Discovering Cuba

Italy---->Cuba

For many years I always dismissed Cuba as a destination for my travels because it was too obvious then last year talking with people who had visited it on their own traveling it far and wide seeing something more, I became convinced that maybe it was worth going and so it was. I left Saturday January 10 from Bologna with a friend. Iberia flight with a stopover in Madrid (approx. 750.00 booked at a travel agency) and arrival in the evening in L'Habana. From the airport we took a taxi (18.00$) to the Deauville Hotel (nice, clean, with a pool and in an excellent position to visit the city) on the Malecon (that is the famous L'Habana seafront promenade) I had booked the hotel on the Internet (for four nights i.e. the time we would have to stay there waiting for the arrival of another friend of ours.

Monday 12 January 2004 - L'Habana

Sunday 11 and Monday 12 we spent them wandering through the streets of the city, visiting the most famous places like the Plaza de la Revolucion, the capitol, the cathedral and also the famous Boteguita del Medio and the famous Floridita.. etc.

and we also went to the bus station near the Plaza de la Revolution to get information on schedules and costs to move around the island (we had dismissed the idea of renting a car after seeing how they drive!) One consideration: avoiding passing through the bad neighborhoods the city can be easily toured entirely on foot as we did but pay attention to the guys who try to be kind and nice but who actually try to scam you trying to convince you to exchange American dollars or even better Euros, which are worth more, for their currency passing it off as convertible pesos but which actually is worth nothing! Only and exclusively exchange at the bank!! Everywhere they accepted both American dollars and convertible pesos which have the same value (1 dollar = 1 convertible peso) Just today however I read in a newspaper that since November Castro has declared that the American dollar will no long

er circulate in Cuba and there will only be the convertible peso. There are banks everywhere where you can withdraw cash with a credit card. If you really want some local currency exchange only a dollar or two in Cuban pesos (I seem to remember that one dollar is 25 pesos) as we did but then you won't have a way to use them almost ever except in some remote little village (we only used them to buy along the streets the "mani" that is roasted peanuts that they sell you in small paper cones - delicious!!!) Back to our itinerary, one of the two evenings we had dinner in a little place in the Habana Vieja area, Cafè Paris, nothing exceptional but nice, cheap and the cuisine was excellent (fried chicken with fried plantain $ 5) and then we went by taxi to the Castillo del Morro to see the "Che" Museum (fairly interesting..

with several objects that belonged to Che and also many beautiful photos) and to attend the Cannonazo performance (nothing exceptional).

A HOP TO VARADERO...

Tuesday 13 in the morning a taxi driver José came to pick us up at the hotel (negotiated the day before at the bus station) and he took us to Varadero (about an hour and a half - two hours of travel) for 30 dollars round trip. We spent a little time at the beach (very beautiful) but then it was very cold in those days and so we took the opportunity to walk around the center and see a bit of the place, the hotels, the bus station, the souvenir market, etc. because it was our intention to return later for a few days at the end of the vacation. We had lunch with a pizza for 4 $ + water $ 0.50. At 16:30 sharp our taxi driver came back to pick us up (obviously not legit but honest) and we set off for L'Habana.

In the evening (again with José) we went to the airport to pick up our friend ($ 20 round trip) and together we negotiated with Josè to have him take us around the whole island in the following days instead of going by bus. We had ourselves dropped off at the hotel and we made an appointment for the next morning early at 8:00 to begin the actual trip.

departure x Trinidad

The following morning we see him arrive without even a bag and this seems strange to us. After a while indeed he explains to us that he thought it over and he can't take us because at that price he doesn't make anything, also because the car he's using at the moment is rented since his is in an accident (as we will see later) and therefore he has many more expenses. At first he tells us he'll take us as far as Trinidad then however we manage to convince him to come with us for the whole trip slightly raising the price agreed the night before but still advantageous for us too that is $ 900 for 13 days including gasoline. Finally once the price is agreed we go to his girlfriend's house where he lives at the moment to give him a chance to grab a few things for the trip and fill up with gas.

Here we meet her whole family and we also have a chance to see his car closed in the garage and definitely in bad shape following an accident he had the previous week at night due to a dog crossing the road (obviously he was going at crazy speed!!!) During the trip we realized that renting the car with Josè included had been an excellent idea because the roads, not always in good condition, were full of tractors, carts, people on foot and dogs that crossed continuously, not to mention the fact that everyone drove like crazy, imprudently and at crazy speeds. Besides that we also had some major technical problems in which Josè was very helpful. The first of these happened right away, when just out of the city we took the highway and here after a few kilometers a tire exploded!! Fantastic.... Luckily the road was deserted and we managed to stop at the side of it without hitting anything.

At this point we changed the wheel but the spare was in worse shape than the other one in fact on one side it had a kind of bubble that looked like it could explode at any moment!!!! At a decidedly reduced speed and paying a lot of attention to the potholes we proceeded for several kilometers until we finally found a gas station with a workshop where they replaced one of the tires. Finally we set off again and then stopped along the road only in the beautiful little town of Cianfuegos to take some photos in the main square which is truly very beautiful. Arriving in Trinidad we had our first encounter with the casas particular (where it was our intention to stay overnight for the whole duration of the trip in order to be a bit more in contact with the real Cuba) and it was excellent.

We found a place at "Margarita", a house not far from the center with their home on the ground floor and on the first floor two double rooms to rent with a shared bathroom and dining room and a beautiful terrace where you can admire the sunset ($ 40 for 2 nights half board). Almost all the casas particular where we stayed had a similar structure because they can rent sleeping places for a maximum of four people and in all of them breakfast and dinner were cooked downstairs in their home and then brought upstairs to our dining room previously set by them. Once we settled things in the room we immediately went down and started wandering through the beautiful little streets of the center up to the main square where we stayed until sunset admiring and photographing this small, beautiful town full of color with the facades of the houses all colored differently from one another.

Dinner at Margarita's house, truly excellent and abundant, and then another walk in the center and a stop at a bar to taste a very good mojito ($2.00).

Trinidad and Playa Ancon

The following day, Thursday January 15, we spent it at the beautiful Playa Ancon, a few kilometers from Trinidad where we finally got to get some sun. The beach is quite wide and long and there are several hotels and street vendors. From one of them I got a little pizza for lunch, quite good, for $ 0.50. In the evening after another delicious and very abundant dinner we took another little stroll in the center, we listened to some music then we went to bed early because the next day we were supposed to leave very early to move to the Moròn area from which we would then leave to go see Cayo Coco. After we had been sleeping for a while Margarita came to wake us up saying that José was there and needed to talk to us.

At first we didn't quite understand the whole speech he gave us then luckily a girl who was with him intervened (thank goodness he had charmed her during the evening!) Jsela, who spoke a little Italian since she's Cuban but currently married to a Swiss man and with relatives in Italy and she explained it to us better. Basically José had to go back immediately to Santa Clara, where he lived, for a personal problem related to his house and his second ex-wife, but that he would return in the morning anyway, so the problem was that we couldn't leave early as planned but a bit later depending on how much time they wasted in the offices of Santa Clara. What can you do... Ok.. patience...

Moron

The next morning we finally managed to leave for Moròn followed closely by Jsela and her mother also headed there (they had been in Trinidad for a few days visiting relatives and now they were going home). Arriving in Moròn, we spent the entire afternoon at Jsela's house while José and Jsela's sister toured the city looking for accommodation for us. This is a clear demonstration of their kindness and hospitality. In the end since there were no free casas particular or ones big enough to host all three of us together we had to opt for a state hotel where they gave us an enormous room with four queen-size beds but not very clean ($ 40 each for 2 nights). Dinner and the next day's breakfast at Jsela's house agreed at 10 $ each (they have to earn something too right?!). After dinner Jsela took us to an open-air disco whose name I don't remember.

Unfortunately we didn't have our passport with us so they didn't want to let us in but then Jsela and some of her friends vouched for us and we got in (entry ticket $ 1.00). There were lots of people and it was interesting because obviously there wasn't a single tourist but it was beastly cold so we decided to warm up a bit with rum. We, almost teetotalers, got a bottle of rum and a couple of cans of coke ($ 2 in all!!) and we had 3 coke and rums but the cold persisted so we ended up draining the whole bottle. In the end we weren't as cold anymore but on the other hand our heads were spinning a little and Melissa and Cristina even felt sick!!.

Cayo Coco

The next day Jsela drove us to Cayo Coco, the only reason for our stop in Moron. Cayo Coco is a small island connected to the mainland by a long road built in the middle of the sea where Cubans have no access. Jsela is Cuban but lives in Switzerland and having a Swiss passport she has no problem getting through.

José, on the other hand, obviously wouldn't have been able to enter, but Jsela (a bit crazy, and crazy us for listening to her) wanted to bring him along, so just before the checkpoint where they check documents we hid him in the trunk under our backpacks and beach towels! It wasn't a very smart thing to do because if they had discovered us there would have been big trouble, especially for them, since tourists are sacred but they get punished heavily; however, it's also not fair that Cubans can't be free to go to an island that for all intents and purposes is still part of Cuba, therefore of their homeland, so we rebelled and in our own way we did justice. This way even José got to see a very beautiful place that otherwise he would never have seen. The island is full of resorts and extra-luxury hotels but there's also a decidedly nice public beach and we stayed there all day.

Before returning to the mainland we went into a hotel to have a little look around and then we set off again at full speed as usual. Getting in the car with Jsela is like doing a Formula One race! I think I lost a kilo from the tension!!! On the way back to Moròn we stopped at a pastry shop and got some pastries?truly delicious!! ($ 0.30). Dinner again at Jsela's house and then we went looking for a place to get a gelato that José miraculously offered us and that we enjoyed sitting near the famous Gallo (a statue) of Moròn.

Houlguin

The following day, that is Sunday, we set off at dawn. Destination Houlguin, where we arrived in the late morning. José had contacts here too, naturally, and together with them we searched for a long time for a free casa particular but the whole city was full of tourists due to the considerable proximity to the beautiful beaches of Guardalavaca and Playa Pesquero, so here too we had to opt for a hotel and we chose the Hotel Pernik ($ 38 each x 2 nights). The rooms were large and clean but rather oldish; however, we liked the place and we stayed also because the hotel had a beautiful pool. José found a room at the house of the people who helped us find somewhere to sleep and we agreed with them on breakfast and dinner. We spent the afternoon a bit in the pool, where José also came, very sad about having had to leave Jsela, and then a bit wandering around the city centre.

Excellent dinner as always based on milanesas with various side dishes and dessert ($ 8).

Playa Guardalavaca

Monday morning we headed off to discover the beaches of the area and we stopped in the Playa Guardalavaca area where we spent the whole day basking in the sun and strolling along the shore. For lunch Melissa and I went to eat a pizza in a pizzeria not far away (pizza + coke 1 $). In the evening we had dinner again at the casa particular of the day before and then we took a walk in the centre with José.

Thursday 22 January 2004 - BARACOA

Tuesday morning, again bright and early, we set off for Baracoa and along the road we immediately noticed the change in the landscape. The further south we pushed, in fact, the more the vegetation was wild, incredibly green and lush, and on top of that it was hotter and hotter. Finally! The road to reach Baracoa is quite in a bad state but in the end we made it. The first thing that strikes you when you're about to enter the city is the scent in the air from the cocoa factory. Truly delicious. Baracoa is quite big but more than a city I'd call it a village, since there are no tall buildings but simple two-storey houses, in many cases quite old and rundown, but with considerable charm. At the hotel in Houlguin we had met two Italians who advised us to go and sleep at Denny's and luckily she had space because we were really comfortable there.

Their house is new and very well kept, spotless and cared for down to the details. We had the whole first floor of her house at our disposal, practically an apartment with two bedrooms, the bathroom and a very large living room with a big modern fridge and TV, two rocking chairs, a sofa and a long dining table with chairs; on top of that we had a beautiful terrace over the street from which you went down to the ground floor via a spiral staircase and a beautiful enormous roof terrace where there were a table, chairs and sun loungers, a straw umbrella in the centre and the clotheslines. Of course this too was accessed via another spiral staircase reachable from the back of the house. Every now and then the power went out for a few hours but there was no problem because Denny provided us with big battery lamps.

Denny and his wife are very kind and very helpful people and on top of that they cooked truly divinely: king prawns, lobsters, always an endless array of side dishes including a local tuber similar to the potato, very good, and of course the inevitable bean soup which they made truly excellent, and the unbeatable chicharritas! (Plantain cut into very thin slices and fried, with a taste similar to that of crisps but even better!). The first day we wandered around the town and went to drink a cup of hot chocolate ($ 0.30) in a place famous and also mentioned in the guidebooks but honestly I've never drunk a worse hot chocolate anywhere else!!! Then, since in Baracoa the mobile phone had no signal, I decided to call my mother from a public phone with a reverse-charge call.

We bought something to eat in a market and some "mani" from a street vendor (the "mani" are roasted peanuts sold in paper cones, already shelled). We spent three wonderful days at Denny's, we saw the beaches of the area including Playa Mangero, Playa Duaba and Playa Maguana, which we'd been told were the most beautiful beaches in Cuba but in reality we didn't like them all that much since they were very wild, small and very dirty, and on top of that maybe it also affected us that the weather wasn't very nice and the beaches were deserted, but overall we had a great time and we relaxed a bit before resuming our very long journey of discovery of Cuba. On Thursday we first took a drive with José to look for other beaches, then in the end, on the advice of a girl to whom we gave a lift, we went to the Hotel Porto Santo where for 3 $ we could use the sun loungers and the pool.

In the evening we settled the bill with Denny of about 70 $ each for three days on half board including drinks.

Santiago de Cuba

Friday the 23rd at dawn, as usual, we set off, this time towards Santiago de Cuba at the far south-western tip of the country. Right after leaving Baracoa the road climbs up into the mountains from which you can glimpse truly beautiful views, then it goes back down and gradually as you continue along the coast the landscape changes again and becomes more and more barren, especially near Guantanamo. After several hours of travel we finally reached Santiago and we immediately looked for a place to sleep and, not wanting to waste too much time, we stopped at the first available one even though it certainly wasn't the best. Here too we had an entire apartment at our disposal but decidedly different from the one in Baracoa. Here we were on the ground floor in an old city neighbourhood, the entrance led to a long corridor onto which two bedrooms opened, a shared bathroom and the kitchen.

The entrance door and the window beside it were the only ones in the whole house apart from a tiny little window in the kitchen. The place was therefore very dark and sad, but apart from the kitchen, which wasn't the best, the rest seemed fairly clean so we made do. The landlady didn't live there so she told us that if we wanted, though, she would come and prepare dinner and breakfast for us; the price was good so we accepted. Melissa and Cri took one room and I took the other by myself. We spent the afternoon wandering through the streets of the city, admiring the beautiful central square and the cathedral. We even managed, in a moment of distraction on the doorman's part, to get into the Hotel Casa Granda. There we had a quick look at the entrance then we slipped up the stairs to the panoramic terrace from where you could admire the whole city.

Santiago is a very old city and the population is mixed and in general much darker-skinned, probably because of the considerable importation of slaves; as in all the south, the greater poverty of the people is also evident, and I must say that here, apart from some suburbs of Havana, it was the only place where we didn't feel safe at all walking around on our own. Back at our very sad lodgings we got ready for the evening and waited for our landlady for dinner, which in the end didn't satisfy us at all, so the next evening we told her we felt like pizza and so we would have dinner out. After dinner we went for a walk in the centre even though we didn't feel very safe wandering around the city at night and especially there in the area where our house was, because it was less frequented and darker.

However, we got as far as the Cathedral square but we didn't stay long because almost everyone was calling out to us and trying to strike up a conversation, so we got annoyed and went to sleep.

Santiago de Cuba

The following day, after breakfast again prepared by our landlady, we met up with José and had him take us to the beach in Santiago. As soon as we arrived it was almost deserted, we got the sun loungers and took a little stroll around. The beach is quite long but not very wide, the sand rather dark and the sea fairly clean. At first it didn't seem the best to us but still better than the sad beaches of Baracoa, but then when it filled up with stupid, vulgar Italians of every age accompanied by very sociable young Cuban women we immediately changed our minds and missed the solitude that reigned at Playa Maguana. On the way back from the beach we had José take us to Castillo El Morro, an ancient fort very well preserved where we watched a historical costumed re-enactment and a splendid sunset. In the evening we looked for a place where you could eat pizza but we found nothing.

We even sat down in a restaurant near the house but then after reading the menu we got up stealthily and left. In the end we had dinner in a restaurant in the centre, at "Don Antonio", with an excellent steak and French fries. We took a walk to the cathedral square, full of people as usual, and after sitting there for a while watching the people and the children having fun going round the square on a sort of motorised little train, we went back to our lodgings.

SANTA CLARA

The following morning we set off very early, even skipping breakfast, also because the one the day before hadn't been the best. Only the owner's husband came, to whom we paid for the stay and left the keys. After a few hours we stopped at a bar along the road to have a coffee and breakfast but they didn't have much and after taking advantage of the bathroom we set off again, or at least we tried. In fact, the car showed no sign of life. Fantastic! Another problem? but this car is really a wreck!! Imagining that the battery had died, we tried to get it started by pushing and indeed after a few attempts we finally managed it. The stretch to cover today was very long and we reached our destination, Santa Clara, only in the afternoon.

First we stopped by Plaza de la Revolution where one of the only two statues of Che present in Cuba stands upright, at the foot of which a museum in his honour has been opened. In the same square there is also the Che mausoleum-memorial with the gravestones of the 38 comrades who fell with him in Bolivia and where his remains have rested since 1997, when they were repatriated on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his death. Since Santa Clara is José's city, as soon as we arrived he immediately took us to see his house, of which he is very proud. At first we feared he wanted to host us at his place and we looked in horror at the very dirty and very sadly furnished rooms; then luckily we realised that he couldn't host us, not having the licence as a casa particular, and we breathed a sigh of relief and even complimented him on his beautiful house even though it wasn't at all.

After wandering around a bit we managed to find a casa particular with two free rooms for $ 10 each. A very modern, very clean and well-kept house where the owners also lived, with a splendid enormous dog that immediately terrified Melissa. Available to guests there were two rather spacious double rooms and a shared bathroom. I settled into a room with Cri and we left the other room for Melissa. After we'd settled in, José took us for a tour of the city and first of all we went to the Loma del Capiro, a small hill from where Che planned the famous battle of Santa Clara. Now there is a monument there and you can admire a splendid panorama of the whole city from above. Afterwards we also went to the Monument to the Armoured Train located to the north of the city.

Beside the railway line, still in operation, there are some carriages of the famous train full of ammunition stopped and attacked by the revolutionaries who had torn up the rails with a bulldozer, which is also preserved beside the train. Now both have become a national monument and inside the carriages a museum has even been set up, but unfortunately today being Sunday we found it closed. Back at our rooms we took a shower and got ready for dinner, which turned out to be excellent and consisted of soup, white rice, prawns in sauce and chicharritas, all for $ 7. Since today was Cri's birthday it was supposed to be a special occasion but unfortunately only Me and I enjoyed these excellent delicacies because Cri was a bit unwell. After dinner José came to pick us up and took us to his ex-wife's house where he introduced us to her, her new husband and her two children, a boy and a girl.

They were very kind, they welcomed us with joy even though we thought they were already ready for bed since the lady was in her nightgown. After staying there a bit, rather awkwardly since they had us sit down but we didn't know what to say as we don't know a word of Spanish, finally after what seemed to us an eternity, after kissing and hugging everyone, we left and set off again; José's daughter came with us too and we went to José's mother's house where we were once again welcomed warmly; they had us sit down in the house and here they also introduced us to a cousin who secretly makes Cuban cigars. I had to buy a box for one of my bosses and so after showing me several types I chose a box of Cohiba paying $ 25 for it (at the airport the same box cost more than 10 times as much!!).

Of course we also wanted to see how they were made so he took us into the chicken coop and in silence showed us how he prepares them and gave us one each. In the end we said goodbye and thanked everyone, we took the daughter home and went back to the city.

VARADERO

The next morning we had breakfast then left immediately for our last stop: Varadero where we arrived after several hours. Here we struggled a bit to find a fairly cheap place to sleep since there are no particular houses but only hotels and in the end we found a place at VILLA LA MAR which is a fairly large hotel with different types of accommodations and a nice very large pool. They put us outside the hotel in an adjacent building where there are only apartments and below some shops including a supermarket and they assigned us an apartment with three bedrooms, one single and two doubles, two terraces, a bathroom, the living room with TV and the kitchen. It's certainly not a luxury place but it's more than fine for 20 dollars per person per day with breakfast included given the prices of Varadero! Once settled we said goodbye to José and made an appointment for Friday evening.

In theory he promised to come pick us up to take us to the airport, let's hope he doesn't forget!!!

Varadero

to be continued....