CUBA CUBA CUBA CUBA
2023
After wanting to go to Cuba ever since I saw a National Geographic article on the country while in college, I finally made it there.
As it turned out, my friends Curt, Dave and Joe also had a hankering to visit this beautiful country, so we made it happen. This was my first international trip, so traveling with these three well-traveled guys made it a lot easier.
In spite of what most people think, Americans CAN travel to Cuba and it's actually quite easy. It's as easy as gathering up your passport, booking your flight (we flew American Airlines), obtaining a Cuban Tourist Visa (buy this online for $85), obtaining travel insurance that's valid in Cuba and completing a Health Declaration Form (also online).
"U.S. Tourism" is not allowed in Cuba, but if you declare your reason for going there is "In Support of the Cuban People," you're ushered right in.
Another misconception about Cuba is that it's a dangerous place to visit...NOT TRUE. We never felt the least bit threatened or uncomfortable during our entire trip. We saw no homeless people sleeping on the streets and absolutely no evidence of drug use, AT ALL.
The Cuban people, despite being extremely poor and living under a communist/socialist regime, are some of the nicest, friendliest, happiest and warmest people that I've ever had the privilege of meeting.
Of course, you will have people approaching you to sell you souvenirs and offering you taxi rides and to exchange money, but they don't keep pestering you after you decline their offers.
The issue of money can be a little tricky, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. In Cuba, they accept Cuban Pesos, U.S. Dollars and Euros. The official exchange rate at banks and hotels is 24 Pesos to one Dollar, however, your guide or Airbnb host can get you rates of 130:1. We found that that it wasn't really necessary to change money as Cubans prefer the U.S. Dollar.
Americans aren't allowed to stay in hotels or purchase items in government run "real stores" because our credit cards don't work in Cuba, but you can book an Airbnb online in advance and pay with your credit card. Airbnbs and Casas Particulares (renting rooms in Cuban homes) are preferred anyways because you get to meet charming people and the service and accommodations you get are far superior to that of government run hotels.
Anyway, here is our trip:
These are the outlaws I traveled with from left to right: your humble storyteller, Curt (a retired engineer/surveyor), Joe (a retired geologist) and Dave (a still employed cardiologist).
DAY ONE
We all met up at the Miami airport for our evening flight into Havana.
The Jose' Marti airport in Havana is a lot different than American airports. It definitely had it's own feel and smell to it.
I was pulled aside by a Cuban customs official and grilled about why I was visiting the country, the addresses of the places I was staying and who I was planning to meet with while I was there.
Dave was pulled aside and questioned extensively about one of the suitcases full of gifts that we brought to share with the Cuban people.
We made it through however, got a taxi ride to our first Airbnb in Havana.
Some much needed rounds of beer after checking in.
Our first night's dinner was some really good grilled fish with garlic, rice and black beans, tostones (smashed and double fried plantains). It was all fantastic and our hosts were so nice and accommodating.
This gas station looks as if it were photographed in the 1950's.
After dinner we walked to the Hotel Nacional for some cocktails and music.
Everyone who is/was "anyone" in Cuba, has been hosted at this magnificent hotel.
Cuba is known for its lively music and the Hotel Nacional didn't disappoint.
DAY TWO
We had breakfast at our Casa Particular and then went out to explore Havana.
Our first Cuban breakfast and yes, that IS a hot dog.
Cuba is not a food destination and as tourists, we have to remember that we're probably eating much better that most of the Cuban people.
Our first "Old Car" ride was in this beautiful old Buick.
Joe, our first guide, had never been out of the country, but dreamed of visiting the U.S.A. As soon as we all got settled in his car, he said "there are only two good things that come from the U.S. The cars and everything else."
An outdoor military museum
These are the remains of U.S.A.F. Major Rudolph Anderson's U-2 spy plane that was shot down over Cuba in 1962. Some say this incident may have prevented the missile crisis from turning into nuclear war.
This is one of the Soviet "Sons a Bitches" that caused the Cuban missile crisis. They don't look too terribly threatening, but when you realize that each one packed the nuclear punch of 60 Hiroshima bombs AND that they were only 90 miles off the U.S. mainland, it becomes a different story.
The tip of a Soviet MiG 21 fighter jet.
"Christ of Havana" overlooks the Bay of Havana and was sculpted by Jilma Madera, who is the most prominent female sculptor in Cuba. The locals joke, saying that the statue is supposed to be holding a Mojito in one hand and a cigar in the other.
Che Guevarra's home overlooks the Bay of Havana.
Castillo De Los Tres Reyes Del Morro
The fortress guarding the entrance to the Havana harbor.
This beautiful medieval-looking fortress was ringed with rusty cannons, light beacons, soldier's quarters and even a dungeon of sorts. Unfortunately, it was also littered with trash, but beautiful just same.
I had no idea what this guy was doing. Maybe he was an archeologist or a historian, but he was picking at the side of the wall and he was alone while doing so.
View of Havana from the fort.
Miscellaneous Havana
Little carts and stands like this are all over Cuba. They sell water, sodas, beer, fruit juice and some even sell pressed sugar cane juice. The good thing about these little tiendas is that they take U.S. dollars.
Revolutionary Square. This is where Fidel would make speeches and have large parades.
A government building with the image of Che on it.
This is a tomb honoring the lives of 25 firefighters that perished in a large fire in 1890. It's located in the Colon Cemetery, which is said to have 56,000 tombs in it.
We happened upon a wedding in one of Havana's many parks and I had to take a picture of this beautiful Cuban couple.
Our tour ended in Old Havana (Habana Vieja).
Just walking around Havana
With Havana appearing to be in a constant state of decay, it's rare to find new paint being applied anywhere.
Lunch at El Cafe with Mojitos and a Rum Collins.
Sharing some American gifts with our servers.
A Cuban speakeasy. It even had a sliding bookcase entrance.
Policia!
Some officers were armed with pistolas, but many weren't.
The police never approached us during our entire trip.
"Hey Amigo, want to change the money?"
Cuba, especially Havana, has some amazing murals.
One of the cleaner, nicer streets in Havana.
This guy was shouting what I believed to be Bible verses to a lonely sidewalk.
Along the Malecon
The Malecon is a five mile long road and seawall that goes
from Vedado to Old Havana.
The locals say it's the longest couch in the world.
It's a very calm, romantic place to relax and enjoy the quiet after being
in the noisy, exhaust filled streets of Havana.
2+2=5 is a very prolific street artist that does incredible murals all over the city.
Dinner time...
DAY THREE
Day trip to Viñales
Our trip to Viñales was about a three hour drive, each way, but it was worth it.
Viñales is a beautiful little town and is at the heart of Cuba's tobacco growing region. The landscape and the village are beautiful and the people were nice. I think we all wanted to stay here longer than just a day.
The rest areas in Cuba were incredible!
Rest areas sold food, drinks, cocktails, cerveza and souvenirs. They all had super clean restrooms and they were a good place to "people watch."
This cool guy here really hammed it up for me. As soon as my camera came out,
his Machetes went up...
This guy said I played the Maracas like a professional.
Do you think he was just saying that for his tip?
They said this entire valley used to be planted fields of tobacco and crops.
To the tobacco farm...
Just needs some front wheels
It's not often that you willingly follow a man carrying a sharp machete to a
dark little thatched barn, but apparently we were willing to do anything
for a cigar.
A traditional tobacco drying barn.
Many of these were destroyed in a recent hurricane, but this one either survived or was rebuilt/
These are tobacco seeds.
They're each about this size of a grain of salt.
I snatched a pinch full of these and brought them home, so we'll see if they like Reno's
climate. I'm not holding my breath.
Tobacco leaves drying.
This guy rolled a beautiful cigar, using nothing but this board and a knife.
He gave each a free cigar to smoke during our time at his farm.
It may just be the hype, but this was one fine cigar and I think it looks
good underneath the hat I bought in Havana.
Curt and I out in the tobacco field.
These guys will be ready for harvest by late summer.
In an effort to retain it's historical beauty, farmers in Viñales aren't allowed to use modern
farm machinery. The fields are worked by hand with the help of oxen.
Our guide explained that this large mortar and pestle is used to
grind Cuban coffee.
Complimentary Cuban coffee, which was very strong, but very good.
This is the farm where we bought cigars to take home.
Americans can't buy cigars in the government shops, but you can if you go directly to the farms.
The government buys most of the farmers crops, but does allow
them to keep some of their crop to sell directly.
A typical Cuban kitchen. This one was at the tobacco farm.
A boat ride through a cave
Cueva Del Indio is a beautiful limestone cave with water filled passages
throughout. We took a short boat tour through the cave.
Performers outside the cave.
Pressing sugar cane and adding a little rum to the mixture for the guests.
Lunch time
Nenitas in Viñales was a beautiful Airbnb with a really good restaurant.
The cafe was super clean and everyone was very friendly.
I think we all agreed that this would be where we would want to stay
if we ever made it to Viñales again. It even had a very inviting looking swimming pool.
Joe getting his workout in on this very sketchy homemade rebar weight bench.
This is the Mural de la Prehistoria.
It depicts the evolution of man from snails and swamp organisms all the way to modern day.
After Viñales, we made to long, bumpy ride back to Havana, arriving well after dark.
It was an incredible day.
DAY FOUR
A day in Havana...
Bread delivery, Havana Style.
The guide book said that LGBTQ is mildly tolerated in Cuba and this was the only rainbow flag we saw during our entire time in Cuba.
The Hotel Inglaterra had some of the best outdoor music in Havana.
Old cars are everywhere. Here, near the tourist center, they're all restored, but in the rest of the country, they're held together by bailing wire and spit.
The Cuban Capitolo was modeled after the U.S. Capitol and it was a beautiful building. Unfortunately, it was closed and we weren't able to see the inside.
Joe needed a haircut...
Cocktails at Club El Dandy
More work by 2+2=5
Live music and mojitos.
Here, a Cuban couple grabbed a couple of tourists and started dancing with them.
We saw this a lot in Cuba.
We needed to find an outdoor bar to enjoy a few cocktails and smoke some of our cigars.
We kind of tied one on here and it was a blast.
This is one of my favorite photos I took while in Cuba.
Although the dimly lit alley and ominous figure approaching looks spooky,
it wasn't at all. Cuba might look gritty, but we always felt safe and
the people were all so nice.
A mural in a restaurant's restroom.
This is one way to make a urinal...
Live music at virtually every restaurant and bar we visited.
Zipping around through the streets of Havana in a little three-wheeled
thing called a "coconut."
Dave and Joe in a coconut. Curt and I were alongside racing them. They won.
We had a difficult time getting back to the Airbnb this evening due to some kind of
celebration taking place along the Malecon.
Our coconut driver had some words with the police and they let us through.
DAY FIVE
Today, we headed out to Trinidad for a couple of nights.
Our taxi was a small Peugeot hatchback that all four of us plus the driver had to cram into.
We had a four hour drive ahead of us and we knew it wasn't going to be a comfortable ride, but we made the best of it...UNTIL.
Halfway to Trinidad, our driver informed us that another car would be taking us the rest of the way and as it turned out, this was an even smaller car with no A/C and the passenger compartment was thoughtfully designed in such a way as to capture all of the gas fumes and exhaust and hold them there. I'll never complain about having to smog my vehicles ever again.
Here's the little "fume mobile" and our very friendly driver.
Sharing gifts with our waitstaff in a Trinidad cafe.
They were all so grateful and shared the treasure with all of their coworkers.
Life in Trinidad...
Casa de la Trova is a Cuban institution and is widely known for it's incredible live music.
We found it to be a crowded, loud, echoing place with horrible mojitos (all the bar offered).
It was a one drink and done place for us despite paying a .30 cent cover charge.
This place had horrible service, so we walked out. Most Cuban restaurants were so happy
to get the business, but for some reason, this place wasn't one of them.
Since Cuban restaurants are often out of a lot of things, most just write what they have
on a chalkboard.
At 130 pesos to 1 dollar, you can see that eating and drinking in Cuba is pretty affordable.
DAY SIX
Today, we hired a guide to take us to the sites of Trinidad and I'm so glad we did. Juan
was a wealth of information and his English was quite good.
Our driver for the day. Most of the old American cars you see in Cuba have Japanese
or Russian diesel motors in them, as does this one. Diesel is easier to come by and the motors not only
last longer, but parts are somewhat more available.
Our guide, Juan, was a retired professor of philosophy who lectured at the University of Havana.
His mother was an architect and his father an attorney. Juan told us that his monthly retirement
pension from the state was $10.00/month. He said that an average Cuban needs about $50.00/month
to live a decent life, so he works as a guide to augment his pension. He made $120.00 from us that day, so he was a happy man.
This is another one of my favorite photographs.
The rearview mirror captures the fun we were all having as we chugged along Trinidad's countryside.
A distillery museum.
A very eye opening historical site that was worked with over 300 slaves.
The slaves worked 14 hour days, 7 days a week in 90° heat and 80% humidity.
A sugar can truck.
This sugar cane plantation was very reminiscent of a southern cotton plantation
in the Deep South of the U.S.
Juan arranged for a local family to serve us a very nice lunch (I thought it was one
of the best meals I had on the whole trip). There was pork, yuca (cassava root), plantains, salad, bananas, black beans, rice and pineapple. It was a feast.
This man is embroidering a tablecloth and as it turned out, we were in an area of Trinidad
that was known for their handmade tablecloths. They were all hanging on wires that looked
as if they were drying on a clothesline.
Joe and Dave are operating a large sugarcane press, something slaves would have done in the past.
Of course, we got to drink the juice and for a few extra cents, they'd add a shot of rum to the glass.
More Trinidad life...
Why is this color so popular in third world countries?
Fine art in Trinidad.
Another night of good food, live music and great company.
When we walked past this place, these two women (white shirt and black and pink shirt) were on the ground fighting. It was a good old fashioned "cat fight" complete with hair pulling, punches that
weren't landing and a lot of trash talk.
By the time I got my camera out, the men had them separated, but they were still pissed at one another.
DAY SEVEN
Today, we enjoyed a 3 1/2 hour drive to the gorgeous beach town of Veradero.
Veradero is a peninsula that juts out to the northeast from the center part of Cuba and into the Atlantic Ocean. It's known for its beautiful sandy beaches its warm waters and a lot of
all-inclusive resorts that cater mainly to Russians and Canadians.
Veradero is a great place to go if all you want to do is enjoy the warm weather and nice beaches. It's not a good place to go if you're looking for the true Cuban experience." I'm glad we added it to out itinerary, but I'm also glad it wasn't our only destination on the island.
The prices were higher here as you'd expect from a touristy place.
We had to do a recon of the beach as we planned to spend the entire day here tomorrow.
DAY EIGHT
Breakfast on beach day.
This is how we spent the day.
88° and warm tropical water was just what we needed after dealing with a ton of snowfall this winter back home.
And this is what someone who doesn't know how to lay out in the sun looks like after
a day at the beach. The UV rays are so powerful at Cuba's low latitude that it doesn't
take long to really fry yourself.
DAY NINE
After a couple of days in Veradero, we rode in a very nice (but still small) taxi back to Havana for our last two nights on the island.
It was a beautiful drive with ocean off of our right side for most of the ride.
Due its proximity to the coast, this part of the island also has a lot of natural gas plants,
crude oil refineries and power plants, which we learned were diesel powered.
This is a view from one of the rest areas along the road.
Back in Havana for our last two nights before heading home. We didn't really have an agenda, so we just meandered and explored more of the city on foot.
We were all ready to start inching our way back home by now.
HAVANA
These two kids were so sweet and were the embodiment of the Cuban people.
An old car ride to the Nacional Hotel one last time.
And Joe said he doesn't dance...
Now this guy had some STYLE!
A quintessential snapshot of Cuba: a Russian Moscovich car, an old American car, the Malecon with the Cuban flag in the foreground.
The story behind this photograph is that a big peacock took a shit right in the doorway of the Nacional Hotel's back courtyard and we all patiently waited to see who would step in it. The guy in the yellow shirt was the lucky contestant. He immediately knew he stepped in it too, said some Spanish cuss words and walked off.
I guess we never really grow up all the way...
The Club Floridita, where Hemmingway hung out during his time in Cuba.
The three collaborators: Curt, Hemmingway and Castro.
The Micheledas (beer and tomato juice cocktails) were all very tasty, but they were different at every bar. In fact one time, when every place was out of tomato juice, they offered to make us a Micheleda using marinara sauce!
This was supposed to be a caricature of Curt.
This was a barber shop that was open late at night.
Hmm, a little sketchy, even by Cuban standards.
DAY TEN
Our last full day in Cuba and we spent it just roaming around Havana.
This is a Cuban butcher's shop.
If you're lucky enough to be able to afford meat, this is the kind of place where you buy it.
One of our guides told us that since most Cubans can't afford meat on a regular basis, they call
butcher shops "meat museums" because you can only look at it.
A few minutes before this pic was taken, we heard a commotion down the street and this guy took off running with the police in a hot foot pursuit. The crowd was all pointing and yelling "bandito" as he ran around the corner. 10-15 minutes later, the policia had their man in cuffs and was taking him off to jail. Crime is definitely not tolerated in Cuba.
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One last breakfast at the El Dandy.
Joe had been wanting a shave and got one on the last day from the same barber
who cut his hair a few days earlier.
Pedal taxis
DAY ELEVEN
Our last day was fairly uneventful. We checked out of our room and got a taxi ride to the airport in one of the most beautiful old cars that I had seen during my entire trip.
We made it through Cuban customs (all but Dave's rum) and we had a few very strong beers at the airport while waiting for that big beautiful plane that would take us back to the land of the free.
This old classic car even had air conditioning!
This was out very cute Airbnb host in Havana.
The Airbnbs we Stayed at in Cuba
I figured that it might be a good for you all to get an idea of the different accommodations that are available in Cuba.
Although the casas were all very different, they were all very clean and comfortable. They all had A/C units, TVs and most had WiFi, although it rarely worked.
The casas always felt safe and secure and we never worried about leaving our luggage in the rooms while out exploring. All of our hosts were the best. They helped us with directions, set us up with fantastic guides, made recommendations, provided optional meals, organized taxis for us and even exchanged our money.
I slept so well in Cuba. I don't know why, but whatever it was it was much needed.
Our first casa in Havana
Our casa in Trinidad
This was our favorite casa of the trip and it's easy to see why. It wasn't only nice by Cuban standards, it was beautiful by anyone's standards.
Don't let the outside fool you...
A pano shot
We each had our own little cabana.
My room
We gave him a ton of gifts (candy, clothing, soccer and baseballs and toiletries) and I've never seen anyone more grateful and appreciative of getting things that we all take for granted.
Our casa in Veradero
This was a nice, air conditioned place to relax after getting a nice sunburn at the beach.
Our last casa in Havana
The view from our rooms
If you get the chance, go to Cuba and support the people as they are struggling more than you can imagine.
We had such a nice trip and I can see returning to this beautiful, friendly place in the future.
My rum and cigars made it with me back home and cracking this bottle open was the first thing I did when I walked through my door. Rum will forever taste different to me now.
One last thanks to Curt, Joe and Dave for making this such a memorable trip. You were all excellent travel partners and I learned so much from each of you.
