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Published: March 13th 2008
Varadero Beach On A Monday Morning
Every week should start like this!!We’d enjoyed five fantastic days in Habana and our aim now was to get out and see more of the island. This, however, didn’t prove as easy as we’d assumed and numerous obstacles limited how much travelling we could actually do. Arranging transfers and accommodation turned out to be a real eye opener in terms of how this country operates - or, in many cases, doesn’t operate.
Where to start? Initially, we were going to hire a car to get around but quickly dropped this as an option for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is expensive and costs around £50 a day for a reasonably poor vehicle; bearing in mind it would sit unused on the days we based ourselves in a location for a while this didn’t make financial sense. Secondly, although you can pre-book a car, that doesn’t mean there will actually be one available when you go to collect it (don’t ask - that’s just the way things happen here). Finally, even the main roads aren’t in great condition and are heavily rutted and riddled with pot holes. It also appears the Government consider road signs an unnecessary luxury............................
Self driving may have been a
On The Road
Buses proved easily the best way to move around the island and gave ample opportunities to buy Pina Coladas!!? better option if the “autopista” had been completed as planned. This project was funded by the Russians and its aim was to have a pristine, multi lane highway running across the full width of the island. In actual fact, it comes to an abrupt halt at about half way with road markings, bridges and slip roads incomplete. The problem with this “Marie Celeste” of a road was that its construction coincided with the demise of the Eastern Block and the funds to complete it dried up.
No problem - Cuba does have an excellent bus service. This proved an eminently more affordable and reliable option than hiring a car and we used it to get to our first location outside Habana, Varadero. The transfer from Habana took only two hours and that included a scheduled stop on the way to allow everyone to buy pina coladas at the roadside!!?
Varadero had never even been considered in our initial plans but we were pretty much left with no choice but to go there - it seemed just about every hotel within a reasonable travelling distance was fully booked. I’ve mentioned previously that tourism is booming in Cuba and now
Casa Particulars
A great option at a good price - even better if you get the one you booked......... forms the biggest part of its economy. Goodness knows how big this industry could be if they actually get their act in order. Every hotel currently seems to be operating at or near 100% occupancy and its patently obvious that they need to build more. (I was scared my astute business acumen might wane during this year out but observations of commercial awareness like this show it’s as sharp as ever. Any more brilliant ideas like “build more hotels” and I expect the BBC will be in touch telling me they’d like me to join the panel of Dragons Den).
To be fair, our booking problems may well have been a case of us falling between two stools. It appears there are a couple of ways to have a relatively stress free time when touring Cuba. The first one would be to book all hotels and transfers before you arrive and I’m sure everything would run smoothly. We didn’t. The second would be the totally opposite approach and arrive in towns with no booking and be prepared to hunt around for a “casa particular” (house that rents rooms - very common out here) on arrival. Bearing in mind I’m
The Cuban Trinidad
A beautiful town with a fantastic beach on its doorstep. married to a lady who does more forward planning than NASA does for a shuttle launch, this, again, wasn’t a viable option.
This left us caught in the middle and trying to make bookings as we went; in no other country (other than perhaps India where we wouldn’t even consider trying it) could it have proved so difficult. The good news is that there are state run travel agencies on every street and in every hotel - all are greatly overstaffed. However, the chances of one of the staff a) making eye contact with you on entry or b) proving helpful must be similar to winning the lottery jackpot two weeks running - “busying” yourself with any non job related task and being evasive have been turned into an art form here . Of course, there are exceptions but it seems Communism just doesn’t incentivise people to make an effort. They get paid the same irrespective of performance and you end up relying on a person’s good nature rather than the efficient service we’ve grown to expect elsewhere.
I’m not even going to try and explain the type of frustrations we came up against in our attempt to
Our First Paladar
These privately run hidden gems provide a great alternative to the State run restaurants. Just remember to confidently bang on the door to get in. arrange our travels here. There’s been too many and it would sound like we’d not enjoyed ourselves which just couldn’t be further from the truth. You do feel like it’s one step forward and two back at times, but you just have to shrug and remember you’re in Cuba. This country is unique and moves in ways totally dissimilar to anywhere else. In actual fact, such a vastly different experience like this is what this sabbatical is all about and travel here is never anything other than exciting!!
It was really for that reason that we hadn’t particularly wanted to go to Varadero. It is a coastal resort to the east of Habana and its main appeal is its 20km stretch of gorgeous, white beach and crystal clear blue sea. Its picture postcard beautiful, the hotels are stunning and the weather perfect - but you’d struggle to know you’re in Cuba. It’s almost as if Cancun has been transplanted to the north coast of the island and American tourists swapped for ones from Canada (it’s very convenient for Canadians to go there as it’s in the same time zone and only a four hour flight; it’s not so convenient
Trinidad 2
The towns UNESCO World Heritage status is well deserved. for Americans to visit as their Government have banned them from doing so!!).
We stayed at the impressive Blau All Inclusive Resort and it was here we started to understand Cuba’s reputation for offering decidedly average food (there’s a saying here that the Revolution had three major failures - breakfast, lunch and dinner!!). In Habana we’d thought this reputation undeserved as the state run restaurants there are excellent and provide cheap, plentiful and tasty meals; we were even beginning to think the two bottles of extra hot chilli sauce we’d bought in Mexico to “spice things up” would prove wasted money. They turned out to be useful at The Blau though as the food was pretty ordinary and needed something to give it a kick.
God knows what the Cuban staff make of these all inclusive resorts and the tourism industry in general. One night in these places costs around ten times their average monthly wage and it must seem obscene to them to watch greedy visitors stuff themselves with an endless supply of food and drink. Severe rationing has been in place here since 1962 and this stark contrast of lifestyles has really not sat well with
Beachside In Trinidad
There's no option other than to just relax. us. I’m not sure we’ll ever really get our head around it but tell ourselves that our money is vital to the economy now it’s no longer supplemented by the Soviets. Indeed, it was for that very reason that Cuba opened itself up to tourism in 1996 - it had been almost nonexistent before then.
Our second bus journey not only got us to our destination of Trinidad (yes, there’s a Cuban one too) but also gave us a fascinating insight into life outside the cities. The five hour transfer from Varadero meant we traversed the island from north to south coast, swapping The Gulf of Mexico for The Caribbean. Their awful condition mean you barely see another vehicle on the roads and, with every passing mile, our decision not to rent a car was further vindicated. As the bus slowly wound its way through the Cuban countryside it was almost like time had gone back a couple of centuries. Housing is very, very basic and small farms dot the landscape; on them, families use the most rudimentary tools for this back breaking work, their trusted horses having to make up for the non existence of agricultural machinery.
Cienfuegos - "The Pearl of the South"
We were really surprised by the beauty and opulence of much of Cuba's architecture. We had a full week in Trinidad, spending a few days in the town itself and a few at its nearby beach resort. Things got off to an inauspicious start when, for the second time in a row, we had been “moved” from the casa particular we had booked in advance to a different one. Whilst two might not be the widest sample to form an opinion on, it does appear these casas have their own code of conduct. That is, they never refuse a reservation but, if they’re fully booked, they simple pass you on to their friends. The problem with this is that we have a couple of key criteria that must be met for us to stay there (private bathroom and a garden terrace to relax in). The “alternative” we’d been shifted to in Trinidad was pretty awful and we certainly weren’t going to stay there for three nights. The long bus journey meant it was too late to find anything by this time so we bunked up and bailed out first thing the following morning.
I’m glad to report we found a fabulous casa for our remaining nights and its location meant we were perfectly
Cienfuegos - "The Pearl of the South" 2
Another case in point - Parque Jose Marti. placed to explore Trinidad. This is a beautiful, ancient town of 52,000 people and was recently made a World Heritage site. Shoe horned in between The Escambray mountain range and the Caribbean Sea, its maze of cobbled streets link many stunning colonial courtyards and plazas. The buildings are wonderfully intricate and ornate and it almost has the feel of being a living museum.
It was here we had our first meal in a paladar - a house that contains a small privately run restaurant (any other restaurant is owned by the Government). It was hidden away in a dark, cobbled side street and we approached with caution when we actually managed to locate it. There wasn’t a lot externally to identify it as a place of entertainment and it reminded us very much of the prohibition period in the US as we tentatively knocked on its ancient and imposing double doors. After a minute, they creaked open a crack and, once we were identified as tourists, we were beckoned in. To our relief and great surprise, the paladar was stunning. Set out in a large courtyard, tables were beautifully set and the candle lit garden bursting with roses and
A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous
Bursting with pride until Angela pointed out I'd announced "I don't speak dog" and not "I don't have a dog" .......... blossoms of all types.
The food was excellent too and, for 8 CUC’s (about £5) you get a complete meal of salad, pork lamb, rice and beans, desert, coffee etc. This wonderful food contrasted with our previous stay at the last all inclusive. There, the menu had two items under the heading of “Beef”; one was roast lamb and the other grilled pork. If I tell you the fish restaurants “catch of the day” was chicken supreme, you’ll get the idea...............
After Trinidad town we spent a few days down at its beach area. Again, this is incredibly beautiful and relaxing but, similar to Varadero, you don’t get to see the “real” Cuba. This must be just about the perfect place to have a stress free holiday in a tropical paradise, but, as previously mentioned, it’s not really what this year out is about. We met some great people (mainly Canadians) in our hotel, but we were looking forward to getting to our next stop, the city of Cienfuegos.
In keeping with the other towns and cities we’ve seen in Cuba, Cienfuegos (pop. 140,000) is extraordinarily beautiful and is known as “The Pearl of the South”. As
A State Run Restaurant
We celebrated our wedding anniversary here - the Cienfuegos Nautical Club backs onto the Caribbean. I know how to treat a girl............... with Trinidad, it is a place deemed important enough to have been made a UNESCO world heritage site and the French influence on its 19th century architecture give it a unique elegance. We stayed out of the centre in the pretty village of Punta Gorda, just a short walk alongside its tranquil Caribbean bay into the city.
When we arrived at the casa particular we thought we’d booked a week earlier, we weren’t greatly surprised to find they were full but had “kindly” arranged an alternative casa for us some distance away. This was now the third time in a row this had happened and it’s not a great position to be in; hunting around whilst transporting two suitcases and a rucksack mean it’s not easy to say “get lost, we’ll find our own” but , thankfully, on each occasion our second choices have turned out to be great.
Despite failing miserably at the school in Buenos Aires, living in Spanish speaking countries for over two months mean my language skills have improved a little. My confidence has grown to a point where I’ll attempt basic conversations with the families whose casa’s were staying in; this can, however,
Che Is Everywhere
There's just no escaping this national hero - his image appears everywhere. Unusual as he was an Argentinian........... lead to mix ups and that certainly happened in Cienfuegos. They had a timid terrier as a pet but, after a while, it got used to us and became very friendly. On the morning of our departure, I stood outside our room on the terrace whilst Angela was packing. In an effort to make small talk with the old couple who owned the house I ventured that “No hablo perro en Inglaterra” thinking it meant “I don’t have a dog at home”. I realised I’d said something wrong a) when I could hear Angela burst into laughter in the bedroom and b) the old couple looked confused and as if they thought I was mad. Thank goodness, Angela explained to them what I really meant and not “I don’t speak dog in England” which is what I actually said!!
That’s just one example. I also accidentally told an old man that he couldn’t speak English when I meant to say that the fruit he’d just given us was of a type we didn’t get in England. I couldn’t understand his hurt look and was horrified to have rewarded his generosity with an insult. In general though, the Cubans do
View From Our Habana Hotel
Going back to the city was like returning to visit an untamed and eccentric old friend. This photo is from the Hotel Inglaterra's roof terrace - The Grand Theatre nearest the camera and The Capitolia in the background. seem to appreciate at least an attempt to speak in their language - many tourists don’t try at all. Surely, a “Buenas Dias” here and a “muchas gracias” there isn’t too much to ask of people and they can often bring the beginnings of smile to the most miserable barman.
Our three weeks in Cuba was now drawing to a close and it was time to head back north. Again, the bus service did us proud and dropped us back right at the door of The Hotel Inglaterra - bang in the heart of Habana Viejo. We’d arranged to have one more night in the city as we’d loved it so much first time around and wanted to take in the atmosphere on one last occasion. It didn’t let us down and the next morning we arrived with a spring in our step at our last destination, Playa del Este (Beaches of the East). Located just 20km outside the city, this proved a great place to relax away from the madness and reflect on our time here.
Angela and I have found Cuba an incredible place in an infinite number of ways. We’ve drunk so many Mojitos as we’ve mused about life here that we’ve caused a national shortage of fresh mint!! Sometimes frustrating, always fascinating, this is a country which seems self assured and totally at ease with itself. What you see is what you get, and what you see is often indescribably beautiful. Later today we fly back to the relative civilisation of Cancun and we leave with a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, it’ll be good to return to a world where things happen as they should do and plans you’ve made actually happen the way you expect. On the other hand, Cuba has given us some of the most vivid experiences and emotions we’ve had in this first half of our year out and we’ll depart with real sadness and some great memories.
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Wayne McKenna
non-member comment
The Cuban Trinidad
Nice photo of you at the Cuban Trinidad DC. Just one question - have you got taller or have your trousers shrunk? Oh, love the 'I don't speak dog' bit - only you mate! Carry on having fun. Seeya soon. Wayne