Cuba - Playa Larga - Part 2

My second day in Playa Larga was rather different. Not really up for spending another $15 plus car hire to see more stray flamingos (though I was told that there would be more in the morning, it was still not going to be 10,000), I decided to take the hop-on hop-off Guamá tour bus ($3) up to Boca de Guamá in the morning then to Playa Girón in the afternoon. The bus runs two return trips daily and it turned out that it would only wait at Boca de Guamá for 30 minutes which is nowhere near enough time to even work out what was going on, so I had to forgo Playa Girón in the end.

After being told the bus arrives between 9 to 10 (yes it had that much margin of error) I diligently arrived just before 9 to wait for its arrival. Then I bumped into my casa host who said in Spanish what I understood as, the bus comes at 9.30. Luckily I decided to then go and get a local breakfast, because the next woman I asked said the bus would come at 10.30 (with 25 minutes to spare I took the opportunity to go back to my casa for some important business). Eventually the bus came at 10.50. The wait, 1hr50; the ride, 10 minutes.

I found the tourist information desk as soon as I got off the tour bus and the lady who clearly didn't like her job (or me, or both) said that there were two things to do: go to the crocodile farm ($5) and take a speedboat to the lake and see an "Indian village" ($12, takes about an hour). The second bus wouldn't return until 3pm to pick me up so I decided to do both. I soon realised going to this place was a complete mistake - coaches full of rich OAPs (either Germans or Americans) were shipped here to do these excursions, and the tourism at this place was entirely designed for such purpose. 

(I'll add a great close up shot of the crocs when I have them off my camera)

The crocodile farm was actually alright. The thing I snarled at the most was how these croc-keepers had tied the mouths of a baby croc so he could keep it on a leash and put a hat on its head to take photos with the joyous tourists. Humans trying to exercise control again. Otherwise there were loads of big fuck off crocs in a big-ish pond sadly all hanging around the same spot where tourists can pay a further $1 to feed them some gone off nondescript meat over the fence via a fishing line. I was lucky enough to capture a small ruffle between two crocs as they exited the water at the same time. There was also a viewing platform that you could walk up to which hangs over the edge of the pond, with a couple of dozen of hungry mouths 5-6m below. Dropping your camera or falling in trying to catch it certainly were certainly not on the itinerary.

The "Indian village" was far more disappointing. The best bit was the speed boat ride. The "village" was basically a collection of huts built on water, using wood, straws and coconut leaves as the roof. No one actually lived in these huts - they were merely gift shops/bars/restaurants for tourists. 

One thing that I was really confused about was what the $12 ticket included. I assumed it included a guide that accompanied the boat, but it appeared that the guide on my boat was only showing this Swiss German couple around - not me or the six rowdy American kids. I followed the German couple and the guide for a little while, then walked on by myself. When I returned the original boat had already gone. I waited for other boats and was told that I should only go back in my original boat (which would not be coming back). And I thought it was hop on whichever one was available? Clearly not.

I had a headache all day which did not subside even into the evening for some reason. As I was making my way out to find a restaurant the thunderstorm started and didn't stop for 2-3 hours. There was a lot of rain on my way out which eased off on my way home after dinner. Luckily I had my umbrella which unluckily doubled up as a lightning rod, which was especially worrying when I was walking in the open and the lightning was getting closer (the thunder followed fairly soon after the lightning), more frequent (flashes every 5 seconds or so) and more intense (every flash torched the sky and was brighter than the street lights). It was quite spectacular nonetheless.