Hello! In this blog: 22 days in Santiago de Cuba. The most famous place in the province, I am going to tell you about my first visit to Palmasoriano and my long awaited arrival to the town of El Cobre.
Palmasoriano and El Cobre are two municipalities of Santiago de Cuba, El Cobre is a place visited by many people from all over the world because it is home to The Caridad del Cobre Church.
On February 28, Terina and I went to the Santiago train terminal to board a truck that would take us to Palmasoriano, where she lives. The trip took forty-five minutes. On the way, we talked about geology and I could see the love she has for science even though she has decided to leave the profession for good.
Palmasoriano is a country town where people are transported from one place to another in horse-drawn carriages. The people there have a lot of faith in God, so it is common to find signs about it or people greeting you saying ''may God bless you''.
We took one of Palma's cars that took us to Terina's mother's house. Once there I met her nephews.
The kids are very polite and intelligent and they made me play a mobile application that I never understood its logic. Then we went to Terina's house, her boyfriend accompanied us and we had lunch.
The food in Santiago is tasty
In front of Terina's house there is a famous bar in Palma, it is called ''Las Palmas'' . During the day it functions as a cafeteria with soft music and few people. At night there is a party atmosphere with music for dancing and full of people who gather to share, all very relaxed and pleasant.
Around one o'clock in the afternoon we left in a car to El Cobre.
I was able to enter the famous El Cobre Church at the end of the mining town, now they also work with wood to make crosses and religious objects to sell to visitors.
The present church was inaugurated on September 8, 1927, and since its construction it has been isolated on a hill. It is accessed through a staircase of more than 40 steps and protected by a wall with lanterns.
The Virgin of Caridad is in full view of everyone inside the church as it stands on a mobile altar made of marble and silver. The virgin is made of gold and around her are objects of great value.
The virgin is linked to the history of Cuba, since her image was accompanying the troops of the Liberation Army against the Spanish metropolis.
When you enter the church, you can only take pictures from a safe distance.
It took me 20 minutes to see all the inside of the church since I should not take too long because public transportation in Santiago is very bad and even more so in the country towns.
To return to the city we got on a truck that picked us up in front of the El Cobre hotel.
From there you can see the Cimarron Monument, which is on top of a mountain and was erected in memory of the revolt of the town's slave miners in the seventeenth century.
Hope you liked it 😘
In my next blog I will show you the beautiful hairstyles I made during my stay in the province. Would you like to read it?
Thank you very much for opening my blog, have a nice day!
All photos were taken by me.