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Cuba 2019

November - December 2019
Two weeks in Cuba with Dean. Read more
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  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 1

    First day in Havana

    November 23, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Cuba has always been a common destination for Spanish tourists, but I had never been there. Living in the US, and due to the countries economic and political relations, traveling to the island feels like a completely different endeavor. Things were quite easy for Americans (or, in my case, US permanent residents) when we went there at the end of 2019, as opposed to the previous time Dean had visited in 2013. I flew directly from New York to Havana in a fairly affordable flight, but we still had to pick a category of authorized travel. Tourist activities weren't officially allowed as a category, but we used the "support for the Cuban people" one, which allows you to visit the country avoiding certain state-run businesses, and supporting private Cuban businesses and individuals instead. That means staying in the so-called "casas particulares" instead of regular hotels, for example. We also needed a Cuban Tourist Card, but we just got it at the airport before our flight. It cost $75 with United.

    When we landed in Havana, the airport was a huge mess. United had made me check my luggage, and my suitcase took forever to come out. When it did, it appeared in a different line than the one that was announced.

    It also took us forever to get money, because the computers at the currency exchange office weren't working. There are several interesting facts about money in Cuba, or at least they were when we went there.

    They have two different currencies. The most common one for tourists is the CUC, peso convertible cubano, usually pronounced ce-u-cé. It has the same value as US dollars, but you'll have to pay a commission to exchange it. Then you have the CUP, peso cubano, usually referred to as "peso." 1 CUC is 24 CUP. You won't see many of those and they're mostly only used by Cubans, but you may want to use them to buy something small. For example, we went to the Havana Film Festival and the price tickets were in CUP. You have to be careful not to mistake the two, but in the two weeks we spent there nobody tried to scam us or anything like that.

    On top of that, you'll find that a lot of people will accept euros or even US dollars. I'm not sure if it's because it feels like a more stable currency, because people are trying to leave the island, or because of some other reason, but this was quite useful.

    Cards are not that widely used and American credit cards were not accepted so we had to rely on changing money. You can do that at the bank or the CADECA offices.

    Anyway, back to the airport.

    We finally managed to change money and took a taxi to our casa particular in Habana Vieja. We asked for the price in advance and it cost 30CUC.

    Our casa particular, which we found thorough Airbnb, was very convenient, centrally located, clean and quiet, and it looked like an art gallery. Our host, who we didn't really get to see after the first day, recommended a restaurant nearby called Antojos which turned out to have very tasty Cuban food. The fish croquetas and the ropa vieja were delicious. We paid 45 CUC for our meal, including mojitos and desert. The restaurant was very hip and cute, which I really didn't expect. Later I would learn that this is quite common in Havana, which has managed to open places that look like coming out of an international magazine despite the fact that private businesses are relatively new and communication is somewhat limited.

    After dinner, we went around Habana Vieja for a walk. It was very, very crowded and a couple started talking to us and tried to take us to a restaurant. This is apparently a fairly common scam, where very friendly people try to take you to places where they'll end up getting some commission or a free drink or meal from you. This is always tricky because Cubans are indeed very friendly and chatting with locals will be one of the most interesting experiences to have, but you gotta be careful with people talking you into going to places.

    We ended the night with more mojitos at a Russian-themed bar called Tabarish, where a group of women was playing live music.

    Airbnb in Habana Vieja
    https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/37715482?source_im…

    Antojos
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…

    Tabarish
    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g…

    Web of the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control with the requirements to visit Cuba
    https://cu.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/l…    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 2

    Second day in Havana

    November 24, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We thought we would wake up very early because we hadn't stayed up until late the previous night, but of course, that wasn't the case. We had breakfast at the house and we went to see the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, the National Arts Museum. We were mostly interested in the Cuban art building and we skipped the international one.

    The Cuban building was fantastic. It has a huge collection that I really enjoyed, although the air conditioning was too strong and I got cold. The museum's store sold very affordable and beautiful prints and I got a couple of them for my new apartment. We went for lunch to the restaurant next to our place, called Donde Lis, which wasn't bad although not as good as the one where we had dinner the previous night. The tostones rellenos (stuffed plantains) were delicious though!

    We went for a walk but we hadn't really planned the next stages of our trip, so we stopped at a bar with live music to check our travel book and decide what to do.

    We stopped at an Etecsa center to get an Internet card. This is part of the ritual of getting online in Cuba. Since December 2018, Cubans can buy data for their mobile phones, but it's expensive, so many keep going to the public squares where since 2014, Etecsa (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, Cuba Telecommunications Office) offers connection for hours, through cards that you can purchase at their offices. The speed is mediocre, the service disconnects at times, and the whole thing is inconvenient, but we went to Parque Cervantes, got online, and managed to book a place in Viñales, our next destination, with an American credit card and a VPN.

    For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant, 5 Esquinas Trattoria. It was OK but nothing special. We ended the night at the Plaza del Cristo, at a bar called Kilometro Zero. It didn't look special in any way but we ended up having a blast because a band was playing live music and some servers and couples were dancing and singing around the place.

    Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba
    http://www.bellasartes.co.cu/

    Donde Lis
    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g…

    5 Esquinas Trattoria
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…

    Kilómetro Zero
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 3

    Third day in Havana

    November 25, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We started the day with a visit to a place called El Ojo del Ciclón. This is the studio of artist Leo D'Lázaro. He wasn't there, but another guy who works with him (his agent, maybe?) showed us around. He looked quite hungover and told us he had partied too hard the night before. In any case, the place was fascinating. It's full of paintings, sculptures, and weird rooms, both by him and by other artists, and they're for sale. In fact, you can find other pieces by him around the streets of Havana, like the column in front of the studio or El Sancho de la Habana in Obispo Street.

    After the studio, we went to Clandestina. We had heard about this store because a friend fo Dean in Boston, Eva, knows the owners, Idania and Leire. They make clothing with repurposed and recycled fabrics, accessories, and prints. It's not cheap, but it's cool. They also sell a little Havana guide with updated information about bars, galleries, restaurants, and stores for 2 CUC, a quite useful addition to the travel book.

    We kept walking around and realized it was getting late. We had booked a tour at 2 PM in Vedado and needed to get lunch before heading there. That's how we ended up in a place called Mojito, which was neither particularly good nor affordable.

    We took a car to go to Vedado (again: always negotiate the price in advance) to meet our guide, Jorge, at Parque El Quijote. We booked this tour through Airbnb and it seems like a perfect example of what a "support of Cuban people activity" looks like. It's an interesting concept that we saw advertised on several occasions. Because private businesses and tourism are way more lucrative than state jobs, you'll see things like "Havana tour led by an economist" or "Visit to Bay of Pigs led by the Head of the Department of History of the University of Havana".

    In any case, this was less of a tour and more of an opportunity to walk around with a local who allowed the group to ask him questions about the history and current situation of the city and the country. Apparently, he does these tours with another guy, and we ended up the afternoon at the house of the mother of this other guy's girlfriend, "grandma", who shared her experience. It was quite an interesting visit.

    When we left the house it was already dark and we walked back to Havana Vieja. We had dinner at a quite famous and well-reviewed restaurant called Doña Eutimia. I only remembered the "frituras de malanga", a quite popular Cuban dish similar to a yuca croquette or a tater tot, usually served with honey.

    El Ojo del Ciclón
    https://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/havana/attrac…

    Clandestina
    https://clandestina.co/

    Airbnb Walk "Explore Cuban life with an economist"
    https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/124469

    Doña Eutimia
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 4

    Fourth day in Havana

    November 26, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I got up early to go to the Museo de la Revolución, but it turned out it didn't open until 10 AM, so I went for a walk while Dean took a run around the Malecón. The museum wasn't that interesting because a large area was closed for renovations, but I still enjoyed the visit. Dean met me there and we went to El Dandy, in Plaza del Cristo, for a coffee and a snack.

    I really enjoyed this place. The decoration was cute, the location was convenient, the coffee was good, and it wasn't expensive, so it was a nice, chill place to have a break and decide what to do next.

    Afterward, we went back to Clandestina to chat with Eva's friend. I got a poster and a bandana, as well as the 2 CUC guide. I think that by then we had realized the store was actually a quite cool and hip place of the island and we had seen it referenced in multiple places.

    After going home and resting a bit, we went to a place that Eva's friend had recommended, El Café, where we shared an excellent pork sandwich. We also visited the Fototeca de Cuba, which I found very disappointing. This center hosts the most important collection of Cuban photography, but when we went there was only a little exhibition with little context. I'm guessing it may be better at times, but it wasn't this particular one. We continued exploring the streets around Habana Vieja and run into the galley Habana: espacios creativos, a new art space that had just recently opened.

    We stopped at a purses store called Zulu and later continued to the Taller de serigrafía Rene Portocarrero, one of my favorite places of this trip. It's a serigraphy studio that has been open for more than 35 years. It's not exactly a gallery, but you can visit it and the people who work there are friendly. We spent a very good time chatting with Ramón, who showed us around and told us a lot about the studio, the work, and his own life. We ended up buying a couple of prints and I wish I had got more.

    We had considered walking around the Malecón for sunset, but we ended up staying so long that by the time we left, it was already dark. We went to have dinner at a very popular place called O'Reilly, which had good food and live music. The menu seemed quite conventional but it ended up having some creative takes. It was very crowded though and we shared a table with another couple of tourists.

    Museo de la Revolución
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Attraction_Review-g1…

    El Dandy
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…

    El Café
    https://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g1…

    Habana: espacios creativos
    http://habanacultural.ohc.cu/?p=29983

    Taller de serigrafía René Portocarrero
    http://serigrafiacuba513.com/

    O'Reilly 304
    https://www.alamesacuba.com/es/la-habana/restau…    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 5

    Horse tour in Viñales

    November 27, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Our bus to Viñales was scheduled to depart quite early. We had bought the Cubanacán tickets a couple of days in advance at one of their hotels, for 14$ each. When the day arrived and we showed up at the scheduled time, we were told that the bus may appear on time, or 30 minutes later, or one hour later, but it turned out to be very punctual, comfortable, and convenient. We had read the AC would be freezing, but it wasn't anything that a sweatshirt wouldn't solve.

    The bus... leader? Coordinator? Guide? Anyway, the guy who wasn't the driver and made sure all the passengers were there was very fun and friendly, and spent all the trip making jokes. We later would learn that his name was Luis and had a sister and Boston who he hadn't seen in a while, and we agreed to bring her back a gift from him.

    We arrived in Viñales and went to our house, simple but clean and comfortable, which was a little bit out of the main street, on a dirt road. The area is beautiful and a main tourist destination with activities, and we had planned to take a horse tour to the farms, which I guess is one of the most popular ones. We went to have dinner at a restaurant called El Campesino, which wasn't particularly special but it was very close.

    I never ever go horseback riding unless I'm traveling, but I have to admit I really enjoy it. This particular tour took us to the tobacco, rum, and honey farms. It was interesting but a bit of a tourist trap, where we were expected to tip a bunch of people along the way besides the 20$ we paid for it. Still, it was fun, and Dean got to buy cigars. I learned how cigars are made, which was actually fascinating, and we ended up swimming at a lake nearby before heading back to the house, where we had dinner and went to bed early.    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 6

    Hiking in Viñales

    November 28, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    For our second day in Viñales, we decided to visit the Cueva de Santo Tomás cave. This cave can only be visited on a tour and we decided to take the earliest one, at 9 AM. Our house helped us arrange a car (25 CUC) that drove us there and waited for us while we visited the cave. The cave was quite interesting and the guide was friendly and entertaining. We even saw a tarantula hidden in the rocks.

    We went back to Viñales, where we needed to get two main supplies that we had run out of: money and internet minutes. I waited in line at the Etecsa office while Dean went to change money. We were surprised to see we had spent so much money, but I guess we had several nice meals and tipped generously. We also got the Cubanacán bus tickets to Cienfuegos (32 CUC each), where we were heading the day after.

    After running these errands, we took a long walk around town. Truth to be said, the town is tiny and it mainly has one street, but we went back and forth looking for ice cream, a restaurant to have dinner later (it was Thanksgiving night) and to buy Dean a hat and even more cigars.

    After going back home and taking our traditional Thanksgiving picture with my fake inflatable turkey that I carry around when I travel at this time of the year, we went for a hike.

    The hike was so fun! We had read that hiking in Cuba by yourself is not that easy. There are not many well-defined trails and tour guides expect you to book their services to do this. But we did a bit of research and we found a route that seemed reasonable.

    We got somewhat lost, somewhat repeatedly, but the whole thing was a highlight of our trip and not as complicated as we had been led to believe. Many people were doing the same as us and locals were friendly and helpful when we asked for directions.

    We walked by some sort of cabins, where we saw something that looked like a giant rat on a leash. A Cuban guy told us the name and that we could pet it, which I did. Apparently it was a hutia (jutía, in Spanish.) They're rodents that live in the Caribbean Islands, and at least one-third of the species are extinct, but a couple of them are common and widespread. I'm gonna assume this was one of them.

    We headed to the Cueva de la Vaca. This was fun and it felt magical because we entered one side and exited the other without really knowing what we were doing or where we were. It was beautiful and while looking at some climbers in the rock -- this area is well-known among climbers --, an old Cuban man stopped and chatted with us about climbers, his son, who was visiting from the US, and how Americans would easily shoot you for entering a field. He was proud of Cubans welcoming and helping others, and of the Cuban doctors, who travel internationally.

    We also stopped at a bar that seemed to be the most random place ever, all empty and in the middle of a gorgeous field, and drank mojitos, which by then we were treating pretty much like water.

    We were out for longer than planned and it got dark before we were back, but we found our way back to town and had a shower before going to our Thanksgiving dinner at La Cocinita del Medio, a restaurant that we had seen recommended. It was good, but not extraordinary. We ended the night at the Centro Cultural Polo Montañez, some sort of social club with live music, where a group of young dancers was giving a show.

    Cueva de Santo Tomás
    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g…    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 7

    Cienfuegos

    November 29, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We left the house very early to go to Cienfuegos, but I spent almost all the ride sleeping and didn't really mind. We stopped for lunch at a place on the road called Pio-Cua, which was recommended by Lonely Planet but was actually pretty mediocre.

    The house in Cienfuegos was centrally located and had a gorgeous patio, although the room was not as good as other places we stayed in.

    We went to have a walk around Cienfuegos. The town seems to be less catered to tourists, which I generally would say it's good, but it took us ages to find a place to get a coffee. I think there were also more references to the Revolución, but I may be wrong about this. The Malecón is beautiful and a fun walk.

    When it got dark we went to a supposedly French restaurant, Doña Nora, which was only somewhat French. The food was good though, and I enjoyed the lamb I had.    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 8

    El Nicho

    November 30, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We started the day going to the bus station to get our tickets to Playa Larga, our next destination. This ended up being quite a waste of time because Viazul was a total mess. We "reserved" our tickets but we didn't get to pay for them (they cost 7CUC each), and the next day we were told we would only be able to ride the bus if there were open seats.

    From there we headed to El Nicho. By then we had learned it wouldn't take us too long to find someone who would drive us. A very friendly guy did it for 50CUC both ways.

    Entry to the park cost 10CUC per person. The park is lovely, with a lot of plants and areas where one can swim, but the hikes are fairly short.

    After the hike, the driver took us to a touristy and fairly expensive place. The food was good, but Dean got grumpy because he wanted something more simple and "authentic." I just can't say "no" when people are nice!

    We went back to Cienfuegos but I was feeling exhausted. That same morning I had got news that one of the students at my circus school, back in New York, had committed suicide. I barely knew him, but he had been the first person to be nice to me when I started going to that place. He was enthusiastic, loving, and always looked full of energy. The news were devastating and my mind kept going back to them.

    In the afternoon we went to Punta Gorda for a walk. We stopped for a mojito at a place that was about to host a Quinceañera celebration - or something like that - that same evening. We didn't see the party, of course, but took a look at the decoration.

    We were trying to find a place with live music called El Cubanisimo, but it seemed to be under construction, so we took a pedicab for 3CUC that took us to a restaurant called Paladar Aché. The place wasn't particularly memorable but the staff was very nice.

    I went to sleep very early and Dean went for a walk by himself. We had planned to get up very early the following morning to take the bus to Playa Larga.    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 9

    Playa Larga

    December 1, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Well, this was the day when we found out that Viazul doesn't't work great, to put it mildly. When we arrived top the station, some other people were already waiting as well. The Viazul workers told us we would have got wait and see if there were actually seats available. Telling them we had "reserved" our tickets didn't really matter. We finally did get seats but we arrived in Playa Larga just to see a French couple waiting for a bus to Cienfuegos without being able to get anybody to tell them if the bus had already passed the station, if they had missed it, or if it was scheduled to arrive later. They were told though that they should stay so they could be the first in line if the bus did actually stopped there.

    Our conclusion was that we would go back to Havana some other way.

    A pedicab took us to our house for 3CUC or so. Casa Baby turned out to be the best one so far. The owners are really friendly, breakfast and dinners were delicious, and they helped us plan activities.

    We spent the rest of the day being lazy. We went to the beach, found some beach chairs and had coffee, mojitos, and friend plantains until sunset.

    It was when we headed back home for dinner when we met THE BUGS. This area has some sort of small mosquitos that come out at sunset and in a few seconds will bite you all over your body. Horrible. It seems that can't travel without getting some weird bug bite.    Read more

  • TravelerCuba 2019
    Day 10

    Playa Larga and Playa Girón

    December 2, 2019 in Cuba ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    For our first full day in the area, we had planned a scuba diving trip. Both Dean and I had done scuba diving once before, but none of us had real experience.

    Our hosts put us in touch with Carlos, a young scuba diving guide and instructor who took us to a couple of places - Cueva de los Peces and Punta Perdiz - for 70CUC.

    A colleague of him, Jorge, came with us during the first immersion, but I liked him less because he was a bit overwhelming and wanted us to feed the fish too much. Dean liked his attention, though.

    We stopped for lunch at a small and simple sandwich place and Carlos told us he could take us to Playa Girón if we paid the driver a bit more. We did it and took the opportunity to change some money and visit the museum, which has some information and items about the Bahía Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) invasion. Of course the visit included a fair amount of propaganda, but it was interesting nonetheless and cost only 2CUC.

    We did the second scuba diving immersion with Carlos, who I liked more. Dean got out of air relatively early and Carlos had to give him air on their way back to the shore.

    I enjoyed the scuba diving trip a lot. The driver was also very friendly and we enjoyed chatting with Carlos, who was planning to travel Europe on a motorbike and told us he admired Donald Trump and capitalism. Funny enough, he was probably the first person I had met who was an open Trump supporter, but of course there aren't many of them in the liberal, urban, educated areas where I've lived in the US. Many Cubans, however, are tired of the restrictions of the communist regime, so I guess it makes some sense they may have an idealized view of American politics.

    On our way back we stopped on the little stands that sold mojitos, churros, and fried plantain for 1CUC. We walked to the end of the tiny town and we went back through the beach, where the damn bugs bite me everywhere again.

    Again, we had a great dinner at the house.    Read more

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