It is now 17 th December the day that relations between Cuba and the USA thawed a little with the release of the three of the five Cuban prisoners from jail in the USA. We have just returned from a Cuban trip and often saw signs for the campaign "Give me Five Obama".
We flew from Gatwick directly to the capital Havana to a completely different environment and of course climate with temperatures in the mid twenties to early thirties, so what a shock to the system not to mention, culture.
We had planned the trip for some time with the aim of seeing as much of the country as possible but taking time to see each area. We started with a few days in Havana before moving to the rural west in the Pinar del Rio province and the village of Vinales set in a valley among the flat topped hills or Mogotes. From there we went back to Havana and onto Cienfuegos for three days before moving further south to the famous city of Trinidad close to Playa Ancon and the Topes de Collantes and the mountains to the north. It was only a relatively short hop from there to the centre of the island, Santa Clara the city connected with the revolutionary Che Guevara. We then decided to take a few days in a Cuban resort in an isloated region near the north coast at a small place near Mayajigua west of Yaguajay with the forest reserves in the mountains to the south and Parque Nacional Caguanes to the north extending to the coast. After this we returned to Santa Clara overnight before spending our last couple of days back at the start, in Havana.
We mainly stayed in "Casas Particulares" which are similar to the Indian "Homestays". These a privately run houses that are registered by the government to provide accommodation for tourists and generally provide clean rooms with en-suite together with breakfast and options for an evening meal. Although English wasn't often spoken, we got by with our beginners Spanish and found the owners very helpful and often happy to help-out with planning activities during our stay. The food was always good and in abundance but I think they were more accustomed to providing breakfasts for Germans and Dutch as we always had meat and cheese on offer in the mornings but no matter, we had lots of fruit where ever we went. The cost was typically 25 CUC per night for the bed, 5 CUC per person for breakfast (desayuno in Cuban Spanish) and 12 CUC per person for dinner (cena). In the Casas, drinks were about 2.5 CUC for a Mojitos, 2 CUC for Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke) and 1 CUC for a Kola (the Cuban version of Coke). We changed money in the banks (always BFI) and got about 1.52 CUC for a pound sterling (they call libra esterlina) and the same in the Cadaches (Exchange Bureau), although in these you are likely to have to join a long queue. We had no need of the local currency, CUP.
We travelled the longer distance on the Viazul buses and once we got accustomed to the system, we found them fine if not too cold because of the air conditioning! Otherwise we used taxis, mostly old American cars or Russianas as well as Bici-taxis (pedal powered tricycles). We did plan the trip so that the casas were reserved and we only had to phone them the day before to confirm. Likewise we booked the bus routes and paid for them in the UK. However, we still had to go the the bus stations and get a ticket well before the bus departed and also make sure our luggage went on the same bus as us. Each station seems to have its own system with dealing with passengers, but generally it worked fine, you just have to go-with-the-flow.
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| Our first casa in the Plaza Vieja (we are in the far corner on the second floor). This photo was taken from the "Camera Obscura" high above the plaza. The buildings here have been extensively renovated. The square also acted as the playground for school children during the day and of course musicians for most of the day and night! |
Many of the older Spanish period buildings were photogenic and with the widespread renovation operations now in progress, they will look fantastic in the future. Other areas, some adjacent to the Plaza Vieja, look in need of repair and in some streets it was fun trying to avoid all the potholes and road works whilst watching for the numerous tricycles bombing around you. We spent the days in Havana exploring the main streets such as Obispo, Mercaderes and San Ignacio, doing the suggested walking tour describe in the Lonely Planet, visiting the numerous historical museums, the Casillo de la Real Fuerza overlooking the bay, the Museo del Rum near the harbour and also the tour on the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus which starts from the Parque Central adjacent to the Hotel Inglaterra.
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| This is in Plaza San Francisco de Asis just north of Plaza Vieja and is labelled "La Conversaction" highlighting the current need for dialogue in society. It is by the French sculptor Etienne and was donated to the city in 2012 by Vittorio Perrotta. It was being polished when we first saw it, so we returned later to see this real marvel. |
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| I couldn't resist this monument to Sancho Panza, the squire to Don Quixote. At first I thought it was Don Quixote but the "paunch" (Panza is "belly" in Spanish) gave him away. There is also a well known restaurant in Vedado another part of Havana with the same name! |
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