Saturday December 10 - Sunday December 18
- Viñales ... Sat Dec 10 - Tue Dec 13 ... 3 nights
- Cienfuegos ... Tue Dec 13 ... 1 night
- Trinidad ... Wed Dec 14 - Fri Dec 16 ... 2 nights
- La Habana ... Fri Dec 16 - Sun Dec 18 ... 2 nights
Warm air felt good coming from Boston in December! Havana Airport is Jose Marti. Didn't feel like a big airport. A lot of staff though. Ours was the only flight arriving. No lines. Francisco got through immigration without issue, but for some reason the young immigration officer flagged me and my passport was hustled off into a back room by another official. The only explanation was that it was my first time in Cuba and it was for 'security'. About 15 minutes later, only a few passengers left in this part of the airport, another official returned the passport offering apologies. I was quickly processed. They didn't stamp either of our passports, instead they stamped our tourist cards.
From the airport we took a taxi directly to Viñales. We drove in a new Lada.
- "Lada is a Russian car"?
- "Yes".
- "Is it a good car"?
- "No".
Our taxi driver was a guy in his 50's. He was critical of the Cuban government and spoke of his 20-something daughters trying to get out of Cuba and get to the US via Nicaragua. He said the government values a policeman more than it values a doctor. He said change was coming too slow.
It was quickly apparent there was little commercial development around the airport or near the highway. And very little traffic. We were heading west on the 'La Autopista Nacional', the single highway that runs the the length of the country. It's two lanes in each direction. There were no stores. We passed only a couple of gas stations. Each had lines and our driver explained they were waiting for the truck to deliver the gas. The highway was in decent shape. Exits every 5 or 6 miles, some people trying to flag the taxi down for a ride. We passed under overpasses clearly decades old with no roads connected to them. 40 or 50 minutes after we started the sun went down. There were no streetlights on the highway or on the exits. We could see small fires in the distance (making charcoal?) and leading onto the on-ramps and off-ramps (burning trash?). We were expecting a 2.5 - 3 hour ride, and about 2 hours in our driver was slowing at each exit. His vision was poor and he couldn't read the signs. The secondary road to Viñales featured turns and hills. It was in very poor condition. Lots of deep holes, missing pavement. Our driver went extremely slow. Once we reached town we read the street signs and house numbers to our driver and we made it to our casa particular safe and sound.
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| Casa Tatica |
Casa Tatica was a nice looking home close to the center of the small pueblo. Gated entrance, outdoor walkway to shared patio and separate entrances for two rental rooms, each with 2 beds, private bath, hot water, refrigerator and air conditioner. There was a relaxing covered patio with chairs and tables, and an unfinished roof deck with nice views of the surrounding countryside. Damage from Hurricane Ian was visible in the neighborhood. Fruit trees in our hosts yard were toppled. This would be a comfortable place to stay with more privacy than I expected. We met the family. A friendly couple in their forties with a teenage son who seemed to have one eye that didn't move. Our host arranged for a horseback tour of the valley in the morning. He'd also make us breakfast!
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| Mogotes |
In the morning our host prepared a nice breakfast for us. 'Fruta Bomba' (Papaya) and pineapples. Short thick sweet yellow bananas. A fried egg. Bread. Honey (from the beehives in his back yard). Papaya juice. Coffee. Hot milk. Hot chocolate mix. And right on schedule a cowboy appeared. Carlos walked us a half dozen blocks away from town and by his home 'Casa de Cowboy'. A short walk over a stream led us to our horses and our guide. A younger guy in full campesino outfit. Tronco was a calm strong hourse. Pepe followed him everywhere. And we proceeded slowly around frijoles and other crops. A few steep stream crossings. Trunco grabbing greens to eat along the way. A few other gringos led by guides. Our guide was accompanied by an older woman who apparently was his partner. She didn't talk hardly at all.
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| Vinales |
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| Tronco the horse |
And within 30 minutes we were among the mogotes the valley is famous for. Mogotes are steep hills unlike anything I'd seen. They're limestone and covered in lush vegetation so they're very green. There were caves visible on a few of them. A little farther and we had magotes on each side. We were in the Viñales valley, best known for it's high quality tobacco production. An hour in we stopped at a hut and an older guy talked to us about tobacco and cigars. He explained that he and his brothers were allowed to grow tobacco in the park but the government took 90% of the harvest. Still it was visible that he had dozens of employees and he appeared to be doing ok. The hurricane had devastated the tobacco crop and knocked down their drying racks so both the farmers and the government would have a bad year. We smelled the leaves, a strong earthy cigar smell. He rolled one in front of us, put some honey on the end and we lit up. Neither of us are smokers, but 'when in Rome..'.
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| Vinales Cigars |
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| Vinales Valley |
I bought a dozen cigars for $40 after the briefest negotiation. I still have no idea if they're good or not. Our tour continued to the base of a mogote. Here we dismounted our horses and joined a small group of European tourists entering a cave. We were asked to donate 200 pesos each ($1.40). The cave went in about 400 feet, crossing a small stream. Very dark. Stalactites. Stalagmites. And finally an underground river. Maybe 10 or 12 feet across and 4-8 feet deep. Cold. The Europeans were better prepared and jumped in to swim. We retreated to Tronco and Pepe. Our guide led us back the way we'd come. We stopped and got a sales pitch on local rum and honey. It seemed very expensive and we weren't very interested so we headed back, Tronco leading the way. No directions needed. Our guide repeatedly yelling 'Tronco' or 'Caballo' to keep us moving. Occasionally he'd rush up to whack Trunco with a switch, prompting him to trot for 50 or 60 feet. And soon we were back at our starting point.
It was a great morning. 5 hours in a beautiful place. The saddles were comfortable, probably because we went at such a slow pace. By now it was 1pm. Very hot in town. We enjoyed lunch with cold beer. And I realized I had no energy. Maybe dehydrated? Maybe caught a bug at the company party the day before we left, or on the plane? Could it be Covid? We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and had a leisurely dinner. I tried to get some aspirin or cough suppressant at the pharmacy. Hah!
On Monday we went to the beach. Cayo Jutias. It's a beautiful beach out on a peninsula off the northern coast of Pinar del Río. The narrow beach is sandwiched between mangroves and the sea. The road from Viñales was rough, with stretches under construction, but our young driver handled it well. The drive each way was around 90 minutes. But the powdery white sand and the turquoise water made it all worthwhile. There was even a guy selling ice cold drinks. Beers for 250 pesos ($1.50). Thank you! Lunch at the seaside government restaurant was less good. But the location was great and the price was super cheap.
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| Cayo Jutias |
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| Cayo Jutias |
Tuesday was a travel day. We wanted to get from Viñales to Trinidad. The best we could do was a collectivo to Havana (3 hours) followed by a collectivo to Cienfuegos (4 hours). It was a long ride. Our first co-passengers were tourists from France and Australia who didn't speak any Spanish. Our second co-passengers were Cubans from Cienfuegos. I enjoyed talking to our Cienfuegos driver, Victor. He made a few calls and set us up at a casa particular near the tourist area. Hostal Teresa turned out to be a great place for $20. We were in the heart of Cienfuegos, which felt like a big city. The room was much like the previous place but there was a common area with a TV and comfortable seating. It was a short walk to Paseo del Prado, a broad avenue with a tree lined center walkway that turns into the Malecón.
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| Hostal Teresa |
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| Cienfuegos |
Unfortunately there weren't a lot of shops, restaurants or bars. But we found a street vendor selling snacks. And eventually we found a restaurant and later a churro shop. So it all turned out good. The Malecón area was pretty but there wasn't a lot going on. Cienfuegos seemed more of an industrial city. There weren't a lot of tourists. Though, to be fair, we didn't visit the famous Jagua Fort on the other side of Cienfuegos harbor. I turned in early, tired from whatever bug I'd caught and the long car rides. I took a tuk-tuk back to our hotel. Francisco soldiered on, but reported I hadn't missed much.
Wednesday morning our hostess prepared us a nice breakfast. Fruits and coffee and milk. Bread. We dined with an older Spanish couple staying in the other room. Victor showed up on schedule to drive us to Trinidad. We saw more of Cienfuegos, but once outside the city center we saw little car traffic. Cuba has very few motorcycles. And on this secondary highway horses and carriages might have outnumbered cars. We passed through sugar cane fields and crossed bridges over rivers. Very different than the mountainous terrain we'd seen earlier. We were stopped at a police checkpoint where Victor was required to produce papers showing he was allowed to drive the taxi. He'd told us he had an engineering degree and was, like most Cubans, an educated professional, but found he could make better money as a driver. Apparently college in Cuba is free, so many pursue professional degrees in engineering and medicine.
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| Playa Ancón |
Before we got to Trinidad we saw signs for Playa Ancón, which I'd read was a the nicest beach in Sancti Spíritus' province. Victor took us there and we had a relaxing day at the beach. We were on the south side of Cuba now, the Caribbean. The water was warmer and it was less windy. Also no bugs. There were a few big resort hotels nearby and a restaurant/bar. They rented us chairs under a shade table. Great because we didn't even have towels! Again we had cold beer delivered on request! Victor charged us $50 for what turned out to be a couple hundred miles driving and pretty much the full day with his car.
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| Playa Ancón |
In Trinidad the tourist area is on a hill with a big church on top. The streets are a sort of cobblestone, but with smaller stones jammed in and not as smooth as regular cobblestone. We let a twenty-something on the street guide us to his parents' home, which serves as a casa particular. We met the parents, and Rocki the friendly little dog. Again we had a comfortable room, this time upstairs from the family home, with two terraces, one on the roof with nice views of the city. It was very pleasant. Trinidad felt more touristy than Cienfuegos. There were guys asking to 'change money' and sell cigars. Strangely they didn't actually have the cigars; only pictures on their cell phones. Apparently they'd get in trouble if police found them with the goods. We had a relaxing drink and sandwiches on the Plaza Mayor, near the church. Musicians began to play. They sounded great. Later we saw nice restaurants, advertising French and Italian food. But the prices were two or three times what we'd seen previously.
On Thursday after our host fed us breakfast, similar to our previous stops, we organized a car to take us to Topes de Collantes National Park. The road climbed into some serious hills right outside of Trinidad. These were the Sierra del Escambray mountains. I imagined Che and Fidel charging around these mountains at the start of the Revolución. We stopped at an overlook tower. Great views of the area all the way to the sea! On the way down we were stopped by a guy with a pet tarantula in a box. I guess he wanted us to pay for pictures? Not sure.
We continued up into the mountains. We had some issues getting entrance passes, as they required credit cards for purchase. So instead of Salto de Caburnì, we ended up hiking to Vargas Grande. It was a relatively easy hike to a pretty awesome waterfall. There was a coffee plantation closer to the road where we watched them grind and roast the coffee beans. We enjoyed truly great coffee. And then proceeded with our hike. Our driver walked with us and talked with the park ranger to get him to accept our entrance fee in cash. We enjoyed cold drinks at his uncle's house above the falls. The descent was perhaps 300 feet and very steep. The view of the falls was wonderful. We swam in the pool under the falls and were amazed at how cold the water felt. Frigid! How could anything in the tropics be so cold? We guessed it was coming from an underground river. Even still... So cold! Hiking back we got a little lost following some Spanish guys. Dummies. But it all turned out well and our driver took us back to Trinidad. That night we ate at a rooftop restaurant and enjoyed great music while drinking mojitos. Five or six guys with a great trumpet player. Very enjoyable.
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| Vargas Grande |
On Friday we headed to Havana. We'd negotiated a collectivo the day before assuming we'd be sharing the car with two other passengers. We got lucky when an an out-of-town taxi showed up late the night before looking for any fare he could find leaving Trinidad by 8am. Apparently he had a fare lined up at Havana airport in the early afternoon. I guess the collectivo guy couldn't find any other passengers to join us, so we got the car to ourselves. And a fun driver to talk to as well. He was from Viñales and wasn't shy about criticizing the government. He also thought change was coming too slowly. He said the current president Díaz-Canel was a puppet controlled by Raúl Castro. When I asked if was better to be poor in Cuba or another poor country he responded, "It's better to be poor in the United States". As we passed by oil refineries he explained the oil was from Venezuela. As we saw billboards with Fidel and Raúl's images next to Hugo Chávez, emphasizing their cooperation our driver lamented on what Chávez had done to that country. He denounced socialism, said all we need to do was look at East Germany and West Germany, or North Korea and South Korea to see that socialism doesn't work. As we continued on he showed us the entrance to the road to Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). And as we passed by rice paddies he noted the sacks of rice on the side of the road. He explained they dried the rice along the asphalt to get it as dry as possible. Eventually we arrived in La Habana, the City of Columns.
I told Francisco we should look for a place to stay in Habana Vieja near the Malecón. This led us on a walk through the old city into a commercial area without hardly any casa particulares visible. So we took a tuk-tuk back to where we started. We found a place that looked and felt very much like a western hotel overlooking Plaza Vieja. It was a hotel in every way but name. Hostal something-or-other. Old Havana is a great place to walk around. It's mostly closed off to traffic. There's a colonial feel to everything; most of the building must be hundreds of years old. Plaza de San Francisco de Asís is a beautiful shaded plaza. Walk a few blocks east and you're at a church built in the 1600's. It's the historical and tourist part of town with an energetic vibe. We encountered more stores within a few blocks than we'd seen the whole week. There weren't department stores or anything like that. But there were tourist shops, cigar stores, restaurants, coffee shops; even a bookstore. Old Havana is surprisingly big. Probably 10 blocks by 10 blocks. On Friday night we rode a tuk-tuk down the famous Malecón. It is 2 lanes each way starting from the harbor and running the length of the city along the sea. The sea wall is high above the water, and on this calm evening the sea was rougher than I would have expected, with waves crashing into the base of the wall with force. We bought a couple of ice cold beers from a shady guy with a pail walking beside a popcorn vendor and drank them on the wall near the impressive statue of San Lazaro, the leper who came back to life. There were locals about but since the Malecón runs for miles, people are generally spread out. Back at Plaza Vieja we enjoyed a female singer with a great voice covering popular hits, including Camila Cabello's 'Havana', which seemed appropriate.
On Saturday morning we took a ferry across the harbor to the fort on the other side of the harbor and the Faro Castillo del Morro. It's a combination lighthouse, fort and castle. The fort part is very big, with some of the original cannons still in place. We also visited El Cristo de la Habana and Che Guevara's house. The Cuban Jesus is 60 feet tall and visible from most of the harbor.
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| El Cristo de la Habana |
Che's old digs are now a museum. There are pictures of Che at different ages in many different places. Turns out Che was a trained medical doctor, enjoyed riding motorcycles and playing chess. He also had asthma, hence his home on the water. We took a taxi back traveling in a tunnel under the harbor and walked up the cities grandest promenade.
Paseo del Prado is a European style boulevard connecting the old fort guarding the harbor to the domed Capital building. It's a great place to walk on a Saturday afternoon. The center walkway is shaded, wide and immaculate. There are kids skateboarding, families strolling and artists showing their paintings.
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| Paseo del Prado |
The Capital building area was lively. There were dozens of classic cars available to give tours. There were musicians across the street in Central Park. But when we ventured beyond that, the locals warned us we shouldn't go any farther, referring to criminals in the area. We took their advice. But really, we never felt unsafe in Cuba. Our last night in Havana we enjoyed the best meal of the trip. Francisco enjoyed a fried fish and I had a pork chop. We were seated outside and treated to a live band. For the first few songs it seemed something was missing. Then a guy with a saxophone arrived and it all came together. The band was cooking for the rest of the night.
I'd wanted to visit Cuba for a long time. And travelling with my son made it a special trip for me. It's not difficult to book a flight. United and American airlines both fly direct from several US cities. Airfare is not expensive ($400). There are no difficulties with US authorities under the 'Support for the Cuban People' designation, as long as you follow the rules and avoid government hotels.
The casa particulares are pleasant and easy to find, though we did encounter bed bugs at one of our early stops. The only inconvenience, for Americans, is being unable to use ATM's and credit cards. The information I had on changing money proved to be outdated. Knowing what I know now, as of December 2022, I'd recommend changing only $100 or $200 to Cuban pesos to start. Taxis, collectivos and casa particulares all prefer US dollars, and these will be your major expenses. As of now, Euros are valued the same as US dollars. Cuban pesos are used in restaurants and with vendors for beer, ice cream and such. You'll have no difficulty changing dollars to pesos at any point in your trip. Everyone wants dollars.
There were difficulties booking Viazul buses, as reservations needed to be made by credit card, and as Americans we couldn't use our credit cards. Also the buses traveled infrequently. Instead we traveled by collectivo (shared taxi).
I was disappointed with the food options. Breakfast was good. Usually we ate at our casa particular at whatever time we arranged with our host the night before. Breakfast consisted of a selection of fresh fruit, tasty juice, strong coffe, hot milk, bread with a spread and sometimes eggs. Breakfast was sometimes included with our stay. Sometimes $5 was added. Lunch and dinner were found at restaurants. Portions were small. Meat and fish were generally unappealing. Rice was a side. Beans were rare. Fruit was not unavailable. Vegetables and salad were unremarkable. Water and beer were always offered; juice and soft drinks only sometimes. Cost varied depending on location, ranging from $7 - $12, give or take. Overall the food wasn't as good as other places I've travelled. Worse there wasn't any street food and there weren't stores to buy snacks.
I found Cuba fascinating. I expected beautiful beaches and mountains. And they didn't disappoint. I expected something like a Dominican Republic frozen in the 1960's. Instead I found a highly agrarian society with horses and carriages on the national highway and on the streets of secondary cities. I understood it was a Communist country where the government supplied the citizens with basic needs. But I was still shocked by the lack of stores. The people can't buy anything. The people we met were friendly and helpful everywhere we went. They were willing to talk about the government, less so about the police. They hope change will come sooner rather than later, though they're not optistic.
It's a difficult situation. If they switched from communism to capitalism overnight, then half the people would no longer have jobs. They rely on the government for housing, food, water, clothing, education, cell phones, cable tv; everything. Their basic needs are met. Poor people in other poor countries don't have a lot of the things Cubans have. The problem is there is no opportunity to excel. It's a high floor, low ceiling situation. I think in time we'll gradually see more capitalism in Cuba. I hope while that happens they're able to continue to meet the needs of the people. s
