Cuba no es facil

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Cuba no es facil (Cuba is not easy....) that’s what the locals will tell you. And they are right.

We left Lima, sad to finally say goodbye to South America after traveling there for 6 months, but we excited to be going to Cuba, home of Salsa, Cigars and all things Castro…. We spent all afternoon flying from Lima to Havana (locals call it La Habana) with a stopover in Costa Rica Airport. Costa Rica seems to be full of Americans, all lining up for their hit of Burger King…. Anyways we arrived in Habana at midnight. Felt a little strange getting there, immigration was full on, worse than what you get in the US. Eventually they opened the door for me, stamped my tourist card (for some reason they didn’t stamp my passport) and I was in Cuba.

We got a taxi into town, had a hustler try to show us to our accommodation for a fee… didn’t work though. We found a nice place in Habana Vieja (Old Havana). Got to sleep finally (thanks to the air con), woke up the next day and looked out the window… building were crumbling, dirty streets and the humidity was full on, just like Cairns in the middle of summer…. Something we weren’t used to anymore after spending winter in the south.

Anyways we spent three days in Havana, had a good time, beautiful old streets but nothing like those you see in South America, the whole place seems frozen in time, and very poor. People were very friendly, only because they all wanted a free drink or feed courtesy of the tourists.

One of the first’s things that we noticed - the dual currency thing sucks. There’s CUCs for tourists and a few lucky ones who have it and Pesos for the rest…. It’s really an us and them attitude because of it. At a tourist restaurant, a meal costs about 5 to 10 bucks, but a Peso (local) one costs 10 Pesos (about 50 cents). It’s a joke, and we tried to use the pesos to by snack in stalls etc, and got abused by locals every time…. They don’t like US using their money. It’s funny though, you walk down streets and people are looking into shop windows at things they can never afford…. They have queues for everything, from the pharmacy to the snack stall etc…. all I can say is that Cubans have a very different way of life to everyone else in the world.

Back to Havana, checked out some cool museums on the history and revolution of Cuba, which was really interesting but was propaganda if you ask me. Took a tour of the Havana Club Rum Museum and the Pataga Cigar Factory Tour, which was amazing, you should see these guys at work, making cigars by hand, it really is a craft. We went out to the Plaza de Revolution, which was really cool, the place where they hold their big celebrations for Fidel’s birthday. Saw plenty of live music and had some old dude try to show me the Cuban Salsa in a bar which was hilarious….but after 3 days (with only 7 days left) we left Havana, sick of people trying to sell us dodgy cigars on the street, and took an overnight bus to Santiago De Cuba.

Arrived the next morning, booked into our Casa Particular (which is a room in a local’s home) and cruised around the city checking out the sights and looking for somewhere to eat. Eating is hard work in Cuba, it really is. There are stuff all restaurants, shops etc. Anyways kept getting hounded for a bar of soap, toothpaste pens etc…. not my problem. Even worse were the beggers, cant deal with beggers in a country where food is subsidized, where they receive rations and free heath care and education…. It pissed me off like no end. No one is rich, but no one looks like they are starving or in bad health here, everyone looks fine to me. Anyways the beggers pissed me off; all I wanted to do to them is show them how poor people are in Northern Brazil or Bolivia so they can harden up. What pisses me off more is the stupid tourists who hand them a CUC (worth 25 pesos), doctors only earn 15CUC a month, and here is this begger earning more than a doctor…. It makes me sick. Anyways enough of my complaining.

Santiago was nice, but by early afternoon, we had seen what we had come to see (important sites of the revolution, and some bad drumming music in the main plaza with some shocking dirty dancing between a massive woman and a old dude that was so skinny he would have snapped like a twig if she jumped on him), so we left a little early, and caught a night bus to the small colonial town of Trinidad.

We got of the bus and were hounded by desperate people trying to convince us to stay at their place…. We ignored it but the people here are sooooo persistent, it took an hour or so to run away from them all. We eventually found a really nice place for a bargain. Dumped our pack and went into town. Not that there was much there…. A few nice colourful streets and that’s about it. By lunchtime, we were bored and hot and a little disappointed by the museums here in Cuba (normally showcasing hundreds of photos of Fidel, guns etc from the revolution). As usual, we were on a mission for food (something I was getting sick of, it would be faster to hunt, kill and cook my own food that to find somewhere to buy it in Cuba, I swear). The weather was heading in, too, so we went back to our room. Soon after, the sky opened up and there was a massive thunderstorm… there went the afternoon…. But later when it eased of we went out for dinner and did the only thing we could when you’re bored in Cuba… get into some Rum.

Next morning feeling a little seedy we got the hell out of that place to Cienfuegos, on a mission to make it to Santa Clara to check out the Che Monument. Tried hiring a car, but no one was working at the counter. Also spent a fair chunk of the day searching for food (again). We left there as soon as we could, in a taxi to Santa Clara’s Che monument. The monument was really impressive, but unfortunately, the museum was closed. Typical. So we walked into town (we were still carrying our packs and we were dying because of the heat) and looked for more food. Another mission. I was getting a little sick of pork and cheese by now (beef is rare here, apparently they regulate the beef industry so they can ration the milk or something). By now we had had enough of “Cuban Hospitality”, of starving, of queues, of hustlers trying to rip us of, and worst of all, the absolute perverts in this country. We wanted to escape Cuba…. But we were stuck here for 5 more days. We had nothing left to do but to board a bus to Varadero, resort town in Cuba.

We arrived late in Varadero, so we stayed at probably the cheapest and crapiest place in town. Next morning decided to head across the island to the famous Bay of Pigs, home of the US invasion into Cuba in the early 1960s. Hired a car and drove. Took a wrong turn almost immediately and got a little lost (thanks to my wonderful navigational skills). We drove through some beautiful country, similar to the Tablelands up near Cairns, heaps of sugarcane etc. But there was also a lot of crappy towns and hundreds of people lining the highways waiting to hitch rides (there is a transport crisis in Cuba). Starving again, we arrive at the southern end of the Bay of Pigs. Stuff all accommodation, and one restaurant. Yay. We checked into a all inclusive hotel, then went back out for a swim in the Bay Of Bigs, the water here is gloriously warm and clear, I had never seen water this clear before. Then we retired to our hotel, only to realize the horrid reality…. It was full of Cubans. We were staying at one of the few places where both Cubans and tourists are allowed (normally, tourists are not allowed to stay at Cuban hotels and visa versa). We were not happy. So we queued up for dinner, in the typical Cuban fashion, pushing, shoving etc. We probably waited for 45 minutes before we eventually got in. The food was typically Cuban, BAD BAD BAD (no one knows how to cook in this country, I swear). The Cuban were taking away piles of food, cake etc, and by the time we had got in, there was little choice left. Oh well. Went to the bar after dinner, waited in yet another queue for ages, gave up after a while, everyone was waiting for coffee (don’t know why, I was after a Mojito (rum, lime, mint) but none of the locals wanted to have a drink, despite the fact that it was free. Weird. So much for the stereotype of partying Cubans. Went to bed itching to get the hell out of here again.

So, next day quite early we left and drove back to Varadero. The usual story, hundreds of people lined the highways trying to hitch rides to work. We eventually gave in and picked up a policeman. Another young girl hopped in also. They were speaking some shocking Spanish, worse that the Chileanos. We dropped them off, they didn’t seem that grateful. Oh well, you do what you can.

Got back to Varadero, dropped of the car and went to a travel agency, they booked our hotel for us (to save us walking a few kms looking for a nice hotel to escape from the locals). We were booked into the lovely Hotel International, former playground of the mafia, Al Capone used to spend his regular vacations here. We arrived to be told the expected (for Cuba) - we are booked out. Anyways, eventually they gave us a room, we should have known though, no es facil.

Now this place is what you would expect from an all inclusive. Decent food (by Cubas standards), good open bar, entertainment etc… and a fantastic beach with gorgeous white sand and crystal clear water, the clearest I have ever seen. Awesome. WE spent 2 days there, relaxing and drinking Mojitos. Eventually, we had to leave, so we went back to La Habana, for our final night in Cuba. Shopped a bit, bought some music and cigars (the best two things that Cuba has to offer in my opinion), then got the hell out on a plane to Cancun, Mexico.

I must say, that 10 days in Cuba was way too long….

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Photos

Revolution Propaganda
You see this stuff everywhere in Cuba, I guess it is to remind everyone how good the revolution has been to Cubans.

Stuck In Time
Old cars line the streets in La Habana (Havana).

Plaza In Habana Vieja
Gorgeous plaza in old Havana.

Varadero Beach
Where we escaped from Cuba, on the beach at our hotel, the Hotel International, old playground for the US Mafia (Al Capone once frolicked in these waters!)

Trinidad
One of the colourful streets in old Trinidad.

Bay Of Pigs Swim
Going for a late afternoon swim in the famous Bay Of Pigs, the old invasion site of the US into Cuba.