plazas and churches; we visited Iglesia De Nuestra Señora De La Merced, Plaza Del Carmen, Plaza de la Revolucion as well as the green lungs of Camaguey, Casino Campestre - a huge park on the other side of Rio Habitonico where we took some breathers from the March humidity and cooled off with the queues of laughing children, waiting for their turn to go for a ride on the goat-driven little carts. Camaguey would be the last city on our easterly route and we prepared to head back west to Santa Clara, a place famed for the iconic figure of Ernesto Che Guavara.
