In case you were wondering, we are alive and well. Getting internet access is a difficult process and particularly as we have been staying in Casa Particulars, internet is non-existent to homes.
Travel and Day 1 – Ola Havana; Planes, Planes and More Planes!
Travel and Day 1 – Ola Havana; Planes, Planes and More Planes!
Well, we’ve done it, we are in Cuba! Four flights, to
Sydney, LA, Mexico City and then Havana, we landed at 10PM on Sunday 28th
Feb. First impressions, the luggage handlers in Havana make the luggage
handlers in Mexico seem like guns!
We were greeted by our transfer person for the 15km ride
into Old Havana where we had booked a night at Hotel Valencia. Wow, what a
start, we were upgraded to the Suite which was by Cuban standards bloody
awesome. An old Spanish style hotel with high ceilings, grand entrance and
doorways and a really nice standard. Certainly much better than we anticipated.
We downed a couple of beers (our end to FebFast), a hot shower then off to bed.
After an all included breakfast, “all included” used loosely
we set about a reconnaissance of Old Havana. The little bit we have seen of
Havana after 24 hours here, is that this is a country hungry for change. It is
steeped in history from its Spanish and Caribbean roots, fighting against the
Americas and more recently Russian influence. But the west wins and whilst
there is no advertising billboards, franchises, shopping centres and the like,
mobile phones are common, music is top 40 English and Spanish, the fashion and
hairstyles bordering on current, there
is a generation that wants to shake off the Havana of the revolution.
Now for the old cars, yes they exist though maybe not in the
numbers we are led to believe as attrition slowly eliminates them. There are
more Chinese brands, Russian Ladas, Volgas of varying degree of repair and age,
Korean cars, the odd Merc, Audi or Peugeot, though less so of the latter Euro
stuff. Though having proving their
mechanical aptitude over the last 50 years, we reckon that even the Cubans will
struggle to keep the Euro hacks running!
The air is heavy with diesel fumes, as trucks and buses
belch out smoke with 40’s and 50’s Americana repowered by Russian diesel
engines. But the overall feel, certainly
around Old Havana, is one change as one tour group after another flock to the
monuments here. And what monuments they are. Images of Che and Fidel are
prominent everywhere. Monuments to the revolution, Cuba’s Spanish history, and
incredible Spanish architecture dominate. The centre of Old Havana is the like
the Plaka in Athens. Heavy investment in restoring the buildings puts on a show
for the tourist. Step out of the centre and the decay is evident with some
serious dilapidation around us.
So Ginz has commenced her Cuban cavorting, with Andrew in
tow. After an early lunch washed down with a couple of Cuban specialties, a
Mojito and a Cuba Libre, we continued to explore. I (Andrew) managed to be
accosted by a ‘Negrita’ and paid for a photo with her. Another bloke liked my
drink bottle so much he wanted it for is daughter to take to school, I gave it
to him!
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| Not Villa Nilda...thank goodness! |
By this stage we had checked out of our hotel and caught a
taxi to Villa Nilda, our Casa Particular homestay for the next 4 nights.
Nilda’s apartment, 4 bedrooms is in the suburb of Mirimar, apparently the best
suburb in Havana. It’s a really nice place that would sit nicely in older
pockets of South Yarra. Mirimar is home to diplomats, embassies, senior
ministers and defence hierarchy. The homes are stately and in various states of
repair from crumbling to absolutely stunning. And they say all are equal in
Cuba….yeah right!
Our first night here, we met Nilda, her daughter and son in
law (Kia Motors agent in Cuba), one of Nilda’s grandsons and some of his mates.
One we meet, Marco, we are told is Che Guevera’s grandson. I laughed and
thought “yeah right” and was seriously corrected.
We spoke for 2 hours about the trial and tribulations of
Cuba, Fidel has many fans. There is a
lot going for Castro’s version of socialism, as much as there are its problems.
Day 2 Tuesday 1st
March – Back to the Future
Panic stations, we slept in to 10:30am…..half a day wasted!
We quickly got dressed sorted ourselves and out of the door. We slept well and
jet lag had gotten to us. So after finding Café Bilongus, we had an excellent
espresso, croissants and fresh OJ for 8CUC, or US$8. The convertible Peso is a
1:1 exchange to the US$, but if you want to change US$ here you pay an 11%
loading, so Euro or Canadian $ are better, go figure!
In our enthusiasm we decide to catch a “cooperative taxi”.
Basically they carry up to 5 passengers going in the same general direction,
and are usually a seriously clapped out piece of American iron. I think we
jumped into a ’53 Chev sedan, it happened quickly, and rode in with the locals.
I think they were surprised a couple of tourists were travelling like this. We
went into Central Havana and came across a car park full of American
convertibles. I couldn’t resist this impromptu car show so had to wander over.
So whilst there are some absolute shitters on the road here,
if you own a 1950’s convertible, you have a licence to print money. The
convertibles are offered to tourists for tours of Havana, and whilst sounding
kitsch, is actually really cool! So recalling the conversion rates earlier, I
hour = $100CUC, 2 hours = $150CUC and 3 hours = $200CUC. They can do up to 3
tours per day….do the sums and you’ll realise how awesome that is in a country
where the average wage is $10CUC per month, and up to $30CUC if you are a
professional or academic.
We chose a Dodge Coronet convertible in really good restored
nic and running its original V8, no diesel donk here folks. So less than 5
minutes into the trip, the thing stalls and refuses to start. Our man Yuli
hides his frustration whilst trying to get it running. If we had a can of
“Start You Bastard”, things would have been sweet. Turns out there was watered
down fuel in the car, a common problem here as fuel from Venezuela tends to be
in very short supply and the service stations water it down to make it go
further. Some 15-20 minutes later the V8
roars into life and we are off again for our tour of the Malecon, Havana
Central, sightings of museums and theatres, the Che Museum, tobacco tour and
then finishing with lunch at Guadelupo Restaurant for a couple of Cuban
specialties. Gina had the shredded beef with rice and I had the spiced mince
with rice. I am making them sound bland, but they were actually pretty good.
All in all a pretty good day
Day 3 Wednesday 2nd
March - “What’s Old is New Again”
Cuban factoid #1: You can have anything you want for lunch as
long as it is a jamon or queso sandwich or both, or at best a tuna sandwich!
Diet here is pretty average to say the least. Fresh food is sparse, as is rice
and flour, the chicken is imported from Venezuela, the rest we are unsure. A
salad consists of a lettuce leaf, a couple of slices of cucumber and a shred of
paw paw or guava. Obviously as tourists we do have better options available,
but generally variations of the above, other than the odd specialty restaurant.
Today started with less urgency, we set an alarm, I know, an
alarm on holidays! But as a wise man once said “time is money” so we got our
groove on and hit the street for an espresso and croissant before getting down
to the serious business of planning the next leg of Ginz Cuban Cavorting.
Unlike previous trips which we could plan on the fly with the trusty google
machine, Cuba is not well connected. Wi-Fi is a luxury let alone basic internet
service. So “Holy Hot Tamale Batman”, we had to go to a travel agent, how
quaint.
Armed with a loose itinerary we hit our local Havanatur
Office hoping like hell that our pre-school Spanish armed with a Cuban’s
pre-school English would have us end up somewhere close to plan. But our lady
Marguerita spoke English and saved the day or so we thought! Remember that
internet issue? same problem for travel agents, pen, paper and telephone!
We managed to squeeze in lunch at a side street café; I
thought I’d be brave and sample the hamburger whilst Gina had the sandwich
atun. The hamburger was tasty, though
the origin of the mince unidentifiable. Gina won with her tuna sandwich; they
do a good tuna sandwich in Havana. So I continued to eat that hamburger for the
rest of the day vowing to be more discriminant about my food choices!
So long story short, we are heading West from Havana to
Vinales on Friday 4th for 3 days, then back to Havana for a night
and we fly to the Island of Cayo Largo for a bit of beach side relaxation. Then
back to Havana as our jump off point as we make our way to Trinidad (Cuba).
Sounds simple doesn’t it? yeah but no. Arranging that took 3 visits on the day
to the agent, a long hike to exchange currency, no credit cards or Euro
accepted, and waiting, lots of waiting. That took us near 8 hours to arrange as
we also had to make our way to the Viazul Bus Depot to book fares to Vinales. As
my patience wears thin pretty easily, poor Gina bore the brunt of my
frustration.
We capped off the day with Buena Vista Social Club “dinner
and show”. Swagman or Draculas comes to Cuba! Whilst some of the performers are
the real deal, the show was cheesy in parts and very kitsch. We had a good
night but our advice is, don’t waste your money.
Oh nearly forgot to mention, whilst at the bus terminus
today arranging our bus tix to Vinales, we got bailed up by a “taxi” driver, a
good looking kid who offered us a good rate back to the travel agent office. We
accepted, but when we got to the car we realised he was a front for his dad
driving the shittiest, clapped out Lada turd-mobile. We had also made the
rookie mistake of pre-booking them to take us to the show in the evening,
before seeing the car. What can I say, the fare was good and they were really
nice blokes. Didn’t end there, after the show, the doorman organised us a taxi,
the driver a tall, dark dude, ripped, wearing a singlet. I think Gina nearly fainted
in excitement!. We got to his taxi, an early 50’s Ford wagon, with stripped out
interior, no side windows, bus seats, but a kick-arse stereo and LED lighting
inside.
Two shit boxes in one day, how did we get so lucky?
Day 4 Thursday 3rd
March Havana - Paella in Style
Cuban factoid #2: You can’t flush toilet paper in Cuba, the
sewage system can’t cope. Something in common with Greece!
Today we head off to check out the Panarama Hotel by the
beach as that is where we are being picked up for our flight to Cayo Largo. It
was a long walk in what we now know to be a 30 degree day so we had to have a
stop for a refreshing beverage. We then discovered why accommodation is so hard
to come by in Havana at the moment. B’rak Obama, that’s right, the Pres of the
US of A is visiting in 21st March, the first visit by a US president
since 1924. So after being told hotel rates double from 5th March,
we thought $380CUC per night was a little over the top. We ain’t talking the
Grand Hyatt here!
From there we caught a taxi to the centre with a lovely lady
who was so chatty and excited to have Australian’s in her taxi. We spoke of
impending change in Cuba and she re-iterated what many have said to us, they
want socio-economic change, but not a change of government. Quite amazing
really.
The Hotel Valencia where we spent our first night is also
famous for its Paella so we’d decided that at some point we had to try it, and
lunchtime today was that point. We enjoyed the specialty, seafood Paella with chicken,
and though salty was really nice. We washed that down with a jug of Sangria,
all whilst being entertained by a Cuban quartet performing a few traditional
and modern classics.
We thought that a good way to cap off Ginz cavorting in
Havana was to get the double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus for a birds eye view if
Havana. It turns out we had walked most of the key points of interest, though
at this stage we are still to visit the Hotel Nacional, the grandest hotel in
Havana, scene of the revolution on 1st January 1959, and Fidel’s HQ
for some time thereafter.
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| Ice cream makes everyone happy! |
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| The Malecon |
This was the start of
our last night in Havana, at least for this leg of the trip. Tomorrow morning
we take a Viazul bus and head west to Vinales, a town famous for its tobacco
growing, beautiful landscapes and history.
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| Hotel Nacional, scene of the Revolution |
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