Varadero & home !

"And so we face, the final curtain...."


That's right, our penultimate bus trip, this time to our last place, Varadero. This is on the north coast and is the main touristy and beach hotspot for Cuba. I would say that the majority of tourists who visit Cuba come here (and sadly nowhere else).

It is popular for Candaians as It is only a 3-4 hour flight from Canada. Also Russians, but they seem to get everywhere! So Varadero, a 22Km stretch of pure white sand, tropical Caribbean sea and sunshine. Yep we have arrived at our final resting place. We wanted to finish with a little bit of luxury and be able to top up our tans (well Kip's).


We stayed for a good few nights in a Casa and then felt we deserved a final flourish and stayed in a hotel for the last few nights. Well we have been slumming it for 6.5 months!


We spent our time here chilling out and walking the strip to see the local sites. From the older 'downtown' Varadero along the spit to the start of the hotels all the way to the tip to the really expensive ones, it was nice to see this place.

The beach was awesome and some of the cleanest and nicest beach and sea we have both ever seen. The water was truly crystal clear blue and beautifully tranquil. It was a perfect way to spend our last few days here in Cuba. We decided to sample some of the best Cuban Rum and Cigars whilst in Varadero and feel the true Cuban experience (this picture was taken before the smoke went into my eye and nearly blinded me !) 


Sadly all good things come to an end and we had to say goodbye to Varadero. We packed our bags for the last time, boarded a coach and headed for the airport. There was a final twist in our plans, which we had anticipated. The pope was in Cuba for a 3 day visit and the day we were leaving, he was conducting a mass in Habana. So right on cue, on the way to the airport, we got caught in traffic. A nice 2 hour wait sitting in the coach, before we could get to the terminal. But hey, apart from that, we have been very lucky and always had good transport.


With a final 8.5 hour flight back to Blighty we touched down at Gatwick and headed for home. 


Thank you to those that have read my blog for this trip and i really do hope you have enjoyed it. 
I am sure that i will no doubt resurrect this blog for future, trips, but for now. Thank you and goodbye. 


Mr & Mrs Maynard (Junior !)

Cienfuegos & Santa Clara (and some guy called Ché?)

After only a short bus ride from Trinidad we were in Cienfuegos another colonial styled town, this time with much more of a French influence to the buildings. The surroundings of Cienfuegos were sprawling urban and industrial but the centre was calmer and more serene.


We again stayed in a Casa, but this had to be the worst one. This is the one with the dodgy speaking shower and bad bed, so needless to say Kip did some magic and got us out of our 2 night stay after only one lumpy/bumpy nights sleep.

Cienfuegos was not the spectacular show of buildings like Habana or the quaint cobbled streets of Trinidad, but it had a safe, clean and laid back feeling. The central square here was a nice place to walk round aswell as their own Malécon.


It also has to be told that this was the place that hosted the bar and barman that made the best Mojito I have tasted to date. Now I know that it quite a bold statement and from me who has tried a lot of mojitos in my time - but it was bloody nice ! It also helped that is was in a roof top bar that overlooked the city and we watched the sunset, so a nice setting to boot!

Our second day In Cienfuegos was spent taking a day trip to nearby Santa Clara. We hired a taxi (it is worthwhile mentioning now that all the cars in Cuba are not all old nice cars, the other half are Ladas, yep as in Skoda and Lada, the good old Russian bricks - even the police use them!)


We wanted to visit Santa Clara for one of 2 reasons, the first is for Cigars and the second is some guy called Ché. We had not been able to visit the cigar factory in Habana so the nest largest and famous one was in Santa Clara. We arrived and were instantly told to hand over cameras (boo!), apparently for reasons of company secrets. Ah well. The factory was fantastic. Such an amazing scene, rows and rows of what looked like old school desks, tightly packed in to rows and columns in one room. Each desk having a lady or guy sitting there rolling one of 150 different types of cigars. They each have to train for 9 months to learn the skills involved. Different lengths, shapes, sizes, girths, ends. They can muster up to 80-170 in one day depending on the type. All very cool to watch. What surprised me the most was the amount of checking and quality control. Each cigar is tested to make sure it can draw through the right amount of air. Too much or too little air and it is sacked off (and they are paid less that day!).


The cigars are bunched, sorted, colour matched and then labelled and packed into the array of tubes, boxes and cases for export or sale. A great little excursion and insight into one of Cuba's main businesses.


Incidentally their main export and business is in sugar cane, for sugar but also for RUM!


So what's all the fuss about this guy called Ché. I mean I know there are national heroes but his face and picture is everywhere! And you know what the guy is not even Cuban, he's from Argentina!!!!

It all boils down to him helping the Casteo brothers (Fiedel and Raul) to overthrow the old Batista Dictatorship in 1959 and with the aid of Ché they succeeded. It just so happens that Ché made a big push and victory in Santa Clara, so hence why this town is famed for him. Hence the massive status, museum, plaza and mausoleum for him on the outskirts of town.
Another great little road trip and sight of some of the real Cuba.

Trinidad

Second only to Habana, Trinidad was touted as the best place to see well kept architecture in Cuba. It was, but there was something else more important.....MUSIC!

Rush Hour....?

We arrived into Trinidad after a long 9 hour bus journey. Not that the roads were busy in anyway, more the opposite and quite funny. There is a main motorway (3-lanes each way) running through spine of Cuba, but there are just no cars on it.

We were staying at another Casa, this time the home of Nilda and Rolando, a lovely older couple who made us feel very welcome. We would spend a total of 4 nights in Trinidad and the aim here was just to relax and soak up the atmosphere. Each night we would just walk the local cobbled streets and listen out for small venues playing traditional Cuban music. Sometimes there are guys just playing in the afternoon on the street, great to just "be" and take it all in.

Whilst in Trinidad we also took some lessons. One was a drum lesson for me and the next was a salsa dancing lesson. I am not sure which I am worst at, but lucky the video evidence of both has been destroyed ! So with our new found moves (ahem) we headed out to a club situated high up on the hills above Trinidad but tucked underground in a cave. A very cool club and a locals hangout.


There is something about the Cuban Anatomy that means that they are all born with a natural ability to dance, sing and drink neat rum. What a great skill set!! It was good to be out and see the locals enjoy the local music and show off their dance moves.

So after a late night at the club, what better way to recover then a lie down on the beach. The more famed caribbean beaches are on the north coast, but the best of the south is only 11Km from Trinidad, in a place called Ancón. So after a short taxi ride we were on a deserted beach and soaking up some rays (apparently it helps get rid of the rum left in the body!).


After soaking up enough sun to make us feel brother we headed back to town and managed to avoid an absolute deluge of a tropical afternoon rain shower. So much so that the streets in Trinidad had been turned in to mass streams running from up in the hills down to the low lands. If the cars failed in this weather the other favored method of transport (the horse and cart) would get you through.

After a good rest and a lovely time in Trinidad it was time to move on, so we packed our stuff and headed back north to a town called Cienfuegos.




































On leaving Trinidad we had a very weird experience. The road from Trinidad to Cienfugos (our nextr stop) ran along side the coast. Because of this there were lots of crabs nearby and by the side of the road. What we didnt expect to see is that the crabs were ALL over the road and didn't move when our coach drove through. Yep, that's right, we must have driven over a good few hundred crabs along this 10 Km stretch of road, it was weird and awful at the same time. 

Crab Alley.....!

Viñales

About 4 hours east of Habana is the countryside town of Viñales. A true country side area full of farming and locals. When we arrived we were bombared off the bus with people trying to get us to stay at their Casa, but we already had our's booked. We arrived to the pinkest room I have ever seen. Pink walls inside and out, pink house, pink bed covers.....the lot!


We were staying with a lively couple called Maceo and Gladys. If we hadn't of known we would have both said that Gladys was half Irish, the way she chatted to herself and fussed over us.

Kip & Manolo

So Viñales is known predominantly for its farming of tobacco and the local hillside and ranges. We walked around town and found ourselves a local guide called Manolo, an older guy but very knowledgeable and welcome for us wanting to do a walking tour which didn't include a group of 20+ Canadians doing the same thing. So we got a taxi out of town and started early for a 12Km walk in the local hills. If we had been blindfolded and lead away we would have sworn we were in the countryside of Vietnam, it was ver similar. That aside, it was great to get away for a nature walk away from the crowds.

We visited local farmers and their fields of sugar cane and tobacco. Saw the 'Tobacco Casas' where the tobacco leaves are strung up and left to dry for 1/2/3 years in order for them to mature and ferment. After this they are then sold on to the government. About 90% of their harvest has to go to the government and about 10% is left to their own use. We had a great walk and it was nice to see the true countryside.


We spent another day in Viñales just exploring the town and local areas. We hired a local taxi and got off the beaten track and see some of the rural Cuba. It was nice to see how people live. They all have the same provision in terms of land and houses. All of them neatly kept, gardens tendered to; pride.


In the evenings we ate at the Casa with Gladys fussing over us and the headed into town for a few drinks. Both nights we caught up with Manolo who took us to the local places and made sure we saw the best of Viñales. A truly genuine guy and nice to just hang out with a local and chat to him.


Now after Viñales was a long journey (hopefully our last long one of the trip!) down to the south coast and the middle of the country to a place called Trinidad.

Casa Particulares & the Cuban Economy!

So I mentioned previously about Casa Particulares. Whilst in most other countries we have stayed in hostels, guesthouses or tents. In Cuba there is a choice of either your all inclusive hotels or local Casa Particulares. Now these are a relatively new thing for Cuba and only legalised in the past 6-8 years. It is a process where by locals can open up their houses (maximum of 2 rooms) and rent them out to tourists or locals. As with most things here in Cuba it is strictly controlled and at the start of each stay you have to present your passport and tourist visa card and all details are logged in an official journal. These are checked nearly weekly by officials and if there are mistakes or omissions then heavy penalties are levied.

But these Casa Particulares are in essence a home stay and what a great way to meet local people, experience their lives, homes, way of lives and culture. We mainly stayed in Casas along the way round Cuba and had some great times and some not so great ones, although all of them were an experience. The first one was a colonial town house in Centro Habana, our next was a bright pink hut in the countryside of Viñales and another was what felt like someone's front room.

Whilst at the Casas we ate there and again this was food prepared in their kitchen and sitting at their dining room table. This was a continuation of the traditional Cuban dish. Rice, beans, salad and meat. To be fair though Kip had prawns or lobster more here than elsewhere and it was really good food.


As you can imagine there was a small language barrier and this was a great test of our pigeon Spanish, but as with any situation like that we managed to communicate and these were genuine Cuban people who were full of character and personality and it was lovely to be welcome into their homes and be their guest for a few days. Whatever language couldn't be understood it was overcome by a mass of hand signals, facial expressions and gestures.

Another thing to note is that every place is very clean and tidy, there is always that underlying feeling of national pride and wanting to present whatever they own as neat and tidy. This was also evident in the bigger towns such as Habana. The streets (even the dodger back alleys) were all litter free and the mamas wiping and moping down every step and surface every morning. They seem to have an obsession with moping over here; don't stand still otherwise you'll have your feet mopped.


The other thing about the Casas is that it is a great source of income for the locals. Now obviously the government will heavily tax and control how much they can actually earn, but to put it into context the economy here is not a typical setup.


When we had heard there was a 2-tier economy and that once you understand that you can appreciate Cuba, we were not 100% sure what people meant. There is literally 2 currencies here and therefore a natural divide between locals and non-locals (tourists). The local current is a Cuban Peso, the other is a Cuban Convertible (CUC). There is parity with the CUC and the US dollar ($1 = 1CUC) and there are approx 20-24 pesos to 1 CUC.


Ok so to put it into context a professional such as a lawyer or doctor earns 25 CUC a month, that's approximately 1 CUC a day (or a $1 a day). But the locals don't earn CUC, they earn Peso and pay for items that the buy in pesos. The majority of professionals have a second job as a waiter in a bar or restaurant as the 2 or 3 CUC tips that they might get per night are a massive boost to their pockets. So you can also see that running a Casa is a great way of earning money (albeit heavily taxed). The other thing you'll notice is that whilst the people are not starving and live a happy life, the luxuries such as shampoo, soaps etc are only in CUC and therefore those extra tips earnt along the way or gifts left by guests of the Casas go a long way.


There is also a side that we didn't get fully exposed to which is that people literally have ration books here for food. I am not sure what their entitlement is and if you get more if you have a Casa, but it is evidence again of the strict government control.


Overall our experiences of staying in Casas was fantastic and we meant some truly lovely people and families along the way. Yes there were the occasionally nutty ones or aces that had awful beds or really bad suicide showers (this was actually sparked with electricity as the water was flowing through it - sod that!!), but on the whole a great way to travel and experience the real Cuba.

Cuba and Habana

And so begins the final leg of our epic adventure. Cuba, the place of so many myths, restraints, uncertainties. We have heard a lot of things about this country and all of it unable to verify, mainly because of lack of knowledge from people and the internet. So what will we find? 
Our first stop is Havana (or Habana if you're local).

We had a series of 2 short and easy flights from Costa Rica up to El Salvador and then on to Habana. We arrived early afternoon and once at our Casa Particular accommodation (more about these later), we decided to get straight on it and hit the streets. The first thing that struck me about Habana was the sheer size of the urban sprawl. Yes it is a capital city and supposed to be big, but the place is really big. Also something that in had overlooked; the island of Cuba itself is big. Most probably the largest Caribbean island and also only 90 miles from the coast of Miami.

So out we headed, lonely planet in hand and our first afternoon to explore and get lost in this wonderful city. We were only 5 blocks away from the infamous Malécon (like most of central America the road systems are set up on even "blocks" of Avenues and Streets). The Malécon is a 4 lane road that hugs the coast, runs flat and follows the coast around Habana. It runs from Old Habana, past Centro Habana and onto Vadado Habana. The buildings lining the Malécon are in various states if disrepair (like much of the surroundings), but it is a wonderful setting and a great introductory walk in to the main part of town. 

Now apart from the buildings in was most looking forward to seeing the old cars. Having heard many stories about the USA embargo on Cuba since the late 50's, therefore restricting the country doing business and obtaining anything relatively new, the place was to be a time warp. Yes this is true in part and non-moreso obvious than the cars. The majority are old 50's Fords, Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillacs. Some in a very poor state of repair and only just chugging along however, there are also the cars that are the pride and joy of their owners and have been kept or restored into mint condition. Most with the obligatory sound system playing various shades of Cuban music. Everywhere you look there is a car going past, sitting in a side street or ferrying people round as a taxi. It was great to see and highlighted something that 
we would see more of in our time here. The fact that although these cars are old the Cuban people fix things and keep them going. This extended to most things and their resilience to just carry on and repair, bodge or fix anything to keep it working.
One of the funny things is that inspite of all these wonderful old cars, the next range of cars that are popular are....Ladas.....not as impressive, but resilient at least. 


So into Old Habana and the start of a few days of walking the streets, getting lost, turning down side streets, back alleys and main boulevards. Just exploring and getting under the skin of Habana.


Second to the cars in Habana is the buildings and architecture. Wow! Now i know that there would be some good buildings to see, but again the sheer size and number of them is staggering. Every street you turn has a row of ornate buildings and the next and the next.

The majority of the building styles are either in the colonial style of the early 1900's or art deco. Now there is more Art Deco in Habana than you could shake a stick at. Forget Napier in NZ or Miami, this place oozes it. Some truly fantastic sites and as you can imagine my camera took a severe battering whilst in Habana. It was wonderful to see the mass use of many architectural styles. But the thing that struck me the most, was that down the back alleys and side streets where people live, it is just a house or common place for them. They might be living in a colonial townhouse with 12 foot high doors sat in 24 foot ceilings (seriously), but to them it was all around them, the ornate balconies, friezes, facades; just there, with their washing line strung up against it. However with the mass of buildings also comes the disrepair and the lack of funds to maintain it.

Ok. Enough about the cars and architecture. We spent a good 2 and a half days just walking round Habana, enjoying the sights, sounds and of course Mojitos. Well it would be rude to come to a country that exports this much rum and not try a mojito! So we did set a little challenge to try as many mojitos as we could (all in the name of research you must understand!).

Whilst walking round Habana we also came across a random car park. Well when say car park I mean train park. In the true Cuban spirit of keeping old things and mending them, there was smack bang in the middle of town (and no where near any rail way lines) a graveyard of old trains. A weird site, but fun to walk round and take some photos. We also took in some of the other main sites in town including a tour of the Havana Club factory.

We also were not certain about what to expect about the food. We had heard it was bland....we weren't disappointed. The Cuban cooking is basic to say the least, but we were prepared. Most meals were the basics of rice, plain salad and plain meat. "seasoning" came in the form of salt or pepper. One funny moment stuck out early on and put us on good stead for the rest of our trip. When at a nice little place for dinner I ordered something from the menu and the guy came back and said there was not that on the menu tonight, along with x, y & z. Then he said with a smile "Welcome to Cuba man!" and that summed up most experiences and was recited to each other a lot. But we knew what to expect and from then on enjoyed each meal (well almost all).


So after walking our socks off and having the excitement of feeling like we had really arrived in Cuba, we were ready to explore the rest of this country. Our next few weeks would take us only half way across the country (as I say it is massive, I think even bigger than the state of Florida).

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

After finally deciding what we would do with our last week in central America, we took a long bus journey (yes another one) from Cahuita on the Caribbean coast, back to San Jose, then continued West to the Pacific Coast. All in all it wasn't a bad journey and we were very lucky with bus timings, which meant we only had a very short wait in each transit point.


Our final destination here in Costa Rica is a little coastal area called Manuel Antonio. This is about half way down the West coast of Costa Rica. We would be staying half way between the small town of Quepos and the even smaller beachfront place of Manuel Antonio. We arrived and soon found our hostel. Instantly we knew we would like it here. It was a lovely open hostel, friendly people and some amazing views. 

The view every evening from our hostel

The view from the communal area was fantastic and with the hostel being perched up high, there were amazing views down over the sea. The added bonus being that every evening at about 5pm, everyone gathered on the sofas and hammocks, beer in hand and watched another gorgeous sunset.



Unbeknown to us, we would actually spend the next week here, just chilling out and exploring the surroundings. As our hostel was situated halfway between Quepos and Manuel Antonio so we used the local buses, that shuttled between the 2. Perfect and for only 250 Colonés (about 25p) each way it was a bargain.


We checked out the local town of Quepos and we were there at the right time for the local farmer´s market. We took advatange and got lots of fresh fruit at bargain prices - nice!

Close by was a national park, which was reputed to have some great wildlife. We took a day trip there and enjoyed the sights and nature. It wasn't as good as our trip to Cahuita, but still great. As well as the forests and wildlife there were also some secluded beaches, so we made the most of it and spent the afternoon chilling out.


Each day after this was more and more relaxed. It was great and one of the first places where we have actually stopped and relaxed. Most of the time it has been a constant feeling of being on the go every day, being up very early to catch the first bus out of town, so to stay in one place was a novelty.

We spent a number of days on the local beach, about a 40 minute walk away, down steep roads/tracks. The beaches were great and the water warm and clear. We did have a try at some surfing and rented some boards for an hour. However we didn't envisage the waves being as big as they were. Kip definitely looked like she had been thrown into a washing machine and put on full spin. I on the other hand retired after only 10 minutes, the reason for this is that after a rather large wave, I surfaced to find my surf board had snapped clean in two!! That was it; with my record of breaking things, I wasn't going to chance any more. 


Whilst at our hostel we also met some great people and because we were in one place for more that a night, it was nice to have that familiarity and that social side we lacked in other places.Sadly though all good things come to and end and after a week of relaxing we had to leave our little piece of paradise. We set off and headed back to San Jose. We were heading back to a nice family hostel that we had stayed in before, so knew we would be well looked after.


And then that was that. We packed our bags for the last time in Central America, checked the passports and Cuban visas, booked our taxi for 03:30am and went to bed, reflecting on another amazing leg of our travel adventure. 7 weeks in Central America and now on to our final leg......Cuba! we have 2 flights to get to Cuba, but luckily they are both relatively short.


Now, i am not sure how good the Internet connection/availability will be from Cuba, but I will update you all when I am able to.


Until then, I'm off to enjoy some Mojitos, Cigars and Salsa !