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Published: September 11th 2010
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Adresses in Cuba - casas particulares
Our wonderful hosts in casas particulares in Cuba. Einat and I (Edouard) were in Cuba for (only!) 11 days this August (2010). It was just great. The island is really beautiful. A large part of it is under the heritage program of UNESCO. This includes natural regions, like national parks, reefs and agricultural areas, cities and neighborhoods. However, for us, the really best part of all were the Cubans themselves. Most of the people we met were warm, diligent, and courteous. We felt safe at all times. We also found it quite easy to go around, using all means of transportation, long distance buses, bicytaxis, cocotaxis, 1955-Buick taxis and of course, our legs!
Going around was made even easier by our hosts in the casas particulares ("room for rent" like). They were very nice and helpful. So I will start with them, as this is an important point when travelling: where to sleep.
All our hosts at the Casas made us feel that Cuba was a home to us. They arranged a casa at our next destination so we were waited for at the bus station.
We started at Casa Aurora in Old Havana, in total we stayed there for 4 nights. Aurora is motherly and keeps
Havana, the port
Old or new construction? the place impeccably clean. Julio, her husband is a charming man. The casa is a 5-10 min walk from Plaza Vieja, and two minutes from Calle 1ra/San Pedro were there is a large hangar and displays of painters, clothings, crafts etc . We highly recommend this casa both because of the quality of the hosts, the cleanliness and the location. Casa Aurora. Merced #14, e/San Ignacio y Oficios, Havana Vieja. email: castellanosotero@hotmail.com. tel. (53) (7)8630536. cell. (530 (5) 2921185.
Our next hosts in Vinales were Haydee and Laydis, and their daughter Ayleen. They have a beautiful house near the main street. It is very calm, they hold a large garden in which they grow many vegetable that they serve at dinner. They were very nice and attentive, and definitely the best cooks we meet in Cuba! We ate Lobster a la creole, fish, and great assortments of vegetables, yam, sweet potatoes, rice and beans. Don't miss it!. Villa Haydee Chiroles. C.Rafael Trejo #139. email: ayleencintado@gmail.com. tel. (53) - (0)48-695200; cell. (53)(0)52-548921.
In Trinidad we stayed with Lidia a cousin of Aurora. We had a room on the roof, and dinner on an inner terrace. Lidia and her husband
were also very warm and helpful. The casa is in a quiet back street, 2 minutes from the center so one is not disturbed by the music at night (if you go to sleep early...it is much better to spend the evening at the Plaza de la musica!). Casa Lidia Calzada. Francisco Peterse #176 e/ Mario Guerra y Francisco Javier Zerquera. Trinidad.
Tel. 996042
In Cienfuegos we stayed with Jose and Beatriz. The room is actually an independent second floor apartment, very private. Jose is a great cook, and the place is very well kept. Casa Jose Luis Alvarez Leon. Ave 60 #3301 e/33 y 35. Cienfuegos. Tel: (53)-43-528535.
Now a few details on our trip.
Havana is a rather large city. The old neighborhood (Havana Vieja) is partially restored but still a large part of it, as well as in the rest of the city , is quite in a poor state. But the place breathes history, culture and humanity. There are lots of music, almost everywhere, and this is not a tourist display. On a Sunday we walked the Malecon. Being summer, this was vacation time. A lot of people were eating at stalls (pork/ham
Havana
Le grand bleu sandwiches. Pay with Moneda Local, this is very cheap) and drinking huge quantities of beer. However, we saw no display of drunkenness, no brawling, shouts or other unpleasant situations. As a whole, Cubans do drink quite a lot. This was the topic of an interesting discussion with one of our hosts. He pointed to us the fact that indeed Cubans drink a lot, socially, but that the "drinking process" takes a long time, being interspersed with eating, dancing, talking, walking etc. So it takes a while until one is drunk, if at all. This contrasts quite sharply to what happens in many other places in the world where it has become common that -especially young people- go out to drink, drinking being the purpose, the "good time" itself, not one of the means of having a good time. Anyway, there was music everywhere and couples dancing, people moving their behinds as they walked by. It was just great. We also had the chance to see part of the Festival in Havana, with costumed dancers. Here too, the bystanders got involved, young and old (some very old!) dancing like I never will...A noteworthy point: Havana, and the what we saw of
Havana
confilct of generations Cuba is clean. There is no or very little trash in the streets. Another, funny point: there are many dogs, and they are well tended. Most of them, at least in Havana are Dachshunds-Teckels. They are everywhere!
We then went to Vinales, a beautiful agricultural valley about 4 hours to the west of Havana. It is easily reachable by bus. We do not like to drive, and we found the bus system really quite good. Moreover, if one wants to get to a place that is harder to access by public transportation, we would advise to hire a taxi for the required amount of time. It won't be more expensive than renting a car (~ $80 day), and probably more efficient as the driver will know where to go. We found that Cubans are careful drivers -both in their old American cars as well as in their newer Huyndais- driving rather slowly and attentive to the street.
Well,Vinales is gorgeous. The mogotes -remains of the limestone rocks upon which the valley formed- are biological hotspots, sporting a large variety of plants, insects, lizards etc. We hired a local young man named Reina (recommended by our casa hosts,
Havana
Festival Haydee and Laydis). He guided us around for about 5 hours, starting at 7 am. He had great eyes for spotting the camouflaged rock slug and the frozen chameleon. We visited farms and tobacco growers - although it was not the season it was still interesting to get explanations on the different parts of the harvesting, storage, fermentation and rolling of cigars. Being "half" of an agronomist myself I greatly enjoyed seeing the intercropping, the various crops,the bull carts, the plowing and the tending of fields. We ended this beautiful walk as the midday rain started. In Vinales, it rained everyday from noon to 5pm. Dense, hot tropical rain. A great time to sit at a terrace, drink whatever you like, listen to the orchestra playing. And move to the next cafe!
Trinidad was a must. The place is more like a big village than a city, but it is gorgeous. We enjoyed it really much, as there are salsa schools you can enter and watch. In the evening, on the Plaza de la Musica, great music is played. There, Cubans and tourists mingle, lots of people. Young and old, chatting and dancing. It was amazing to see
Havana
Festival the beautiful flowing curves of the dancers to the syncope beat of the music. A concert and a ballet, with a good beer and a fresh Mojito...
Cuba is no paradise. There is a lot of poverty, the regime is omnipresent. However, unless one is totally biased, one cannot but notice the level of education both in terms of formal education and in the relation of the citizen to his/her environment, the fact that the population is healthy (the life span in Cuba is at least if not longer than that in the US!), that public transportation is fine, that all the basic -if only the basic - needs are met for all. Although poor, it is far from being miserable, as one can see in too many places, some really close to Cuba.
Go there, experience the place. Meet the people. we are sure you'll enjoy.
What to bring: for you, not too many clothes. It is very hot but mostly, it is very humid. Light clothing you can easily wash in water, that dries fast is recommended. For Cubans: bring school furniture like pencils, pens, erasers, crayons, markers. If you are there during school
Havana
Festival year, and brought enough (i.e. about 30 items) bring them to a school. Otherwise, distribute to children. Soap: soap bars or liquid soap will make people happy. You can even by them there in shops with the CUC money. I gave soap bars to the cleaning persons of public toilets. Believe me, that made them really happy, and of course, I was glad to see that. We also brought antibiotics and gave them at a clinic for women.
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