Maria la Gorda

For one of my last weeks in CUBA, my favourite place in the world. One of my friends suggested visiting Maria La Gorda (which translates as Maria the fat girl), in the far west of Cuba. When she said we'd have to hitchike to get there for some of it, I was a bit apprehensive. The LONELY PLANET described it as having loads of crabs on the beach and very secluded. We got a maquina ( taxi, used by locals) which costed arund 50 cuc ( as there were four us, we chipped in around 12/13 each), which took us near Vinales, and we had to hike around 40 mins on a bumpy road. Luckily, my friend Rosie had a contact for someone who was renting rooms on the beach, the sun was setting as we arrived and dead crabs were in sight! We were fortunate enough to findsome men who had just finished fishing and were kind enough to give us their fish, which the lady in our casa cooked for us. It was phenomenal, fresh fish straight the sea. I was attacked by mosquitos most of the time whch was absolutely horrid. Huge bumps covered my legs as I awoke the next morning. Lazing on the beach was the best part, quite daunting having to go back home where good weather and fresh food are not in abundance! Finding our way back home the next day was hard, we ended up in a random town as we got a truck to take us to the closest place to Havana. We ended up staying at a random casa. In Spanish, casa means house of course, however, as only some houses are allowed to hire out rooms, they are referred to as a casa particular. This is usually indicated on the doors of houses, orange triangles mean you can only rent to Cubans, blue triangles mean you can rent to foreigners.

Maria la Gorda

Maria la Gorda translates as MARIA THE FAT GIRL, and sits in the far east of Cuba. I was a little aprehensive about going to MLG as it involved hiking or pedir un raite as they say in Cuba. This is often encouraged within Cuba, as a communist society, it's a way of helping others out. I was rest assured by my friend Rosie, it'll be fine.



Lonely Planet says MLG is full of crabs, which it was , but they were mostly dead. On arrival, we were lucky enough to be befriended by locals who had caught some huge fish and gave us one. In our casa particular (which we hired on the beach) the owner of the casa cooked it for us! It was so nice to have fresh food!

The beach was stunning; sand so white and water so clear. The pic above was of a turtle head , which the locals mentioned they had to get rid off. The Cuban government get quite suspicious of certain possessions that Cubans have. They could be easily arrested for something like having a turtle head. As silly as it sounds! Cubans also shouldn't have beef in their homes as all the cows belong to Fidel. Lobster is also something fishermen should not have in their possession!

We ended up hitchhiking back to Havana. Here we are...Rosie and I in the back of a truck. Hitchhiking is common here in Socialist Cuba.

Whilst we were waiting on another ride, we saw these two women processing sugar cane. My fave!

Here we are in the back of another truck with some locals...heading over to Havana. I love the Cuban way of life. Communism has taught me so much. You really feel the comraderie here. Everyone is watching out for one another!