Playa Giron & Museo Giron

After that break, we headed towards Playa Giron, also known as the Bay of Pigs. During this portion of the drive, Tony showed us a short video by vox.com on the history of US-Cuba relations and a longer documentary on the same subject. Both documentaries were surprisingly neutral. Between them, they helped put a lot of the random snippets of information in my head into historical context, especially the exhibits I saw at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana.

At the Bay of Pigs, we visited the Museo Giron, a museum focusing on the failed US invasion at that site. There was no English signage at this museum so poor Tony had to interpret everything. On the surface, the exhibits seemed quite factual and neutral; I'm not sure how much Tony filtered his interpretation of the exhibits for his spoken narrative. One exhibit took a lot of care to emphasize that the American prisoners of war were treated well. According to the film we watched earlier on, only exiled Cuban Americans participated in the invasion, and it was quashed within 72 hours. The captured prisoners of war were returned to the US in exchange for baby food and medicine, yet another indication of how economic isolation can negatively impact ordinary people.

I authored an Atlas Obscura entry on the Museo Giron: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museo-giron

We had a swim at the nearby beach after viewing the museum. The beach was rocky, but the water was warm, shallow, and clear. Jeff stepped on a sea urchin and had to dig the spine out of the sole of his foot. After the swim, we headed onwards to Cienfuegos.

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