Our Travels
Cuba by Travel Nation's Tim
Eaton
Independent travel and an 8 day Cuba group tour.
 Memorial
to Che Guevara in Havana. His motto "Towards victory always"
You
might have the idea that arrival into Cuba would be slow, scrutinising
of visas and bureaucratic. This couldn't be further from the truth,
no official asks to see accommodation vouchers or how you intend to
travel around the country. The same easy going attitude exists past
customs, towards the taxi counter where I had a fixed rate organised
to my destination in Havana. Welcome to Cuba, home of the Revolution
and a fiery Latin independence.
There are exchange offices in all Cuban towns and many are open all
hours. It is best to take Euros; Pounds are fine but will be subject
to 10% fee. Whilst the dreaded greenback dollar will cost you an extra
20%.
Taking the taxi into Centro Havana I realised that not only do Cubans
obey the speed limits, they also let ladies cross the road and despite
my not so perfect Spanish I was only charged the official rate. Now
that deserves a tip. We stayed a couple of nights in a homestay at the
top of a crumbling apartment building, our hosts greeted us with Mojitos
and the proclamation "I am your Cuban Mother." The hospitality
of people is amazing and even though in most cases they are struggling
with the basic and seem to survive by bartering goods and services,
their friendly nature is unfaultable.
Havana has a wealth of Spanish colonial history in its buildings, culture
and people. Wandering around a city where the only western store I saw
was Benetton made me want to go down every street. Cubans stop and talk
to you at every opportunity, at a bar you will probably end up paying
for a couple of extra beers for having a Spanish discussion with a new
friend.
 50's American taxis in Havana You
certainly feel like you are stepping back in time when you take a shared
American 1950's taxi with a whole family on the back seat out to Playa
del Este beaches. You will probably pay for them too and spend the whole
trip thinking the cab will fall apart as it crawls up hills, but it's
worth it.
To travel around the island I decided to book with www.cubagrouptour.com
they run small groups, averaging 6 people. They have a local guide
and organise all transport which when you have limited time is an ideal
way to travel. It is almost impossible to travel independently; Viazul
the national coach operator limits the number of foreign tourists on
each bus so you could wait days to leave Havana.
 Mirtha's incredible flan outside her homestay in Vinales The
tour started off going to Vinales, a tobacco growing village in the
northwest set in a limestone valley. Accommodation is in homestays,
and the legendary Mirtha's crème caramel flan is amazing. Throughout
the trip food provided by your hosts is incredible and few people would
ever choose to eat out. We had several options along the way, it could
be cycling through the valley where roads are well maintained and there
isn't really any traffic. Or you could walk through with an English
speaking village guide who could tell you about the huge array of flora
that you pass along the way. You could also visit the farms to see the
process of drying tobacco right through to cigar rolling. You are very
likely to see cocks bred for cock fighting too as this is the real Cuba
and life remains unchanged.
By night you can hit Vinales bars and the Salon del Musica, where locals
go to dance and tourists try but just don't seem to have that Cuban
rhythm.
 Street scene in Trinidad, World heritage listed Onto
Trinidad, a UNESCO listed small town and another great homestay. Trinidad
has great beaches just out of town and fantastic diving opportunities.
Nel, our guide was always on hand to organise any activities that we
wanted whether it was to do something together or individually. The
highlight for me was a 10km hike across the valley and banana plantations
to swim at a set of stunning waterfalls. Trinidad is also famed for
its nightlife, that goes on all night and where drinking beers and Mojitos
are all part of the culture.
Santa Clara is the key city of the Revolution and burial place and
shrine to Che Guevara. Few travellers ever reach here and it's very
much an authentic slice of Cuban life, you'll get little more than peso
pizza here. However life in Cuba may slowly change with the resignation
of Fidel Castro but he's widely admired for the achievements of the
last 49 years and even though people want change they know it brings
new dangers to Cuba with drugs and crime. Change is likely to be slow
and therefore Cuba is a great place to visit now whilst the majority
of life in Cuba remains unchanged.
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