October Sun in Cuba

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What’s an overseas adventure without 48 hours of transport to kick it off! Day 0: Sydney, Dallas (complete with epic Tex-Mex) to Mexico City (for real Mex and an overnight rest) then a walk around Mexico City at dawn and off to Havana, Cuba.

Cuba is a truly unique place – host to the greatest cities of the Spanish Americas, gold, pirates and forts since the 1600s then turned into a mobsters paradise in the 1940s and 50s. Modern history has served up revolution, communism and the USA embargo - freezing the entire country in time - the last communist outpost 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The modern world is making its way in but Cuba is still an intriguing mix: dilapidated, determined, dirty, developing, and full of a people with mixed stories of their history and confused ideas about the future. We are both very glad to have seen and experienced Cuba now. It will be a very different place in only a few years.

Having heard mixed reviews of travellers’ experience of Cuba we opted for a few days on our own in Havana then a tour across the country with a local guide. Our Intrepid “Best of Cuba” tour for 15 days and our wonderful guide Aimara did the trick!

Our initial days were on our own staying near Old Havana - the epitomy of how we imagined Cuba - crumbling buildings, construction everywhere, classic American cars next to little Eastern block cars, bicycle rickshaws, horse and cart, food stalls, kids playing and adults lazing. Jetlag, heat and humidity made for tough touristing but we got motivated and explored the city for 3 days before joining our tour. Accommodation in Cuba is either Government owned hotels or B&B style in people’s homes. We found our home in Havana with Yadilis and Joel. Their home was very comfortable, and they were helpful and friendly. (Trip Advisor/Facebook: Casa Colonial Yadilis y Joel; private room $25US/nt inc ensuite and breakfast).

First tourist stop was the Museum of the Revolution (or as we came to know it “the triumphant revolution” as it was the third attempt) then on to the Cuban art museum. The streets and squares of the city were an excellent museum in themselves: part beautifully restored, part mid-renovation and part crumbling in front of us. Although our lack of Spanish made it difficult to learn much in the first few days we enjoyed visiting the fortress, the Malecon (waterfront promenade), plenty of mojitos, Spanglish chats with the locals and (of course) a ride in a hot pink 1950s Plymouth!

Checking in with our Intrepid tour revealed the usual array of Aussies: 4 Adelaideans, 1 Melbournite alongside a German and 2 Swiss. Mix well with sugar and 2 Cubans from Camaguey and you’ve got yourselves a good, strong, Cuban mojito! Aimara (our fantastic tour guide) was returning from a 2 months holiday including her wedding and honeymoon and asked for forgiveness as she regained her English – no forgiveness necessary as she explained and answered everything we needed and did a brilliant job the whole way through the 15 days we spent with her.

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