Total stay: 20 Februay - 25 March
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Fast Facts
Capital: Havana (La Habana)
Population: 2 168 000
Area: 3 007 sq km
Known for: Che, Sigars, Fidel Castro, Rum, Veteran Cars
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana
Time in Havana, Cuba
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After 5 weeks in Cuba, we’ve arrived in Mexico, Yucatán Peninsula, Playa del Carmen. We stayed here for about a week , waiting for our camera to be repaired. Then we took a bus to Tulum to explore the nearby Maya ruins and temples.
To be honest it felt good to come to a place where everything runs smooth, compared to Cuba, but we will miss our friends in Cuba. Read the review below.
Havana part one
20 Feb -7 March
Havana (or La Habana as it’s called here)is full of cars from the 50s, cigars, rum, Cuban music and slow service. But there is more…
A lot of Havana’s once majestic buildings are falling apart due to lack of maintenance. The good thing is that there is established a program from the government to restore the buildings to their previous state. La Habana has a higher density of historical building you will ever see in any other city. Thus walking trough Havana is quite an interesting experience.
Anyway, when we’ve arrived we were told that Fidel Castro resigned the day before, and his younger brother Raul has taken over. Raul’s newly formed government promised to get rid of the more absurd laws. For example Cubans are not allowed to rent rooms at hotels, visit certain places, which are exclusively for tourists (Cayo Coco and others!). There were also rumours that Cubans soon will have the right to have cell phones and Internet which now is for government officials and other important people only (doctors etc).
Roberto (a good friend of a good friend) welcomed us and made sure we got what we needed to get comfortable right away…He made us a reservation at his neighbor private house (casa particulares run by Maria, Eloy and their son Obed. It was located just a ten minute walk from the old Havana. They took very good care of us and also helped us to obtain private Spanish lessons trough a former professor at the University in Havana, Gerardo.
One Sunday, Maria and Eloy took us to a cabaret show aimed mainly for Cubans, called Amigos Para Siempre. It is led by Maylú, a great singer and dancer who has a fantastic network of friends in the entrainment business in Cuba, contributing in her show . The cabaret runs with different themes each week. We went there three times. Here we must say this was our first encounter of Cuban culture overdose in a cozy and intimate atmosphere. After the show the floor was filled within seconds with happy Cubans moving their hips to Cuban salsa (called casino) and Reggaeton music. Vania Borges from Buena Vista Social Club took part in one of the shows. She can also be found on the fantastic album Rhytms Del Mundo Cuba (http://www.rhythmsdelmundo.com/). This album is a great fusion of well know tracks with a twist of Cuban flavor.
Maylu and Amigos para siempre
Link to youtube video of Vania Borges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS76iU6ABJs
Viñales part one
7-12 March
Parque Nacional Vinãles is on Unesco’s World Heritage site. Our hotel had a lovely view over the town, tobacco fields and Mogotes (limestone outcrops), but the food wasn’t good, thus we ate only in casa particulares (yummy fresh fish and lobster). We’ve also had 2 hours of salsa lessons.
We rented bikes and explored the town and nearby tobacco fields and Mogotes. A local farmer showed us how the cigars are made. The agriculture here is done by bulls pulling the plow, as in the good old days. The farmers ride on horses as the means of transportation.
We also rented a car and explored a cave with a river inside (too touristic). We drove to a sleepy fishing village Puerto Esperanza and to a lovely beach of Cayo Jutias to relax a bit. (Road signs are almost none existing so some Spanish is recommended).
Viñales video
Maria La Gorda
12-15 March
It was time for Per-Ove to discover what Cuba has to offer in regards to diving, so we left Viñales for a few days. Maria La Gorda, means ‘Fat Maria’ is most remote mainland beach, located on the Peninsula de Guanahacabibes, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. Here, just outside our door both lizards and snakes paid us a visit and birds knocked on our bathroom window (when Aneta was showering).
The diving conditions here were fantastic (see pictures and videos for a bit of flavor). The area has a coral reefs stretching along the area with thirty-something dive spots. At the edge of the reef it drops over 2000 meters to the bottom and has great visibility, rich on life and massive caves .
The first dive was a massive cave area and on the was done together with Cedric from Paris including Hakan, Gökhan and O´guzhay from Istanbul – thanks for a good dive folks ;-)
Per-Ove and his dive buddy David did a couple of great dives together. (Thank you David for fantastic dives!) We also hung out with him and his lovely wife Sylvie (who he called a Shetland-sheep). A great couple from France!
Between the dives we also hooked with some other great people - Olivier and Fabien from France as well. Olivier with his handicap did several dives for the first time (respect!) and also Fabien joined for his first few dives (one of which he run out of air – shame on one of the instructors!!!).
We got so well along, that we drove together back to to Havana via Viñales and Las Terrazas. Thank you guys for a fantastic time together!
Diving at Maria la Gorda
Viñales part two
15-16 March
We returned to Viñales for the Tobacco HarvestCarnaval. There was great local music everyone danced; kids, parents, elderly etc. There where huts on every street in town who served food (whole pig) and (cheap) rum. During the day an amusement park, dating probably back to 50’s, was rolled out.
The day after we did 4 hours horseback riding (it hurt a lot) through the tobacco fields, passing Mogotes and visiting a cave (yes - with a river inside). We stopped by a farmer house to get some fresh coconut milk and pineapple.
Las Terrazas
16-17 March
Las Terrazas has focus on ecotourism The buildings here blend nicely into the surroundings.
We did Canopy rides with height of 25 m. Great views over the river and the village. Check out the movie clip ;-)
Las Terrasaz Canopy riding
Havana part two
17-25 March
Back in Havana it was time to prepare for Aneta’s birthday. We had a little party with our new friends at Roberto’s place and and learned some Cuban Salsa. After that we relaxed on a beach, Playa del Este. This was the only time we went to a beach during our stay in Havana.
Gerardo and his lovely wife Nadia invited us to their home for some rum and Cuban Salsa. Thank you for a great time and having the patience!
We had some time left for one last night a Maylú’s show which was one of the best if you consider the atmosphere. And unexpectedly we where called on stage for a good bye and a birthday present for Aneta.
The day before our departure we had a farewell lunch with Maylú, Kelvin and her uncle, Ismajara. Thank you for a fantastic time and the present.
Then, Mary and Eloy prepared for us a typical Cuban farewell dinner (rise, black bean in a sauce, fried crispy pork and fried food banana) Delicious! (We miss it already).
Thank you everyone in Cuba for making this a wonderful stay and we’re sorry most of you are not able to read this due to the Cuban Internet restrictions. We will miss you, but we’ll return.
Recordings from Havana
Cuba photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157604317935468/
Hasta La Vista Cuba ;-)
Cuba map
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Next: On 20 April we will meet Arvid (Per-Ove’s father) on board the SeaDream 1 and cruise together for a week from San Juan (Puerto Rico) to Guadeloupe and back. After that, we haven’t decided yet if we should fly to Belize City (Belize) or San José (Costa Rica). We enjoy a lot being so flexible!