Cuba - Friday 21st April - Tuesday 2nd May 2006Our first impressions of Cuba was of old crumbling buildings & poverty as we were taken from the airport to our hotel in the old city of Havana. Roads & buildings were in poor condition & people queued on the side of the road in attempt to hitch-hike home or wait for the unreliable bus, known as "the camel" which was a legacy of the era of soviet aid to Cuba. Nevertheless we found the locals to be very friendly & saw glimmers of what could be achieved when the old buildings are fully restored to their former glory.
One thing that you do notice as you wander around are the old classic cars that can be seen everywhere polluting environment (do not think that unleaded petrol had made to Cuba yet!). Don't make the mistake to believe these are the only cars in Cuba. You can actually hire brand new Audi's & there are also a number of soviet designed car (tanks!) which were running on a love and a prayer!.
While in Havana we stayed at the Hotel Nacional which was built in the 1930's & has played host to Frank Sanitra who attended a mafia gathering there. It is one of the best hotels in Havana but it still had problems ... we went without water for about 1 hour one evening, and Nick nearly electricuted himself when pluging in a side lamp. However it still is a magnificant building that over looks the Florida Straits and Old Havana shoreline.
On the first day of our tour in Cuba we were given a half day trip around Old Havana which included a visit to the old fort. On the outside of the fort are market stalls with artisans selling paintings, wood carvings & other bits & pieces to appeal to the tourist.
We also visited the rum factory and of course sampled the different rums at 11am in the morning.
Close to our hotel at the Nacional was the US building which is the place that the Cubans come to apply for Visa's into the US. Outside this building the Cuban governement had put these black flags to cover the side wall of the building where the US government had been showing US propaganda that criticised the Castro regime.
We came across this colourful group of street performers. They were dancing around, playing music on the streets and looking for the opportunity to take a few pesos off the hands of tourists . If you take a photo a performer will come up to you demanding money !! You can't take a photo of a local person without having to give them a peso or two for their effort. One group of people who always seem to be making a peso from being photographed are the cigar smoking ladies dressed in a 'traditional' style dress.
Our tour leader made a comment that these ladies could make about 50 peso a day from being photographed & this was on top of the basic governement wage that everyone receives (only around $12 per month).
On our tour of the old city of Havana we came across a number of girls dressed in these wonderful dresses. Our tour leader was saying that when a girl turns 15 this is part of the 'coming of age' tradition. From this age girls are officially allowed to date boys. It is tradition for families to save for this day so that they can afford to hire the dress, pay a photographer & then host a party for their daughter.
One thing we noticed when in Cuba is that every bar, restaurant or cafe you went to would have a group of musicians plying their trade (singing & dancing). The only problem is that you might be stopping for a quick coffee or break & before you know it somone will come over with a hat asking for a peso & trying to sell a copy of the CD of the group playing.
This is the place to be on May 1st ("workers day"). On this day Fidel Castro addressed a large crowd and spoke for 3 1/2 hours. Fidel Castro appeared to have become an ideology of what a 'good' Cuban should be. What we found was that the average Cuban did not know anything about Fidel post the revolution. There were rumors that he maybe married & he may have had 9 children ... but for someone who is still alive he is a mythical figure.
On the way down to Trinidad we had a stop over in Cienfuegos. This was a town built in 1819 & had many examples of colonial architecture. One thing that we noticed about Cuba was the huge issues with pollution, if it was not coming from cars, buses, trucks then it was being pumped out of factories.
Trinidad is another UNESCO listed place we visited. This is a town that was first established in 1518 but according to that bible for travellers the world over "The Lonely Planet" stated it was a backwater frequented by smugglers until the late 18th century. The town of Trinidad has cobble stone streets & colonial style buildings.
While in Trinidad we had a look inside a government ration store. Every man, women & child has a set food allocation which includes a combination of rice, eggs, milk, bread etc. It is only a basic allowance but it ensured that people do not starve. People then can purchase fruit, veg, meat etc if they can afford to do so.
Two locals in Trinidad with their pet pig !!
Drinking cocktails in Trinidad. This was meant to be a local speciality that involved lemon juice, honey & of course good old Cuban rum !!
Having a seafood lunch in Trinidad. Manuel who was our bus driver took us to a local fishman"s house for seafood. Manuel was the man who knew how to find cheap rum, cigars or even drugs (medical variety) on the local blackmarket.
I am holding a poor crocodile. It is tacky & I wondered whether I should do this. However, I thought that by giving the crocodile handler 1 peso for the privilige of holding this poor creature it may hopefully result in kinder care (the conditions were very poor).
Santa Clara - the home of where the revolution started it's momentum & where Che Guevara mausoleum is located. The statue was erected in 1987 to mark the 20th anniversary of Guevara's murder in Bolivia.
Varadero is the largest resort complex in the Caribbean. The Cubans if they don't work at the complex resort are not allowed to spend time in this region. It is very sterile environment set up for overseas tourists. Even in Cuba, tragically resort behaviour could be found... the Germans out with the towels on the sunbeds first thing in the morning ... English flashing their bodies & attempting to turn a mahogany brown colour ... Italians wearing g-string thongs ...
Time for more rum ..... this was the best pina colada that I have ever had made with fresh pineapple & cococunt with a bit of ice & then you add your own amount of rum. I could have easily have gone more then just one but this was only a toilet stop !! Someone on the bus did partake in more than 1 and was nearly left behind.
Beer o'clock ... a fanastic little microbrewery that we stumbled across in old Havana.
Nick serving a beer out of this fantastic chilled tube of beer that you can have at the table (approx 1 litre of beer) which we shared between 4 people.
For our last few days in Havana we stayed at Hotel Ambos Mundos. This was where Ernest Hemmingway lived during the 1930's. Our room was directly below the room that Hemmingway used. His room has been turned into a museum.
Keeping up with all things to do with Hemmingway we had to have a drink at the bar that he frequented which also is famous for making a great mojito. For those who may want to sample one of the best mojito's in Havana this bar is called La Bodeguita del Medio. I also loved the beautiful tiles that were on the way behind us.
It was always my goal to buy a painting while in Cuba. After dragging Nick around many art galleries in search of a funky piece of art work to hang in the bedroom at home ... we stumbled across this little place in old Havana. We even met one of the local artist who was off to Germany for an exhibition.
If When you visit a county like Cuba that has been cut off from the rest of the world you can't help but notice the propaganda posters. This poster was huge and similar posters could be found in hotel lobbies in every hotel we stayed at. It was about the unfair treatment of the five Cubans being held in US jails. They were meant to have emigrated to Florida to infiltrate anti-Castro exile groups, hoping to prevent terroist plots against the home land. The US arrested them on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. What is disgraceful is the US have kept them in solitary confinement, prevented them having appropriate lawyers & then put them on trial in Miami which is home to a huge population of Cuban emigrants.
It was from Cuba that we moved on to meet the family again in England ....
