Impression:
Cuba is a socialist country to the extreme. There is no real
advertising, most things are a ‘set’ price, there is no access to internet and only
government approved phone calls out of the country. Everywhere there are statues of Fidel Castro
and billetons about ‘the revolution always’ and ‘Cuba Libre’. It is unlike anywhere. Everyone knows about
the 1950’s cars on the roads but to be surrounded by vintage cars, old Spanish
buildings, crazy salsa and blaring Cuban music is like being in a time-warp on
acid...maybe...
Havana
After a crazy time in the airport I’m pleased to say Bernie
and I got our visas sorted and made it on the plane, Bernie with 10 minutes to
spare. I have to say the idea of a spontaneous trip to Cuba was so crazy I
never thought I would make it so I was surprised. Havana is a beautiful, big
old city with cobbled streets glowing in the golden lights of the old-fashioned
lamps lining them. There is a beautiful, lush park at every corner and
incredible, big old Spanish buildings. That is in the tourist area. The real
Cuba, where us students stayed, is your usual developing country with beggars,
dogs, fighting, dirty streets that you’re not too sure where to walk on and
completely inaccessible shops and cafe’s so far removed from western society
you don’t even know what you are looking at. This is one of the few cities I
would recommend staying in the heart of tourist land(there aren’t enough
tourists to be a turn off) because it is so incredibly beautiful and unique.
Our time in Havana we spent wandering the cobbled and less
cobbled streets. We visited the oldest Cuban cigar factory(via horse and cart)
and learnt how to roll cigars, decorate them and place them in the beautifully handmade and decorated boxes.
Each person can make about 60 cigars working at full capacity a day. We visited
La Floridita, where Ernest Hemingway used to drink, for some inspiration and a
mojito and then headed down the street to the museum of the revolution, an
exercise in propaganda where the Cuban government has created a shrine to
Fidel, Ernesto and Camilo. That night some local cubano chicos taught us salsa
in Casa dela musica. The Cubans go out to salsa after work and finish at 9pm. The
salsa is vibrant, sexy and fun with lots of little acrobatic moves mixed in to
increase the enjoyment.
Our last night in Havana we spent wandering Viejo-the old
Havana. It was like being on the movie midnight in Paris when he gets sent back
to the 1930’s(but with 1950’s cars). It was so fun and beautiful, very European
but with the lively salsa at every corner. We even watched the players at Buena
Vista social club play(through the window as all good students do). We found a
chocolate factory with the most incredible savoury, nutmeg hot chocolate like
the Aztecs did it and I was in absolute heaven. Havana is amazing and the more
time I spent there, the more I fell in love with it.
Vinales
After our time in the beautiful old Havana we took a luxury
government owned bus to Vinales, a rural town in a national park with trekking,
spelunking, horse riding and rock climbing. The ride was beautiful; past the tobacco plantations, hillside and farm houses. Vinales was one of
those incredibly sleepy rural towns with bright casas, beautiful scenery,
little pot-plants and rocking chairs on every verandah and street signs that
included horses and carts and tractors into the road rules. When our casa owner
didn’t collect us, we followed a woman to her apartment overlooking the valley
where she rented us a little room with access to the rocking chairs and a
balcony. They also cooked us dinners and hooked us up with locals for tours. We
hired bicycles that first day and explored the winding back roads of the town,
past the colourful rural houses, farms and through parts of the hillside. It
was stunning. That day was the famous ‘day of love’ (Valentines day) which the
Cubans take very, very seriously. The phone lines were all busy we were told,
because of the lovers calling each other. That night was a big party with all
the single mob dancing salsa or standing awkwardly in the square. It was
hilarious and fun to watch. The next day we were collected for a hike in the
park. We spent several hours going through the jungle and plantations, stopping
at a lake for a swim before ending up at a farm with a bunch of itlaiano and
cubano chicos. There, a very obliging farmer made us some mojitos, rolled us a
cigar and had a spanglish chat. All in all, Vinales was very chilled and sleepy
with many cheap mojitos to be drunk!
Trinidad
It was in Vinales that the cold reality of the embargo
dawned on me. I had 50 euro, 100 ozzy and 200 US, plenty for 1 week in cuba
with a budget of 250 a week right? Wrong. The embargo means bad US rates with
10% surcharge-don’t bother unless you like losing 25% of you money and no, no
one has heard of Australia here and no one will exchange it. Australian money
is actually worth nothing here. I had $110 for 4 days leading to some extreme
budgeting and removal of non-essentials such as food. This is the reason I
spent 9 hours on a bus with crackers and my trusty vegemite my wonderful mother
gave me which has become an essential part of this trip! It’s also the reason I
decided to push the ‘set’ prices of everything and managed to talk down
accommodation and get some meals included(all in our collective Spanish as no one speaks English here-especially in the our casa). Desperate times. Trinindad is a beautiful, colourful and lively
city on the beach. The streets are cobbled with a good mix of horse and carts,
bicycles and 1950’s cars. The first day we spent cycling to playa del
ancun(18km one way through little beach towns, farm land and amazing coast),
picnicking on our crackers, tomato and a coconut and wandering past some
amazing resorts with tourists frying themselves. The Caribbean beaches are
beautiful with powdery white sand, aqua water and a perfect temperature. The
huts cost 1 CUC but the trees are free!! We raced back just in time for our
salsa lesson with the Cubano Chicos. This was so fun, in a little colourful
courtyard of someone’s house, under a tree with vibrant Cuban music playing. We
aren’t quite experts yet but I loved it!. Every night we headed to the Casa de
la musica to watch more amazing salsa and Cuban musicians. The rest of our days
we wandered the cobbled streets and just soaked up to Cuban vibe.
Accommodation
In Cuba you can stay in Casa Particulars which basically is
just a persons house where they rent you a room for the night. You never know
what you’re going to get. Our first Casa was supposed to be with a paediatrician
and his wife, prebooked. We got there and they were full so we got put in their
neighbours room(3 blocks away). The next few casas were the same story-people
were full so we got sent to neighbours. It is very community orientated, there
is always people you don’t know coming in the house(neighbours, cousins,
brothers etc.) and lots of sharing. It was amazing to stay in a real family’s
home though in one house we awkwardly tried to ignore a domestic between people
we’d never met.
There were lots of religious paintings, plastic flowers and porcelain
figurines. It wasn’t always up to normal standards. Our last casa our room
didn’t have glass in the windows or doors, a basin, toilet seats, water after a
certain time or a door that could close(the toilet wouldn’t flush after Bernie
broke the string off). It was a single mother and son in a little apartment on the fourth
floor of a building in the heart of one of the dodgier parts of Havana. Bernie
sent me to look and I felt so bad I couldn’t say no. The room was the families
and they slept on the couch...What we paid them for one night was more than
what most Cuban families earn in a week so I think we did the right thing. We
had actually run out of money by then so refused breakfast but she made it for
us free anyways and it was the best cooked brekky I’d had all week. The casa’s
were an interesting insight into how the Cuban people actually live and the
food they cooked us was proper Cuban food-beef/pork/chicken/fish/rice/black
beans and maybe vegetables if you are lucky.
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| Advertising in Cuba-Casa Particular |
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| A typical Havana street |
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| Cigar Factory |
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| Ernest Hemingway and me chilling |
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| Casa de la musica: mojitos |
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| Our casa stair case |
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| Vinales streets |
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| Horse and cart traffic |
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| Biking around Vinales |
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| Our rocking chairs overlooking the valley |
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| Cuban cigars in Vinales |
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| Vinales |
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| Propaganda |
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| Trinidad |
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| Biking to Playa Ancon |
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| Cubanos Chilling at the beach |
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| Trinidad streets |
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| Our casa's breakfast |
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| A church in Havana |
Once again this blog is too long but Cuba is an insane and
amazing country and half a page will never do it justice. It was unlike
anywhere I’ve ever been and will ever go. In a couple of years when the embargo
is lifted it will change in a way that is hopefully good for the people but sad
for the place. I feel lucky to have seen this snapshot of a country that seems
to be frozen in time.
