Tag: Cayo Guillermo

Playa Pilar – the best Cuban beach per locals 

So if there was ever any doubt whether Cuba was on its way, quickly, to becoming just like any other Caribbean island w it’s mega resorts wholly focused on catering to tourists., I witnessed it today. I was very excited to visit Playa Pilar (yes, named by Fidel in honor of Ernie’s boat as it was his favorite back during the time when Cayo Guillermo was still technically an island). It was & is still described in guidebooks (published wi the last 1.5-2 yrs) & online as an isolated beach accessible only by taking a bus & hiking over the sand dunes. No hotels. Served only by the Ranchon Playa Pilar, a small thatch-roofed restaurant that offers wonderful fresh caught lobster. And the softest whitest sand in all of Cuba. The last one is spot on. Definitely the best sand. I saw the remnants of the old charming little Ranchon Pilar, now used to store excess tables & beach chairs for when they now host “international dinners on the beach” at night. Seems the ol’ Ranchon has enjoyed good business, understandably so bc that lobster is ridiculously delicious, as it’s expanded a bit – doubled its size – & also built a lighted wooden plank walkway from the road over the dunes, conveniently right past its restaurant & down to the beach. As you can imagine, the bridge incredibly increases the accessibility of the beach so a flood of tourists come to visit every day. Soon there will be more. You see, the beach is flanked by 2 bluffs on which one, a brand spankin new Iberostar’s grand opening is imminent, & on the other, construction is clearly underway on another resort as the skyline is dotted w cranes. My guess is the little Ranchon Pilar will have trouble holding onto this beach & the entire thing will be fully developed in 3 years.



Anthony Bourdain is a phony

So my hotel in Cayo Guillermo has CNN. Nuts! It’s been so easy to avoid any kind of news from back home. Got back to my room & was just curious what channels the tv carried bc it was my first tv in Cuba. Funny enough, CNN was the only channel in English & was broadcasting Anthony Bourdain’s food show Cuba episode. Great timing, I thought. It’s the first time I’ve ever watched the show. On Cuba in Cuba. What an elitist phony ass that guy is. He’s hanging out w rich people in a well-off suburb of Havana where everyone speaks English & are artists, doctors, writers & engineers, own their own stand-alone homes w massive yards (& don’t seem to be renting out rooms) & drag race old American cars instead of using them as hired taxis. Yet he pretends as if he’s slumming it. Yeah, you’re really experiencing the real Cuba you jag off. First & last episode watched. 

Cayo Guillermo es mucho mejor de Varadero

I was planning to end my trip by visiting a couple beaches & doing some diving. Now I was pretty intent on trying to see the funeral in Santiago, a city only 2hrs from Holguin, where my flight leaves for the US on the afternoon of Mon Dec 5. I considered lingering in SC for a bit longer bc I was in the right place (along w Havana & Santiago). Sure enough, 3 large construction vehicles w lifts began doing odds & ends repairs & paint refreshes Sat evening on the grand buildings surrounding Parque Vidal, long after normal govt worker hours, clearly preparing for the caravan that will pass through – but based on my estimates, it wouldn’t reach Santa Clara until Wed eve or Thurs morn, so I decided to head out to Cayo Guillermo as planned. 
Some of my fave albums ever got me through a frustrating 3-hr bus ride that included a 45-min late start for no apparent reason & an hour long stop for a late lunch 20 mins from my destination of Ciego de Avila. The punk goddess/poet Patti Smith’s Horses’ put a smile on my face as it does every time w the very first lyrics – quite possibly one of the best starts to an album ever. It’s certainly not for everyone bc she’s so weird in a really great kinda way… I liken her to the female version of Lou Reed, another one of my obsessions. Then I moved to another all time great, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which is definitely for everyone. I finished in the Latin realm w Manu Chao’s Clandestino which made me happily recall one of the first Lollapalooza’s since being permanently based in my Chicago (so prob 10 yrs ago), where he played opposite the home town Kanye West to close the fest on Sunday night. All but about 5k went to see Kanye while my sis, a friend & I spread out & danced like crazy people to Manu Chao, along w everyone else in the crowd who very obviously really appreciated his music. One of the best, craziest, high energy, fun shows I’ve ever seen. Screw Kanye (still). 
My trip was not over at Ciego de Avila. I found & negotiated w a taxi driver to take me the 2-hr drive to Cayo Guillermo, supposedly a lovely somewhat-difficult-to-get-to little island w pristine beaches, great diving, exciting kite surfing (which I’ve always wanted to try) & good deep sea fishing. It just so happens to be the island & beach (Playa Pilar) that Hemingway called his favorite back in the day when there wasn’t a man-made causeway connecting it, via Cayo Coco, to the mainland. A total coincidence that I went through the trouble to end up here. 
I checked out the kite surfing early on. The bulk of them are further SE from the hotel closer to a point on the island – where SE & E winds collide. As I walked down the beach, I could feel the winds pickup. Then I just sat there for hours watching. I talked to a couple guys about lessons & questioned the learning curve due to the strong winds. “Oh but the winds are good… helps you get up. Makes it easier.” And then I watched for an hour as a relatively physically fit man repeatedly tried & failed to mount his board in the water while keeping control of his kite. Poor guy was trying his best to heed the advice of his instructor, who was following him in the water, as his kite took the newbie 100 yds down the beach, clearly failing. It reminded me of the time Karen, Gina & I checked out Pirlanta beach in Cesme, Turkey off the coast from Izmir known for being one of the top kite surfing beaches in the world & witnessed a woman, clearly in the early stages of her lesson so still on the beach, dragged 50 yards down the beach by her kite while eating mouthfuls of sand. That beach was far windier than this. But this was still a bit intimidating. So I sat & watched for awhile. After an hour, I stopped watching the newbies as I decided that I should first perhaps give surfing a whirl before I throw a kite into the mix (surf camp in Peru sounds pretty fabulous right!?!). I then turned my focus to the experienced guys & was especially floored by a guy who had no footholds on his board (what!) so when he gets air (& he was getting the highest air), he isn’t grabbing his board to show-off, he’s doing it so he has something to land on. He was more kite skateboarding & I’ve never seen anything like it before. Impressed. 
IMHO, although I do consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to grading beaches, this is superior to Varadero. However… in order to visit now, there are only 4 hotels to choose from. All of them are all-inclusive resorts. I’m quite certain Ernie would roll over in his grave. I’ve never done an all-inclusive before. It’s a real nice place – a fancy Spanish owned resort. I don’t think I wanted to like it. I was a doubter when it came to the food & drinks assuming the former would be terrible & the latter would be watered down. But it was pretty darn good. I did get to know a bartender Wildmer quite well who was heavy on the pour. Muchas gracias, Wildmer. BTW… there are drinks (clearly)! Apparently the Spanish hotel owner doesn’t dare cross his Canadian & European guests, who as far as I’m concerned barely recognized Fidel died or there was anything happening outside of their all-inclusive little world, by withholding booze. So it flowed. A bit too freely for some. But still no music. 





The kite surfing I was obsessed with. Someday. 

https://youtu.be/Oj55blYNriI

Play-by-play of Fidel’s Havana tribute ceremony

His Havana ceremony started at 7pm Tues night. I watched it on Cuban national tv in my room. I had visited Revolution Plaza when in Havana & now it looked a bit different as 100k plus packed the main park. It was supposedly real difficult for any regular locals to get in the massive square bc of reserved sections for people (family, friends, government, military, VIPs, etc). One side was entirely blocked off for security, police & transport for dignitaries & VIPs. The 4 other main thoroughfares that lead into the park were open to the public. They showed the main boulevard on tv & that was jammed too as far as the lights shined.
The ceremony proceeded w the following speakers:

– Great moving female poet started the ceremony – giving one of her clearly famous poems about Cuba & Fidel bc the crowd knew it – & it was lengthy.

– President of Ecuador

– President of South Africa

– Prime minister of Dominica

– President of El Salvador

– Prime minster of Greece

– President of Argella. Of what?!?! OK, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR 1.5 HRS & I’m starving. Time for a break & some food.

– ??? (After an hour away filling my belly & having some wine…)

– Qatar rep

– Belarus rep

– Now I’m just so interested to see who is coming next bc this is just absurd. I know for a fact the Mexican president is there as I watched him deplane at Havana airport on the news before the ceremony started. So that’s probably the biggest name I’m aware of that hasn’t yet spoken. Then Raul I’m assuming.

– It’s real interesting bc after every speech ends, the orator approaches Raul w a hug &/or handshake and Raul, to every single one, graciously responds & then turns to introduce him/her to the dude sitting right next to him. Younger guy. Mustache. I have no idea who it is but I do know Raul has said (before Fidel’s passing) that he intended to step down in 2018. They haven’t announced succession plans which isn’t really a shock but this makes me think they’re grooming someone as he’s being introduced to all heads of state.

– President of Bolivia (to biggest cheers I’ve seen & he’s eating it up; he knows how to rile them up; crowd favorite)

– President of Venezuela

– … (I left again. Too antsy. Had to get out.)

– Returned 3.5 hrs into the ceremony just as the closer Raul Castro was being introduced.
I got an email the next day from my Havana casa owner letting me know just how crazy it was (so he heard from folks who attended or tried to attend the ceremony bc he watched from the comfort of his home). Few common folk made the main square. Those that did were lined up at midnight the night before & were there for 24 hours. The crowds supposedly extended far beyond the lights. People couldn’t get close. Took hours to get home. Of course it was worth it to them but my casa owner was issuing me a warning for the Santiago evening ceremony & early morning funeral. He didn’t think I’d be able to get remotely close & suggested it wouldn’t be a good use of time & questioned whether I’d enjoy it. While watching the Havana ceremony, I came to that very same conclusion. Which allows me to avoid one issue… while I was able to secure bus tix the day after his death, I was not so lucky to secure lodging. Not a single hotel room in the city available. I booked a room in a casa via Airbnb which was subsequently canceled by the owner the following day. While over 100 casas were available on Airbnb the day prior, less than 10 on Monday & online reservations were now not working. I used multiple Cuba casa websites to inquire about availability. Nothing. My Havana casa owner has 3 friends w casas. Nothing. His friends decided to block out the rooms & not take clients as they figured the city would be too crazy to host, it frees them up to leave the house & they were also hosting friends & family from other parts of Cuba. Hotels were blocked by govt for VIPs. After giving up Tuesday & not thinking it wise to show up wo accommodations, I have resigned myself to the fact I would probably have to miss it and I’ve accepted it. I feel lucky that I’ve been here & able to talk to locals about it to get their viewpoint. That’s enough for me. And now that I’ve accepted it, I do have to laugh at myself. I was really trying to make it happen. I thought I just had to be there. I never stopped to consider how impossible it’d be to attend a former US President’s funeral & this puts that to shame given the length of his rule, his revolutionary history & his enormous personality.
Add to that the fact that I couldn’t even make it through a ceremony on tv without taking food, drink & bio breaks. There’s no way I could make it through an actual live ceremony. My fave speakers (sarcasm) were those that were non-English speaking foreigners so not only did I have to listen to their original Arabic, Greek, etc but then try to decipher the Spanish translation – so I don’t understand much of what they say even after hearing it twice.
As an aside, while watching the ceremony, I flipped to CNN to see if US media had any access at all or were reporting on it. Nothing. The CNN lead was “Trump wants flag burners to lose citizenship or go to jail.” Seems like nothing’s changed. That moron seriously wants to take away constitutionally protected freedom of speech rights under the first amendment? I thought he was a staunch defender of the constitution? Oh wait. That must only be the 2nd amendment. Some could interpret that as pretty dictatorial. Or he’s just trying to distract from yesterday’s hot topic. I’m not really sure how I’m going to get through the next 4 years.