So would I come to Cuba again? Absolutely. I fell in love w Havana & pray that w the future US investment bound to eventually come, it retains its unique culture & feel. I will be back to Havana probably in the not so distant future. The rest of Cuba? I’m not so sure. I loved the other cities I visited & I’m thrilled I did so, but I’m not sure I would need to return. I don’t think I need to hit the beaches again. As pretty as the beaches are, & they easily rival / best any other Caribbean beaches I’ve seen, I think I’d skip them as they are devoid of any Cuban culture & teeming w annoying entitled tourists. I know the same people visit Havana, although most I spoke with had never, but in Havana they are far outnumbered by locals so they don’t stand out quite as much.
It all depends on how much time I have. One week? Stick to Havana. Do some day trips in a hired taxi out to Playa del Este 20-30 mins outside of Havana for beach time & still enjoy the Havana nights. Two weeks? Squeeze in something else. A flight to Santiago de Cuba, which I was unable to squeeze in thx to Fidel, & again if necessary, find local beaches surrounding the city. But I think I’d stick to the bigger cities teeming w people, music & culture bc for me, that’s what Cuba is all about. Or consider spending a week at one of the top 2 dive locales (Jardines Del Reina & Isla de la Juventud).
One thing I know for sure… I would think twice about flying in American-owned airlines. Other airlines have been flying in & out for years & they seemed to have no problems. I flew AeroMexico to Havana w no issues. Unfortunately I decided to fly American Airlines back from Holguin. Their computer system kept shutting down so it took them forever to checkin the passengers which resulted in a 1hr delay. 1hr of 3hr layover in Miami. Not bad. Then on the runway, we suddenly turned back toward the terminal. Not good. After sitting for 30 mins, we finally got an unbelievable update from the Captain, clearly taking cues from the new President-Elect: “I’m sure you all are as frustrated as we are. The delay is due to the total incompetence of the people on the ground here who can’t seem to understand that we need an accurate count of people & weight before we can leave & they can’t seem to get it to us. I have no idea how long it will take.” Ummm. What??? A lot of white Americans around me laughed out loud. When they were done, I said, in a rather loud judgemental tone to anyone within earshot, that I thought the statement was extremely rude, there have been planes flying in/out of Cuba for years & a Canadian airline that was due to leave 1.5hrs after us got off just fine, yet we’re supposed to believe it’s an issue w the Cubans & not an issue w American who is newly operating flights here. Yeah right. That shamed the laughers into silence as the plane was full of Cuban-Americans & I was offended on their behalf. It was total BS from an incompetent airline. And by the time we left, I had given up all hope of making my connection to Chicago. Oh well. I put on The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs Vol 3 & chilled out on the way back to the states.
Tag: Havana
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.
Counterfeit Cubans
Apparently there is an increasingly significant issue when it comes to counterfeit Cuban cigars. Factory workers steal them right from the lines. Official retail store workers swap out real cigars for fake ones & sell them to unsuspecting tourists along w a bullshit CUC$40 “handling fee” the workers pocket. All to sell on the black market. Due to its brand recognition & popularity among tourists, Cohiba is apparently the worst – making it difficult to even get consistently high quality cigars on the black market. Monte Cristos are next. While I’m no cigar aficionado, I wanted to pick some up for a friend so I asked my casa owner & the tapas resto owner where to go. They both use the same black market guy located in the hood in el centro Habana. Even at 10:30 in the morning, I don’t think I’d make the 20 minute walk on my own & the guy would certainly not trust me. So my casa owner gladly accompanied me to this shady dude’s real nice house in the ghetto where he put on a fairly formal presentation, displaying all of his goods on a velour cloth covering his kitchen table. My casa owner then walked me through all the steps to evaluate the various cigars & I settled upon Romeo y Julieta, the most popular brand amongst local wealthy Cubans who are in the know bc they aren’t quite as popular w tourists so quality is better. And boy did I get a deal bc the government retailers will sell them for CUC$13-15 per stick while I got them for CUC$8. So now I feel pretty confident buying a product that I’ll never personally use. But the experience was pretty amazing.
Hemingway’s Havana
Prior to leaving Chicago & despite a slight feeling of betrayal, I loaded my kindle w Hemingway books that lay heavily worn in tatters, w circled & underlined passages & dogeared pages, crammed into the bookshelf my dad made me as I’ve read them many times over. Perhaps it’s a bit cliche, but it felt pretty good re-reading The Old Man and the Sea as I visited Cojimar, a tiny little fishing village that was home to Ernie’s fishing boat, Pilar, as well as his friend & the village on which the story is based. I have a long lasting love affair w his work which means I also felt his home on a hill outside Havana was a must-see (where Ava Gardner, on whom I recall my dad having a bit of a crush, scandalously swam naked in his pool) along w the Havana hotel in which he holed up writing For Whom the Bell Tolls and countless bars he frequented, including the one where he popularized the daiquiri &, in a record that still holds, he took down 13 doubles in one sitting. What an animal. I like his Havana.
Vinales day trip & hired-taxi-ride-of-a-lifetime (hopefully)
I opted to take a day trip from Havana to Vinales, a tiny town west of Havana surrounded by lush hilly limestone terrain offering great hiking, an incredible cave system & the world’s best tobacco growing. The rest of my trip was taking me east but I was convinced I needed to see the region after flying over it prior to landing in Havana… the terrain looked incredibly different than what I ever imagined Cuba to look like (& much different than Havana).
My casa owner arranged for one of his trusted regular personal drivers to take me to Vinales. Eduardo knows the area very well & has taken the trip weekly w other casa guests. Eduardo arrived at 8 & just to make sure we’re on the same page, we sat w the owner to map out an itinerary prior to leaving as Eduardo speaks zero English. He seemed friendly & funny & when I left, I felt very comfortable & excited about the day.
The first snafu happened 5 minutes after leaving when Eduardo indicated he forgot his wallet at home so we first had to go to outer Havana to pick it up. Fine, I forget things all the time. A half hour later, we finally began our journey. We chitchat about our lives & Havana & things are going great. He teaches me words in Spanish & I teach him words in English. The beginning of the route was small city streets & Eduardo seemed to be a very capable driver. About an hour into the 2.5hr trip, we hit the autopista, a 6-lane highway w not much traffic. Thankfully not much traffic. Because it was only then after 15 minutes or so that I started noticing Eduardo weaving across our 3 lanes of traffic. There were no other cars around & the roads were in the worst shape I’d ever seen, riddled w major potholes, so I thought perhaps he was trying to avoid them. And then he hit a rather large pothole dead-on that rattled his old 1970s car. And another one. WTF? I couldn’t see his eyes bc they were hidden behind huge sunglasses. I asked him if he was ok, perhaps a bit tired? Oh he’s ok but yes, perhaps a bit tired bc he was out w friends until 3:30am & then had to get up at 7. Uh oh. I suggested we continue talking bc that seemed to keep him awake before. He couldn’t hold a conversation. I asked him to play music so we seat-danced for a couple minutes before he tired of that. Immediately thereafter, a large tour bus approached us from the left rear. Eduardo didn’t see him coming & was in fact weaving in front of him so I gently suggested he move to the right. Then another car approached from the right, honking madly for him to get out of the way. He didn’t hear him until I said so. Three strikes & you’re out & during one of his next weaves, he picked up speed & I thought was headed straight off the road. So I really yelled at him. It’s pretty amazing how quickly I picked up Spanish swear words & proficiently & appropriately used them here. I told him he was a drunk & falling asleep, he was endangering both of our lives, he needs sleep & a lot of coffee. After my tirade, he was quiet & then sheepishly admitted I was right and stunningly, asked if I would be willing to drive. At this point, we were 1.5 hours into the trip & I didn’t trust him to drive us back to Havana so for fear of my life & a desire to still see Vinales, I agreed, still somewhat dumbfounded. We pulled over, switched seats, I got comfortable w some of the car’s “uniqueness”, & we were off. I asked him what signs I should follow… “Pinar del Rio”, which I knew from my travel book, & w that we were off, w Eduardo passed out beside me, unmoving. One must adapt when traveling right? We seemed better.
Until 30 minutes later when la policia pulled us over. I was certainly not speeding so I think it was a random thing. Thankfully I, for some unknown reason, brought w me my passport & US drivers license. As I was frantically trying to wake Eduardo from his slumber, I was handing my documents over to the cop. Eduardo was barely awake at this point & despite the fact he just stopped to pick up his wallet, he was unable to locate his documents. On a whim, I explained to the cop w a laugh & a gesture, in an attempt to continue the trip, that the lush in the passenger seat was my stupid, drunk boyfriend. Those seconds awaiting his response were torturous as I considered the possibility I’d end up in a Cuban prison, but thankfully he laughed too, returned my documents & waved us on our way. I knew I saved Eduardo’s ass but I didn’t know to what extent until later as apparently it’s illegal for tourists to drive locals’ cars (designated by certain license plates) so the cop could very well have immediately impounded the car & thrown Eduardo in jail w massive fines (I’m told no repercussions for me, although I’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere w no way to return to Havana). You’re welcome, Eduardo.
I kept following signs for Pinar del Rio. And after an hour more of driving, kept trying to wake Eduardo. I felt as if we were heading in the right direction so no need to panic. Then he awoke, after 1.5 hrs of my driving, exclaiming we should’ve exited an hour ago… right around the time the police pulled us over. Great. I exit & follow his instructions to take a now not-so-direct route to Vinales. Oh well. We made it to stop one & he seemed markedly better.. no longer drunk but certainly tired. At my orders, while I toured & hiked the site, he was to down significant amounts of coffee.
That’s how our day continued. He rebounded quite well & took back the driving, which was great bc that’s what I was fucking paying him to do. I refused to be angry at him as I didn’t want that negative energy ruining my day so we returned to our fun banter. When sober & awake, he actually did a really great job as a tour guide, explaining details & history. We toured the lovely Vinales until about 5pm, a bit later than normal perhaps, given our trip there took an extra hour or so.
And then we returned to Havana. All was going swimmingly until an hour into the trip. He asked me if I would drive again. I yelled at him as this time, he wasn’t drunk, he was just tired & incompetent. I hired him to drive & he needed to drive so I refused. I started watching him closely & found that since he wasn’t now wearing his sunglasses, he couldn’t hide the fact that his eyes were closing again. Perfect. 15 minutes passed & it was now dusk & he asked again if I would drive. To make it back alive, I once again agreed while that mf slept next to me. The closer we got to Havana, the more traffic appeared & the darker it became, while his old car’s lights on unfamiliar roads w no help whatsoever from Eduardo made for a more difficult drive than desired. Again, Eduardo had trouble waking up. The signs entering Havana were pretty clear so while waking him, I still felt ok driving. And then the signs immediately became unclear & all of a sudden, there were 5 police cars in the center of the road forcing me to decide right or left. I decided left & apparently decided wrong. My 3 lanes disappeared almost immediately & turned into a tiny 1-lane road w no lights & I came to a screeching halt alongside in the tumble weeds, all the while screaming at Eduardo. That finally awoke him, laughing & saying “oh that’s ok angela, we are in XXX in Havana & you just need to go right”. I lost it. Screamed I’m not fucking driving anymore. Got out of the driver’s side & slammed the door. He chuckled, agreed & dropped me at my casa in 15 minutes.
Somehow throughout this entire ordeal, Eduardo came to believe we were truly friends & I was just helping him out as a friend would do in similar circumstances. What he seemed to forget was that I was paying him to provide a service that he most certainly didn’t provide. So he truly seemed genuinely shocked when I stiffed him on his payment, even after explaining why. The casa owner apologized endlessly, fired him as his regular driver & covered the cost of his fuel & time for the trip. Since I made it back alive, I reflected that I did actually enjoy Vinales & the trip story was in fact a pretty great one. One that I hope to never repeat.
La Habana loca
Oh Havana. How quickly you inspire & captivate. I stayed for 6 days & didn’t want to leave. I could spend a month here alone. Or more. It’s stunning in a unique, broken down dilapidated sort of way. I aimlessly wandered the city, trying to lose myself as one often does in Venice. There is clearly a lot of investment happening in Havana as construction & rehabs pop up around every corner; though it’s since slowed as my casa owner confirmed the Trump election has resulted in a hold up of foreign funding. Sad but hopefully with time, things will settle & they’ll work it out.
Casa = casa particular or a homestay. Essentially a large home w private rooms w baths to rent. This lodging was recommended by the travel guides as well as by word of mouth as many are nicer than the worn, tired hotels, certainly cheaper & also offer great access to local Cubans & their culture (& the money also goes to support local Cubans rather than government owned hotels which is an added bonus). My casa was fabulous – right in the heart of Habana Vieja complete w 20-ft ceilings & a balcony overlooking the street chaos below – and my casa owner was so helpful as well as enlightening on Cuban culture. He arranged for my airport pickup in a classic 1955 blue American car so he started off on a high note.
As far as my Spanish goes, I was forced to use it a lot. First off w my airport driver – not a lick of English spoken. Most folks don’t speak it. Tourist sights have descriptions in Spanish only. Pretty refreshing. And unlike SE Asia, I actually have a clue as to what’s going on around me. I intended to take a week long Spanish course to “refresh” since freshman year in college but I was soooo busy prior to my trip, I couldn’t find time (yes I’m still enjoying my mid-life retirement but before you roll your eyes, the World Series winning Cubs’ playoff run really did keep me pretty busy). I did buy a pocket phrase book w a helpful dictionary & briefly reviewed it during my layover in Mexico City. After day 1, I realized how much better (i.e. easier) my life would be with improved conversational Spanish as I noted several instances after which I cursed myself as I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to say something. So night 1, I fell asleep quizzing myself. The nerd in me lives.
Prior to the trip & in fact from several travelers I met in SE Asia, I heard there were still issues finding good food in Cuba as only since 2011 have private restaurants been allowed to sit more than 12 people (now max is 50) & employ non-family members in addition to the government food rations still required. This notion I can now dispute as I found some great tiny spots w amazing food & drinks including a trendy new tapas joint serving the best mojitos I’ve ever enjoyed (& of course pretty dope food too) & a tiny obscure higher-end resto whose suckling pig dish blew my mind.
But the best part of Havana was the people & their stories, eerily often connected back to some crazy cool history from the casa owner’s friend whose driver’s dad was Fidel’s personal chauffeur to the chef of the high-end resto, whose talents I obsessed over through the open kitchen for 2 hours, & who also previously served Fidel as his personal chef. And everyone’s just so friendly, especially considering my poor Spanish skills. My go-to phrase has been “mas despacio, por favor” & they smile, slowing down to use simpler language, & politely refrain from laughing as I stumble through my reply. They don’t seem to be annoyed one bit as they happily join me for conversations about both our lives. When coming out of the tapas joint after a late lunch & a couple killer passion fruit mojitos the day after the suckling pig dinner, I ran into the suckling pig chef as he was heading to work, we laughed as he said how much he loved the food & drinks there, said I had great taste in restos & walked me to my casa, offering to squeeze me into his resto later that night. If only. I had previously promised I’d attend a pig roast hosted by my casa owner & friend so I reluctantly turned down his invitation as I knew his food would be far superior. But the pig roast turned out to be fun & afterwards, we went to see a reggae-ton show which was pretty entertaining.
I can’t wait to bring friends back to Havana.
El Malecon
https://youtu.be/x0RC2h-EQNk
El Malecon in the convertible passing El Hotel Nacional, an old hangout of US gangsters before the embargo back when Cuba was the American playground of the rich & famous. I had a mojito in the outside terrace at sunset overlooking el Malecon.
https://youtu.be/YlGYu2QiUCU
Walking along el Malecon on a Saturday morning, I stumbled upon a little league baseball game. While taking pix & a video, a couple balls were missed by the catcher & I served to be such an adequate backup catcher, that the coaches asked if I officially wanted the role, so I gleefully accepted for a couple innings. It surely helped that I was wearing my Cubs baseball cap.
amusemusings 