Cuba

Ah Cuba ... that great old bastion of communism is still going strong. Managed to get on over to the island that has been thorn in the side of the US for decades and loved it! So here is a brief recount, and some pics, of my travels, for a couple of weeks in mid-December 2006!

Started with Air Frog. I don't usually have a problem with the French, unlike most of the English, but with my travels on Air France to Cuba - I now have problems. It all started on a windy day in London... (this may go on a bit - apologies in advance)

Flight due to leave at 9.30am from Heathrow to Paris. Connecting flight in Paris at 1pm to Havana, Cuba. Air Frog plane leaves 1 hour late. Air Frog plane has an aborted landing when literally feet from the runway having to take off again and fly for another 20 minutes in windy weather before landing at Paris. I had to hold a Frenchman's hand in the seat next to me who was moments from a cardiac arrest from fear. When we finally landed the Captain received an encore - that is no joke, yes one load of clapping, followed by an intense second round of clapping when we landed. Obviously, with 1 hour time difference it was now roughly 12.30 in Paris and I was racing against time to get my connecting flight. Infact, I gave up as we couldn't exit the plance thanks to blistering winds and safety concerns about the passenger walkway collapsing. ANYWAYS, got off the plane and discover my Havana flight is delayed 5 hours. Great I think, so I spend the afternoon in Paris airport. Finally we leave and I touch down in Havana at 12am local time. All up, a 22 hour trip that should have been 14. May as well have flown to Australia.

So, with the tres bad Air Frog journey behind, time to get on with travelling. Havana is a beautiful yet decrepid city at once. Cigars a plenty, including those hawks who want to sell them (see picture above). It is amazing how your Spanish improves telling unwanted hustlers where to go repetitiousy every day. Unfortunately, my pronunciation gave it away I was a tourist, so in the end we resorted to the most exaggerated "g'day" in Aussie accent we could and we soon had them backing off slowly as we passed by.

Havana will one day collapse on itself I swear. Some of the structures holding up buildings are amazing! For the architects out there amongst you, an example of such measures is shown in this photo! Infact, there are areas in the city where floors of buildings do randomly collapse.

So I met up with Toddy and Leigh-Anne and hit the roads of Havana and even managed to visit a bar or two and importantly the ron factory (that means rum). We had an entertaining tour of the factory in true Cuban style and had some well matured rum at the end which was enough to send us off our rockers (picture below). We then moved to the bar and listened to some of the most beautiful impromptu random singing from a local senora I will ever hear. Only managed to grab a small clip (in between some knuckles contests from Toddy and Leigh-Anne) but worth a squiz.

Important tip for Cuba. Money ain't easy to come by and my God, I travelled far and wide to find one of maybe 2 ATMs in Cuba to find that they service only Visa cards (I am a Mastercard), and not 24/7 at that. Hotels are the go for money, which again, are hard to come by which means you stock up! Or start learning to trade ;). Anyways, visited Fidel's museum in celebration of him, his buddies and those evil Yankie devils (Yankie and devil featured prominently in the English translations for most of the stuff there). Leigh-Anne headed home on her merry way and we headed to the quintessential Cuban corner bar to hang with the locals. Our first friend there was fresh out of prison. Fantastic. It was a good chance to get my rough Spanish into order though maybe not the best person to practice with.

Following on from Havana we hit Vinales, a beautiful traditional Cuban rural town where there is no shortage of tobacco. We arrived on a bus from Havana and were mobbed by the biggest posse of Cuban women trying to put us up for the night ever! I've been mobbed before in parts of Europe but this was next level folks. Toddy and I were shaking in our boots walking off that bus. Absolute mayhem. We settled on a very nice lady caled Daimy who had an apartment right in amongst the roosters, chickens, hens, pigs, horses, dogs and cats whose company we enjoyed immensely at 6am each morning after rum and salsa the nights before. We stayed for a couple of days and got into rural life with cigar smoking (see picture - I was trying to look as seedy as possible - not what I now look like - honest), salsa and some hearty Cuban meals. Speaking of food, you need to get used to maize based bread, fresh ham and cheese here - there isnt much else going around. No supermarkets or snack shops ANYWHERE. Staple diet of jamon y queso, rice, beans and pork. It is refreshing to not see any symbols of America around though such as the golden arches and the like so I wasn't complaining too much. My bowels were though, but that's another story.

Our walking tour group through the tobacco region of Cuba with Yuri our guide, our Russian friends Marina and Nina and our Spanish friend friend above.

We hired a scooter to hit the coast. We definitely looked like the team from shit-scared on D-Generation if anyone remembers them - the picture clarifies this. The roads of Cuba have on average a pothole 1 metre in diameter every 25 metres or so which makes for interesting riding. The lack of catalytic converters on cars and trucks also means I have achieved my lead ingestion quota for the next 2 decades. Great ride though and the coast is spectacular with the usual bright white sand beaches and crystal clear water. We unfortunately decided to leave Vinales and taxi it back to Havana where we had a flight to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second largest city! Another interesting flight with Air Cubana (which for the record, we have since discovered is only second to Air China as the most unsafe airline to fly on) which ended with a very bumpy landing and another round of applause for the pilot.

Santiago de Cuba is the jinteros capital of Cuba - the local name for people who really get on your nerves quite quickly with their hustling tactics. Being Melbournians, we appreciate that second biggest cities don't always get the limelight and Santiago de Cuba again proves this true. Incredibly skinny streets, jail bait, beaches, beautiful harbour, and jinteros of course. We definitely had a lot of fun here. Cuba has such beautiful sunsets and this was especially the case in Santiago de Cuba. We salsa'd it up at a couple clubs, though you don't need a club because they dance in the streets 24/7 with music blaring. It is a country that never sleeps!

There are no public restaurants as such in Cuba (unless state run) so you end up eating at people's houses quite regularly which gives it an authentic feel. Such a family we ate with on a small island in the harbour of Santiago de Cuba. Names escape me, but they were impressed with my gold cap on one of my molars as there mouths were full of gold teeth! We were friends for life. If you are lucky, you may see the teeth of gold in the picture.

After spending a few nights in Santiago de Cuba we flew back to Havana on another Air Cubana russion military jet (mental note : when you board a plane through its rear, you need to question why you are getting on that plane). With Russian insignia written all over this beast we began to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter (helped with the previous nights pina coladas and rum) which the locals did not take heed of. We were the only tourists on this flight and we thought it rather odd when the cockpit filled with smoke and dropped 20 degrees on approach to Havana. No-one else battered an eye lid so we accepted this is the normal level of safety associated with Cuba air travel and took the emergency brace for landing. We landed just dandily, but were disappointed there was no applause on this flight. I was beginning to get used to it too.

So, we departed from Havana back to London and the Air Frog show began again. 2 hour delay at Havana, followed by a 4 hour delay at Paris before arriving in London to find some stuff had been nicked from my bag. Apparently a battery charger and an international power adapter count as valuables so Air Frog refuses to compensate. The saga continues...

Oh, and I got mugged in Havana on the last night there. First time which is likely overdue considering some of the sketchy neighbourhoods I have visited over the last couple of years especially. Disappointing though as it was a sentimental necklet they took (1-2 combination of break the chain on my neck, Luco stunned catches it in his right hand whilst watching assailant bee line it up a street, neglecting to see accomplice in front of me with eyes on the prize, who faster than you can say "g'day" grabbed and dashed with the chain). Oh well, that's life I guess. I will definitely be back though!

Robbed

Well, after the exhileration of drawing with Croatia to enter the final 16, of course it takes a Spanish referee taking kickbacks from the Italians to hand Italy a quarter finals birth on a platter and send Australia packing. Very frustrating. Thankfully, the English press has stuck up for the Aussies and really given to the quality of reffing in this tournament, which Australia copped the brunt of more than most!

Anyways, a piccy from a big function we went to to see Australia v Croatia (Brick Lane in East London). It was like a mini cinema in there and was packed to the hilt with Aussies so you can imagine the atmosphere during the tense match and the relief and partying following! I had to go to work the next day though but my boss was sympathetic to my tiredness during the day! Brick Lane has the, and I mean, THE best bagle shop on the planet. Head down there if you get a chance when next in town. Mmmm.

Bath Bath Bath Bath

So I also managed to get out there and hit Bath finally. Not since my days as a wee Luco following Mum and Dad and their Griswalds European Vacation back in the mid 80s had I ventured to Bath. To be honest, I don't remember too much of it from back then but visiting this time in splendid spring weather was truly beautiful. I managed to wing a nice little convertible to take advantage of the glorious weather and hit the road with the roof down (and umbrella ready -u thought Melbourne weather was unpredictable! yikes) and fanged it to Bath, well, just on the brink of bath.

Bath of course has its major attraction being the old Roman baths, which funnily enough aren't so old with seemingly everyone restoring them to some shape or form over the centuries to the point where there aint much original bath left, mostly early twentieth century remakes. Anyways, they are very interesting and have interesting stories behind how they fitted in to old Roman society when the Romans had settled the motherland.

I tried to mould into the surroundings as best I could to feel like it may have been in old Roman times (see above) and truly discovered why it is the Romans wanted to present their culture to the local english hooligans. Altogether, a fantastic short trip, with fantastic spring weather, and fantastic sports driving on the speedy motorways!

Kiev

I hit Kiev with Toddy and Hirdy over the Easter break and had a fantastic time. Lots of caviar, cheap vodka and beer (everyone drinks beer in Kiev at any time of the day which is no wonder considering it is about 80 aussie cents for a 500ml stubbie!) and women wearing short skirts, also at any time of the day and big mafia looking dudes in big black suits - again, at any time of the day.

Kiev was an amazing city and somewhere I would like to return. It hasn't encountered the wrath of British tourists yet (unlike the Baltic states and some other Eastern European destinations) which really preserves it as an authentic, not too touristy destination to travel too. The only pain being Aussies need a visa but hey, I was willing to sacrifice and it was worth it.

From our 3 bedroom apartment with jacuzzi launchpade on the main street in the city, we hit the attractions (one of the beautiful orthodox churches, St Andrews I think is shown above with Toddy as well) which included churches, an interesting market where you could buy everything from old rusky passports to Nazi war medals and KGB IDs. I bought a beautiful painting of the St Andrews cathedral in a winter scene. It will be on the wall one day back at home.

The restaraunts and bars were interesting. Of course we had chicken kiev (c'mon! you gotta do it!) which was delicious and all the meaty dishes the Ukrainians love so much, and the bars which were interesting moreso because of the shady mafioso looking characters lurking around with the beautiful women sidekicks to match. All in all, a fantastic holiday and somewhere I can recommend anyone to visit (before the Brits invade anyways ;))! The other picture is me standing in the market with all the dodgy memorabilia. I got myself an old Red Army broach and commy belt (very cool) 'apparently', according to our Jewish market stall owner, belonging to soldiers in the Red Army from the first world war. He also sold Nazi war medals and the like - go figure.

London home!

And here is a picture out my bedroom window at home in South Ken. Looks out towards the Natural History Museum. Actually went and saw a Che Guevara exhibition next door on the weekend which was quite interesting.

oh...lake bled. bled in slovenia, purely a beautiful location and somewhere i recommend to seriously chill for a while. this is a view of the lake which is incredibly tranquil. give it a go.
say gday to the swans. go swans!! back to back 2006.

one of the few pictures i can find on my computer since Hewlett-Packard deleted everything on my laptop after going in for a service to fix a fault with their dodgy pc. NEVER BUY FROM HP please. anyways, this photo survived. a pub in ljubljana, slovenia right when i was halfway through growing my finely styled beard and looking rather dero. about august 2005!