Camagüey The “City of Churches”:

Camagüey is Cuba’s third-largest city and is unlike any other on the island due to its intentional maze-like layout, originally designed to confuse invading pirates. It’s a clean labyrinth best explored on foot or via bici-taxis. As “the city of churches”, it has the highest rate of Catholic churches per capita in Cuba. Also known as the “cultural capital of the interior”, it is home to a world-class ballet company and a massive community of potters and painters who have turned the city into an open-air gallery.

• Ballet:  Camagüey is a hub for the arts with the second most prestigious ballet company in the country after Havana’s.  
  
  
• Music & Arts: You’ll find a high concentration of independent art galleries and orchestra chamber members throughout the city. The most prominent gallery is that of Martha Jimenez whose work has reached international recognition with her whimsical paintings and culturally based sculptures focused on the role of women within a society. 
  
  
• Social Projects: 
  • Martha Jimenez also founded “pinceles del beso de la alma” – pencils with a kiss of the soul. It’s a social project that brings the study and experience of art to local children.  Visitors often support this outreach by bringing supplies and participating in art that crosses borders and cultures connecting with the kids. 
    
    
  • Carsuenos is another projected dedicated to local children and those fighting illnesses where women volunteer to sew and restore dolls as gifts and for sale to support the project.  Many visitors bring fabric, buttons, googly eyes and more for donations.  Here you’ll also learn how they recycle to creat their own stuffing for the dolls with antique machinery.  You may also have the opportunity to visit the Guiness book of world records largest doll in the world – towering several building stories! 
    
    
• Be a Part of the Art: Make sure to grab a picture in the Plaza del Carmen to sit and see the famous life-sized bronze sculptures of local characters.
  
  
• The Legend of the Tinajones: You will see giant earthenware jars (tinajones) everywhere. Local legend says that if you drink water from one, you are destined to return to the city.