Trinidad

Well here we are in our final Cuba destination. We struck lucky with our 'casa' and are staying with a lady called Maria who is a surgeon of urology, and her batty old mother. It's the nicest one we have been in so far and we're glad of it as Cuba is wearing a bit thin. It is very odd being served your dinner by a doctor who earns more doing that than saving people's lives. She made the best food we ate in Cuba though, great bean soups and fish and chips!

Trinidad is a colonial town full of historical buildings and little streets to wander around. There are lots of all inclusives less than 10km away and the daytime sees many sun burnt European getting on and off tour buses and taking a few snaps.

We spent our time relaxing and wandering, taking in more of whacky Cuba and managed a great night our with our mates Chris and Jo. We went to a nightclub in a cave which was all a bit random but a great night all in all. Chris also kept us entertained with his fluent Spanish which to him meant bunging an 'o' on the end of everything e.g. stupido, excellento!!!

We have to say though that whilst Cuba has been vastly interesting and we've always wanted to come here, we won't be back in a hurry. It's a very frustrating place. We're glad we've got a few days in Mexico City at the end to finish off our trip. As you all know we love our food so we can't wait to get to Mexico and eat like kings!


As a PS, we loved Havana airport's Aeroflot flights to Moscow, one leaving 5 minutes after the other, one a non-smoking flight, the other not!

All the V´s - Vinales and Varadero

Viñales

We headed out of Havana and into the countryside, destination Viñales, part of Pinar del Rio province and home of many tobacco farms for cigar production. Viñales is also famous for its limestone karsts which are similar to the ones we had seen in Yangshuo, China.

We stayed in a Casa run by Barby and Omar. Despite what was written in the comment book about the lovely padded toilet seat, said seat did not exist at all. This was a common occurrence throughout Cuba.

Eating out choices were limited so we ate in the casa for two nights which was passable. We had only planned to stay for two nights but sod´s law meant there was no bus to our next destination on the day we wanted to leave so we were forced to stay an extra night – oh joy!!
We visited a nearby tobacco farm to see how cigars are rolled. It was quite interesting despite being non smokers! The rest of the time was spent sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of the casa reading books.

Varadero

Varadero is the main package tourist destination in Cuba and home to numerous All Inclusive Resorts. We decided to give one a try for a few nights to catch some rays and enjoy the beach. We stayed at the 50 year old Varadero Internacional described as retro by Lonely Planet! On arrival you get a pink wristband which entitles you to as much as you can eat and drink almost 24 hours a day for the duration of your stay! We were two of the youngest guests there, the majority were a mixture of Russian chavs (now named RAVS by us) and aging Europeans, Mr B was most disturbed by the topless French pensioners – YUK!
In keeping with Cuba’s extremely low culinary skills the food was decidedly average! Although we did marvel at the Chef’s ingenuity in using the leftovers from the previous meals. Would you like (yesterdays) carrot in your breakfast omelette?????
The beach was fab, not crowded and we got to really chill out. Our chambermaid was great, we’re not sure what the official term is for towel folding but she must have been a former world champion!!

Havana - A World Apart

Cuba we knew would be difficult, but it really is a different world. You stand waiting for your bags at the airport whilst many passengers and staff around you are busy smoking, At the airport we had to change money. We had been advised to bring Euros as US Dollars as whacked for much more commission and the cab ride to town was uneventful, and it is amazing how little traffic there is on the roads.

The best way to see real Cuba, is to stay in Casa Particulares – these are private homes with one or two rooms given over to foreign visitors. It is a good way for Cubans to earn CUCs and subsidise their state controlled wages. This is where we stayed most of the time.

Havana is a fantastically energetic / scenic / musical / falling apart / frustrating city. We stayed near the Malecon, an 8km long sea wall on the Caribbean Sea. A great place for a walk and to watch Cubans going about their daily business – be it fishing, dating, dancing, playing music, hustling tourists etc.

The old part of town is a UNESCO world heritage site and deservedly so. It is stunning and because of the embargo, pretty much unspoilt by and modern (post 1959) development. Tourism dollars have been ploughed back into Habana Vieja to renovate the buildings, which in turn brings more tourists and their cash.

Cuba has a well founded reputation for awful food (think a bad combination of school dinners and hospital food but the same thing 7 days a week). We did however find a great Italian restaurant near our Casa, and despite the interior looking a bit school canteen, the staff were friendly and the food not bad at all. We went back a few times and found a great bar nearby which had more Cubans than tourists and an entertaining band.

We did try a few other places for food but we found the food nasty and monotonous, exacerbated by staff who had no interest in what they were doing at all. This was a common theme throughout our time in Cuba. Even the incentive to earn tips form tourists seemed to make no difference most of the time.

We caught up with Chris and Jo, friends we met in Guatemala (from the other Newcastle), and had a great night in a local bar on the waterfront with a great waitress. Jenny did discover however that Mojitos do not agree with her.

We headed to the Museo de le Revolucion (you don’t need to speak Spanish to understand what that was about) which told of the various failed attempts of Fidel and friends to overthrow the Batista government, until he eventually succeeded in 1959. The grounds of the museum contain vehicles, tanks and other equipment including the yacht Granma that Fidel , Raul and Che sailed in from Mexico to begin the revolution – Power to the People!!

We also took the open top bus tour which we sat on for two circuits because you just kept on spotting new things all the time – be it dilapidated old buildings, ancient cars or queues for Havana´s famous Copelia Ice Cream Parlour.

Cuba is Complicated

Some facts about Cuba you probably didn’t know

There are two currencies in operation in Cuba, Cuban Pesos (Moneda Nacional) and Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC). Tourist are supposed to use CUC´s and they are worth 24 times more than Moneda Nacional.

Cubans earn between MN190 and MN325 or CUC 8 – 13 a month! By the way 1 CUC is about 75p!!!! Therefore Cubans who come into contact with tourist tips and those with family overseas who send remittances are considerably advantaged. This explains why doctors, engineers and the like work as waiters to earn tips and run Casa Particulars to get their hands on hard currency.

Housing, education (including University), healthcare and welfare and are all provided free of charge by the state.

The US spends $4176 (we’re not sure if this is through insurance) per person annually on healthcare, in embargo strapped Cuba, the Government coughs up $186 per head. Yet the overall indices for life expectancy and infant mortality rates are almost the same!!

Women get one year’s maternity leave guaranteed and also free day care.

In the US there are 815 cars per 1000 people, in Cuba there are just 23.

In November 2005, the UN Assembly voted 182 – 4 to urge the US to end it’s 44 year embargo. Voting with the US against the resolution were Israel (now there’s a surprise!), Palau and the Marshall Islands – and before you ask we don’t know where they are either!

There have been 638 documented attempts by the CIA to either assassinate or remove Fidel Castro from office. These attempts have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous! Examples include exploding cigars, putting thallium salts in Fidel’s shoes to make his beard and hair fall out making him looking ridiculous. Some of you will also have heard about the Bay of Pigs – again backed by the CIA!
In 1994 a US Bill was passed preventing any US President from lifting the embargo until a transitional government (i.e. not Socialist or including any Castro family members) is in place in Havana. Quite scary!

Che Guevara (everyone’s favourite revolutionary) was not actually Cuban. He was in fact an Argentinean Doctor of Irish descent!!

Welsh rockers the Manic Street Preachers became the first Western band to play live in Cuba in 2001. After the concert Fidel commented that he considered their music to be “louder than war”!! We think that was a compliment!

It´s illegal for US citizens to travel to Cuba, although many do via Mexico or Canada. The bizarre thing is the US has a “US Interests Office” on the Malecon in Havana – don’t ask, we don’t know why!

Mexico again - it´s Tulum

An early start saw us catching the 8.30 ferry back to Belize City far the last long day of travelling in the trip (except the flight home!). After 13 hours of a painful bus journey and an even more painful border crossing (we both think we might be a little over this travelling lark), we arrived in Tulum at 9.30pm.

We checked into what appeared to be a half decent hotel next to an Italian restaurant. One rapidly consumed pizza later (it was good) and one or three nightcaps, we decided to crash out in our twin beds.

The next morning we both awoke refreshed but also covered in bites! These continued to appear for the next 48 hours by which time we had diagnosed the problem as bed bugs. Between us we probably had 500 bites and Miss J had 50 on one arm alone. We decided that it would be wise to find another hotel!! Bed bugs are just an unfortunate part of travelling but neither of us has been affected so much in the past.
We had planned to spend a couple of days on the beach, but as we both looked like we had the plague, we got ourselves organised for our fortnight in Cuba. To cheer ourselves up we found an Argentinean restaurant and both had a great steak and some red wine.

We did get down to the beach one afternoon, it was beautiful and the view of the Mayan ruins was great.
We headed to Playa del Carmen as it is close to Cancun airport, our departure point for Cuba. Playa is a bit hellish if we are totally honest, full of tourists from cruise ships and all inclusive resorts, and not at all reflective of Mexico. We found a few nice bars and restaurants but always a few streets back from the main drag where we enjoyed some traditional Mexican food, not the touristy overpriced crap served up to the masses.
Mr B had a telephone interview for a new job – let’s wait and see what that brings.