Blogs from La Habana, Oeste, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 32

The trade and economic embargo held against Cuba by the USA has lasted for some decades now. America has prohibited American companies and their subsidiaries trading with Cuban entities and prohibited its citizens from spending money in Cuba. (That’s right - I’ve always thought that US citizens were prohibited from visiting Cuba - however the various pieces of legislation that piece together the embargo actually only make it a crime to SPEND money in Cuba. SO for all those Americans aching for some April sun in Cuba I guess you just need to find a philanthropic friend to pay your WHOLE way.) As a result I naively thought that this may mean that American culture may be less prevalent in this tropical island nation. Disappointingly, as I jumped into the cab at the airport bound for ... read more

Thursday 2 March to Saturday 4th March Well, we are finally here in Havana libre (Free Havana!), as Fidel likes to call it. We talked about it and planned it for ever and then suddenly we arrived, courtesy of a great Virgin flight (nice food, good movies and drinks). It was 29 degrees and sunny when we arrived, a welcome change from the cold back home. We shared a cab from the airport with a swiss guy called Eves who had been travelling in Canada, Panama and Costa Rica for a few months and was coming to Cuba for a month. He had been waiting at the airport for two hours for his swiss friend who lives here in Havana to come and meet him - some mix-up had meant she wasn’t there. So Eves came ... read more

God dag godt folk! Det tok sin tid aa naa internett i dette landet, men den som venter paa noe godt venter ikke forgjeves! Javel Naa sitter jeg her i Casa Tony midt i Habana Vieja, Det er ganske kaldt ute i dag, rundtom 25 grader vil jeg tro (Ha!). Fra spok til alvor det er helt fantastisk her, sanseinntrykket mitt har aldri vaert saa overtsimmulert som det er naa. En liten uke her er som et par maaneder hjemme, med tanke paa opplevelser da. Paa en liten uke har jeg vaert paa revolusjonsplassen og hort Fidel (som de kaller ham her) tale, noe som var totalt surrealistisk for en liten jente fra Norge. Jeg har vaert saa heldig aa faa meg noen Cubanske venner (Pepe & Wiliam), som flere ganger har tatt oss med ut ... read more

LLegamos a la Habana y nos hospedamos en casa de familia en el barrio "el Vedado". No existen los "hostels". Hay familias que han heredado casas y pagan un monto mensual al estado por rentar habitaciones a los turistas. Aunque el alquiler se cobra en dólares y haciendo el cambio debería ser buena plata la que se queda esta gente, es tan alto el impuesto que deben pagar al estado que no les alcanza para vivir. La casa donde nos quedamos era hermosa, realmente hermosa! y el dueño se iba todas las mañanas a la feria a vender artesanías para poder mantener a su familia. Nos quedamos 4 días, tiempo suficiente para disfrutar la maravillosa "habana Vieja", meterse en la cultura cubana. ... read more

With a hurricane class 3 on the day of our departure we tempted fate.. who spared us by having both our different flight canceled 4 hours apart (our rent a car was returned and I had already left the airport). Ted and I caught up and as there was no electricity, light, nor gas at the family house we normally stay at, we have finally checked in a hotel (which we probably can't leave until tomorrow now as the waters are rising). One happy chap is Ted cause his photos of the waves crashing on the Malecon promenade are going to be...smashing. Oh, well; travels do turn out to be adventures when unexpected things happen (like chasing after the guy who stole my photo camera last night). So all is well, even though we don't know ... read more