A fabulous coincidence.....

Santa Clara was the site of a pivotal battle during the Revolution. Ernesto Che Guevara was heading towards Santa Clara and got wind that Batista was sending a train laiden with armaments to through the town to his front line troops. The revolutionaries held down the troops and dismantled some of the railway line so that when the train arrived it was disrailed, and their small amount of men were able to bluff the army into surrendering. When Batista heard this he fled the country.

The railway carriages are now part of a memorial commemorating the battle, along with the bulldozer that they used to pull up the track!

When we arrived at the site it was heaving with school children and parents.  The 8th October is the day that the remains of Che were repatriated to Cuba after being found in Bolivia in 1997. He was buried with full military honours in Santa Clara. In Cuba all school children wear different colour uniforms depending on their school year, when they are aged 6 they receive a blue neck scarf and the ceremony is held on 8th October as a mark of respect. So all of the parents had come with the school to see the children receive their first scarf. And schools across the country would be undertaking the same ceremony in various places relevant to the Revolution. 

It was lovely to watch a rite of passage for all of the beaming children and the parents were taking photos to mark the occasion.

Next stop was Che Guevara's mausoleum. Photos were not allowed to be taken inside, where he rests with some of his fallen comrades. It was a fairly modest mausoleum (especially compared to Lenin's tomb in Moscow, which is so over the top), but it felt fitting for a person they consider to be a national hero.

Another fairly long bus drive followed, back through Havana, then on to the western peninsular and Vinales. I had spoken to Cuban earlier in the day in Santa Clara and he had announced Vinales to be the most beautiful place in Cuba!

En route we started to notice unusual shaped barns appear on the landscape - the drying barns for tobacco. We stopped at a farm and the farmer showed us the tobacco process, and how they were rolled, no virgin's thighs involved I am afraid! I did have a quick puff but as soon as the photo was taken almost choked!

Not my style!