Wednesday, January 17, 2007

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!