A few minutes after I posted my last post, I went to board my plane. Since it was going to Cuba, they had an extra checkpoint with soldiers and a dog checking for drugs and stuff. Suddenly the dog starts sniffing my backpack. I started thinking that someone might have slipped something in my bag, and obviously got quite nervous. It didnt help that the gun wasn't pointing at the floor anymore, but at me. The dog didn't mark (luckily), but the guards nevertheless wanted to check my bag. In the end it turned out that the dog was simply hungry, and wanted my half-eaten chicken sandwich. Unprofessional son of a bitch. (pun intended) Thus, slightly shaken, I boarded the plane.#thatmomentwhenyoufindyourselflookingdownthebarrelofagunafterthenarkotics-dogtakesaninterestinyourbackpack.
When we got to Cuba, the first thing that met us was yet another security controll. I guess they REALLY dont want you to smuggle anything into Cuba... The customs and immigrations was ok, but they didn't quite like my American visa (from my time in NY). Nevertheless, I got through it without problems.
After retrieving my baggage, I got in touch with a couple of other travellers, and since I really didnt have anywhere to go, I followed them to their casa. In Cuba you don't have hostels -you either live in hotels (which costs a lot), or you live in Casa Particulares, private houses who rents out rooms to tourists. Me and Roy, one of my friends from the airport, ended up at the house of a sweet old lady, Rakel. Even though it was a bit odd at first, I must admit that I liked that more than fancy hotels.
The first three or four days were spent sightseeing in Havanna. We visited Museum de la Revolucion, Plaza de Revolucion, and all other places which had something to do with the revolucion, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara or Jose Marti. Which is more or less everywhere, because these guys are REALLY popular in Cuba. Now, Im not going to start on any political stuff, but it was quite interesting to visit the museum. We learned how (and I quote) "the brave freedomfighters sacrificed themselves in the battle against the despot Batista and his terrible henchmen", and how "the "imperialistic Yankees" did everything in their power to stop them"...."But then the heroic revolutionaries managed to overthrow the dictatorship and brought a new era to Cuba, one of enlightenment, freedom and prosperity - free of capitalist influence". You get the drill.
During these days I spent most of the time with Roy and a few other people, and so we all decided to go to Trinidad together. We were four in total, Bruno from Brasil, Yuko from Japan, Roy from Israel and me. Quite an international group. After a round of bargaining, we got in a taxi, but five minutes later, the guy were like "umm, I actually don't have a license to take people to Trinidad, so if we get pulled over, you are not paying me. Im only a friend doing you a favor". Quite.
Everything is very regulated in Cuba. Cubans can't live in the same Casa Particulares as tourists, you need licenses for everything, and the casas have to report which persons are staying with them at all times. In adittion there are two currencies in Cuba. A tourist currency, Pesos Convertibles (CUC) and Pesos Nacionales (MND). One CUC is approx. one US dollar, and one CUC is 24Mnd. Both currencies are used by everybody, but there are some restrictions. For example, its illegal to charge for lodging in MND. And since both currencies are called pesos, you have to allways make sure whether you are talking about CUC or MND. If not you can end up paying 15 dollars instead of 0.40 for a tortilla. There's also the story about the ignorant tourist who wanted a pinapple. The price was 25, so he gave the guy 25CUCs, saying "damn, Cuba is expensive". Of course, the vendor did not correct him, he just got a weeks salary for an already over-priced pineapple.
Anyways, in Trinidad, we mostly spent the days at the beach. And what a beach! Pure, white sand as far as the eye could see, blue water and palms. The palms also had coconuts, so Bruno and Roy went hunting for these. A short while later, we were drinking fresh coconut water mixed with rum and ice. In adittion I had brought the biggest cigar I could find. Life was quite good.
As all the members of our little group were from different parts of the world, we were all eager to learn about eachothers culture. As a result, on friday night, we had a traditional sabbatical dinner led by Roy. (video will come later-hopefully). On saturday, the people we stayed with had a family party, and we were of course invited. The evening was spent dancing, playing domino (which was surprisingly fun, especially when we beat the cheating kid) and chatting. It was very, very nice, and I appreciate that the family invited us.
The day after we went back to Havanna, but then Bruno had to leave for Jamaica. The day after, Yuko left as well, and there were only Roy and me left. Thus, we decided to go to Vinjales. We got there in a slightly foul mood. There were a shitload of rain, and our taxi driver had cheated us quite badly (we paid half the price when we went back to Havanna). Cuban taxi drivers in general are not the nicest people... Anyways, the highlight of Vinjales was a trip on horseback. For the first time in my life I rode for more than five minutes. I was a bit nervous, but the horse was very nice, and I survived the four hour trip - although my thighs hurt pretty bad. The trip itself was awesome. We rode in what's known as "the valley of silence", and it was quite beautiful. We visited a tobacco plantation and learned about the whole tobacco-process, saw a big cave and went to a lookout-point. All in all, very nice. And speaking of tobacco, quite a few cigars were consumed during my time at Cuba, but since the part of the leaves containing nicotine is removed when you're making cigars, you wont see mee walking around town with a cigarette anytime soon. Mom, you can relax.
The next day, we went back to Havanna were we were once again greeted by Rakels open arms. But this was my last night, and the day after (today), I had to go back to Mexico. Now, Cancun is not the worst place to go back to, but it sucked that I had to leave. I spent ten days in Cuba, but I could easily have spent a couple of months there. There were so much to see, so many friendly people (locals and tourists alike), good food and drink (the drinks especially). The cars were amazing as well, they do actually have old, american cars. They are in various conditions though, the one we had to Vinjales had a leaky roof, so when we got there, there was a small puddle at the bottom of the car, and my bag was wet due to the broken window.---
Now, this has been my longest post ever, but there is still so much I could write about what we saw and did, the people we met and cuba in general. But that will have to wait. Knowing myself, I will probably tell you everything both two and three times when I get back anyways. I also have a shitload of pictures, and since I for the first time in months actually have a good connection, I'll upload a bunch
Lastly, thanks to Roy, Yuko and Bruno for making Cuba awesome! #powerofthegroup
Peace and love!
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