We were all packed to start our journey to Jibacoa. The only thing left to do was shopping for some food in the morning, as we were told by our hosts that it is not that easy to get food around the campismo. Now I wish we did take advice a bit more literally. We did get a few things, but it turned out that even bread is difficult to come by in Jibacoa.
At 12 in the afternoon we took a taxi down to Casablanca train station, we actually had to explain to the taxi driver how to get there as he didn’t seem to have a clue. We made it there just five minutes before the train was due to leave. This train track was buit by a french chocolate company in order to improve sugar logistics from Cuba. Now it is just used as a passenger line connecting Havana and Matanzas.
To our great surprise and contradicting all of the guide books, the train, tiny thing with just one carriage, was already at the platform. We grabbed tickets and got in, the only foreigners there. The train stopped approximately every ten minutes in places which we were surprised had a station at all. At the stop where the sugar factory used to be we had a long 15 min break. At the platform people were selling food and drinks and nearly everyone on the train got a snack. At that stop we picked up quite a few school kids travelling back home. Everyone on the train was extremely friendly and it was really a nice experience.
When we arrived at Jibacoa we found ourselves practically in the middle of fields, hills and nothingness. To our luck a few school kids got out with us and showed us the direction we needed to go to reach the campismo. It was probably about 7 – 8 km away from the station which is a big distance if you have backpacks to carry. For about 15 min the only person we saw there was a guy on the horse whom we asked, how far is the campismo and he said, very reassuringly, far! For about 10 min we didn’t see anything and then there was a truck! They stopped and kindly offered us to climb in the back where normally tar was transported. This was our first hitchhiking experience in Cuba. They took us almost all the way to the sea. From there on we had to walk for about 2 km more. On the way we met a guy on a small motorbike who straight away offer us snorkeling equipment and also kindly took me to the camping site on the back of his bike, poor Alex had to walk.
It took us a bit of time to register and get keys for our cabana, as about another 20 people arrived with a bus just before us. When we got our little house we were pleased to find it neat clean and with working aircon. After settling down we went on to explore the local beach which was just perfect! The exhausting journey was really worth the first swim in the ocean.
