That’s Ernesto above – the Santa Clara taxi driver who made my visits to Cuba so much better. He took us to the most picturesque places in Central Cuba: to national parks with hiking trails, lakes and waterfalls, to the northern beaches, to colonial towns like Trinidad, Remedios and Sancti Spiritus, to cultural treasures like Cienfuegos and the Harvard Botanical Gardens.
Every morning, at whatever hour we’d set the evening before – 8.00, 8.30 – Ernesto would honk the horn of his precious white Peugeot in front of the door of our casa particular and sit there patiently till we’d gathered up our stuff and piled into the car.
And all the while he was driving, Ernesto was thinking of ways to make our trip better. It could be anything, from stopping at a little mountain café where they grow, roast and serve their own delicious coffee, to taking us on an impromptu bird-watching walk in the forest, to finding out where peasants serve a multi-course lunch in their own home for $3 per person. To locate such places, he’d stop a farmer on horseback or maybe one cycling home from his fields and just ask: “Is there a good place to eat around here?” Most of the time people would know about where to get home-cooked meals or meals of grilled fresh trout from a nearby lake. Here he is, waiting for our order to be served and showing a local child how to work his phone.
Travels in Cuba 