Cuba is definitely a magical place, where the past meets the present, and where one can see cars from the 50´s driven by youngsters wearing ghetto clothing from the States (even wearing US flags..). It is a contradiction in itself, a clash between an “ongoing” Socialist Revolution and a youth with new dreams and hopes. The propaganda is still very present in every corner of the cities, and one can feel the concern of the Cuban government about losing the people’s loyalty. Since there is a lot of tourism, the Cuban youth is very exposed to occidental fashion and values, and therefore dreams of travelling or having internet access. Even though the Cuban Socialism has been guaranteing an excellent education system, a worldwide recognised healthcare and an egalitarian society in which nobody dies of hunger, Cubans earn very little and therefore have to make enormous efforts to live decently. For instance, a doctor earns about 20 Euros per month and a bottle of water costs like 1.50 Euros. It's ridiculous...
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| La Habana Vieja |
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| Cuba's odd transportation system |
We arrived in la Habana at 3am on November 7th, and went straight to sleep at our “casa particular”. For a few years now, Cuban families are allowed to rent rooms in their houses to tourists. Although they need a special license and have to pay high taxes in order to get the permits, it is now very popular amongst cubans since it is a way for them to earn some extra money. Yes, it is private entrepreneurship in a communist State. This is what they call “casas particulares”.
Our beautiful casa particular was located in “Centro Habana” and was owned by a wealthy Cuban family. On the one hand we felt like at our grandma’s home because the rooms had a strong XIXth century Iberian touch, but on the other hand, the family didn’t want to hang out with us because they ran the place more like a hotel than a “casa particular”.
In “Centro Habana”, close to the old city centre, there wasn´t much to do in terms of sightseeing, but one could really see how Cubans live. Cubans spend the whole day hanging out in the street. In fact, one often wonders what do they exactly do for a living. But wandering in the streets of La Habana is always enjoyable because you will always meet funny and interesting people. A very common activity for Cubans is “jineterismo”: in every corner jineteros will offer you a place to stay or eat, cigars, an escort or any service whatsoever. There is NOTHING a jinetero won’t do for you, but they obviously will charge high commissions on naive tourists.
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| Joana in Centro Habana |
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| "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita", Ernest Hemingway. For those who didn't know, the mojito and the daiquirí became famous in La Habana |
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The “Habana Vieja” (old city centre) is the only district where buildings are still well maintained and periodically restored. In other districts such as Habana Centro, buildings are destroyed and abandoned or partially decomposed. But, one can imagine how beautiful la Habana must have been fifty years ago. Visiting La Habana needs much more than one day. We spent almost two days wandering through the alleys of Habana Vieja, visiting the main plazas of the Capital, the old Cathedral, the Capitolio (an exact replica of the US Capitol), etc.
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| One of the many old timers you can find in La Habana |
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| The US House of Representatives? Nope, el Capitolio de la Habana! |
One of the most important and famous attraction in la Habana is the Museum of the Revolution. The Museum retraces Cuba’s last century’s history and features some fascinating souvenirs of the Revolution. We also saw some vehicles used by Fidel and the revolucionarios during the Uprising such as tanks, planes and Granma, the boat that brought them from Mexico to Cuba at the start of the Revolución Cubana. Although very interesting and instructive, bits of history are missing and is of course pure propaganda.
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| Turista revolucionario? |
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| Museum of the Revolution's Rincón de los Cretinos (The Idiot's Corner): Batista, Reagan and the Bushes. BRILLIANT |
During our stay in Cuba, we also went to one of the oldest colonial towns called Trinidad, a small mountainous town next to the Caribbean coast. We stayed four nights with a Cuban family in the city centre. The owner Noel welcomed us with two delicious Mojitos and we enjoyed dining under the stars on their rooftop the amazing meals prepared by his wife Nury. For the first time since we left Europe, we didn’t feel like customers. The family shared so much time with us that we eventually felt we were staying at some friend’s place. We got to know them so well that we are still in touch with them, and we’re actually trying to help them advertise their “casa particular”. If any of you are planning to go to Trinidad, YOU HAVE to stay at Casa Noel y Nury :)
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| Beautiful Trinidad |
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| Trinidad: Cubans actually spend all their time in the street |
Trinidad had also wonderful beaches. We spent some days at Playa Ancón and got to snorkel in a reef infested by huge lobster. Although Carlos tried to hunt one for dinner, he was only able to bring a tiny dead one. TIP: Never try to hunt a lobster without proper instructions, they can actually cut your hand in half... Eventually we decided to make it easy and ate lobster at a restaurant for only 6 Euros!
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| Playa Ancón |
We left Cuba on November 15th and were so delighted we promised we would come back (hopefully before it becomes another Cancún or Miami). Then we went back to Mexico and spent some time in Isla Mujeres and Tulúm.
To be continued...
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Cuba is definitely a magical place, where the past meets the present, and where one can see cars from the 50´s driven by youngsters wearing ghetto clothing from the States (even wearing US flags..). It is a contradiction in itself, a clash between an “ongoing” Socialist Revolution and a youth with new dreams and hopes. The propaganda is still very present in every corner of the cities, and one can feel the concern of the Cuban government about losing the people’s loyalty. Since there is a lot of tourism, the Cuban youth is very exposed to occidental fashion and values, and therefore dreams of travelling or having internet access. Even though the Cuban Socialism has been guaranteing an excellent education system, a worldwide recognised healthcare and an egalitarian society in which nobody dies of hunger, Cubans earn very little and therefore have to make enormous efforts to live decently. For instance, a doctor earns about 20 Euros per month and a bottle of water costs like 1.50 Euros. It's ridiculous...
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