Havana, Cuba (March 2011)

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The taxi dropped us off in downtown Havana at the square near the Plaza de la Revolución where all the buses pass by (so you can go anywhere in Havana from that square). For the first night in Havana, we went to a part of town near the Plaza (toward Chinatown) where there were many casas particulares and stayed at this really small one. It was pretty dingy for $25 per night. The owner also offered to make us dinner at a reasonable cost. It wasn’t great but much more edible than any food we found outside. Internet was only available at major hotels downtown but connection was slow everywhere.

The next day when we met up with a couchsurfer, he recommended a casa particular that belonged to the mother of a friend of his. We stayed there the rest of our time in Havana (4 days) and she charged us $15 per night. We were able to use the kitchen which was great. She didn’t speak any English but was used to having foreigners who don’t speak much Spanish so she is really good at gesturing what she wants to say. It was so hilarious watching her “talk” with so much drama, emotions and expressive gestures and exaggerations, it was like watching a show. She was really wonderful and we had a great time staying at her house.

We took a local bus along the coast eastward to a beach about an hour from Havana but I don’t remember the name. It was a very long beach and very beautiful but there were dead jellyfish everywhere. It was jellyfish season so not many people were in the water.

One night, we hung out at the malecon and avenida 23 with many locals and couchsurfers from different countries. The malecon was packed with people drinking and socializing, it was like a huge street party. A couple from Europe told us that they were travelling in South America and when they wanted to go to Mexico (because their return flight to Europe was from Mexico), they ended up getting a ticket that took them to US somewhere, then to Cuba and then to Mexico. It was cheaper than flying direct to Mexico and this was the reason that they were in Cuba.

There is a specific place in Havana where you can find all the intercity taxis. I don’t know the name. We were just told to take a bus and get off at a certain stop. There was a big parking lot full of taxis. We were not as good at negotiating and settled for $25 for Santa Clara.

We found that whenever we bought ready made food like pizza, sweets, sandwiches, etc., it tasted truly awful. We did read up on Cuba before coming and learned that food is very bland so we brought a few spices with us. I have to say they really came in handy. The only food that was really good was food that people cooked themselves at home. All foods we bought outside were awful, with the exception of the food we had in a restaurant in Santa Clara. We went to the market a few times to buy things so we can cook for ourselves and that was a real adventure. Eggs are only available on certain days of the week, certain foods are found only in specialty stores, and many things are only found on certain days at a certain spot. There was only one vendor who sold pineapples but we never knew when he’d show up. We came across a man who was selling all kinds of fresh herbs which surprised me because food was so bland. So there ARE people who use herbs but we just didn’t come across any. Certain things like flour and rice can only be bought with coupons so we could only use our host’s. Availability was always an issue so one just buys whatever one can find and just eat that. A friend in Canada told us that when he visited Cuba, he stayed at a resort/hotel and there was a mile of food laid out everyday in the dining room, everything from breakfast stuff, lunch stuff to dinner stuff. He said that there were all kinds of fruit, omelets, sandwiches, salads, meat and potatoes, chicken, etc., food that you normally find in hotels and they also LOOKED like food in any other hotel but the strange thing was that everything tasted bad.

We were in Havana for 5 nights and were invited to 2 parties so you can imagine how much partying went on. We went around downtown, Chinatown, the Vedado area, and our casa particular was in La Vibora. Everywhere we went at any hour of the day, we heard salsa music blaring from somewhere. It seems like the quality and availability of food was really low on the priority list while music and salsa-ing were on top of the priority list which made me think. The complete reverse is found in the Chinese culture where quality and availability of food have very high priority while music and dancing have very low priority. Wouldn’t it be perfect if both food and music/dancing have high priorities? Hmm, I guess that would be called paradise.

Las Terrazas

From Havana, we hitchhiked to Los Baños del San Juan in Candelaria and stayed one night at the Las Terrazas resort. The cabanas were on a huge patch of green and we were allowed to pitch our tent there and camp for the night for around $5, I think. We got the information from Lonely Planet. Just before night fell, we heard music and went to join the merrymaking. It turned out to be staff of the resort jamming together after work. They all lived nearby so their kids were also there. There were guitars and drums and many other simple instruments, mostly percussion. We were offered rum and instruments. I declined the rum but tried a simple percussion one. They wanted us to sing along as well so they played a few popular tunes like Guantanamera. Some songs had easy choruses so we were able to join in. We had so much fun. The next day, we hitchhiked back out to the highway. While we waited on the highway for a ride, a van stopped in front of us to drop people off so we got on as it was headed for Havana. What luck! I can’t remember what we paid but it was next to nothing.

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