Express visit to Cuba

We spent the first week of April in Cuba with Dave and Jane (my parents) and have only just had time to begin to scratch the surface and understand this intriguing country a little.

Obviously, posting about Cuba means writing about the Revolution and Socialism. While we don’t want to bore you or go into this in too much detail, it was one of the most interesting parts of the visit, so here is a summary of what we came to learn from the Museo de la Revolución and talking to locals. George, this takes me back to year 11 Modern History – any chance you still have our assignment??

In a nutshell, the revolutionary movement led by Fidel and supported by names such as Ché Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, the farmers and the working class Cubans ended the dictatorship of Batista. The introduction of socialism brought significant improvements in health (highest doctor to population ratio in the world – although they only get paid ~$20/month), education (now 97% literacy) and provided housing and full employment.

However, external influences made things very difficult, eg. continuous controversies with the US (missile crisis, embargo) and the loss of Soviet subsidies with the USSR collapse in ’91 (their main commercial partner). Internally, people are quite pissed off due to the limitation of freedoms. Examples of topical issues from a few locals we spoke to include shortage of goods, media control (they only hear the bad news about capitalism), only 5% of Cubans have access to internet, travel restrictions, etc.

Fidel resigned as leader in 2008 due to illness and without any democratic process, passed the power to his brother Raúl. This created a lot of bad sentiment so to apease the population, Raúl has begun to loosen certain restrictions and has also promised to leave power by 2018 (you would hope so since he is already 86!). We will definitely be following what happens next, it will be really interesting to see!

Now with the history lesson over, we split our week in Cuba between Havana, Trinidad and Viñales:

We focused our visit to La Havana on the old town, where historical sites, pirate-proof fortresses and beautifully restored plazas combine with dusty, hectic streets and buildings in ruins. Checking off the must-do’s, we had mojitos in La Bodeguita del Medio, marveled at the old american cars (most of them now running with hyundai or toyota diesel engines) and walked the Malecón, where waves were crashing well into the road. Teresa! To make up for the Ron Brugal in the Dominican Republic, we also went to the Edificio Bacardi, an icon of art-deco in the city!

We also witnessed the scarcity of goods and the emptiness of the shelves in the grocery stores, when it took us more than 30 minutes to find a shop selling bottled water.

From La Havana we travelled 5hrs south-east to Trinidad, a Unesco heritage listed colonial town where the streets have two names. One of the name belongs to the original colonial time and the second is the current name.

Trinidad is frozen in the 1800s, with its cobblestone streets and many people still moving around riding or trading goods from carts pulled by horses. The houses are colourful and the people sit around at their frontsteps and chat for hours until breathtaking sunsets signal dinner time.

Again, it really struck us the contrast between the old town (touristy area) and the poverty only 5mins walk from it. Once a little out of the old town, we were regularly asked for pens, soap and shampoo.

The midday heat in Cuba was best not spent roaming the streets, so an afternoon at the local beach was in order. Playa Ancón lies 12km south of Trinidad and is alledgedly the best beach on the southern coast of Cuba. We had a relaxing afternoon there to recharge the batteries. We heard the north coast beaches are prettier, but they’ll have to wait for the next visit.

Last but not least we went to Viñales, on the west side of the country, famous for being the best tobacco producer in the world.

After the masses in La Havana and Trinidad, we fell in love with Viñales. While still touristy, thanks to its stunning valleys, tobacco farms and mogotes (limestone rock formations), we were captivated by its people, who are very relaxed, open for a chat and friendly.

We experienced the local charm first hand staying at a casa particular, run by Juanito and Tita. They have called their home Villa Mojito for a reason.. Juanito prepares one of the best (and cheapest) mojitos that we had on the island and Tita and her daughter prepared Camarones de agua dulce (a type of fresh water scampi), the local delicacy – way better than lobster in our opinion!

Apart from drinking and playing domino with Juanito we also had the opportunity to go for beautiful hikes, a horse ride and visit caves and a tobacco farm.

To give you an idea, the state owns most of the land, but gave it to the farmers on the condition that they work it. Tobacco farmers are then obliged to sell 90% of their production to the state at a set price with the remainder used for sale, consumption, bartering or selling it to tourists as they like. Also, the farmers still use the four legged variety of tractors which they handled with amazing skill.

Cuba has everything, bustling cities, picturesque countryside, charming towns, pretty beaches, very friendly, open and proud people – it definitely requires more exploring and is going to be hard to beat! Próxima parada: México!