Cigars and Rum in Old Havana

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Last week, Berm and I arrived in Havana, Cuba, for the start of three and a half weeks of travelling around the largest island in the Caribbean. During our first few days, we stayed with the family of a Cuban doctor who rents out rooms in their grand colonial house, right in the heart of Old Havana. Being in Havana is like experiencing a time warp into the past - the streets are filled with a strange mix of classic 1950s cars and beat-up, little Russian ladas, Minsk motorcyles and Soviet-era trucks. The architecture of Old Havana includes an incredible mixture of sixteenth century fortresses and plazas, nineteenth century colonial mansions and grand storefronts, and postcard-perfect Art Deco edifices. We began our immersion into Cuban culture with a few days of wandering the city, making visits to such important Cuban institutions as the Partagas cigar factory and the Havana Club Rum Museum. Berm bought a few of Cuba's finest cigars from the factory to try, but it seems like every few blocks, there is an enterprising Cuban offering us a great deal on 'top quality' cigars. Havana takes its cigars and rum very seriously!



The other thing that we have noticed is that everyone in Havana is a musician - every restaurant and bar has a great band to accompany your drinks or meal. We've enjoyed everything from caribbean classics over snacks at the local brewery, to a fantastic flamenco performance complete with stomping dancers.



After a few days acclimatizing in Havana, we travelled to the Vinales valley, one of the premier tobacco growing regions of Cuba, also renowned for its strange geological formations, known as 'mogotes'. We walked out into the countryside to get a close up view of the Dos Hermanas (Two Sisters), the largest of these boulder like hills that rise straight up from the floor of the valley. Even in the middle of nowhere, we were spotted by a local farmer who slyly offered to sell us the 'best quality cigars' on the cheap!



The other highlight of our stop in Vinales was another ecological wonder, the caves of Santo Tomas, which at 46 kilometres and eight levels, are one of the largest cave systems in Latin America. We trekked for an hour and half through various caverns, including one with a resident owl population and a floor littered with tiny mice bones to prove it, and another with hollow stalactites that sounded like an eerie zylophone when they were tapped. Our guide played them well enough to get a round of applause from our little group.



Our next stop was Maria La Gorda, a point on the farthest southwestern tip of the island. There is almost nothing there except for a hotel, diving centre, a few restaurants and a great beach. The place was designed for relaxation, and our planned one night stay quickly transformed into three nights. We did some diving and walked the beach and shoreline trials, which were scattered with conch shells, beautiful chunks of coral and other great finds. We had many wildlife sightings during those three days, including Cuban bee hummingbirds, which are the world's smallest birds, huge brown pelicans crusing along the shoreline, and a metre and a half long Marlin-like fish that one of the boat staff caught on our way to that morning's diving site. The irony of the catch on our way to admire sealife was not lost on us, but I have to admit that the fish at dinner that night was fantastic. We also ate every meal under the matchful eyes of the hotel's 14 cats! We finally convinced ourselves that we should move on to other destinations, and yesterday we headed back to Havana to plot the next leg of the adventure...

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Photos

Che Guevara Memorial
The iconic image of the Cuban Revolution...also on every postcard and T-shirt in Havana

Ali on the Malecon
Relaxing on the Havana seawall, with the sun shining and the waves crashing around us.

Berm and a friend
The other guy didn't have much to say, but they seemed to get along pretty well.

My new vice??
I probably won't be taking up cigar smoking, but this photo op was too hard to resist.

Sunset over Havana...
best enjoyed with a mojito in hand.

Trains?
Not sure why there is a train yard full of rusty trains right behind the capitol building in downtown Havana, but one of the workers was more than happy to let us wander around.

Havana Vieja
Some of the old buildings on a square in "Old Havana"

Lunchtime band
The band at the local brewery, and one of the local characters...

Street art...
lines the buildings and alleyways of Old Havana

Flamenco!
Fabulous!

Eerie caves!
The blue blur is our guide playing the musical stalactites

Caving in Santo Tomas
No comments on the mandatory helmet, please.

Maria la Gorda
The white sand beach at Maria la Gorda

Beaches and cats
When you're on a Caribbean beach, you just don't expect to be accosted by a cat looking for a lap to sit on...but Cuba is full of the unexpected.

Cuban Bee Hummingbird
The smallest bird in the world

Cuban Emerald Hummingbird
Berm snuck in for this great close up...

Comments

[krista]

yay for travels!
hi berm and allisson, looks like a blast :) my friend was just in cuba and took the same shot of her with that random stiff looking friend you found, berm. :) great shots!! love the flamenco capture :) safe journeys, krista

[Tim]

Barracoa
Hi Alison- hope you guys are having a blast. We did. Some nutty times in Santiago (psycho cab drivers at the bus station, illegal casa with sketchzilla for a host, a cat fighting a rooster outside our window...cold deepfried hotdogs for breaky... funny in retrospect but not at the time), but Holguin was fun and I absolutely loved Barracoa. We ended up staying there for 8 days. After Santiago it was perfect as there is absolutely zero hustle going on in Barracoa and it was relentless in Santiago. The odd person trying to sell handicrafts or baking on the beach, but that's about it. The hiking around Barracoa is great. El Yunque was pretty challenging, kind of like doing the grouse grind twice but in 35 degree heat. Its the only one that is very hard, though and the views from the top are stunning. The rest of them are fun but not hard. Tons of birds and flowers in Humbolt park. We didn't see any manatees unfortunately, but the bay they graze in was worth a visit. Lots of pristine freshwater swimming options as well as the ocean. Personally I prefer the ocean and the beach was great, empty but great. The baby beach pigs are about the cutest things I've ever seen. There are a ton of casas in Barracoa, the one we were at was great but we talked to other people who were pretty much staying in caves. Ours was called Casa Reubin and Yindra. Its a couple blocks off the Malecon and about 4 from both the Viazul station and the Casa de Trova for music. There is a huge balcony with ocean and mountain views, the room was great, airy and really clean, always hot water in the shower, the food was amazing, chocolate with breakfast even - that said, its pretty easy to self cater in Barracoa, its a tiny town and the markets are easy to find and well stocked, if you can't find anything in town head out the road to Moa. The town is small enough that we walked everywhere. Reubin and Yindra are at: Coliseo #31 alto between Marti and Maceo phone [phone] it was 20 a night, 3 for breakfast and 8 for dinner. Breakfast was the ususal juice, coffee, fruit, eggs and this delicious hot chocolate. Dinner is pretty much whatever you want, we ate alot of fish, but I suspect Yindra would be fine with veggie dishes if thats what you wanted. They don't speak English, but are very patient and super nice. Viva Cuba Libre! Tim