Cuba

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Cuba, Wow!

This place is beautiful and grungy all at once. The buildings around Cuba are stunning old relics of a bygone era. Walking around, you see buildings that would be national monuments in NZ, but are just commonplace here and some of them are going to wrack and ruin.
There are two currencies, one for tourists and one for cubans. The Cuban Convertibles (CUC) are 1 to 1 with the USD and the Moneda National Pesos (MN pesos) are 24 to one CUC. We changed CUC into MN Pesos and brought loads of pizzas and fruit to save money.
Cuba is HOT, we found out from a lot of Cubans that the weeks we were there were the hottest they remember. Phew. We were above 35 degrees every day and the humidity was intense.
The Cubans dress flamboyantly (if a little risque), the chicos and chicas are saucy and
look like they want to break out and salsa dance on the street, haha. Its really cool
seeing guys dancing so unashamably and so amazingly well. Some Cubans we met said everyone learns to salsa from a young age as its what you do every weekend, go salsa at the plaza with blaring music or at the club to meet chicos and chicas.

There are loads of the old cars cruising around which looks so cool in their bright
colours. In Havana there is an awesome system of old car taxis that drive up and down the main streets and pick up people. It is so good to see every car full of people. Horse and carts are EVERYWHERE as well, its a major form of transport. There are more horse and carts than cars in the towns outside Havana. Also heaps of Bicyle taxis, we felt bad sitting in the back while they were sweating up a storm biking us somewhere. Mikey got out and pushed
for him in the steeper bits 😊 Some of them cruise around town at night blaring music out of a sound system rigged to a car battery, with lights around the wheels and handlebars. Pretty classic. Cubas version of boy racers maybe 😊

We felt transported back in time a lot in Cuba, with the horse and carts, old cars,
buildings, and simple way of living. There was no advertising anywhere and no fastfood outlets. Loved it. We didn't want to spend a lot of time travelling around so we stayed put in places we loved. Trinidad was definitely the winner at 6 days! We met more and more people and found cool wee local foodie spots and sights when we stayed longer.

Here is a day by day recollection from the scrawled notes i've been taking along the way (be ready for the long haul!).

Saturday 9th August:

At Mexico City airport we got 300 CUC from an official person at 1 for 1 with the USD. We found out later that this is not legitimate as CUC and Moneda Nacional are not allowed to leave Cuba.
When we arrived in Havana, I got asked for my health insurance details by the immigration lady. Something I had not read about but glad I had all my documents handy. Then it took aaaaages for our luggage to arrive. All the Cubans bring back 10-20 bags stuffed with things from Mexico. It was incredible the amount of bags they had. We then went to walk out but we got called over by an officer and got grilled for 20 min asking us EVERYTHING about
our lives and our plans. Very strange.
I had organised to be picked up by our Casa owner for 25 Euros. We were just about to leave when a police officer came over and started talking angrily. They had an argument for ages while we were sitting in the back wondering what the heck was going on. We ended up going to the headquaters of the police and he was taking us illegally! He had no licence to take
foreigners in his car. We ended up catcing a taxi to the Casa instead which was cheaper
anyway. Not a good start.
The Casa Particular was shabby on the outside but beautiful on the inside. Immaculately clean with tiles and block colours and vintage furniture. The wife and daughter chatted to us and gave us fresh chilled papaya juice. We had a large room with an ensuite bathroom complete with pink tiles on the floor and walls. We chatted with them for ages as they were practising their English. They told us to catch the Cuban taxi service which is all the old cars that drive up and down the main street in and out of town. They gave us 20 Moneda
Nacional Pesos (MN pesos) for the ride. We waved down a cool old buick and went to Habana Vieja (old Havana). The cars vary in condition, most are pretty ad hock, but such an awesome experience. We heard varying rules with the old cars, most foreigners don't go in them but it seemed to go ok for us.
We wandered around in town really confused, with cash notes too big to buy anything from vendors. We couldn't find any information desks and we were being hounded by hawkers! It was awful. We escaped into a cafe and brought some snacks to break a note. I spotted a couple that looked like foreigners and went over to chat. They were Italian and Betty could
speak ok English Alex not so good but we chatted for quite a while and they had been in town for a few days so they gave us loads of tips. We ended up going for a walk together and we had been walking in the wrong direction earlier! We found an awesome walking street with the cool old buildings painted in crazy colours of pink and yellow etc. Dinner was fun and yum, we had lobster and a band played for us. Alex showed us his magic tricks with cards. He then tried the cards on a hawker selling taxi rides and he won so we got a get a super cheap ride.
We went out to see a carnival on the Malecon or sea wall and it was hectic with the amount of people. We milled around and people watched and then went home to crash out.

Sunday 10th August:

Had a yum breakfast at the Casa of fruit, coffee and eggs. Went for our first ever salsa dancing lesson. It was fun but really hard. We had to move only our shoulders and nothing else. It was pretty technical and our backs ached from contorting in such weird and probably wrong ways. We caught a bus to the beach and met Alex and Betty again and hung out and swum in the sea which was luke warm but refreshing as its 35 plus degrees and sweltering. We got talking to three Irish girls and they had already done the trip we planned to do through Central America so they gave us loads of tips. We arranged to meet them and Alex and Betty later in Vedado the suburb we were in but we had no shows from both. Dang.

Monday 11th August:

Today we booked a taxi to Vinales in an awesome old green chevrolet for the next day.We then conked out for a few hours as it is so smoking hot and we feel jet lagged.
In the afternoon we caught the old car taxi into town and wandered around checking out the sights, we met a Dutch couple and they told us to buy Moneda Nacional Pesos and use them when we can because 1 CUC = 24 Moneda Nacional. We had an early dinner at an amazing restaurant called Esto no es un cafe by the cathedral, Yum! We then walked to the Plazas further along and WOW they were soooo beautiful with amazing buildings and gorgeous streets, we had missed out this part and I am keen to go back for more.
We stopped in a chocolate shop and saw how it was made and got a chocolate drink each, yum. We got talking to some local lads hanging out in one of the squares and Mikey played and sung them a rendition of Timebomb, Rancid which is one of the songs his band the Ska Ska Black Sheep (consisting of the boys from our flat in Wellington) played at our farewell gig. The Cuban guys loved it. In return, one of the Cubans showed us a crazy cool dance sequence. Classic night.

Tuesday 12th August:

We caught the old chevrolet to Vinales and it was a scenic 2hour drive which we shared with another two italians. Our casa was out of town a little and the lady couldn't speak any English but as we arrived, a French couple and their son were leaving so we chatted to them for ages and they gave us loads of tips. Talking with Amelia, the casa mama, was a struggle but meant we were really practising our Spanish! We were really stoked whenever we understood what she was trying to ask or tell us. We walked into town and got some fruit and pizza for 20 Moneda Nacional. So cheap.
Crashed out for a few hours and then went for a walk in towards the valley. It started
pissing down so we stopped at a little random pina colada shack and got talking to another Italian couple (its their holidays at the moment) and they helped us with our Spanish, they were a classic couple and we ended up bumping into them two other times on our trip and having good yarns.
We had dinner at the Casa with Amelia and it was EPIC!! So much food, we couldn't finish it all. We had grilled fresh fish and so many other dishes. Yuka- type of potatoe, banana chips, amazing avocado, heaps of fruit and more veges. YUM. It was all from her garden too.

Wednesday 13th August:

We had another yummy brekky and then we went on a 5 hour horse ride into the valley with just the two of us and our 19 year old Cuban guide Manuel. He knew even less English than we knew Spanish so it was a struggle to communicate but we actually understood a lot of what he was trying to tell us. We stopped at a tabacco farm and we met three Spanish guys who were on a different tour but they spoke great English so they translated to us the demonsration the Tabacco farmers were giving us on how to make cigars. They were really nice. We had our first Cuban cigars and a coco loco which is a coconut opened and rum added
to the coconut water, They neck the alcohol over here!
The cigars were made with a secret concotion including honey, spices and rum and all sorts.
He gave us one each and dipped the end in honey for extra flavour. The farmers have to give 90% of their crops to the goverment which pays them a really small amount for this and then the 10% left they can sell or use.
We then carried on to the cave pool. We had to walk for about 10 minutes in the dark with a few lamps to the pool. Not everyone swam but me and Mikey were so hot we were in there in a flash, it was so cool and refreshing.
We were so knackered when we got back that we crashed out for a few hours.
Later, we went out into town and had a few mojitos at the main square which was full of
people hanging out and listening to music. We went into a club nearby and they had a cool 12 peice band playing. Heaps of people got up and salsa danced, was so neat to see. We had our first go at salsa, the one step we had learnt in Habana! It was so much fun to be amongst all the dancers twirling each other around, we can't wait to learn more!

Thursday 14th August:

Today we caught a bus from Vinales to Trinidad which was meant to be 7 hours but ended up taking 9 and a half hours. Was actually ok since we were in air conditioning and we met the Dutch couple we met in Habana again and were chatting to them. We didn't stop in Cienfuegos since we heard it was so so but the Dutch couple were going there.
One highlight on the way was we stopped at a routine cafe stop for lunch which looked like expensive yuck food. I saw a man and his two young girls across the parking lot with a few bunches of bananas on a crate. When we walked over the young girls got excited and when we brought 8 bananas for 20 MN pesos I saw the girls fist pump and dance with excitement to their Dad. The cutest thing ever.
When we finally arrived in Trindad we were accosted by hawkers wanting us to stay with them and catch taxis etc. It was awful, we started walking away saying no, no, no and they kept following us around. In the end I had to shout leave us alone and they called me loco but finally beggared off. We eventually found the casa we had been recommended by Amelia. This casa owner also couldn't speak any English but we managed to communitcate ok. We had the
whole house next to hers. We went for a wander around town and started chatting to a lovely English couple on their honeymoon and ended up going out for dinner with them at a local restaurant. We paid 10 CUC each for starter, main and dessert. There was a pig on a spit which we had and it was yum. We went out and got a few mojitos in the historical part of town which is so beautiful. The streets are all cobbled and the buildings are gorgeous. We organised to meet the English couple again tomorrow night but again had a no show 😊

Friday 15th August:

We had breakfast at our casa again, then went for a walk into town and got talking to an awesome Dutch couple for an hour, they gave us loads of tips. We looked into tours but they were so so expensive. We walked around the historical part more and saw a hill and walked to the top. Was exhausting in the 35 deg plus heat, but felt really good to be exercising.
On the way up we randomly saw a disco cave, part way up the hill! We also bumped into a few tourists on the way and it turns out the route is in lonely planet. Was a nice view at the top but we rushed back down to catch a 2 CUC pp bus from Trinidad to the beach Playa Ancon which is 15 min away. We brought two pizzas for lunch for 12 MN pesos (50 cents NZD!) and three mangos for 1 CUC. The beach was nice but the water was even warmer than Habana, it was only refreshing when you got out and the wind cooled you down. It was nice and relaxing
chilling under an umbrella, reading and practising Spanish. The bus ride back was so packed, the door only just closed on us and we were sardines.
We moved to the casa next door because our one was booked out. Really nice couple,
fascinated with our steripen which is a device we use to purify the water with UV light. This has been a life saver, we've used it SO MUCH. Thanks Piers and Soph for telling us about it! All the other travellers we have shown have been taking photos of it too 😊
We had dinner in the centre of the old town which had a nice ambience but the food wasn't amazing. A band came and played for us and they were really good, we've come across epic musicians in Cuba.
We carried on walking around town and went into a random museumn and the security guy took us up some rikkety stairs to look at the view which was average and then proceeded to try and sell us horse riding tours! Another random incident after that was a lady came up to mikey and asked where he was from and then asked for his t-shirt! He was so insulted until we found out that a t-shirt in Cuba costs 190+ MN Pesos which is unachievable for most Cubans.
We bumped into the Spanish guys from the horse trek and hung out with them for a bit. We sat on the main stairs, had a mojito and watched the open air band and all the salsa
dancers. They are so good.

Saturday 16th August:

We packed up our gear to find another casa as this one was also fully booked. We gave them some soaps and pens that we had brought in New Zealand and what Katie had given us in Los Angeles, they were stoked. We were a bit daunted about getting hassled again since we had the packs on our back but it was easy, we found a lovely Cuban lady that could speak English and had a casa close to town which was indepent so we had a dining room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and outside patio all to ourselves for 20 CUC per night. Cheaper than the others! Stoked.
We went to find some more information about the area and met two CUban guys in the tour centre. Manuel left Cuba 20 years ago and worked in Chile and America and now lives in Spain, and Ramon lives in Habana Cuba. They were so sweet to talk to, really helpful and friendly. We had some local beers with them for 2 MN pesos each beer!
We organised to meet them later tonight.
We brought some mangos and pizza and chilled in our casa looking out onto the street and saw the Dutch couple from Havana and Vinales walk past! We invited them in and told them all about what to do and where to go and gave them a map. They helped us out in Havana, so it was good to return the favour. Turns out Cienfuegos wasn't that great so we were happy we didn't go.
Later in the afternoon we got together all the pens and chalk and stickers we had brought from New Zealand and HEAPS of stuff from Katie and Pete in Los Angeles in a bag and walked around the town a bit further away from the main centre. We met two little girls playing in the park and gave them some chalk and they were so stoked and fascinated, chattering away to us in Spanish, just like any girl of 4 or 5. Mikey drew some funny pictures and I played hopscotch with them. Such a cool experience. We gave them some hair clips too and when we left we saw them run over to their Grandma and Dad to show off their new things. So cute.
Not long after, we had a few older girls of 10-12 years come over shyly and ask if we had anything for them, so we gave them some head bands and they were stoked too (thanks Katie!). We saw them later on, still holding onto them and showing their friends. We carried on walking and saw a family out on their doorstep and gave them heaps of pens which they said they would use for school and soap and more hair products. We gave one boy a sheet of stickers of soccer and he was so pumped, showing all his family. We had them crowd
around us as we showed them what we had for them. I had a little 2 year old half naked
young boy holding onto my arm and peering into my bag with google eyes. I gave him a pen and he took it very seriously and wouldn't let his sisters take it off him. So cute! We carried on walking and Mikey gave a crayon set and some paper to a wee boy playing at his house and he was super stoked and wide-eyed too.
We felt so good, and a little sad at what little they have.
Later on, we came across a really old man carry a heavy sack of some fruit he had picked (looked like limes but tasted a bit like lychees), I brought a few bunches off him and gave him 1.50 CUC instead of the 5 MN pesos he asked for. He was so old and still trying to work- we hoped he wasn't climbing trees! I couldn't handle it, I wanted to help out, i'm a sucker for cute old men like my Gran 😊
We got back home and crashed out. Later on we went to meet up with Manuel and Ramon and yay they turned up! We went to this awesome restaurant called la Taberna la Botija. We got Ramon and Manuel to order for us and wow the food was incredible. Our favourite was the Malangas and this epic sauce that comes with them, its a local dish. They had amazing bands
playing with some famous Cuban musicians. One trumpeter was mosying around us playing from random places. Such cool vibes and Manuel and Ramon were so classic to talk to. Afterwards, we went up to the disco cave with them that we had seen a few days ago and a german guy we had met earlier came along. Far out what a crazy experience. The cave was HUGE and there
were heaps of people in there partying to cranking music. We stayed there for an hour and danced and then got home at 2:30am and crashed. Such a great day and night.

Sunday 17th August:

We caught a train from town out to the valley to see the Sugar mills at 9am. It was a nice train ride and the countryside views were beautiful. We went to the house of the richest family before the sugar crash and walked up his tower that he built so he could keep an eye on all his slaves working the fields. So crazy.
We were hungry and a bit tired from last night so when we got back in the late afternoon we brought 5 pizzas for 1 CUC and sleep at our casa. We went out for dinner at the same restaurant as last night and ordered 4 tapas. Delish.

Monday 18th August:

Had a breakfast of mangos with lime and cold pizza with avocado, yum 😊 We had found out about a coffee place called Don Pepe which we tried to find and along the way we came across two cute old men 85 years plus sitting on their doorsteps, one was blind and one was selling little wooden brushes he had made. I gave them 1 CUC tip each, the blind man I had to tap his hand for him to open it. We found out the average cuban makes 15 moneda nacional pesos per day of work, equivalent to 60 cents NZD! Also that it is really hard to get by. They were stoked and I was happy for them and sorry for them all at once. We came across a band of 6 old men all playing jazz music with a different instrument each, so we gave them 1CUC as well. We found the coffee shop and wow! Such an epic place. There was a whole menu of different hot and cold coffees and most of them with liquors. I got one that was coffee, coffee liquor, cream, cinnamon and it was so so good, served with a chunk of dark cuban chocolate. Mikey got coffee, brandy, and honey and his was awesome too but wow rock your socks off
strong!
We went and got another salsa lesson and we leant an awesome combination of heaps of steps! Not so technical as the last place with the shoulder shimmy. We loved it! It was so smoking hot and Mikey was sweating something chronic so we walked up the hill to the hotel and swam in their pool.
Crashed out again for a few ours at the casa and then went out to the ol fav restaurant and saw the Dutchies again. Great yarns.

Tuesday 19th August:

First thing in the morning we hired a scooter for $25 CUC for the day, petrol fill up was $6 CUC. We went for a spin out toward the sugar mills, it was so awesome to be cruising around under our own steam. There were hardly any cars on the road, mostly horse and cart so we were sweet. We went to the beach and hired some snorkel gear. It was beautiful reef but there were loads of massive jellyfish which were fascinating to look at, but scary. We missioned back into town and stocked up on Mangos and then headed out toward Cienfuegos. We found a little road into the forests and the national park, Parque el Cubano. It was a really nice windy drive through the bush and next to the river. We had to pay $9 CUC each to get into the park and we walked 2km through beautiful bush to get to the waterfall. The
water was amazingly cool and refreshing and we could swim right under the waterfall into a cave. Really really cool. We ate our mangos by the river in the shade, very idyllic. Since we had scootered there ourselves, we had saved on a $80 tour 😊
We hooned back and stocked up on even more fruit and had a fruit feast at our casa. Our casa owner came over for a chat and was really insightful hearing about Cuban life. As a Cuban, to have a casa particular that you rent to foreigners, you have to pay a $30 CUC flat fee every month reglardless if you didn't have anyone that month. Then 10% of what you earn and then another yearly fee. She still earns more than Cuban doctors though, who only earn 1 CUC per day! She said because of this, Cubans always bring gifts to the doctors who are treating them. We went to dinner at a random little dingy local restaurant that never has foreigners. They all leapt up when we arrived and put on the air con for us and a cute wee man played and sung on the guitar. It was a really cheap meal and yummy. We gave the man a 1 CUC tip and he said thank,s it will pay for his meals for the week!
We stopped in at the window of a casa selling baked goods and tried some slices and biscuits which were delicious and we got talking to the young Cuban man serving us. He wanted to practice his English which was actually already quite good. He told us how little he earnt and how hard it is to get buy in Cuba, let alone get ahead. It made it more obvious to us how some Cubans are really well off due to getting tourists to pay them in CUC but the majority of Cubans are struggling to get buy on their 15 Moneda Nacional pesos every day.

Wednesday 20th August:

Bus ride from Trinidad to Habana. We stocked up with pizzas so we had plenty of food for the journey. Again it took longer, it was supposed to be 5 hours and was 7 hours. We walked to the casa we stayed in last time out in Vedado which is in a nice suburb out of town.
We caught a taxi into town and jumped on the internet at the main hotel. It was super
expensive and slow and had a weird key board.
Had dinner at a pizza place near our casa and crashed out.

Thursday 21st August:

Started the day chatting to our casa owners and daughter, such lovely people. We gave them the last of our things we had brought to give away and they were so stoked, particularly with the perfume (thanks again Katie!).
We missioned into town to walk around the old town again. We got another of our fav cold chocolates made with honey from the Chocolate museum. Yum!
Mikey brought an Ernst Hemingway book at the market and had a photo in front of the huge old pink building he wrote it in 😊
We met up with Manuel and Ramon (our Cuban friends we met in Trinidad) and went out for dinner and had such good yarns with them. Awesome guys.

Friday 22nd August:

Today we again hung out at the Casa with the owners for a few hours yarning.
We found some internet to try and organise our Oaxaca trip coming up. Went back in to town to buy some chocolates for Manuel and Ramon who invited us to their house for dinner tonight!
We stopped in at the Cigar museum and we brought some cigars and matches, took a while to choose which ones. We ended up getting Montecristo, Partagas and H.Ullman.
Went for lunch at our fav cafe and bumped into the three Spanish guys again!! Haha what are the chances. Such funny guys.
Went back to the casa to sleep for a few hours since we have to get up at 2am to catch a taxi to the airport for our flight to Mexico City.
Walked a few blocks down to Manuels cute wee house in a 40's building that he just brought. It was really small and compact with an enormous terrace.
Our chocolates had melted into one lump dang it.
They made us daiquiries which were epic and for starters we had our favourite, Malangas! I was so raving about them at the restaurant in Trinidad they made them specially. So stoked.
We then had for dinner: Black beans, rice, lamb stew, avocado, and banana chips... YUM YUM YUM YUUUUM! For dessert they made their specialty Grapefruit thingys, papaya and cream cheese. Delish.
Ramon made us some epic Sangria. We ended up staying there and chatting for yonks and didn't get home until 1am. Such a great night and awesome way to finish our awesome time in Cuba.
We slept for about 30 minutes when we got home before we had to get up for the taxi...

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Comments

[Katie and Pete]

Great trip
Hi Tabitha and Mike, Love your pictures and blog. You are SO detailed, love all the descriptions and secretly going through all your new fun experiences with you! Glad you and Mike are having fun and staying safe. It was VERY sweet to read about all those kids in Cuba! I wish we had sent more things down with you! Bibs, band aids, pacifiers, paper, etc! It's so nice to hear that they were so stoked with what they had and really puts life in perspective. Love their reactions and wish I could send more. Anyway, thank you for taking all your stuff to them all the way from NZ and packing in a few things from us too, melts my heart. Keep enjoying those travels and posting those pics and stories! Love, The Dahls :) <3