Tuxpan - Day 2 and Moving On

Museum of Mexico-Cuba Frienship

This morning we made the short walk past the plaza to the river and took a water taxi to the other side of the Rio Tuxpan.  Our objective was a sight that Brenda had found in the touring guide: Museo de Amistad Mexico-Cuba (The museum of Mexico-Cuba Friendship).

According to the guide, "Fidel Castro stayed in this suburban house in 1956 while planning the infiltration of Cuba."  The property was rather large, with three buildings: the main house, a building that was used as some sort of dormitory, and what looks like a large garage with a big mural of Che Guevera on the front.  Unfortunately two of the three buildings were closed for renovation work, but the original house was open for viewing.  Inside were many photographs, a few uniforms, a birth certificate that I think was Che's, and other such displays.   In the center of the main room was a model of the western part of Cuba where Fidel landed.  What follows is what I was told at the center.

Fidel "purchased" the house by accident.  He really wanted to purchase a motor launch named "Granma" from two Americans but they would sell only the house with the boat as a package deal.  Fidel agreed and paid $10,000 for the boat, which was moored in the river in front of the house, with the promise to pay the rest later. 

Robert, Brenda, and Che

The official story is that Fidel and his group were on the grounds for only a few hours for loading up the boat before departing for Cuba.  But some of the locals remember meeting Fidel, Che, and others of the group when they were children and did various gardening jobs around the property. The full story may never be known but it is likely that Fidel and his group used the house for 17 months.  There is talk of military training on local ranches. 

Fidel and 81 men departed for Cuba on 25 Nov 1956 and 2 days later the boat began taking on water.  They made it to Cuba on 2 Dec 1956, two days later than they had expected, because the boat that was built to accommodate about 20 people was so grossly overloaded.

Although the 2-story house looks solid with its cement block construction it is falling apart and will be demolished next April to be replaced by a replica. 

The Cubans consider 25 Nov 1956 the beginning of their revolution and every year send a delegation to Tuxpan to commemorate the event.  In 1988 Fidel Castro made his third visit to the site to "donate" the house to the city and dedicate it as a museum.  In fact the property was not Castro's to donate because he never made the second payment and therefore never owned it.  The American owners abandoned the house and a local lived in it for many years taking care of it. Then the city of Tuxpan expropriated it to turn it into a museum.

When we got back to the north side of the river we searched for "Omnibus Mexicana", a company that was alleged to provide transport all of the way to Zacatecas, north of San Luis Potosi.  They were supposed to be located under the bridge but we were not able to find it.  We gave up but got lucky and stumbled upon it on the way back to the hotel.  They did indeed offer a service from Tuxpan to Zacatecas, leaving at 8 PM and arriving 10 hours later.  Brenda brought up the idea of leaving tonight instead of tomorrow night and after some discussion that's what we decided.  There was no big reason for spending another day in this city and to have done that would have presented the problem of what to do with ourselves and our gear after checking out.  I purchased the tickets (658 pesos each) then we returned to the hotel for a nap and showers before we departed for the bus station.

We decided to make the long jump to Zacatecas because we had no desire to spend more time in San Luis Potosi and wanted to avoid Tampico, which did not appeal to us.  Zacatecas, on the other hand, is of great interest to us and puts us in back on the NW side of Mexico, poised for a leisurely trip to Chihuahua.