CUBA: Vinales and last days in Habana!

So I believe I had spent two full days in Havana and was basically done with it. On the third day I got up early and headed to the bus stop. But still not early enough. Even at 7am or whatever all of the tickets were sold out to Vinales.

Vinales is a little country town and supposedly in this valley that is the "Yosemite" of Cuba. But the buses being sold out was not a big deal- just tell the cabbies- or rather- stand there for two seconds and they will immediately accost you and try to sell you a seat in a collective. They always try to sell you a seat for like 3x the price right off the bat- which you should refuse and laugh at- "No, no, no I do this before." Then offer something at least 30-50% lower. The further away you move from the tourists the better your price will be. I think I paid 15CUC for my seat in a 7 person collective. Three french people had negotiated a 13CUC rate (each), two Germans had paid 15, and a Korean woman had been robbed blind at 20. When our driver (who looked EXACTLY like President Obama and we all discussed at length at how much he looked like Obama and all wished we were brave enough to take a photo with him) stepped out of the cab we all kept talking about it and tried to get photos. It was kind of crazy. Especially since Obama was about to come visit the next week! I got a really awful blurry photo from a distance, but really, just look at a photo of Obama.

That was a our driver. It took at least an hour or more for my collective to be put together and some of the people in the cab had pre-scheduled our ride. I got in the cab and then we got hauled all over town picking up people. I sort of low key wondered if I was getting kidnapped- it was close to an hour of pick ups before we finally got on the highway, but we finally got going.

About halfway there on the freeway, Cabbie Obama started having some trouble with the stick shift. (All cars in Cuba are manual.) He couldn't shift. And then suddenly the car got stuck in 1st gear. No joke. He couldn't get it out of first. We were miles and miles from Vinales. Another cabbie Obama knew saw us in trouble and said he would circle back and get us- since we were going like 20 miles an hour or something stupid. We were ALL DYING.

Finally at a certain point one of the Germans in the front seat said she had to pee and was going to pee on the seat if he didn't pull over and we ended up having like an hour long lunch break at a random rest stop. I had a nice grilled ham and cheese sandwich with everyone and we all chatted. It was exhausting to travel like that- but really memorable and pretty authentic! LOL Finally we got back on the road and made it into Vinales!

Our sweet driver, who spoke no English understood most of us had no casa reservations and knocked on some doors until he found some houses with openings. Literally every house in Vinales is a casa particulare- a bed and breakfast. The German couple and I decided to share a flat to save some money. They took a bedroom for 25CUC and I think I paid 20. Something like that. I had been paying 7CUC in Havana but for a tiny town like this I knew that was a fair deal.

 The German Couple and I shared the flat on the second floor. They had the front bedroom and I had the back. It had a shower too, but no soap that I can remember... I think I forgot mine in Havana! I had left all of my bags in the hostel back there, as I had paid up for my whole trip just in case. So I double booked, essentially. There wasn't any way to book ahead of time for Vinales so that was the best option at the time, and it all worked out fine!

 Our flat!

Also amazing was a woman across the street who spoke fluent English. Lisa (one of the Germans, who had done a large part of her undergrad at the University of Chicago and had a midwestern accent even!) and I wanted to go horseback riding, and the nice woman across the street had another cabbie pick us up in 30 minutes and take us to a local plantation. We got a cigar tour, a coffee plantation tour, and a 3 hour horseback ride. It was AWESOME. I think we paid 15CUC ($15) for everything. I ended up buying coffee for 6CUC which they sold me in a used water bottle, and some cigars. We literally watched them roll them. They were super high quality and the guy there was great. His family owned the place and everything you see in the photos was on family property. Nothing is commercial. Everything we bought went straight to the families. Average income in Cuba is around $20/month so doing these kinds of things plugs money straight into the local economy.

Rolling cigars.

Trying to smoke cigars without laughing. They dipped one end in honey and it was so interesting! Kind of pleasant. I am glad I tried it!

The coffee planation... Roasting beans was AWFUL! The smoke was so choking and triggered both mine and Lisa's asthma right away! It was terrible. I was glad I bought the coffee beans. You can see the water bottles they came in in the picture above on the counter. I dumped them into a plastic bag I just so happened to have for the flight home because I figured the bottle would be too suspicious. I haven't brewed them yet- I don't have a grinder! But I will! The bean roasting I will never forget though. What a terrible job. They had a teenage girl doing it and it was just awful work.

My horse went rogue for a minute and cut too close to some plants- and cut the crap out of my leg! I was much more assertive riding her after that!

Cacao beans! They don't use them for chocolate though- too hard to process. They said they use them for shoe products.

Hummingbird eggs!

We got back at dusk and got ready and then Lisa and her boyfriend invited me out to dinner! We all got cleaned up and ready for dinner and I took some pictures on the back porch while Lisa showered.

Pictures really don't do it justice!

So I had my "nice dinner" (a tradition on every trip I take) with them. I actually forget what I had though! But I took pictures of it! Lisa and her boyfriend were walking hand in hand down the street and I was walking behind them and some young Cuban guy ran up and walked along side of me and grabbed my hand so I wouldn't be alone. Oh my gosh I died. I just said, "No, no, no gracias." And laughed though, and he left. Lisa said she would not have been able to play it that cool, but at that point I was used to it. She said she hadn't really had any sexual harassment, but when we were out alone together the cigar guy kept bugging her to dance. Her traveling with her boyfriend had really made a huge difference in how much she was bothered- as in, not really at all!

Sort of what I am remembering is I had some kind of fried pork, a fried coquette thing, and a mojito. Mojitos in Cuba are interesting. Sugar is really expensive, but rum is cheap. So the drinks are pretty cheap and very alcoholic- but not very well mixed. The mint is always very fresh and lovely but they are so strong you want to water them down. But that's hard because the water isn't exactly safe to drink.

The next morning I had to go catch my bus back to Havana. Just a quick overnighter but I crammed lots into my one day in Vinales! Including a nice wake up call!

On the way back I managed to catch a bus, which was perfectly comfortable, but I sat next to a french woman who claimed she was in Boston during the bombings, in France during the terror attacks and in NYC during 9/11. I call BS. It was just weird.

 That whole minimal make up/no doing the hair thing really does notwork for me.

 There were  A LOT of wild dogs at the bus stop. And they all loved me.

The infrastructure in Cuba just sucks. Everything is on Cuba time. What should have been a 90 minute drive was a 4 hour bus ride because we stopped for an hour lunch break. These were our snack options.

I negotiated a cab from the bus stop, which is out in timbuktu, back to the Capitol. I said he could just dump me anywhere, which really confused the cabbie. I finally showed him on a map and he was like, are you sure, and I was like, si, si. And he was like, You travel here a lot?! And I was like, Ehhhh. Si. So he did it. I think I got him to drive me for 8-10CUC. I forget. I got a much better deal going back than getting out there. He said, if I give it to you for that rate I'm going to have to pick other people up. I said, no problem. So he said okay! And then he left me on the back side of the capitol. That wasn't my first choice but whatever. It was cheaper. Then I just beelined back to the markets to go shopping. I think this was Sunday afternoon and I wanted to get all of my shopping done as I flew back to the states (and through Mexico) the next day.

 This corn was actually more expensive than a homemade tamale. The corn is for tourists. The tamales are for locales. I think I paid $1 for the corn and 40 cents for the tamale!

Random parade I found.

At this point I ran back  to the hostel, showered, cleaned up, rested a bit and headed back out again. It was funny how different I got treated. I wasn't harassed at all when I looked like a dirty back packer but when I came  back out again freshly showered and in clean clothes I got yelled at every block. So much so I almost went back and changed into dirty clothes. But I wanted to be clean so I could pop into Floridtas and some nice places. So I stayed out and just suffered through it. Ugh.

 I found a different view of the waterfront, and where the cruise ships dock!

Florditas's bar, which was awful. I walked in, looked at the terrible menu and the awful prices and walked out. Not worth it at bit!

As I recall, I wandered around the whole rest of the day and tried to hit up everything I could have possibly missed.

I had dinner at a nice hotel and was really exhausted. I got a table alone and these ladies were super annoying and tried to move tables and sit with me- and I really needed to be alone. Plus they had been sitting alone. I didn't want to make conversation with someone in another language and I just wanted to eat my dinner in peace. I asked them several times to please go back to their table and finally burst into tears. I think I was just WAY overtired and over hungry. I had been up since 5am and it was now past 10pm and I hadn't eaten since early in the afternoon. They suddenly jumped to some crazy conclusion that my husband had cheated on me and left me in Cuba and I was getting a divorce and they swiftly switched table sand then I was very embarrassed. I had wanted to have a nice dinner but because I had sat on the patio, they would only serve me super simple sandwiches and they were out of half their menu already, which was frustrating. Then the men on the street started heckling me and I got really pissed. It was a really awful meal and I just can't say how EXHAUSTED I was. When the ladies went to leave they came over to talk to me and they cradled and hugged me about my "poor cheating husband"and I just burst into tears again. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING.  I was so happy when they left and I finished my sandwich and could go back to the hostel and go to bed. OMG.

The lovely staff at the hostel made all of the arrangements for me to get back to the airport. They got a cab for me at like 3am and I gave the night guard and the day manager all of my remaining CUP since I didn't think I couldn't get it changed back to US dollars. They were great and I super recommend all of the vendors I used. I believe i stayed at the Paradise Backpackers Hostel.


My room!

And I made it back to the airport, all packed and in one piece!!

I was super worried about getting back into the US because the Cuban's had stamped my passport (they weren't supposed to- they just started doing that about a week before I came) but I stuck the pages together and bent open the Mexico pages really hard when I flew through John Wayne and nobody noticed or cared. It was great! I had a wonderful time and I am so glad I went and especially glad I went before it opened and everything changed. Travel ethically. Travel in a way that helps the local people!

 

I did also see the Venezuelan Olympian team!!!

CUBA! Mexico City, Days 1 and 2 in Havana

After the break up, I really wanted to do *all of the bad things.* I am a pretty hard lined good girl, so when I saw "bad things," that's a pretty low standard. I mostly drank beer and went dancing with girlfriends. When I thought of the absolute worst thing I could possibly do, going on vacation to a communist country seemed pretty bad. So that's what I decided to do.

With about 3 weeks to spare I planned this trip. I had great difficulty getting my airfare because the credit card kept rejecting the transaction since it was originating in Mexico, but eventually I got it booked less than 2 weeks out!

From my nieces in New York, I flew into Sacramento, came home, and at 4am the next morning I got up and took an Uber to the airport again to fly to John Wayne (Orange County) and then to Mexico City, and then to Havana! I had a lot of difficulty in Mexico, their tram system between terminals wasn't working and I was told by the airline employees I needed to change my money into pesos to buy a bus pass because it wasn't safe to walk between terminals- but I only had so much cash on me to take to Cuba because there was no way for me to pull my money out there since American cards don't work there. It turned out I only needed about 17 cents changed or something dumb, but I didn't understand that at the time, and in the end, it turned out I didn't even need what I had turned over! There was a free van that was shuttling passengers, just nobody seemed to know about it. It was very frustrating and stressful.

 In the Sacramento or Orange County Airport, I think, with all my gear! I never ever check bags!

 My very first look at Mexico! I thought the whole airport was very interesting looking.

 It took me awhile to realize I was int he wrong terminal, so I was pretty happy just hanging out where I was at... but once I realized I was int he wrong place I stopped taking photos and panicked.

 Once I got in the van and was bumping around driving between terminals,I totally started crying though. I just felt so at home and authentic to myself. I hadn't felt like myself in so long, definitely not since the break up, and being on the road just felt like ME and it felt SO GOOD. I was so glad to be there! Watching the busy, crowded, dirty scenery flash past was so comforting to me- I can't even fully explain it. To travel- to travel solo- is to be at home for me. It is my most authentic self and I was so happy.

Going through security at the international terminal the security personnel flipped out over my camera equipment. I guess they thought I was smuggling drugs or something? They scanned, and re-scanned my equipment and gave me the third degree about the fact I hadn't brought a camera bag. (I was lazy and worried I might get targeted for theft.) I was at security for 20 minutes,MINIMUM. It was a little insane. Finally they let me go. It was a little much.

Finally, I got on the AeroMexico flight and off I went- TO CUBA!!!!!!!!!!!

Habana's main airport is small,and bright, bright red. I landed late at night, especially after some pretty intense delays.I changed my money without issue and negotiated my taxi for  25 CUC to my hostel. Speeding around town (more like drag racing) at 1 or 2am with all of the windows down was amazing. But when we got to my hostel, the driving refused to give me change. I only had big bills, so I had I think, 20 CUC, or 30CUC, but not 25. He offered to take, of course the 30, but I demanded he give me change. He claimed he had no change. I offered him 20. So then he banged on my casa particular's door until the owner's came and exchanged angry words with them until they found me some change. It was CRAZY. The night watchman did not speak much English (or more likely- just hesitant to speak it- all Cubans learn English in school) but communicated very clearly he thought the driver was trying to scam me and he thought I was doing the right thing. The night I left, I gave the night watchman all of the CUP currency I had left as a tip. (CUP is the people's street currency, which doesn't have much value- but can buy a lot of food. CUC is the national or government currency and is used primarily by tourists. You would need both when traveling.)

The next morning I got up, and met my hostel mates, including a lovely Aussie from Perth, Ahn who offered to walk me into town. I had already read the sexual harassment was pretty intense and she said it would be a better introduction if we walked together since it was about a 20 minute walk. I happily took her up on her offer, and she was not kidding. Literally every block I would get a nasty comment- "Hey pretty lady, wanna f***?""Hey pretty lady, you have nice t*ts!" Again, it was CRAZY. Ahn told me to just say, "No gracias," and keep walking. And she was right. The comments stopped right there. That's all you had to do. Be assertive and look bored. It was disturbing at first but within a day it felt like old news. I was glad I had her to show me the ropes.

Walking out of the hostel was really overwhelming. The streets were full of people- poverty stricken, dirty, children and adults running around broken down streets, laundry water being thrown out windows and people shouting. Dogs and cats ran around everywhere. Used condoms all over the street. There wasn't much garbage on the street, but lots of broken concrete everywhere. 

It kind of reminded me of New Orleans,but after an apocalypse. I don't think I actually took any photos of the neighborhood my hostel was in, which was an actual Cuban neighborhood, and a good long walk from old town, but this is what a typical Cuban street looked like- but this is much cleaner. Most buildings looked much dirtier. But every single road was run down like this, for whatever reason. I didn't see a single road that wasn't. There was also huge amounts of construction going on to fix the roads because of Obama's visit. He came the week after I came! I would wake up every morning to huge changes around the city. From one day to the next they had planted flowers allover the entire Capitol's lawn and re surfaced all of the marble! Overnight!

I spent two full days in Havana, which was more than enough to find my way around and see everything I wanted to see. I wandered around the old fort, old town, Flordita's (Hemmingway's bar), checked out the water front, and as much shopping as I could stand.

 At the entrance to China town.

 There was a little ice cream stand in there!

 The Capitol, modeled after OURS! And all of that construction going on in preparation of Obama's visit.

 The nicest hotel in Habana or something? But don't patronize hotels... The money goes to the government. To travel ethically, stay in casa particulars- basically a b n b or a hostel.

 Looking out at the old fort.

 The art district- art is hige there.

 My friend Ahn, washing her underwear in the sink!

 The local children doing PE.

 At the main museum.

 On the second day, I did a double decker bus tour,I as I usually do. It's a great way to get your bearings around a city and save your legs when you're tired from walking too much. And I saw the CopaCabana driving around!

 You can see my money belt/necklace hanging out but literally I had money stuffed into every place possible. It was in my bra, underwear, pockets- everywhere! I was very concerned about being robbed and rightly so. Desperate people do desperate things and I don't blame them either. But I covered myself. Americans currently have no other way to get out money, so I couldn't risk it.

I went out clubbing at the FAC, an art district building and museum that night, and off to Vinales the next morning. That's another post though!