Cuba! Havana, Trinidad & Vinales

We arrived in Havana, Cuba at 3am after a stopover in Madrid, Spain. As we landed, passengers clapped. We headed straight to our homestay in the city centre on O’Reilly’s. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean. The drive in gave us our first taste of the Caribbean — nice and humid with very catchy music beats playing on the radio. Noticeable along the highway was the shift to a prior era with old 50s colourful convertible cars and people being transported around in the back of trucks. The Cubans we met throughout the next ten days were all super friendly. Our hosts at our Havana casa (home), settled us into a room in their apartment and we scheduled the next few days of breakfasts and activities. The places we visited in Cuba for several nights each were Havana, Vinales, Trinidad then back to Havana. Travelling around Cuba was really enjoyable and with lots of diversity to offer plus a unique, fascinating history.

Havana is actually spelt locally as Habana, as v’s are pronounced as b’s. Habana’s population is approximately 3.5million people out of Cuba’s total 11million people. Cuba seems to of had a number of bearded key personalities associated with its history, and Cubans on the streets would walk up to K1 and call him “Fidel/ Che/Ernest Hemingway”. The local men weren’t shy towards tourists as they frequently called out plenty of comments as we walked around. Cuba’s main export that supports their economy is healthcare. Healthcare within Cuba is free and high quality. Students from the region come to Cuba to become doctors and Cuba send doctors to work all over the world, particularly Africa and South America. We’d bought Euros into Cuba as they are a cash-based society that don’t generally take card and USdollars are charged a 10% fee. There are two local currencies, the CP (Cuban Peso) mostly for locals that is being phased out and the CCP (Cuban Convertible Peso) which change is given in. Pay phone are still prevalent and used here. While we were here, the Pan-American sporting games were on from Lima which we saw parts of on TVs throughout the country. We also caught some of a channel called Cubavision that seemed to be like Eurovision and Enclave Politica which, while we couldn’t fully understand the Spanish, seemed to have interestingly contrasted views presented on the world news segment to what we’re used to seeing at home.

On our first morning in the Habana casa there was an Australian guy from Melbourne in the lounge area who was staying in another room who told us about his unfortunate ordeals. He was in Havana to attend Spanish school for a few weeks but on his second night had been drugged, robbed of everything and woken up in a police car the next day. He also told us about how wifi works in Cuba and generously gave us our first few token codes for it. Wifi is government-owned and regulated by a telecom company called ETECSA. Restrictions on its usage amount and location apply whereby there are parks that you can go to buy a coupon at for about $1–3/hour access. People stand around these wifi parks selling the login code coupons. There are also government places they can be purchased from at a maximum of three per day showing your passport. Not having much wifi for our time in Cuba was fine for us, having become very used to this from living in the van, and a nice break from the modern world’s over-connectivity. Breakfast was in the homestay’s kitchen downstairs cooked daily by Claudia. The breakfasts at each of the casas usually consisted of eggs, cheese, bread and fresh tropical fruits- mango (our favourite), papaya, paw paw and guava juice. In other news, my suitcase has completely broken wheels so it had some wheel surgery as a temporary fix to be drag-able.

The streets of Habana are vibrant to all senses with always something going on around Obispo Street. Vendors push around wheelbarrows full of goods and produce to sell such as mangoes, yelling their bargain prices. Many women wear bright, summery tight clothes and men walk around shirtless. There is a visible lack of branding and advertising. There are very few shops at all. The shops that do exist are simple, selling only basics such as water, soap and staple foods. Cuba has a rations booklet system for food distribution. The geographic cultural heritages of Cubans is a melting pot of African, Indigenous, Caribbean, American and Spanish.

The architecture in old Habana looks Spanish and colonial, particularly grand buildings and churches around the main squares. Backstreets of Habana reminded us of the atmosphere in Zanzibar. One large building in Central Habana is the El Capitolio which was constructed complete in 1928 to look just like the USA’s White House as a big dome building.

For a good view over Habana, we went to the 6th floor of Hotel Ambos Mundas. We also ate dinner here, which wasn’t the best food but the experience there did help us learn about the blockade. Meals ordered came out with different to the ingredients listed on the menu we’d ordered from which apparently regularly happens due to the blockade. In this case, there were no potatoes available so rice was the substitute. Cuba is one of only two countries in the world without Coke Cola — the other being North Korea, as it is not available for import so they have their own version of it. These trade restrictions have been in place since the 1950s. The USA refuses to do business with some countries if they trade with Cuba. Because their sanctions want to keep the money away from the Cuban government. Technically travelling to Cuba is illegal for USAmerican citizens however they can now visit Cuba on a special visa by ticking that it is called a visa for “support for the Cuban people”. This means they must stay in homestays and not stay in government-owned hotels or eat at government-owned restaurants. They may need to log book where money is spent at. Some of the best places we ate at in Havana were El Dandy (twice), O’Reilly’s 304, Lo de Monik and El Café. We enjoyed lots of tacos, beans, sweet potato, pulled pork and, as a treat, churros with condensed milk (so yummy, reminded of Mexico). We also observed the Cubans liking of excessive sugar- spotting even sugar being put in our scrambled eggs for breakfast.

We went for two history walking tours- one during the day and the other during the night. These really rounded out our understanding of the country’s past from the 1700s to today, and how it all interconnects to what we see there today and its ongoing international relationships. Our tour guide was Andy who was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, about our age and we had a good time being shown around by him. Habana is celebrating 500 years of being Habana city this year. There were signs throughout the city and a great deal of construction going on. As Andy remarked, they’re doing 500 years worth of building repairs to mark the occasion. We were told a range of stories about how slaves from Africa made the entire city very fast and the slave auction place, previous pirates of the Caribbean, 80% of the Indigenous population were killed and no languages remain, the three revolutions and their varying lengths and effects, how Britain ruled here as a colony for 11months, how sugar became white gold to sell and produce, how they started talking about getting their own flag and becoming more independent, the Pope visiting in 1998 was momentous, that St Francisco means St Christopher, Cuba has been called “key of the gulf”, explorers becoming lost here when looking for India then finding wood to make more ships, mojito’s made famous here, where Ernest Hemingway wrote, the Parisian homeless gentleman statue, a Jesus statue on the hill which was largely ignored until a visit from the Pope, that “Criollo” means anything made in Cuba, and many more tales. There is also something else about how in the 1920s during prohibition, USAmericans went to drink in Cuba and this is when gangsters began.

The city of Habana is surrounded by walls and has been used as a fortress called La Cabana. At 9pm every evening, a long tradition continues as we heard it, a canon is fired. On our night time walk, we learned more about the relatively recent history. Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union from the 50s was particularly interesting. Cuba received things from the Soviet Union for free and this was helpful when the embargo started. They never thought it was going to end though and things got bad in 1996 as they had become dependent on the Soviet Union when it collapsed. People worked for free and received everything they needed from the government until they couldn’t provide things anymore and this period is known as “the special period”. The government’s ideology these days in Cuba is called “advanced socialism” and is a single-party socialist republic.

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are the main protagonists of Cuba’s revolution history. I’ve since read an insightful book by Che’s wife called “My Life with Che” about her perspective on the events. Fidel was the revolution’s leader that went on to rule Cuba from 1959–2008. Fidel Castro reportedly survived 638 assassination attempts. Castro was known for giving very long speeches and holds the record at the UN General Assembly clocking in at four hours and 29minutes. A Fidel quote that explained his political attitudes is “They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America? It is filthy, gross, alienating… because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition’’. His son also became Cuba’s leader continuing the communism. There is today military service for young people in Cuba.

Cuba and Florida, USA, are only 90miles apart yet these countries turbulent relations make them seem much further apart. China is now heavily investing in Cuba (as they are with many other countries we’ve visited this year). Cuba’s other main trade partner is Venezuela. Cuba also maintains a decent relationship with Russia who have sent submarines to show the Cubans in the harbour their ships. Obama visited Cuba while he was President and allowed some musician bands to perform concerts here. Relations were improving. Since Trump has been President however, the relationship has worsened- and in the fortnight before we visited, a ban was announced on American cruise ships from visiting Cuba. Many Cubans in the tourism industry we met remarked how damaging this has been for their livelihoods. Toughening the blockade means they have to import many products from Europe or Asia, paying higher prices and spending on cargo fees. Every year, an almost unanimous vote at the UN votes urging the USA to end is embargo on Cuba. We were told that 50% of Florida’s population is Latin American and it is said that whoever wins Florida wins the US elections which are due next year, apparently possibly some extra political reason behind recent toughening towards Cuba. These Cubans in Florida went there decades ago as they opposed Fidel’s governance and some were involved with the Bay of Pigs situation. Guantanamo Bay is still “illegally” used as a US military base.

After a good and interesting few days in Habana, we journeyed by bus to Vinales. The bus transport between each of the towns were large and modern. On arrival, local women were there with laminated papers showing photos of rooms in homes available to stay. We’d already booked ours and found our way there via lunch at a goats’ cheese restaurant. We waited on rocking chairs on the front porch at our casa for our room to be made ready and were given some mango juice by the family. Vinales is in the Pinar del Rio region which is known for its beautiful landscapes. It is also UNESCO listed for its geography and cultural landscape of humanity and national park. We went for a pleasant afternoon horse ride through this countryside with a Cuban “gaucho” (skilled horseman). Large, mogoto rocks surround the valley making a brilliant contrast of red and green.

We rode on horseback to a family run farm, Finca La Ceiba, where cousins, Mario and Dennis, showed us around. Mario was jovial and passionate about his work and we enjoyed the conversation. He was curious about our power brick charger and when he found out we were Australian made reference to an Australian band we’d never heard of for a song he liked from the 60s. Mario studied agronomy in Habana years ago and taught himself English. The farm’s main production is of tobacco, like many in the region. Cuba is known for its Cuban cigars. Mario showed us the tobacco plant fields then took us into a spacious shed where the tobacco leaves are hung to dry and then be compacted. We watched him roll a cigar and tell us about the industry. 75% of the nicotine is in the leaf’s middle stem so firstly this is cut out. While we were there, it was the season for tobacco drying off because it grows in winter and then is kept inside during the humidity. This finca (farm) is legally allowed to keep 10% that they produce for themselves and/or to sell. The government buys and processes the other 90%.

The entire farm is organic and they pride themselves on their permaculture. For example, coffee trees are planted in the shade of the mango trees above and the symbiotic relationships between the best growing natural ecosystems. After having a good look around, we sat in a courtyard area and ate a fruit salad which we saw its ingredients be picked from around us- avocado, passionfruit, mango, pineapple, guava and banana. This amazingly fresh salad was drizzled with honey which we were then shown and told about and proceeded to buy a 600ml bottle of to take home. We were also shown their homemade coffee beans and rum. By evening, we rode back through the countryside to town on time for another lovely sunset.

We were in Cuba for the 26th of July which is a national holiday marking revolutionary movement organisation name that overthrew the Batista government. There were celebrations in town in Vinales mostly involving music, dancing and white rum stalls. We ate dinner watching on from a restaurant called Cubar that our homestay host suggested. Our plans while in Vinales were very casually made as tended to be the norm throughout the country. We took up our host’s suggestion to hire bikes for an afternoon of exploring and then appeared some bikes from the bike-hire-guy in town. We went for a lovely 15km round scenic ride around a few sites. First up, was the mural of pre-history- a giant colourful painting on mogote rock face that depicts the evolution of life in the Cuban territory. It is, at 80m x 120m, apparently one of the largest in the world. Entry was 3CUC and included a welcome pina colada. A sign said Viva la adventure and a farmer offering ox rides. The mural was commissioned by Castro after he was told of fossils of fish having been found there and evidence of dinosaurs and early human inhabitants settlements found in caves. Luckily my tetanus immunisations are up to date after wedging a very rusty nail through my fingernail on a bike parking rack. We stopped at this giant outdoor mural for a while to relax between afternoon tropical rain showers before continuing on.

Cycling in the other direction back through Vinales town, we made it uphill to Finca Agroecologica El Paraiso. This venue had stunning sunset views and was in a yard with wrap-around balconies overlooking the very green valley. We were welcomed with five-spice anti-stress mocktails. We watched a storm roll in and out while enjoying a tasty, fresh, organic set menu dinner of many courses. Ingredients included taro chips, salad, root vegetables, amazing avocado, vegetable soup, tuna, chicken, pork, sugared papaya for dessert and camomile-tasting tea. This restaurant venue has been featured on a Netflix series for its farm to table cuisine and it was really lovely.

After two nights in Vinales, we were off the next morning on a 6:30am bus, that was closer to 7:10am, to Trinidad. There were horse and carts holding up traffic on the way. We saw many large poster and sign boards along this route with patriotic statements that translated to: “(Gracias) Thank you Fidel”; “The US proposal is unfeasible”; “Unity, Continuity and Victory”; “Country or Death”; “Eternal glory to the martyrs of the homeland”; “History, Honor, Commitment”; “For the revolution and the workers”; “Against Helms-Burton All voices”.

On arrival in Trinidad, after about a 10hour drive and being dropped off at Plaza Carillo, we ate lunch of the tastiest sauce on fish ever at Sol Y Son. The creole-fusion tastes were delicious, especially with squash (pumpkin) which we hadn’t eaten for ages. We noticed that on checking into our next casa our names looked as if they had been spelt with Hs instead of Ks which amusingly made our names sound rather drastic as “Hurt and Hate”. That evening, we took part in a private salsa lesson at the blue house opposite our homestay. It was good fun and we learned 3–4 moves from basic step onwards to catchy marietta music. It was good practice for our upcoming wedding reception first dance song.

The next day in Trinidad, we’d organised a taxi that turned up to our homestay as a horse and cart. We proceeded for a while and went through town this way then skipped the waterfall via horseback activity that seemed to be popular with tourists opting to instead have a look around town. There was a good view over the surrounding mountains and sea from up a tower called placentio centero. For the afternoon, we headed to the beach- Playa Ancon. This was a great choice and our first swim in the Caribbean. We made our way there via a bright yellow classic car taxi that waited for us while there for the return trip. The beach’s white sand was incredibly soft, the water perfectly warm and the water clear and azure blue. There were coconut trees, a nice breeze and men selling tacos walking along the beach. We made ourselves comfy under complimentary chairs with a palapa (thatched umbrella) even as the afternoon tropical rains went through. Trinidad and its surrounding towns are the size where everyone knows everyone and there weren’t many traffic lights. As we left the beach, our driver asked if it was ok to drive home his amigo (friend)- one of the beach’s staff, we weren’t sure what he had actually asked but said si (yes), having thought perhaps something about paying for his parking, then realised what he’d said and it was an all good drive back to town with them chatting away in the front. The car had an issue with the horn which meant it honked the whole way without meaning to, no doubt confusing passers-byers. We noticed many drivers frequently repairing things under their old car bonnets. Dinner continued our great Cuban dining experiences at La Redaccion- which means the news as it was a newspaper factory.

The next morning, we headed back to Havana by another bus. Back in Habana, it was time for our classic car ride. We prepared ourselves for this stereotypical tourist experience with more tacos at the bar of O’Reilly 304 conveniently closeby our same homestay again. Our car arrived and was an excellent bright pink colour with a driver with a good sense of humour wearing a cowboy sombrero. The drive took us around town with stops at revolution square, along the Malecon and past Chinatown, Hotel Nacional, the colon cemetery and North Korean embassy. After this, we found a trendy street we hadn’t yet been to for dinner and returned there again the following evening.

On our final full day in Habana, I revisited the Almacenes San Jose artisan markets. These were very orderly and mostly sold souvenirs and artworks. A main tourist souvenir were dolls called Mary/Mary-Lou dolls. These dolls have two ends- one with a black coloured face and the other with a white face, and the skirt flips over to conceal the other. A vendor explained their significance by a story whereby a woman enslaved made the black faced doll for a girl she was looking after to play with then the little girl’s mum said she couldn’t play with the doll so the lady made it have two ends so the girl could still play with the other side then flip it back when her mum went by. At our final dinner at 5 Esquinas Trattoria, an man artist drew us while we ate without us noticing then gave us the drawing. This wrapped up our great time in Cuba and it was back to the airport the following day.

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*Disclaimer: all written with best intentions, apologies for any factual inaccuracies.