Near Caibarién an open-air museum with old locomotives, built around 1900, tempted us before we went on to Remedios. The engines were great to look at, and some of them actually still seem to run.
In the cab of a 1914 locomotive
In the distance an old locomotive came chugging in from Remedios with tourists. A chat with the two drivers, and on the way back we were allowed to ride in the cab of a 1914 locomotive – right up close to their work in the heat. A little childhood dream. Back in Caibarién we drove on to Remedios, one of the loveliest little towns of our trip: small, easy to take in, not yet overrun, with a cosy feel and lots of charming corners. Remedios is the oldest Spanish settlement in the former province of Las Villas and is considered the cradle of the Parrandas, one of the oldest and largest street festivals in the Caribbean, which it celebrates together with Caibarién, seven kilometres away.
A rusty PARE sign against a cloudy sky near Caibarién.The gate of the Museo de la Agroindustria Azucarera, the sugar mill chimney behind.A green wall and the tender Luis Arcos Bergnes.The Patio Marcelo level crossing, locomotive 1429 steaming in behind.Pressure gauges in the cab of the old steam locomotive.Along the boiler onto the tracks.Red driving gear and a thumbs-up in front of locomotive 1429.In the cab of a 1914 locomotive – a small childhood dream.View from the cab and a driver at the levers.From the train: a man waving in the tall grass.A man in a hat waving between the trees.A cyclist at the white-and-red gate with a Cuban flag.The driver at the open window.Hands on the red valves, the fire glowing – right up close to the work in the heat.The smokebox door of locomotive 1429.A cyclist on the country road between palms.Fuel-Oil on a purple tank.Tank wagons in the yard and a white bell tower.Counter, chairs and a fridge in a small bar in Remedios.The yellow church with its bell tower in Remedios.A cyclist in front of the yellow church façade.A peeling façade with green shutters and a blue door.White, ochre and blue – peeling paint on a house wall.Cafetería Chiquita on a turquoise wall.Turquoise doors and shutters.Dios es amor on a weathered wooden door.Hands with a purse above a sales case.Straw hat, sunglasses and a broad smile at the market.Two faces behind a stall of records and pictures.A La Diana cigar label beside a small photograph.A man sitting in a room full of pictures.A barber's shop behind an orange façade, a bicycle in front.A red classic car and a cyclist before a colonial façade.A banknote in hand, an orange cap on his head.A PARE sign on a cracked wall and the Cafetería Oferta menu.A dark classic car on a street of pastel houses.A burgundy classic car with a wide chrome front – Remedios, small and not yet overrun.A sofa in the narrow passage behind the open door.A cyclist in a red shirt in front of two doors.Headscarf, colourful blouse and a smile against an orange wall.An open book and a saint's figure in a shrine.Planks inside the church in Remedios, the altar still standing.A tall row of palms on a green meadow.A track between palms and a cow against the light.A truck kicking up dust, palms in the low sun.
