Definitely Different - Cuba

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People we have talked to tend not to rave about Cuba. Interesting and nice sums it up. Some of those who take tours seem not to get out and and about too much and there is sometimes a feeling that there are barriers between foreigners and tourists. After a week here we can understand the reactions we have seen and heard. Luckily for us though we are coming to a different conclusion. Not sure what it will be but, at this stage, it is all about difference.

Cuba has had a communist government since the early '60s. Apart from the horns and tails, communists tend to have countries that are dull, grey and pretty boring with people scared to say anything that the government doesn't like. Right? Nothing will work and people won't really like having tourists around much? Not much fun to be had. People all heavily controlled and repressed. Singing? Dancing? Nothing like that of course. No money about, no trading, no life? This is not a description of the Cuba we experienced.

Above all, Cuba is a place that's very hard to classify. Not developed but the infrastructure has certainly been good. Part of Latin America but with a lot less on sale and not so many cars, with a lot of those pre-1959 vintage US. Massive Russian built concrete apartment blocks dotted among the pre-1900 Spanish villas. Everything, except the state owned facilities, needs some care and attention. Bunnings would have a field day here – if the Cubans could afford to buy the hardware. Markets that don't have the abundance of fresh food you might expect but with a lot of apparently productive land that seems not to be terribly well utilised.

Some of my generation will remember the stories of the Cuban revolution. The little band of guerrillas led by Fidel Castro that fought the Batista regime. The US and some other countries upset with the movement of the new regime towards some sort of socialism. The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile A crisis when the young US President faced down the Soviet Union. All scary stuff when presented to most of us through the prism of media analysis that couldn't quite say that Batista wasn't a murderous thug but also couldn't quite accept that a new Cuban government could have the right to take a path that the US, and some others, didn't like.

The Cuban revolution is now getting on a little. They are celebrating the 53rd official year of the revolution in 2011. It could be just hitting its prime, but it isn't. It could be moving like China or Vietnam to embrace the values and benefits of a more mixed economy and it is – at least a little bit. It has an education system that would make many more developed countries blush. It is able to trade qualified doctors for oil. But its public transport system – in a country with a low level of car ownership – is based on large, and very uncomfortable, trucks Horses and carts are very common forms of transport and bicycle taxis are much more common that the motorised form in most towns.

You can't really escape the Revolution. It is all the billboards talk about. Graffiti – if that is the right term for it – is all about the Revolution. There is no advertising of anything else. Although we were very interested in both the history and how it all works, we didn't come here to sort out Cuba's problems. We came to have a look, to experience the place and meet people so I had better move on to some of that.

Getting in wasn't completely straightforward. After we made it across the sea from Cancun, on a Yak42, of Cubana Airlines and passed through immigration – no different from any other and less itimidating than some – we came to a queue. People, Cubans and foreigners alike were sorting themselves into to queues to get through customs. We didn't really know whether we had anything to declare or not but, while we debated, a personable official fronted up and took us under his wing – sort of. He was interested in what sorts of cameras we had, money etc. All pretty standard sort of stuff in countries that want to be pretty sure that you intend to leave again and will have the wherewithal to do so. Until he came across my Garmin Etrex. This is a hand held GPS that is very handy for a lot of things but excellent for getting you back to your hotel when lost. Without this device we would actually be forced to pay attention to what we are doing.

For a while it looked as if the Garmin was going to stay with the customs people until we left the country but Adam's language skills, and just maybe the knowledge that most I-phones have the same capacity – and half the passengers would have had them – saved the day. Adam had to sign a document that said we would leave Cuba with the device. I had planned to make some extra money flogging it off here but I suppose that would put him in a difficult position.

We stayed in the Hotel Victoria in Havana. Not at the top of the tree but not at the bottom either. In what seems to be a reasonable part of town, close to the sea front but a goodly walk from the centre and the old city. An olde worlde feel about the place. A restaurant that served very good food but very few people in it. A barman who was able to talk for 15 minutes about the best rum to buy for what purpose, but only in a form of Spanish that none of us, unfortunately including Adam, could really follow for more than the occasional word.

Havana is a big city. I can't say what it is like in the suburbs but we had a pretty good look around the centre both on foot and on a Hop On Hop Off bus. You are struck immediately by both the grandeur and the dilapidation of many of the houses. It has since become clear that ordinary people simply don't have the resources to spend on the upkeep of a lot of their houses. And a lot of these houses need a lot of upkeep. Since Havana we have been inside a lot of houses though and we have a better idea about their priorities. The exterior is not as high a priority as the interior. A house that may look pretty rough on the outside can be quite lovely on the inside.

Money is more an issue here than in most countries we have visited. Foreigners are supposed to operate only with CUCs – Cuban Convertible Pesos – where locals use National currency. Both are called pesos but the CUCs are worth anything from 20 to 40 times as much as the local currency. Cubans can use CUCs as well and they like them a lot. Thus, they tend to rather like tourists – or at least their money – but when is it any different?

Walking around on our first morning not knowing where we were really going, and not really caring all that much either, a random bloke passing, apparently out for a walk with his daughter, seemed to offer to take us to where the rumba competition was being held. This sounded reasonable, so we went along. Not without some minor trepidation, though, which increased a little as we walked down streets that seemed unlikely to have seen too many tourists. No sign of the centre of town or the rumba competition but we eventually came to a delightful little street that was also some sort of community development project aimed at something. Perhaps they really wanted to get money off tourists and hadn't really thought it all through. A little art gallery and some public art that wasn't too bad but there really was no focus to it all. No real way of putting it on us to spend. We said our Adios's and off we went, having parted with a small tip for the bloke's time – a smaller amount I must say than I suspect he would have liked to receive.

It was New Years Eve and we were keen to locate a place that might serve as a venue for the celebration. The Nacionale Hotel was supposedly the venue of the last major mafia/mob meeting before they, and the rest of the Norte Americanos left when Fidel took over. It was very pleasant and just around the corner from our pub but we did a little more checking at a more down market venue or two as well. The sight of elderly and generally decrepit western blokes with young Cuban women put us off a little there.

The rest of the group were to fly into Havana late in the afternoon of New Years Eve. The four of them had been on an epic trip from Darwin, through Brisbane, Los Angeles, Dallas, Cancun and then to Havana. For a while we had some concerns that they wouldn't make it before midnight but they duly arrived with a few hours to spare. Apparently, the little Yak had developed a liking for Mexico and it took them 3 tries to take off and get to Cuba. The Nacionale was the venue for midnight drinks, rum was most definitely the drink of choice and there were even a couple of very nice Cuban cigars. The latter were much, much too nice for some of us but none have broken back.

We had organised a tour through a firm called Cuban Adventures. As we understood it this was a company that is the local partner for a number of the bigger tour operators. We dealt with them direct for a considerably cheaper price. Tony, the guide, held the standard meeting late on New Years Day. I suspect that he wasn't absolutely sure what to make of 8 Australians who clearly knew each other very well. For our part we were impressed. He seemed to know his stuff, be well organised and to have a sense of humour.

The bus next morning was a bit of a shock. Transtur are obviously a major bus company for tourists here. This was a pretty new 19 seat bus. The 8 of us with the driver and guide rattled around a bit but it was very comfortable and handy. Handier still when it turned out that our driver, Ricardo, was both an excellent driver and a very good bloke and that our first impressions of Tony, the guide, were well and truly borne out.

After another run around Havana, this time with a lot more information being provided, we hit the freeway. And it was a freeway. Pretty much free of cars that is. Traffic really isn't that much of an issue, although, if you do see a car, then it could be worth a second look. I hope that Cuba does eventually find a way that is acceptable to it to open up – so to speak – and, when it does, there will be a sale of these veteran cars that will shake up the lovers of such machinery. They may not be in pristine condition and they could have any kind of motor in them, but a lot of them look great.

Cuba likes its heroes. Fidel gets a run of course, although he doesn't seem to get the prominence that you might have expected. Nothing like what you might have seen in China or the Soviet Union in their heyday. Jose Marti who is said to be the brains behind the first Cuban revolution in the late 1800's and Antonio Maceo who led the actual fighting in those very early days are very well remembered everywhere with most towns having streets named after them. Camilo Cienfuegos, who was one of the key leaders of the 1959 campaign – and who apparently died in a plane crash as victory was at hand – is someone that we didn't hear much of in the west but is revered here. But without any doubt, no one comes close to Che Guevara.

The image of Che is everywhere. Without him – or I guess without him being dead – souvenir shops would be empty, bill boards, T-shirts, caps, cigarette lighters, key rings … would all be blank. In some places Camilo is given equal billing – the National Museum of the Revolution seems to be trying to keep them equal – but there is no doubt that Che is the man. You do wonder, just occasionally, whether a live Che, or Camilo for that matter, would be the subject of so much hero worship.

Santa Clara is the site of a famous battle where Che led the revolutionaries against Batista's troops and is now the site of a large memorial to Che. It is an impressive edifice and well worth seeing. It is high on symbolism but doesn't have a lot of other material so may not take a long time. There is a copy of the famous letter on display there. This is the one that Che sent to Fidel resigning from all Cuban posts and renouncing his Cuban citizenship before he headed off to assist others with their revolutions. There are clearly some who are still inclined to think that Fidel may have had more to do with the death of Che than the CIA and the Bolivian army. I will say that the letter makes it clear that all was not well between Fidel and Che at the time.

Cienfuegos was our first experience of casa particulares. These are the homes that have been licensed to let rooms to foreigners. In our experience so far these are most definitely the places to stay. In Cienfuegos we stayed at the house of Emilio and Madellina. Very nice people who fed us well and provided a comfortable and very clean room for us to use. Just 2 rooms can be let out by a householder so the group was therefore split among 4 places. The experience of all of us of the casa particulares has been excellent.

In Cienfuegos we started to appreciate that Cuba outside Havana is different. Cienfuegos is situated on a bay that is attractive without being spectacular. Architecture is much the same as elsewhere. Spanish houses are the order of the day and there doesn't seem to be another 'Cuban' style. Houses typically don't have high 'street appeal' but often have courtyards or at least some sort of outside area 'inside' the confines of the house.

Life in Cienfuegos seems to centre on the streets around the bay and on the town square. A town used to tourists, but perhaps not overwhelmed with curiosity about them. This I think this was the only town where the beggars wore a kind of uniform of a pale yellow shirt and a denim skirt or jeans. The beggars were very interested in us but they seemed to be confined to the main square and weren't much of an issue.

Trinidad, on the other hand, is very keen on tourists and seems to like having them around. We enjoyed Trinidad and stayed for a few days. Our accommodation was excellent in the house next door to the house of Jesus. Casa particulares seem often to be concentrated in particular areas. Jesus was the key contact who organised the houses for each of the group. It would not be hard to believe that Jesus is on the way to having a very nice backpackers place but he cannot, of course, let more than 2 rooms – at the moment. The place we stayed was next door and it was clear that the modifications to join the two would be minor. Illegal of course, but, as they say in Cuba, illegal but not impossible.

Trinidad is an easy city to navigate. The main square, half way up the side of the hill on which the town is built is not flash as town squares go but it has a set of steps which are where the action happens at night. Live bands playing salsa music bring the tourists and the locals together. Rum is added to the mix and the place gets lively. Cubans love salsa and the music pours out of everywhere, always at the highest decibels that can be achieved by the relevant equipment. It takes little effort to have them moving to the salsa beat. I think that I can fairly report that, even after a salsa lesson for an hour in the house of Jesus, and with the addition of amounts of rum, none of us were able to get as loose as any Cuban of any age when the salsa music starts.

The beach at Trinidad is 14 kms from the town but we made the effort to get out there to have a look and have a fish bar-b-que. The multi talented Jesus took over organisation and we had a good feed. I will say that it took a couple of Australians to get a decent fire going.

In a village close to Trinidad is the house of a couple of brothers who have carried on the family business as potters for well over 100 years. There were very few businesses that were permitted to continue to operate privately after the Revolution but this family did and they continue to do so. It seems that the family has political skills in addition to their skills on the wheel. Photos of Fidel and Raul adorn the walls. We ended up with pottery to add to our collection of Cuban souvenirs. Pottery, of course, for us, is a silly souvenir. How will be get it home in its current number of pieces? But it is pretty good so we will have a go.

We carry on now around Cuba, through Camaguey in the centre of the long island, down to Santiago de Cuba, then along the coast and over to Barracoa. From there we will fly back to Havana where we will spend some days before flying back to Cancun from which we will continue south – more or less. The internet is not flash here though so it is likely that this post will go up at the same time as the next, so you can probably read the next instalment almost immediately.

Long time readers will note that there are fewer photos than normal and that they aren't so good. That is because Patricia's computer can't read her flash RAW photos and we are stuck with just mine. Some good photos will be put up when she solves her computer issues. My computer issues, as all can see, are fixed - for the moment.

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Photos

Interesting Start
The Yak 450 pumps a bit of cool air through the cabin at take off. All normal and nothing to worry about. Good pic though

Habana
Interesting street that we found - with the help of our new best friend.

Art Work On the School
Havanna

Old and New-ish
The one behind is a sort of apartment block of 30 odd floors. Good view from the top over the whole of Havanna. Old one in front is typical of a lot.

Street Walker
Not so many cars but some excellent looking roads. Maintenance can be an issue

Group On Patrol
All together for a while and checking out the HOHO bus

Che Writ Large
Revolution Square Havanna

Tight Trinidad Streets
Our bus and Ricardo near the place we were staying

Sugar cane Valley
It used to be very productive and may be again, if it happens

The Fire
It was pretty basic until Graham did his thing