annhig

Day 3

For our second day we ended up getting a collectivo into Havana Vieja again and spending most of our time there. First though, we had to try to get the rest of our itinerary sorted, and taking advantage of Yanila’s kind offer to use her extensive network of contacts to make Casa reservations for us, after another great breakfast we sat down with her thinking that it should be a relatively easy task. Wrong. It seemed that the rest of Cuba was just as popular as Havana and Yanila was having to use “friends of friends” or even “friends of friends of friends” to find us accommodation in the most popular places. Luckily phone calls within Cuba are extremely cheap!

Eventually we ended up with this:

Havana 4 nights, Vinales 3 nights, Cienfuegos 3 nights, Trinidad 4 nights, a 2 night gap [which we had earmarked for Sanctu Spritus but left it free in case we wanted to stay on in Trinidad] 3 nights in Remedios, and 2 back in Havana before we fly home. Phew - sorted [or so we thought!]

Perhaps in a mood of mis-placed over -confidence, we jumped into what we thought was a collectivo, only to discover that despite its dilapidated state the driver wanted a proper taxi fare to take us into town; when we refused to pay the 5 CUC he wanted, rather than bargain, he just pulled over and chucked us out of the cab!!! As he raced away, doubtless muttering imprecations against those damned tourists, we realised our mistake - he was driving a beaten up Lada, rather than one of the even older and more broken down american cars that are the true collectivos.

One of those soon arrived, and after a bit of argie-bargie with some other hopeful passengers we managed to secure the ride, so there wasn’t much of a delay in getting into town. We started off with every intention of going to the Museo de la Revolucion, only to find a huge queue so instead we walked round into the Vieja arena and found ourselves in a proper shopping street. Amazing. Here there were not just tourists going into bars or people buying things from holes in the wall, but real shops with Cubans buying things in them. Of course not every shop in Obrapia was a locals’ shop, but there were sufficient to give the street the air of normal commerce, such as you might find in any large city, with the addition of souvenir shops, the ETECSA office with its usual queue, bicitaxis trying to attract trade, as well of course as cuban music coming out of every bar and restaurant.

In fact we got so fed up with the endless renditions of the same tunes that when we found a bar with a piano player, we sat down straight away and had the first of many ham and cheese toasted sandwiches. Why the ham and cheese sandwich is so popular in Cuba I have no idea, but you can guarantee that if a bar or restaurant offers sandwiches, the vast majority will be ham and cheese or a variation thereof.

Fortified, we set off to explore one of the many museums in Vieja, [which one we went to is now lost in the midsts of time; it clearly wasn’t terribly memorable] and then we decided to take the plunge and do the archetypal tourist thing - spend an hour in one of the wonderfully restored american cars that feature in almost every photo of Havana. But which one to choose? There were about 10 lined up near our favourite bar, and eventually we did a deal with the driver of a bright pink Buick for an hour for 25CUC, having bargained him down from 35. Of course he made out that we were robbing him, but it didn’t seem too bad for an hour’s work and he proceeded to give us a very good tour of the city, taking in the major sights and with some time for photos at the Plaza de la Revolucion where you see the huge cartoon-like pictures of Che etc on the side of the surrounding buildings

The hour was up too quickly, and after some more time spent exploring, we made our way back to our casa in another collectivo.

For dinner we decided to visit the nearby “French Restaurant” which came strongly recommended by our Aussie friends, who had eaten there the night before. From them we learnt that for about 10CUC you could have 2 courses [the normal cuban style main course of meat, veg, and salad, and a dessert] so when we got there, we just chose what we wanted from the “offerta” board, without checking the menu. Big mistake. After we had finished our main courses - a pork dish for DH, ropa vieja or “old clothes” for me [that being a typical meat stew whose name alludes to the fact that it’s cooked for so long that’s what it looks like] the waitress did not bring us the menu for us to choose dessert, but just gabbled off their names. Fortunately we recognised “flan” [the ubiquitous spanish creme caramel] and helado [ice-cream] so we were happy with those, and thought no more of it.

We were less happy when immediately we finished eating she grabbed our dishes and said did we want to pay? We said that we’d like coffee, which she said they didn’t have, [though I was sure I’d seen people with coffee earlier] and then announced that the bill was 45 CUC. Now we knew that we’d had a couple of drinks each, but we couldn’t see how 2 10 CUC meals had suddenly cost 40 CUC, so we asked for the bill. No bill, she said, it’s 45 CUC. By this point we were really smelling a whole company of rats, and when another waiter went past, who we’d ordered from in the first place, we asked him for the bill which he brought with no demur, and of course it was 25 CUC, not 45.

By this time our waitress had gone into hiding, but I spotted her behind a pillar and beckoned her over, showing her the bill. “My fault, my fault” she said, and we could but agree. Taking pity on her we didn’t tell the manager, but of course she didn’t get a tip. Ironically, if she had been less greedy, and only tried to take us for 30 CUC we might well have paid up, but by almost doubling the bill, she virtually ensured that we’d spot what she was up to.

BTW, should you wish to eat there, [the food wasn’t bad] the French restaurant is near the John Lennon Park right opposite the famous bar in Vedado where they play non-stop Beatles tunes. Just make sure you ask to see the menu first!

annhig

PS - this was the evening of the arrival of the 9 salsa-mad Slovenians who brought with them not only a great enthusiasm for Cuban music and dancing but also, to the great joy of Yanila's husband, some car parts for his Fiat which he had been unable to get hold of in Cuba. Getting this car on the road would enable him to offer transport to the Casa's guests, thus bringing in more income for the household so getting the parts was extremely important.

BTW, this brought the number of countries whose nationals we had met so far to 7, in just 3 days, [excluding the UK and Cuba]. By the end of the trip this had amazingly become 20. One of the most enjoyable parts of the trip was talking to so many different people, finding out a little about their lives, why they had come to Cuba, swapping tips about places to go and how to get there etc ; often they were the best source of information!

yestravel

Glad I found this. I appreciate your realistic view of Cuba.

annhig

thanks, yes travel. There's no point in being anything other than realistic, IMO - tell it like it is, the good and bad bits, or don't tell it at all!

yestravel

Couldn't agree more. We are in SA and certainly some of the things you mention we witness. Still deciding on Cuba for the fall.

annhig

yestravel - I would urge you to go now, before it really starts to change. There are loads of great things to see and do, the people are terrific, the music is wonderful, it's still relatively cheap, and the political situation is fascinating.

And you should be able to avoid the mistakes that we made, though I can't guarantee that you won't make some of your own!

otherchelebi

I like the rest of Cuban music but prolongued exposure to Fado music, even Cesaria Evora, would depress me enough to keep me from seeing any sights for a whole week.

Yestravel. As you know I am a follower of the School of Impressionism. Reality is too much with us in photographs, headlines. refugees and so forth.

On the other hand, Annhig does show us the correct path and is to be admired for not trying to satisfy other basic instincts.

Annhig, I would love to read some of your observations on children, schools, teachers, apparent quality of education as well as any imports from other islands like voodoo or similar beliefs you may have encountered.

annhig

On the other hand, Annhig does show us the correct path and is to be admired for not trying to satisfy other basic instincts.

Annhig, I would love to read some of your observations on children, schools, teachers, apparent quality of education as well as any imports from other islands like voodoo or similar beliefs you may have encountered.>>

the "correct path" OC? mmm - I'l try to take that as a compliment though it makes me sound terribly boring.

regarding education, I'm sorry to say that we had little direct exposure to schools and their pupils, though we met a few school children [the children of the Casa owners where we were staying] who seemed to be following what we might consider a normal curriculum, had homework to do, etc. etc. We heard no complaints at all about the standard of education, [which I suspect you know is free] which is in itself interesting because the state of some of the school buildings we saw were pretty dire. From primary schools to Universities, most looked in need of a lot of maintenance. I have already mentioned that we were told by several people about the "brain drain" from the professions into tourism, but no-one actually said that there was a shortage of teachers.

as for "other beliefs" we saw a couple of processions in Havana which were probably connected with unorthodox religion, and when we were looking in a shop which had some very gaudy costumes, a passer-by said that they were for Santería, which I understand is a mixture of catholicism and an african slave religion called Yoruba. We did learn that it was only relatively recently [the early 1990s] that Cubans were allowed to celebrate Christmas or to have Easter parades [which we understood to be along the same lines as those in Seville and other parts of Andalusia]. This co-incided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the cutting off of its support for Cuba, which lead to widespread privations for Cubans, [the so-called special period] so I suppose that religion helped to take their minds of the fact that they were starving.

gertie3751

I was there in 1995 or 1996 and yes things were pretty dire. Everyone was thin and underfed-looking, though they smiled at us! No fast food in sight, only scantily-stocked shops with queues outside and people with coupons. I remember troops of schoolkids in Young Pioneer uniforms like in Russia. These kids were doing drawings with chalk on the paving stones in the street. But they seemed cheerful enough....or maybe they had been told to be nice to the tourists as we were their future! Churches we saw were not in use, rather like in USSR, but being done up as museum pieces. No advertising of any kind, like eastern Europe. Several hulking great Soviet realist statues. Dont remember any Santeria, always associate that with New Orleans! We were very aware of the huge gap between our lifestyle and theirs but even so it was obvious there was free education and healthcare. Priorities!

annhig

gertie, it's clear that they still [understandably] value the free education and health care, but I suspect there is a growing gap between the haves and the have nots so far as access to "luxury" goods such as TVs, washing machines, fridges, cars, etc, etc.

as for Churches, many have been restored but we had the impression that outside Havana particularly, they were in daily use as places of worship, as well [as we saw in one place] a soup kitchen, meeting room, tourist attraction, source of income, concert venue...just like at home, really.

I don't remember so many of the soviet-style statues, save the ones in the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana and at the Che mausoleum in Santa Clara.

gertie3751

Yes Annhig, there was a noticeable gap between those involved in the tourist industry and those not, even 20 years ago. It seemed to boil down to access to $$s... we used them everywhere doing tourist things, paid with $$ in the paladares, for drinks etc. Took a large supply of $1 bills. Looks like that has all changed now.

We also took lots of soap (from Boots) and small stationery things for the kids. Went down very well. People came up to us in the street asking for soap. Workers in tourist hotels, taxi drivers etc had easier access to these things.

Don't remember seeing 'luxury goods' such as TVs and washing machines though there were huge American fridges in crumbling Havana tenements, usually shared by families.

The renovated 50s American cars were just getting going, lots of them were mouldering on the street falling to pieces. One taxi driver told us he had to make spare parts as there was no other way of getting them.

annhig

well, Gertie, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of soap any more, except in restaurant and bar lavatories and no-one asked us for paper or pens or anything like that; what they seem to want are car parts, [so that hasn't changed] and hard cash in the form of tips.

the U$ is of course no longer legal tender but you need to take money with you to change when you get there, [not U$ which attract a penalty] or use the ATMs.

The crumbling Havana tenements are still there, but as many cars as can be rescued, have been, and some of them beautifully restored and they are gradually doing up the houses, especially in Havans Vieja but Centro seems to me to be a lost cause - lots of it is damaged beyond repair.

TDudette

As things are right now, I think your traveling method got you a more authentic look at Cuba, annhig. I’m enjoying this but have no desire to visit. I had to laugh at OC’s remark about Fado—I’d be depressed also!

annhig

TD - fortunately there was lots of other music to listen to as well. as for authenticity, I'm not sure if any tourist can get that, nor, most of the time do we wish to!

JulieEC

I went to Cuba over the New Year. I am an American yet travelled quite freely, took taxis (oh my, the exhaust), meet with locals, even toured a few homes for sale with a local friend I made. Since I lived in post communist Central Europe for 4 years, I was interested in the differences. My Cuban friend said 'Cubans act happy because we know the consequences of our public behavior'. I left unsure of the true feelings of the Cuban people. I had heard that same sentiment, especially when we lived in Slovakia (less so once we moved to Hungary).

We left Cuba to live in Guatemala for 3 months (which is where I am now). I assume in the 1980s it was different, but today, life in Guatemala would seem substantially better than what we saw in Cuba (certainly my life is better). I threw up in every bathroom I passed in the Guatemala City airport (some twice!) even though I tried to be very careful what I ate in Cuba.

I'm glad I went, not longing to return.

We did not visit a school but we did visit a boxing school (during a children's class). It was interesting. This was a very poor neighborhood and boxing was a means to keep the kids out of trouble. A friend of mine brought the kids pens and notebooks and stickers. It was obvious they had never seen stickers before-quite cute how they inspected them trying to figure them out.

I was told the Cubans dressed in all white (some wearing beads) were Santeria. One of the homes we went into was a Santeria family and they had a shrine to dead family members in one room. We came upon Santerias and their festivals in Havana a few times. Interesting. I was unfamiliar with their customs.

We walked in good neighborhoods and bad, but I never felt unsafe.

annhig

Hi Julie,

interesting to read your take on Cuba - which is not so very different to mine I think. Certainly our bathroom experiences seem similar, and the dreadful air pollution.

Some Cubans did talk to us about the hardships, particularly one of the Casa owners who was clearly deeply unhappy, but on the whole, they do put a "brave face" on things, I agree. Whether this is genuine, or a public front or an act which they cultivate in order to keep themselves going, I don't know. But I can say that there didn't seem to be any concern about telling us, complete strangers, why they had stopped being doctors/civil engineers/teachers which suggests that they are not too worried about "big brother". OTOH they were all meticulous about completing the paperwork for our stays in their Casas - nothing happened until they'd got our passports, and in one case, our tourist visas.

annhig

There is of course nothing in Cuba to stop americans touring independently; it is US regulations that prevent this, should US citizens care to abide by them. The fact is that the only ones of your fellow citizens that we met were travelling in groups, so it appears that very few have followed your example.

We came back feeling like you - we are glad we went, but not in a hurry to go back.

[had to post in two sections else it wouldn't post]

JulieEC

Hi Annhig.... To clarify, we went on a People to People tour--so legally. But it was street photography. The man we went with, Peter Turnley, is now on exhibit at the national museum in Havana-a conflict photographer for decades. He flew to Cuba with Gorbachov in the 80s and photographed Castro, so a guy with an interesting life and perspective. The goal was to photograph, so we had lots of free time to walk the streets, which is perfectly fine. On our people to people tour, our movement was not controlled.

Neither PP control in Cuba nor the US asked me a single question about my trip. Maybe it was always that way? Or the US has become disinterested in Cuban travel.

On my profile is a link to my web site. The last 2 articles are my thoughts about Cuba (with several of my husbands photos). I'm still trying to decipher what I thought.

Glad you enjoyed your visit. Hope your stomach is mending!

annhig

ok, julie, thanks for the clarification. it's good that you didn't have any control on what you were doing or where you went - we saw some american groups which looked as if they were very controlled, not necessarily by the Cubans, but by the organisers of their trips who seemed to want to fill every moment with something "worthy" and/or cultural. There may of course have been some free time, but if there was, we didn't see it.

When I have a bit more time, I'll look at your articles - thanks for telling me about them.

cw

Our tour was an educational "food" tour. We were about 15 people--one group filming for a local TV show (without official Cuban government permission) another person from a Public Broadcasting station scouting a future show. I don't think we were ever all together. Everyone went their own way and traveling between cities may have been the only time we were together on the bus and the PBS scout traveled on his own by bus for some of the trip. Our tour guides didn't insist on our being together and some chose to eat out on their own every night.

So we all had our own independent adventures along the way, which made for a more interesting trip. But we were with seasoned Cuban travelers and they were more casual about where we went.

A few of us did gain admittance to a Santeria site after the ritual animal sacrifice occurred. That was in Trinidad. The offerings included a large sheet cake and about 50 Bic pens. Pens were scarce then as was soap.

It's so interesting to hear about the changes over the years.