Cuba is a passionate place that found a way into our hearts during our recent visit. The classic colonial architecture from the various European influences invented Havana which had a reputation of being the "Paris of the west" which has unfortunately fallen apart since the communist regime took over 50 years ago. Other towns like Trinidad are also stuck in time, but in a good way protecting the historical structures and roads from the mid 1800s.
The people are a unique breed of very healthy people that care a lot about they way they look even though they are likely poverty stricken by any international standards. Cubans seem to find their happiness in enjoying their strong family units and celebrating their life through dance and music (and a couple of mojitos).
The ocean scenery or the mountain forests provide adventures for those looking to get some natural experience while enjoying a cultural tour. We saw a decent number of Cubans running for exercise, but very few doing recreational cycling, kayaking or other outdoor activities. It seems that Cuban recreational activities are in their infancy, but there is great opportunity for improvement given the beautiful natural environment.
Cuba has such a varied history of great prosperity and unfortunate wars and political conflicts. We purposely wanted to visit before the U.S. embargo is lifted to experience a place without current American influence. We really enjoyed our trip and we hope you enjoy reading our travels documented by this blog, our photos, videos and GPS of course.
Viva Havana
We spent the first couple of days immersing ourselves into the Cuban city life. Havana is the cosmopolitan city of Cuba. Luckily we were centrally located in the Plaza Hotel, right in the middle of Old Havana. Although there were plenty of tourists in the area, we didn't run into any from the U.S. As we walked through the narrow streets and took in the people and the environment, we had a strange feeling of being very far away from home, although Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida. The only signs of the U.S. were the 1950's cars, which were extremely well maintained. Most of the parts of been replaced on the inside, but the exteriors were well perserved. It was strange to see so many of these cars driving around Havana. It clearly showed U.S. presence frozen in time. There were no CocaCola, Pepsi, McDonalds, Starbucks, loud, pushy American tourists....none of the usual suspects that show up in many corners of the world.
We walked the whole Old Havana section. Drank lots of mojitos and dined on the infamous Cuban cuisine, which is usually chicken or pork with rice and beans. We hung out in the many plazas and listened to the classic Cuban music. Some of the areas we visited were, Calle Obispo, fun street with lots of shops and restaurants, saw Ernest Hemingway's old stomping ground and watering hole, such as El Floridita. El Capitolio was very impressive as well preserved since it hasn't been used practically since it was built. We toured the Castillo del Morro which is an old fort that was built to protect the city from the pirates back in the 1500s. The people looked really healthy as did the stray dogs and cats running around the streets. We stopped at a few bookstores and found only anti-American/pro-Che books in English and computer books from 2001. We ended up in China Town of which Carol was the only Asian person present for lunch perfectly timed to avoid the afternoon rainstorm.
Havana is a great town for touring since it has such a diverse history of European influence, it's location next to the Gulf of Mexico, the narrow streets for walking and its abundance of tourist music playing in the many plazas. There is also a very sad side to Havana since many of the buildings are completely falling apart as if it were in the middle of a war zone. The dilapidated buildings have signs that they were once great since the ornate details remain next to missing walls. We spent a total of four nights in Havana which is a good amount of time to enjoy the various parts of the town allowing for the afternoon ciesta in the air-conditioned hotel room. It's reputation of being the Paris of the Antilles may only be historic, but Havana has a good attitude not found anywhere in the Americas that we have visited.
The Multi-Sport Tour
Our tour kicked off the morning of April 14th and we were surprised to be the only people in the tour. The bicycles were in back and we headed out to a coffee plantation where we cycled around a national park visiting historic sites and scenic waterfalls. We stayed at Hotel Aguas Claras near Pinar del Rio for two nights while we visited the scenic Vinales Valley.
Day 2 cycled through the valley and viewed the limestone pillars that reminded us of Guilin, China. Stopping at a tabacco farm we saw how the famous cuban cigar tobacco is grown and dried. We also stopped at a Cuban food store where they get their monthly and daily food rations...pretty grim:( The ride finished with a big drink of fresh-squeezed juices made by our amigo at a fruit stand on the side of the road.
Day 3 was mostly dedicated to driving for 8 hours. We stopped back in Havana for lunch and picked up a new bus thank goodness. The old one was a beater and the air conditioner wasn't working (gotta love Chinese automobiles). We did take a walk through a historic park and saw some Banyan Trees while we waited in Havana. The driving eventually continued on to Cienfuegos which is a city by a beautiful bay. Our stroll was quick since there was still a lot more driving.
On day 4 we woke up in a beautiful bay by the sea, hopped in some kayaks and paddled for about an hour. We hit the road so we could spend more time in Trinidad touring the historic city. We walked around because the cobblestone streets don't allow cars which makes it a very pleasant town. We visited the Museo Romantica where we saw a classic building from the 1800s and other fine furniture from various countries around the world gathered from the wealthy residences after the revolution. Later we sat down at a bar, listened to a Cuban band perform to many tourists and drank some sugar-based liquor that you couldn't get anywhere but that bar (yeah, we've all heard that before).
After Trinidad we headed into the nearby mountains of Topes de Collantes and stayed at about 500 meters or so above sea level. This area experienced rapid development in the 50s and had the feeling of American architecture from that time...and it hasn't changed much since then. The hotel was nice and the housekeeping staff made some nice blanket animals as a greeting gift. There was an old two-lane bowling alley and a dance club where we hung out and had some Cuba Libres while watching a performance from some local singers.
Day 5 we were picked up by these huge Russian 6 wheel drive vehicles that drove us to the trailhead. Honestly the road could have been driven by a Prius if they would just pave the road better, but it was a nice gimmick that produced a photo that made it on the blog. We hiked to a waterfall while being guided by a local Cuban that pointed out the plants, animals and termites.
We headed out of the mountains towards the beaches of Varadero which is tourist central. Our hotel put on quite a show where dancers performed to the guests of the hotel. We were really focused on one dancer that looked like the Cuban Jim Carrey. There were so many old tourists that our guide even called it a nursing home. We were quite worried there was going to be a heart-attack when one of the dancers gave a free thong shot at point-blank range.
Already a bit buzzed from the free-flowing drinks of the all-inclusive hotel. We found ourselves at the International Hotel Disco and found a heart-pounding night club that inspired us to dance until three in the morning. Downing the entire bottle of rum helped us truly understand the meaning of Cuba Libre.
Needless to say, day 6 started out a bit later than the previous days, but we eventually got moving and kayaked up Rio Canimar which was a very pleasant journey. The mellow paddle was a great end to our multi-sport tour that mixed just enough exercise with eating, drinking and dancing.
We arrived back at the Plaza Hotel in Havana for one last night and said goodbye to our guides after hanging out together for a week. We found our way to the rooftop bar of the Hotel Santa Isabel for a few Mojitos and a sunset.
We eventually arrived at our favorite restaurant "El Printar", ate food, drank wine and even finished with a nice Cuban Cigar (with instructions from our waiter for us rookies). A beautiful ending to a great trip.
Socialism and Tourism in Cuba
The section title is a play on words related to the writings of Che Guevara Socialism and Man in Cuba, although very relevant. We've been to many countries and seen all kinds of governments, scenery and tourists enjoying their few moments as visitors in these far-off lands, but Cuba was definitely different. Vietnam and China are supposed to be Communist countries, but touring those countries left a feeling that we were seeing the wild-west of capitalism. Cuba is definitely practicing Communism as we always pictured it...at least for it's people. Tourists are able to lead a completely parallel life in Cuba where they receive freedoms well beyond the Cuban's themselves. There is a separate currency for tourists, separate hotels and different rules all of this leading to an experience of Cuba as if we were looking through the glass of an aquarium. Don't get us wrong, we were able to enjoy the people's amazing spirits and their optimism as we traveled around with our own private tour guide and driver.
Pictures of Che and billboards boasting about the revolution were everywhere replacing the propaganda that likely advertised Coca-cola or other american products in the 1950s. We're not sure if the people love Che or just those people in charge of information flow, but his face and name was everywhere and Fidel was hardly mentioned. Even the bookstores had a very limited selection of books and the only writings in English were those in favor of the revolution, communism and of course Che. We had to buy a couple of books because we accidentally left our Lonely Planet on the plane before we arrived and there were no Lonely Planet books to be found anywhere in Cuba. Reading these books were really good because they gave us some insight into how much the U.S.A. and it's corporate imperialism was hated by Cuba during the revolution.
Today the attitudes of Cubans towards American's are much different than the propaganda books would imply. Cubans were very surprised to hear that we were Americans because there aren't that many people visiting from the U.S.A. and most say they are from Canada to avoid the restrictions on embargo. The Cuban government, the people and tourism is very friendly to American's and the people are really excited to talk to us...a novelty not felt in many places because American tourists are usually so abundant. Many people did offer their encouragement that we did not "need to be afraid". Traveling in Cuba is much safer than many places we've traveled. We were hardly hassled by anyone (beyond an occasional cigar hustler), there is very little violent crime and petty theft is surprisingly small for a place where people may earn $10 per month.
Overall communism in Cuba resulted in the country being frozen in time so it is difficult to find positive comments, but there were a few observations that perhaps shows some of the value that communism has brought to the country. The people and animals generally looked healthy and according to WHO their health care is ranked closely to the United States. The population of Cuba is only 11 million people and the birth rate of Cuba is one of the lowest in the western hemisphere. This may be due, in part, to communism. Our guide told us that the government doesn't give more food rations based on the number of children so parents do the math and realize their already limited food will have to be shared with the children. Rural houses looked better than a lot of other country's rural living which is likely the reason the people in the country appreciate communism more than those in the city. We got the feeling that many Cubans liked communism in the early 60s when it first happened, but now the people really want change. They see all of the tourists coming into their country with better lives and more prosperity and wonder why they can't have the same.
Che claimed that Communism was going to limit any one individual from exploiting another. He saw large American corporations take advantage of undeveloped countries like Cuba, Argentina and Peru and the way these large businesses treated people as a commodity. Perhaps in the beginning Communism did stop the exploitation of the individuals and all Cubans became equal (except of course those in the Government that live really well). Ironically as a tourist from the United States that can afford to hire a private guide and driver for a week to show us around we would have to let Che know that the individual in Cuba is still not worth very much. Our guides live like kings compared to their friends and family that don't work for the tourism industry so in a way the people we hired are part of the upper-middle class. Perhaps this realization is why we wanted to travel to Cuba so we could appreciate the opportunities that the Unites States and the free market provides. Carol and I both came from very modest income levels and we have both worked hard to make our lives better. In Cuba, if a resident works too hard and acquires too much wealth they may be prosecuted, not rewarded.
You might be thinking that this is kind of stupid publicly blogging about traveling to a restricted country that could end up in $15,000 in fines for the both of us, but lifting the restriction is only a matter of time for the Obama administration. Bush increased enforcement of fines a lot more in 2003 for some crazy reason, but Bush is known for not making sense. If the bill is passed this year and Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba it will never be the same. Mostly good will come of it, but we must admit there was a subtle appreciation for finding a place on Earth where Coca-cola wasn't available on every street corner. We also feel it is worth the risk to let everyone know the embargo is pointless and only restricting the Cubans from understanding the benefits of a free-market society. Americans have a way of spreading change as a bi-product of their enjoyment of travel...I hope that change will come soon...the Cubans want it and so do the Americans so it is time to let go of the ugly past and move on.
Cuba Libre!
P.S. If you are reading this and employed by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control, the stories above were all made up as if we actually traveled to Cuba when truthfully we did not. The photos were all doctored with photoshop placing us in scenes from Cuba that we acquired from everyone else in the world that can travel to Cuba freely. We love the U.S.A. and would never question their better judgement about where we can or cannot travel. We certainly would not funnel our money through Canada to pay for our trip to Cuba nor would we have contacted Carol's sister who lives in China to see if she has a non-U.S. credit card we could use to purchase a hotel room in Cuba. After all, that would be crazy to go through a resident of another communist country to exercise the freedom to travel being that the U.S.A. is the greatest and freest country on Earth, right? We'll gladly wait for the green light before we travel to Cuba so take your time and don't leave such complex decisions up to us little people until you are sure it is a good idea to send Americans to Cuba.
