BILL'S AND JJ'S  EXCELLENT ADVENTURES

 WITH THE SAN DIEGO WALKABOUTS IN

CUBA

FEBRUARY 21 - MARCH 7, 2016

(CLICK THE THUMBNAIL PHOTOS FOR A LARGER IMAGE)

Change is coming!  A refrain we heard many times from our new Cuban friends as they anticipate (with some anxiety) the changes in their society brought about by recent thawing of relationships with the US and with the Castro brothers opening the door (slightly) to capitalism.  We can only hope that these changes will all be positive for these friendly people and their lovely country

OK, let's start at the beginning:  Our trip was organized by our group's travel experts, Don and Kathy, who did their usual great job of putting the trip together.  They discovered a no frills travel agency, Locally Sourced Cuba, with headquarters in New Zealand but with local Cubans to coordinate and manage.  We chose their 15 day Majestic Cuba tour for our group of twelve.  Locally Sourced also organizes individual specialty tours if requested.

Here is a some general information about our trip for readers who do not want to read the trip's details which follow:

The tour included lodging and breakfast for the full 15 nights, ground transportation, an English speaking guide for the complete trip, local English speaking guides at various venues and at least one walking or sightseeing trip at each location. The tour also included the air flight from Baracoa back to Havana.

Our lodging was at "casas particulares" (bed and breakfast) at privately owned homes and we always had private rooms and baths with hot showers and typically our group would have rooms in 3 nearby casas.

The tour DID NOT include lunches, dinners, drinks, tips and other tour options so we needed currency for these items.

Cuba has two currencies- Cuban Convertibles for foreigners and Cuban pesos for the citizens. The Cuban Convertibles are called CUCs and are pegged at $1CUC=$1USA.  We did not need any pesos whose value is about $1US=24 pesos.

We exchanged currencies when we arrived at Havana and most of us brought euros since $US are not always accepted and there is an additional 10% charge against $US.  For example, my 835 euros bought 883 CUCs.

We all flew AeroMexico from Tijuana to Mexico City and then on to Havana. The round trip flights were uneventful and on schedule.  We bought required Cuban visas at the AeroMexico service center in Mexico City. I paid $640MX pesos for two visas and I think the service center was only accepting Mexican pesos or credit cards.

Credit or debit cards from US banks are useless in Cuba!  Hence, we definitely needed cash.

We had no problems with customs officials in Mexico, Cuba or the USA.  Well, the USA customs lady was puzzled about my purchase of a few Cuban cigars but after consideration decided it was OK.  The US customs at the Tijuana border crossing did not object to our having gone to Cuba.

The meals and drinks are moderately priced with bottles of water or beer in the range of 1.5 to 3 CUCs and dinners from 8 to 20 CUCs depending on appetites.

Private ownership of business is very restricted in Cuba. All hotels are state owned, the casas are private, most taxis are private and the best restaurants are private although the state also owns many restaurants.

The island of Cuba is about 800 miles long and roughly 100 miles wide at places.  Havana is near the western end and we traveled  500 miles east from there to the city of Baracoa near the eastern tip of the island.  Our travels were mostly along the southern (Caribbean Sea) side of the island and the terrain was semi-arid with a mixture of tropical and cactus-like plant life. At Baracoa the land was mountainous with tropical rain forest.

Cuba is not known for its culinary treasures.  The food was rather bland and even pepper was a rare spice at restaurants.

Although the country is not wealthy we experienced very few occasions where people seemed to beg for money.  Also, the country is generally safe for tourists and we were comfortable walking in the cities at night.

We found the Cuban people to be very friendly and welcoming to their  new American guests despite our not so friendly recent histories.

Feb 21, 2016 SUNDAY  San Diego to Havana

Flying from Tijuana is very convenient for San Diegans especially using the brand new Cross Border Expressway which is an airport terminal on the USA side of the border.  There is a short walk with luggage into the Tijuana terminal and the walk requires a $12 one way ticket along with airline boarding pass.

We arrived in Havana at about 10pm local time (Cuba time is the same as Eastern US time), our drivers were waiting and after a currency exchange we were off to our first casa (Casa Malecon). In Havana we all stayed on two floors of the same large building and experienced a soon familiar process of dealing with limited or no English speaking hosts, deciding who gets which room and collecting passport information.

Feb 22, 2016 MONDAY  Havana

In the morning we had our first daylight look at Havana via the commanding views from our casa.  We looked down upon the famous Havana Malecón and the distant fortresses.

The breakfast, which was the same in all the casas, consisted of fresh fruits (papayas, pineapples, etc), fresh juice, bread, butter, coffee (strong), cheese, ham slices and eggs.

At 10am we met our guide, Dayana, who would be with us for the next 14 days and we were off for a quick walking tour of the local area.  Our main goal for the morning was to go and purchase the mandatory Cuban health insurance which costs $40CUC for JJ and me.

Upon completion of insurance purchases Dayana ordered 3 classic car taxis to carry most of us off to the fortresses for sightseeing on our own. We did our own walking tours of the "Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña" and the nearby "Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro".  These ancient fortification once protected the Havana harbor from invaders and pirates.

We had our only bad experience with the locals when we were ready to return to our casa.  The three taxi drivers understood we would pay them to wait for us and then drive us back.  However, the wait was longer than "planned" and they demanded we pay them an additional $40CUC each for their time.  After much heated debate and threats to call the police we finally paid them off and they drove us back.  Actually, the driver I was with seemed somewhat embarrassed by the events but the ringleader was very hostile to Americans and said he didn't like us and we certainly did not like him either. Anyway, lesson learned was do not let taxis wait for you.

February 23, 2016 TUESDAY Bay of Pigs and Cienfuegos

By 9am we departed the casa and were on our way to today's destinations- the Bay of Pigs and then on to the city of Cienfuegos, Dayana's home town.  We met our bus driver, Asiel, who was to be our companion and excellent driver for the next 500 miles as we headed to the eastern tip of the island.  The buses in Cuba are state-owned and travel agencies apparently contract Transtur for their use.  The drivers receive a very modest monthly salary (about $15US per month!) so tips from tourist for the driver are welcome indeed.

Initially, we drove along the very modern "autopista nacional" divided highway.  There was very little traffic and I think the number of horse drawn wagons likely exceeded the automobiles.

We turned south near the town of Australia and traveled a two lane road to visit the Bay of Pigs (scene of the infamous unsuccessful invasion by CIA supported Cuban exiles) and for some of us to take a brief swim in the Bay and a nearby freshwater pool. After a lunch stop at the town of Playa Girón we continued east reaching Ciefuegos around 4pm.

Dayana said that Cienfuegos is Cuba's cleanest city and, indeed, our casa neighborhood was very nice.  The city's industries include an oil refinery, fishing, agriculture and tourism.  There are a number of pre-revolution mansions in very good shape including the beautiful Palacio del Valle which enjoyed the distinction of being the venue for our celebration of Don and Kathy's wedding anniversary!

The symbol in the photos below is displayed at all the casa particulares.  A blue color means the casa is for foreign tourists and red is for Cuban citizens.

FEBRUARY 24, 2016 WEDNESDAY Trinidad de Cuba

We departed Cienfuegos and headed for Trinidad via the town of Santa Clara traveling a two lane road with lots of sugar cane. Along the way Dayana gave us an informational talk about some aspects of Cuban society.  Under their socialist system all citizens are entitled to public education from kindergarten to graduate school, there is universal health care, there are no taxes, there are no homeless people, families receive a basic monthly food ration for very inexpensive nutrition (not enough to last all month), some affordable housing is available but salaries are very low by our standards.  For instance, a medical doctor may have a salary of $40 per month.

Cuba is well known for its good medical schools and those low salaried doctors frequently go on "missions" to other countries for several years and are entitled to large payment upon their return to Cuba.

At 11am we arrived at the Ernesto "Che" Guevara memorial in Santa Clara. Che is, of course, recognized worldwide as a symbol of socialist revolution and he is really venerated in Cuba.  He was killed in Bolivia in 1967 but his remains were not "discovered" until 1996 and he and some of his companions were repatriated to Cuba and interred at the memorial.  We waited in line for a chance to walk quietly through the dark mausoleum where no photos, bags or hats are allowed.  Dayana asked us to claim we are Canadians if asked since officials at this site may be a bit hostile towards Americans. However, no one asked us.

Finally, by 4pm we were settled in our casas and off for walking tour of Trinidad de Cuba. This large city is surrounded by mountains with lots of greenery. 

FEBRUARY 25, 2016 THURSDAY  Trinidad de Cuba

After breakfast on the rooftop patio of a casa we were off via bus for a hike in the nearby Escambray mountains to a waterfall, Salto del Caburni.  Along the way we had the rare privilege of spotting the Cuban national bird, Cuba Tragon, and after a brief swim we headed back to the bus.

We finished up the day with a salsa dance lesson on a nearby rooftop patio.  Our lack of skill for the salsa was compensated by a demonstration of how it is really done by our instructors. 

FEBRUARY 26, 2016 FRIDAY  Trinidad de Cuba

On our second full day in Trinidad we went to visit the nearby "sugar mills" with demonstrations of how life was during the days of slavery and brutal work in the sugar cane fields and factories. There were some of the cauldrons in which the juices from canes were cooked, tall towers from which owners could keep an eye on slaves and lots of little shops with stuff for tourist to buy.  Speaking of tourists, we saw lots and lots of them so Cuba's tourist industry is really booming and likely to soon get even bigger with more Americans arriving.

FEBRUARY 27, 2016 SATURDAY  Camagüey

At 9am we departed Trinidad for our next destination, Camaguey, which is Cuba's 3rd largest city and is known for its cathedrals, culture (ballet), many plazas and true colonial looks. At 4pm we were checked into our casas and off for a bicitaxi tour of the colonial areas.  Our local guide said he was once an English teacher but makes more money as a guide.  We learned that many Cuban professionals prefer the tourist industry in order to better support their families.

FEBRUARY 28, 2016  SUNDAY Camagüey

In the morning I had flash backs to my 1963 visits to Puerto Rico with the familiar sound of horses hooves on the pavement and the voices of vendors calling out to sell their bread or produce to the local inhabitants.

The big treat for today was to visit the hacienda of Romay Chuit who is the  overall Cuban manager for Locally Sourced.  Romay and his neighbors were roasting a pig for us and had lots of beer, rum drinks and music.  Romay's family once owned a very large ranch here but after the revolution the new government took over.  Ranch owners were allowed to keep 20 hectares as private property.

After the big party 6 of us had a home cooked dinner at our casa prepared by the lady of the house, Gretel.  It was great even though we had all literally just "pigged out" at the hacienda.

FEBRUARY 29, 2016 MONDAY Santiago de Cuba

We said adios to our hosts, Adelberto, Gretel and family, paid them $29CUC for two dinners, two cheese sandwiches, 2 beers, 2 waters and one cola. We were off by 8:30am for Santiago de Cuba arriving at 3pm after a long travel day along 2 lane, narrow roads and a stop for toilet and to hand out gifts to some kids.

Santiago is surrounded by the Sierra Maestra mountains and by the sea and is noticeably poorer than other regions we had seen so far.  Here JJ and I were disappointed by the quality of our casa and especially with the wiring for our shower's electric water heater.  We did a short walking tour with Orlando which finished just as the rain started to pour.

MARCH 1, 2016  TUESDAY  Santiago de Cuba

Dayana told us that the road to Gran Piedra is closed so we cancelled a planned hiking expedition and focused on the Cuban history.  At 9:30am we watched the changing of the guard at the mausoleum of Jose Martí, Cuba's national hero.  We then had a guided tour of the Cementario Santa Ifigenia which is the final resting place of some of Cuba's greatest and is believed that it will one day be the final home for Fidel Castro.

From the cemetery we headed to an historic spot of great interest to us but not of much interest to the Cubans.  This was the famous San Juan Hill and the spot of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders and his ticket to the White House. We learned that our "Spanish-American War" is really the "Cuban-American-Spanish War" because the Cubans had been fighting the Spanish off and on for 50 years before the USA decided it was time to join the fight and grab a few colonies from the Spanish. The Cubans felt they had simply traded one colonial master (Spain) for another (USA).

After San Juan Hill we went to another fort, Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca del Morro, which defended the narrow mouth to Santiago Bay.

MARCH 2, 3 and 4, 2016 WED, THURS, FRIDAY Baracoa

We departed Santiago for our eastern most destination, Baracoa, which is in the Guantanamo Province and on the Atlantic side of the island. We had two full days and three nights in this small town which is surrounded by tropical mountains and receives about 10 feet of rain per year.

We stopped along the way at the head of Guantanamo Bay for a distant view of the US Naval Base and later purchased some unique treats from vendors, cucuruchus, which have coconut and honey and stuff inside a cone made of palm leaves.

We did a walking tour, of course, and got photos of a cross which they claim really is one brought to the new world by Christopher Columbus.

In the evening of our arrival at Baracoa we climbed up the stairs to the very nice Castillo Hotel to enjoy the views, drinks and especially to celebrate another wedding anniversary-this time for Ed and Doris.

Some of our group did an adventure tour to Humboldt Park while the rest of us did a tour to learn about cocoa production, to visit a tiny school (only 4 students present), take photos of an endangered snail (las polimitas) and for a Yumurí River boat ride.

It was natural that in this Guantánamo province we could enjoy local musicians singing "guantánamera" which is Cuba's most famous song. Here is a link to one version of the song.

On Friday our group went for an El Yunque water fall hike and then a barbecue by the Duaba River.  An unexpected pleasure along the hiking route was a stop for a treat of many fresh tropical fruits at some guy's house. The barbecue was included in our Locally Sourced tour package and we were served our meals in "bowls" cut from local trees.

In the evening we said farewell to Asiel, our driver, and a few of us did a last dinner in Baracoa at La Colima restaurant where JJ and I shared pork ribs, rice, salad, fried plantans, water and one beer for $16CUC.  This was a typical meal served at the privately owned restaurants.

MARCH 5, 2016 SATURDAY return to Havana

Today we had a 2:30pm return flight to Havana from Baracoa.  Although we could see the airport runway from our casa's roof tops this was the first airplane we had seen since arrival in Havana two weeks before.

In the morning prior to the flight Bob and I did a quick walk up to the archeology museum which is in a limestone cave containing remains and stuff left from pre-Columbus inhabitants.  The most impressive thing to me was the extreme humidity inside the cave. We were soon soaking with perspiration after climbing around the "museum".

By 6:30pm we were back in the familiar Casa Malecon in Havana.

MARCH 6, 2016 SUNDAY  Havana

Wow, this was our last day in Cuba.  We did a lengthy walking tour with Dayana in Old Town Havana (Habana Vieja).  She pointed out some road construction sites on the Prado Blvd which they call "Obama Construction" since it is being done for the coming visit of the President.  Then we did the mandatory and fun classic convertible car tour with a stop at Revolution Square.

There were many tourists around Old Town and some of the more popular stops were the hangouts once used by Ernest Hemingway whose name is very familiar to Cubans.  However, our group had its very own "Hemingway" in disguise as Walter and all along our travels the local folks would spot Walter and call out "hemingway!!".

Our final stop was at Cuba's most famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba where we had drinks and said farewell to our traveling companion and guide, Dayana. 

As we walked back to our casa along the Malecon we were walking against a river of young Havanans on their way to a free concert near the new American Embassy.  The concert was by an American group, Major Lazer, which was unfamiliar to us seniors but obviously well known to the Cuban youth.

MARCH 7, 2016 return to San Diego

We had a 3am taxi departure from our casa and then to the airport for the 6am flight to Mexico City.  During our Mexico City layover we had to retrieve our luggage for customs inspections and then return the bags to AeroMexico for the final leg.  We arrived on schedule at 2:45pm in Tijuana, walked back across the border, did customs, caught a taxi and were soon home sweet home!

This most excellent adventure was over!

THE END