Cuba Libre

La Habana (Centro), a city full of classic cars and vibrating night life @ Habana (Havana), Cuba

2008-07-13T22:22:19.000Z

After an expensive taxi ride we finally find ourselves a cosy casa particulare. It is somewhat funny at first when you imagine yourself sleeping and dining with local people, having your own little room and bathroom. Note that houses here are not particularly big. Also the people here are really bad with their english so we are kind of trying to learn the most basic spanish words.
We fell for our first scam when a friendly guy pretending to be a teacher showed us around and took us for a drink afterwards he managed to persuade us to buy him a very expensive diapers for his one year old baby. Only later one we realized that none of it was true right after we bumped into another one of his colleagues. We managed to get some of the money back though; they seem to be scared of the police here. The city is nice and the people are friendly though. All classic cars enthusiasts would enjoy this city.
We decided to skip the Varadero and Playa del Este but we will probably pay a visit to them on our way back, if we have any money left.

Cayo Jutias, an island with white sand beaches @ Cayo Jutías, Cuba

2008-07-16T16:52:48.000Z

Laying down and relaxing ourselves from our busy daily schedules. A couple of ferocious sand flies made it a little more interesting to us. Otherwise this was the best opportunity to catch some sun and dig into the summer reading.

Vinales, a town of rocking chairs @ Viñales, Cuba

2008-07-17T00:45:55.000Z

Getting out of the bus we found ourselves swallowed by piranhas, offering us a place to stay. We picked the one that knew english. Vinales is a village with more than 300 casa particulares with polished porches and rocking chairs where people enjoy their free time all the time. The presence of dogs, pigs and chickens is included in the price.
There is no way of sleeping in in the morning; if the roosters don't wake you up at 5am, the neighbour starting up his classic car definitely does.
We spent some time in the pool that is a part of La Ermita hotel complex at the top of the hill. The other day we rented bicycles so that we could explore nearby sights without the hassle of other tourists. The roundtrip included caves and a really large painting (Mural de la Prehistoria) amidst the rocks, which took 15 painters 5 years to complete.
Mama Jusi at the casa particulare spoiled us with some really delicious meals not to mention the juices after the dinner.

Trinidad, a Cuban historic colonial jewel @ Topes de Collantes, Cuba

2008-07-20T03:21:44.000Z

It has been really hot since we arrived to Cuba and arriving to Trinidad it was raining for the first time. The first casa particulare in colonial style we had to skip because the lady owner insisted that we should have dinner at her place. Since we wanted to try out some of the paladares and restaraunts in town, we had to settle down at some other place. The breakfast here is really juicy but the eggs prepared in all different kinds are slowly getting on our stomach - no imagination here. Fruit is always fresh and delicious though.
We took a horse ride amongst the plantations here and our ass still hurts from this new experience. The next trip was to the nearby mountains; Topes de Collantes.

Topes de Collantes, scenic mountains and waterfalls @ Topes de Collantes, Cuba

2008-07-21T16:33:11.000Z

A Russian army truck took us into the mountains. It was definitely a bumpy ride, our asses still not fully recovered from the 3 hours long horse ride the day before. The nature here is really stunning but the building apartment blocks at the top of the mountain really made us wonder whose marvelous idea it was to put them up here. The guide was really into fauna and flora and coffe making, but we could not share her enthusiasm completely, sweating all over again. Swimming under the waterfall was refreshing, however all the benefits of getting all cleaned up soon disappeared when we had to climb up the mountain again.

Valle de Los Ingenios and Playa la Boca @ La Boca, Cuba

2008-07-22T17:56:35.000Z

This was the day that we decided to burn some calories on the hot Cuban sun. First we rented two bicycles that turned out to be really lousy. Trip to Valle de Los Ingenios was definitely worth the view. Our second stop was at Playa (beach) la Boca. This turned out to be a small patch of sand crowded with locals. It was nice watching locals consuming large quantities of beer and rum and all the children playing on the shore.
On the way back we took a challenge in a bicycle race between Slovenians and the locals. Guess who won it? ;-)

Trinidad, a Cuban historic colonial jewel @ Trinidad, Cuba

2008-07-23T00:23:40.000Z

Playa Ancon @ Playa Ancón, Cuba

2008-07-23T19:03:24.000Z

This turned out to be yet another day spending around Trinidad, since we didn't manage to get the bus tickets to Santiago de Cuba a day earlier, where a carneval is on the way. We decided to relax on the nearby Playa Ancon which seems to be nicer than La Boca.
Since this was our last in Trinidad we decided to do some laundry on our own, right in the bathroom sink. Santiago, here we come. But first we have to survive 12 hours of freezing on the bus. Those guys really exagerate with the air conditioning.

Santiago de Cuba, a city of heroes, culture and revolutionaries @ Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

2008-07-24T06:27:14.000Z

As we arrived there, Santiago de Cuba was full of tourist eager to see the hottest carnaval in Cuba. A couple of young guys helped us to find a casa particulare. This turned out to be one of the guys mother´s bedroom while she was on a short vacation and we had to move on to the neighbour´s appartment the next morning.
To our surprise two Slovenian people stayed at the same casa the night before and they gave us a couple of good tips where to go and what to do.
The carneval was a real treat. There were countless groups of young performers and dancers, all willing to pose in front of the camera. At night the carneval transformed into a drinking, pig eating and salsa contest. Locals gave us a tip that streets after 9 PM can be dangerous to strangers, so this was our bed time.
The next day we took a self-organized taxi trip to the nearby El Moro castle with good views of the region and to the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, where there are more than 8000 tombs and graves of many great Cubans.
July 26th is the day of the national rebellion which celebrates the attack on the Moncada barracks. This was a good opportunity for us to hear the Cuba´s leader Raul Castro giving a speech to endless crowds of citizens armed with Cuban national flags.
They wouldn´t let us into the fortress though, where the celebration took part, so we had to play a role of an obeying tourist.

Pico Turquino, the highest mountain in Cuba (1972 m) @ Pico Turquino, Cuba

2008-07-27T06:54:49.000Z

Pico Turquino lies in the Sierra Maestra national park. We decided to spice up our trip with a two day hike up to the Pico Turquino. The path through the cloud forrest is well marked but you are still obliged to hire a tour guide. In our group there were also four Cubans going up there for their first time.
The hike itself was quite demanding, altogether 26 kilometres of going up and down a hill a number of times. We slept over in the shelter where Cuban guides take 15-day shifts. They made us a fantastic dinner and breakfast. There are many mind-blowing views on the way up, but the top itself is nothing spectacular with a statue of Jose Marti and some trees around.
The next stop will be a quiet city of Bayamo where we will try to rest our legs and do some laundry.

Bayamo, historic, charming and hassle free @ Bayamo, Cuba

2008-07-30T01:06:41.000Z

The first you notice about Bayamo is its artistically laid out Prada, which is the main street where you can take a strawl and is full of interesting shops and restaurants. For once in a life we wanted to book a hotel room, so that we could fully recover from the hike up the Pico Turquino, but it was already full. :-(
Here you get a feeling that no one seems to be working in the middle of the week - everyone just keeps hanging around, waiting in lines in front of the shops and others more engaged that play their game of chess and domino.
The choice of good restaurants here is very limited, but there are many cheap peso places, like pizza, hamburgers, even yoghurts and sweets.
The city seemed very lively at the time we were there, since they were preparing everything for their big carnaval. The carnaval will have to go on without us, since we are already trying hard to get our bus tickets to Baracoa. Here we must admit that we are a bit disappointed of the Cuban tourist bus network (Viazul) that doesn't put more lines to that destination - the buses are fully booked for week in advance, so that we might take a taxi with two other backpackers.

Baracoa, coastal town on Cuba's eastern tip @ Baracoa, Cuba

2008-07-31T07:25:48.000Z

Getting to Baracoa turned out to be not so easy - as well as getting out of there. Since the bus was already full and we didn't want to be stuck in Santiago for another week, we decided to share a taxi with another young couple from Great Britain. At least we had luck with finding a good and cheap casa particulare, offering great sea food.
The next day we have met a nice local guy offering us a cheap day trip to the nearby national park. The ride itself didn't seem to be legal but fortunately there were no cops by the road to stop us. There we stopped by a waterfall and had a short swim after which we stayed a few hours with the local farmers, showing us the process of making cacao. Our guide was really interested in showing us all the different plants and animals there, so we have decided to stay in contact, meeting later on in the night, to dance some salsa away and drink some of the sweet guayava rum.
The only problem with this guy was that he really wanted to solve all our problems, namely transport out of the town. He offered us a contact who he claimed to be a driver of a bus. Since he wanted all the money upfront, we decided to take a risk. The next day it turned out that there was no bus waiting for us, but fortunately we already had a backup plan. We still had enough time to go to the police and report this guy, Orlando Plomo, of stealing money from us. You wouldn't believe it how they sniffed him up within five minutes when we were looking for him like for 5 hours. At least to say we were a bit dissapointed after spending a great time in his company. So people, if you get to visit Baracoa, stay away from Orlando Plomo and other touts like him.

Playa Maguana, white sand beach and turquise water @ Arroyo Maguana, Cuba

2008-08-02T16:31:37.000Z

This turned out to be another hot day at the beach, relaxing in the shade. Any other day it would be probably really quiet and tranquil, but this was Saturday with Cubans all over the place, not to mention the pigs and dogs running around bushes on the beach.
Whenever we are on the beach, we have to take turns when taking a swim, since one of us has to take care of our belongings. We had lots of warnings of young little chicos (boys) looking for their big opportunity.

Rancho Luna, a picturesque beach resort @ Playa Rancho Luna, Cuba

2008-08-04T18:44:05.000Z

After spending almost 20 hours on the bus from Baracoa, we stoped in Rancho Luna, which lies in the Cienfuegos province. It was really something special here, since our casa was 10 meters from the beach. During the day, the beach was full of Cuban tourists and locals, but in the morning it was a real pleasure to take a swim before the breakfast.
The only real attraction worth seeing there is the Delfinario, where they have daily shows with dolphins and sea lions doing their act. We were fascinated by how the dolphins are very intelligent animals. We wonder if they would still be so obedient without all the raw fish they received as a reward. Swimming with the dolphins would probably be a wonderful experience, but not for the rip-off price of 50$.

Cienfuegos, a city full of beautiful colonnaded buildings by the sea @ Cienfuegos, Cuba

2008-08-05T18:58:24.000Z

Cienfuegos was shopping time since our time on Cuba was slowly ticking away. Among the most wanted items there were cigars, necklaces, bracelets, postcards and the oil painting of a Tobacquero. Included with the postcards were stamps that actually turned out to be a collector ones (years 2006 & 2007), sold at the same price as the current ones. But this we only discovered later on at the post office when we wanted to post them. We have decided not to pay the price for another set of 30 stamps, so you will have to forgive us for sending them out back from our country.
In Cienfuegos area we managed to pay a visit to Castillo the Jagua. You get there by a cheap local ferry, filled with locals - sauna all over again. The castle itself is not anything special but the view is nice. At the time it was used to keep the pirates and the British out.
The next day was reserved for a rather long stroll along the bay all the way to Punta Gorda (at the tip of peninsula). We stopped by in marina and a park full of interesting artistic sculptures.
For the first time our casa particulare was a full blown apartment on the upper floor. The owner was a former Russian swimming champion and he still teaches swimming here in Cienfuegos, not to mention his cooking abilities - the lobster and the soups he made were really delicious.
Moving on to the most touristic place on Cuba, the Varadero.

Varadero, tourist resorts bearing no resemblance to the real Cuba @ Varadero, Cuba

2008-08-08T13:10:26.000Z

For Varadero we had to make our hotel/appartment reservation upfront since in tourist resorts there are no casas particulares. Beaches here are definitely nice, 20 km of them, and there are no hustlers, only lots of tourists wandering around.
We also heard and read of the largest shopping center here in Varadero, but it turned out to be a bit of disappointment. The Adidas shop in the middle of nowhere was a real treat.
Since the peninsula is quite long we decided to take a Varadero Beach Tour (hop-on, hop-off) double-decker bus. The beach was a step away from the hotel and mosquitos as well (at night). The hotel offered some animation programmes but we decided to spend the nights in front of the television set, watching HBO all the time.

La Habana (Vedado & Vieja), a city full of classic cars and vibrating night life @ Habana (Havana), Cuba

2008-08-10T13:13:42.000Z

This was our last three days long stop in Cuba. First day we decided to check out the Habana Vieja, a Cuban historical masterpiece. More or less we were cruising among all the plazas and parques. The Havana Bus Tour we took the next day. They offer three different routes and we wanted to take all of them, but all these bus waiting simply ruined our enthusiasm - Hemingway marine was not destined for us.
Castillo Morro on the opposite side of the bay offers splendid views of the Habana from the top of the light-house.
We were staying in Vedado, which was once a notorious mafia run district and it is full of hotels and restaurants. People hang out by the Malecon a lot (a road running along the shore) and it is really lively here at night.
Again it turned out that eating at casas particulares is your best choice, but you shouldn't stick with the pollo (chicken) all the time - langosta (lobster) tastes much better.
It was our last night in Cuba so we took a Cuban cabaret show (Parisien) in the nearby hotel Nacional. The show was really spectacular with all the feathers and fun and we were sitting at the tables in the front.
Adventure began and ends here in Habana and we are heading back to Slovenia in style - a climatized Peugeot 307 taxi to the airport, the best car here so far.

La Habana, Cabaret Parisien @ Habana (Havana), Cuba

2008-08-13T03:31:57.000Z