Getting There
LGA-->CUN:
Unfortunately, American citizens are still not allowed to visit so getting to the destination and figuring out currency were the trickiest part about organizing this trip. As NEast-residing US citizens, the easiest options are to fly through either Canada (Toronto) or Mexico (Mexico City, Bahamas, Cancun etc..). I found it much more economical to fly Spirit Air through Cancun ($~700 pp rt) vs Toronto (~$900 pp rt). Looking back, I would have spent the extra ~$40 to fly with Jet Blue because Spirit Airlines is a bit of a piece of poop (delays, cancellations, overbooking, rerouting).
CUN-->HAV:
I attempted to pre-purchase our Mexico-->Cuba portion of the trip in the States, but the airlines won't accept any US currency or credit so I called Air Mexicana in their Mexico City office and made a reservation. This act caused me quite a bit of trouble due to language difficulties (my spanish not so bueno and their english not so bueno) and ended up being a huge waste of time because they didn't have our reservation when we landed in Cancun. Nonetheless, the flight was not sold out and we paid ~$350 USD pp rt for our flight to Jose Marti International in Havana.
Money Issues for 10 days
The source of much of my worry was not being able to use my credit card (in case of emergency) and having to carry 10 days worth of cash. After reading through endless Thorntree forum debates, we decided to bring 4 forms of currency:
1) Amex Travelers Cheques- photocopied the receipts and kept the receipt and cheques separate in case of theft ($1000)
2) Euros (or Canadian or Pounds)- the exchange rate seemed to be the best for Euros at the time of our travel
3) USD- Jason read that they were accepting this currency, and in most of the world, George Washington goes a longer way than most local currencies.
4) Mexican Pesos- The Air Mexicana lady told me I could only pay in pesos, I believe this applies only to US citizens.
Cuba has 2 local currencies- the peso (locals ~30 peso to 1USD ) and the Cuc (tourists ~1 cuc to $0.89USD). Cuba is NOT cheap!
We exchanged all our Euros and half the Amex Cheques in either the Havana airport or Cadecas (money exchangers), these are located throughout most of the major cities. We carried the cash on us at all times but really never felt unsafe and spent a lot less than we prepared.
Traveling
We divided up our time among the Eastern part of the country due to time constraints and visited (in order):
- Havana
- Trinidad
- Playa Giron
- Vinales
The Viazul Bus system is an excellent, clean and reliable bus system whose relatively elevated cost structures makes it generally for tourists use only. Within most of the cities, walking or a taxi was relatively easy to access and prices are comparable to taxis in NYC (so, kinda expensive).
Communication is fairly easy in the larger cities. Plenty of people speak English but almost EVERYONE is engaging, warm and wants to help. Jason and I got plenty of opportunities to practice our rusty high-school Spanish with our Casa owners, most of which did not speak very much English. Like most places we have traveled, Cubans always wanted to know where Jason and I were from, "Are you China?" "China?
The biggest shock and most prevalent difference between Cuba and other countries that we have visited that haven't been shunned by the US is options. Clothing stores will have a rack or two of clothing and everything is placed behind the counter. Grocery stores carry the standard fare of preserved meats, frozen meats, jarred sauces, packaged crackers but there is only one brand. .
The landscape consists of buildings, propagandist artwork, and nature. Considering that we live in one of the most marketed and advertised places in the world, it was quite a shock to there are NO advertisements..anywhere. No Nike, no Coco Cola, no Victorias Secret, no Starbucks, no McDonalds. Just lots of Che and viva revolucion!
Despite the US embargo on Cuba, they get CNN, VH1, HBO and plenty of other American TV channels. They have Coke, Sprite, Red Bull and plenty of Old American cars. As I assume with most prisons, if you know someone who knows someone, you can get pretty much anything. For example, our taxi driver from Trinidad to Playa Giron was this 25 year old playa who blasted reggaeton for 3 straight hours, professed his undying love for the Yankees, and boasted about his MLB game for his PS2.
I loved that there was no Starbucks in every corner, no kiddies with their happy meals. While the US embargo severely limits Cubans access to luxury items and chain store euphoria, they seem fairly peaceful. Poor, but peaceful. Lacking, but still so extremely generous and warm. Our taxi driver once stopped the car and ran out to help a woman because she had fallen on the street. Who does this in the states?! People leave their front doors unlocked and open, sit on their stoops and gossip. Women will ration out home made mayonnaise to their neighbors because they made too much. From my ignorant and superficial assessment, this country was filled with warmth and community.
Lodging
Outside of Havana, we stayed in the recommended form of lodging in Cuba called 'Casas Particulares'. These are basically homestays in a locals' extra room. They require licensing from the government and cost from 20-35 cuc, with the option for meals. All the casas we stayed at were impressively clean, had AC and hot water and it was with the owners that we have some of the fondest memories. In addition to paying for the license to become a registered 'casa' owner, they pay 250 cuc or 400 cuc per month (depending on if they have 1 or 2 rooms to rent) to the government, regardless if they have guests. Since the average salary for a Cuban is ~30 cuc/month this is an immense burden for the casa owners and the competition to recruit guests is pretty intense!
In Havana, we decided to forego Casas for hotels and stayed at two beautifully restored hotels, Hotel Raquel and Hotel Palacio O'Farrill. A 5 star hotel is the equivalent of a 3 star in the states, but it was definetly worth experiencing the majesty and grandeur of these monuments.
The mattress situation in Cuba puzzles me. Regardless of the amount we paid for the lodging, the mattresses were all equally s*itty. Like seriously crap with wires and springs jostling at your back all night and strange divets that encourage scoliosis. Seroiusly bad sleep, but just a part of being in Cuba.. :) In New York, I'm used to falling asleep with the city buzzing around me so I wouldn't necessarily say I need it to be outback- cricket-quiet to be able to sleep. However, Cuba was a whole other level of cacophony- rooster, horse hooves, coco-taxis, T-bird engines, dogs wrestling, Salsa music, Reggaeton blasting, Cubans shouting at each other, all throughout the wee hours of the night. But again, just part of the country's charm.
Food
I'm not sure I can accurately convey the reality of the food situation in Cuba because I was a tourist. However there were still plenty of opportunities to witness socialism and the Soviet influence. From what I understand, the government provides a family ration slips which they exchange for their weekly rations of bread, rice and beans, eggs, and meat. Luxury goods, such as guava jam, honey and ice cream are usually sold separately in pesos or cucs. I really don't understand their rationing system so sorry if this is totally incorrect...
Needless to say, there really isn't much variety or "fusion" going on in Cuba. Do not expect that a trip to Cuba will blow your gastronomic mind. Breakfast was usually an array of fruit (pineapple, papaya and oranges), black coffee, a roll and eggs. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich. Dinner was a predictable but delicious fare of rice and beans with some protein (fish, lobster, chicken, pork). Highly recommend the fish and lobster if you are by the coast..amazing!
Hopefully this post gives somewhat of a framework of how we (as American tourists) can feasibly travel to Cuba. I'll follow up this with more a more specific itinerary for what we did in each location.
dude cool!
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