Cuba - Part One

Havana

So things didn't really start out that well... Got to Cancún airport only to discover that my flight left nearly two hours earlier than I thought so I ended up running through the airport and couldn't even check my bag in so had to carry it on as hand luggage - and even though my pen knife and all my other dangerous things were in my big rucksack when it got scanned it went through with no problems... Interesting! Then just to top it off I sat on the plane trying to sort out my money and found that some of my money had disappeared! I have no idea what happened to it, I presume it must have been stolen, but there was nothing I could do about it whilst sitting on the plane, going to a different country (except have a minor breakdown of course!)! I had my visa card on me so all was not lost, although had read things about ATMs eating cards or just not accepting them or getting charged with a huge commission every time you use it... So was stressing slightly about the whole situation, as I would, but figured I would be able to work something out so tried not to worry too much!

Got to Havana airport, went through immigration with no problems, changed some money, tried the ATM but it wouldn't give me any money, got a taxi and found my way to the casa particular where I was staying in Havana. So far so good! The lady I was staying with seemed really nice and I had a bedroom, living area, kitchen and bathroom all to myself which was a bonus! When I asked her about the currencies though she said I only needed CUCs as wouldn't be able to spend the cubanos. Not what I had read but figured she knew the place better than me so who was I to question her?!

Decided to go for a wander so stepped outside and headed for the Malecón, which is the road by the side of the sea. Found the really expensive hotels (I was apparently staying in a bit of a posh area!) and even managed to buy a bottle of water with my newly acquired CUCs and didn't get ripped off!! Wasn't quite sure what currency the prices were in shops but found out they were in CUCs which was lucky for me!

As I walked around people kept stopping and talking to me - having a watch meant people had a great opener of asking the time and then going from there. But they were all nice enough and didn't seem to want anything, although to start with I was on my guard a bit. I ended up meeting these two women who wanted to show me this place which I have no idea really what it was! Something to do with the Buena Vista Social Club film or the Strawberry and Chocolate film, I'm not sure! So they took me to this street, tried to get me to buy a drink which I declined, asked for money for milk for their child (although didn't really seem that bothered when I said no!) and then walked off! Really bizarre! But at least when lots of other people wanted to show me the same place the next day I could say I had already been there!! I met another person who wanted to buy me a beer and even showed me his money to prove that he had some, but why would this guy want to have a drink with a complete stranger?! He also offered me cheap accommodation but I decided to stay where I was, and lied about having to get back to my casa for dinner to get away from him!!

So my first day wasn't too bad all in all, although I felt a bit isolated in this big place by myself with no other travellers around. So I devised a plan - to see as much of Havana the next day and then head off somewhere smaller!

Got up reasonably early as had a full days sightseeing ahead of me, but found out how laid back Cuba is! Breakfast was great but quite a slow affair, this woman who I think lived next door gave me my breakfast in the courtyard and just kept bringing plates of food out which was great, meant I wouldn't have to buy lunch! Then off I went! Walked down the Malecón again towards Central Havana and the Old Town. Spent the day walking around all the plazas, historic buildings, cathedrals and churches, and all the other touristy areas, just to get a feel for the place. One thing I noticed was the big divide between rich and poor - there were so many amazing buildings, but then right next to them, or in the next street there were really derelict buildings that looked like there were of no use to anyone. A lot of people live in Old Town though and so a lot of the back streets were full of apartment blocks which looked like they had been there for quite a few years... Just glad I wasn't staying in one of them!

As I was crossing the road this guy started talking and walking with me and I ended up telling him I was going to Santa Clara the next day in the hope that he would leave me alone and not try and sell me anything. But I was wrong! He started taking me somewhere where I could buy a ticket but I didn't really get what was going on as we weren't going to the place that I needed to go to. I tried to walk off but then he caught up with me and deposited me in this cafe with a woman who I could get a ticket from. I decided this was all very dodgy and wasn't going to part with any cash, and every time I asked a question she wouldn't answer it. But it turned out that I didn't have the right currency so she said I needed to go to a bank and she would wait there. I left quite quickly and decided not to go back!! Instead I went into a legitimate travel agent to sort out the ticket. The woman who was serving me asked if I had anywhere to stay there and when I said no she said her mother's best friend lived there and they could meet me from the bus station and take me to the house. I had no other options so figured that was OK!

I was surprised about how safe I felt walking round the town. I had my visa card and passport with me so I could get some money out and was slightly paranoid walking around with this and then a huge amount of money I managed to draw out (so financial crisis over!) but I had no problem at all which was great!

On my way back from my day of sightseeing I saw two girls waving at me from across the street (in a bar of course!) and it was Vivi and Tracy! I was so happy to see them! Even though I had had a nice day by myself and everything was fine, I had only spoken to Cubans all day and so I had verbal diarrhea for the first hour!! They had been here a few days longer and so updated me on all the vital info that I needed to know (i.e. it's quite hard to get food sometimes so be prepared to be hungry for the next few weeks, and get some cubanos so at least then you can live off pizza! - all the vital stuff!). So I had my first of many Cristals (the Cuban beer!) and caught up on all the goss! We made plans to meet in Trinidad in a couple of days so was looking forward to having some travel buddies for a few weeks!

Santa Clara

So I got to the bus station nice and early, got my ticket to Santa Clara, caught the bus on time and a few hours later there I was! Viv and Tracy had told me how you always get mobbed when getting off the bus with people trying to offer you casas so I was slightly disappointed when there was no one there, not even the person who was supposed to meet me! But 5 minutes later this really old guy turns up looking for me and I pretended I wasn't me as I thought there was no way I was going to stay at his house! But eventually I had to own up to being me and so we went off in a taxi and he took me to someone else's house, who was really lovely and welcoming. Obviously they offered me dinner and breakfast and as I was by myself I thought I would treat myself!

Went for a walk round the town and even plucked up the courage to try and change some CUCs for cubanos and I managed it! This small achievement made me feel like I could conquer the world and I then used them to buy some bread, which they let me pay for in pesos with no questions! Excellent!

Walked up to the Che Guevara monument (through a dodgy part of town so kept my head down and walked quickly!) - there is a huge statue in his honour, a museum with loads of memorabilia and then a memorial room that has lots of faces of people I didn't know on the wall and then a flame at one end. I think his ashes were brought back to this town so they might have been there aswell.

Dinner at the casa was excellent - soup, salad, chicken, vegetables and pudding! I was so full by the end of it! I was going to go for a walk to walk it down but I looked out from my roof terrace and the street was in darkness so didn't like to risk it. Settled for an evening of reading my book on the terrace and people watching instead!

Trinidad

The guy in the casa knew someone who could give me a lift to the bus station (in Cuba everyone knows someone that can do whatever you want or can get you whatever you need! 'No problema' are words you hear quite a lot!!), and got on the bus to Trinidad. This time the bus was mobbed by people who had rooms for rent but fortunately Tracy and Vivi were waiting for me and took me to their house. The guy had no room for me but he made a few calls and eventually came up with a room at his wife's sister's house! Her and her husband were lovely people and made me feel really welcome. They did the usual trick of offering me breakfast and dinner as soon as I walked through the door but now I had the excuse of wanting to eat with my friends! They were quite insistent though which rang alarm bells a bit, especially when they gave me my bill and I realised they charged me more than what I was expecting for my room (I stupidly didn't think to ask the price at the time as was quite overwhelmed by everything!). So I can't work out if they were genuine people or just really good scammers!! It's so horrible to be so distrusting of everyone but if you're not you just end up spending so much money when you really don't need to.

I got to Trinidad on Good Friday and in the evening there was a huge procession from the church round all the streets which was really interesting to watch. It seemed to be one of the few things that brought tourists and locals together to watch it which was really nice. It went on for ages though and had a band playing and stuff so it was good to see.

Decided to be proper tourists for the day and after paying an extortionate amount of money we got on this old steam train that took us through the Valle de los Ingenios. It was quite interesting - stopped off in a tiny village and climbed up the Manacas Iznaga tower where we got really good views of the surrounding area - lots of lush green countryside which was nice to see. Then stopped at a ranch so basically they could fleece you for some more money as it was the only place in the middle of nowhere to eat! So we went hungry instead!!! On the train on the way back one kid kept hassling us for Viv's socks! I think he might have even been willing to give her some money for them. The night before I got to Trinidad Viv and Tracy got hassled by some girls aswell who wanted soap as they couldn't get any. So it seems that some people do have the money to buy stuff but it's just not available. But then I have seen soap in some of the shops so maybe it's just too expensive or they're just trying it on...!

In the afternoon, once we had got back to Trinidad we walked up to Cerro de la Viría - another lookout past the ruins of an old church and climbed on top of a roof of some building where we got a view of all of Trinidad and the mountains surrounding it which was great. We met some other tourists up there who were on the train in the morning so spent ages swapping stories about lack of food, accommodation and good places to go! It's always refreshing to meet other people who are experiencing all the same problems!!!

The next day we hired bikes and cycled to Playa Ancón which was about 12km away from Trinidad. It was mostly flat so a reasonably easy ride, apart from the fact the bikes were crap and mine kept making a really horrible noise that made me think it was going to fall apart at any moment! The beach was lovely - white sand and clear blue water, although there was some coral on the bottom which hurt like hell when you trod on it, so it was a bit precarious!! But anyway, it was a great way to spend Easter Sunday!! We rode back, stopping off at a beachside bar on the way for an ice cold Cristal which went down very well!!

So far in Trinidad we had one night of peso pizza and rice and beans (the plates are so cheap that it's normal to order a few at a time!) at a local restaurant, where the waitress wasn't overly friendly but Vivi has a great way of making people smile her and like her so in the end she accepted the fact that we were there!, then one night where we splashed out and had a casa dinner at Tracy and Vivi's casa as we were so hungry! The last night we decided to go back to the peso place we went to before. The menu advertised spaghetti, rice and beans and pizza so we thought if we ate all of it then we might actually be full! However, the waitress wasn't going to cooperate! First she said there was no spaghetti or rice so the only option was pizza. But when we asked for another pizza (they were quite small and didn't really touch the sides!) there weren't any left. However, all the other people in the restaurant were eating platefuls of spaghetti and pizza so clearly there was more! Then she tried to charge us in CUCs, so when we knew the pizza cost 3 pesos and a beer was 10, we got a bit of a surprise when she wrote CUC at the top of the bill and tried to charge us 12CUCs (i.e. 288 pesos)!! Good job my Spanish was good enough to say 'we were here the other day and we paid in pesos', and she stomped off, came back with a different bill and took our money (30 cubanos i.e. 1.25CUCs ish!). We couldn't believe this had actually happened but there it was!! We were still starving though so ended up eating a very dodgy burger (the taste didn't resemble a burger but I tried not to think about how my stomach was going to react to it!) in a CUC cafe which was a complete rip off but needs must! Fortunately we were leaving the next day so we were hoping the next town might have some food to offer...!!!