Saturday 3rd December
It was back in August that Jayde had asked if I’d wanted to go to Cuba. It was a country I wanted to visit, especially before it became overly modernised but not really thought of us a potential destination for 2016. Still I didn’t take any convincing. In the week before leaving, Castro, responsible for the Communist Revolution passed away and having studied the Cold War, I knew I would be visiting at a unique time.
Jayde and I met at Gatwick Airport and after dropping off our bags still had enough time to get breakfast and a few last minute items from the shops. My eyes lit up when I saw the final 3 packets of chilli heatwave Doritos because recently they seem hard to come by and as they were on offer I decided they would be a good snack on the long bus journeys. This was my first long haul flight since March 2014 and I was excited to have the opportunity to binge on movies I’d missed.
I started with Finding Dory which had some good moments before moving on to Batman vs Superman. Despite the action I fell asleep only waking up during the most dramatic explosion which startled me. I ate one pack of Doritos and wine gums which perked me up and I restarted the film which was better than expected and I won’t spoil the ending. Finally I watched the new Ghostbusters movie and a documentary on Pompeii just because I didn’t think I had time for another movie.
We landed early but had to wait 30 minutes before proceeding to the gate and unfortunately that was a sign of the waiting to come. The immigration system was chaotic as I’d expected but once that was done, we had to pass through security even though we’d been screened at Gatwick and then had to wait an age for our bags. A similar one to my was on the carousel and I became convinced someone had taken the wrong one and everyone freaked out a little when the flight details were taken off the screen. All in all it probably took over 2 hours 30 minutes after leaving the plane before we finally left Customs (after handing in our immigration cards).
The queue for the exchange was long and hardly moving but fortunately neither of us had any issues getting money out from the ATM unlike some and it appeared pot luck. A helpful man at the information desk found us a taxi driver who led us to his car which was older than those either side though he did have a fancy looking Bluetooth headset. I think it’s fair to say we were both slightly on edge throughout the journey and the uneasiness wasn’t helped when we suddenly pulled in to a petrol station and he opened the passenger door.
This was so he could drop food off to his wife and we were soon back on our way eventually arriving at the hotel Caribbean. We checked in and went up to our room however as it was a double I went down to see if we could swap for a room with two singles. This didn’t seem to cause any bother however the new room had a musty smell and needed some tlc though in truth was exactly what I expected of a mid range Cuban hotel.
We returned back downstairs and enquired about somewhere to eat and the Security guard led us to a place not far away for dinner. I ordered a small salad with Cuban rice and a rum and coke which was just what I needed and not too heavy. The journey back to the hotel didn’t take long and after finally successfully turning off the bed side light we went to bed.
Sunday 4th December
Jayde and I had originally woken up around 4.30am and had a little chat before we drifted off to sleep again. We had a lazy start and made our way to breakfast before it closed and whilst there wasn’t a great selection it was better than I had expected. We returned to the room and after a post breakfast lie down decided to walk from the hotel Caribbean to Hotel Ambos Mundos rather than getting a taxi.
Whilst in theory it was only about 1km we didn’t have GPS so could only make a guesstimate of the right direction. This probably made the walk slightly more daunting than it was, and whilst some taxi drivers shouted out, no one really hassled us and for the most part we were ignored. We had slightly overshot but eventually we stopped at a cafe and realised the hotel was around the corner. We dropped off our bags and then went to explore the area we had just walked through at a more leisurely pace.
First we returned to the cafe so we could get a natural lemonade as we were both feeling quite hot after the walk. We then spent the next hour or so walking around the old town. We walked along the Calle Mercaderes towards the Plaza Vieja. We then walked along the river front until we reached the Castillo de la Real Fuerza.
We stumbled upon a restaurant called La Imprenta which had reasonable looking prices and I ordered a chicken curry with pineapple and a tukola (cuban coca cola) as they were not selling alcohol due to the recent death of Castro. After leaving we walked to the Cathedral and Plaza before returning to the hotel via a small market in the Plaza de Armas.
We both shared use of the Wifi so that we could finally let family know we’d arrived and rested in the room by watching a police forensic documentary. I also had a shower and got changed before we made our way to the hotel lobby where we met the rest of the tour group and our tour leader Dayami.
Once we’d completed paperwork the majority of us went for dinner and whilst it was reasonable value for 3 courses I’d have been content with paying less just to get the main as the soup was quite bland. Jayde and I intentionally sat at opposite ends of the table as we knew it would make us more likely to chat to the others in the group. Shortly after enjoying my first mojito we returned to the room and watched another Forensic show episode.
Monday 5th December
We woke with plenty of time to get ready and to go to breakfast at a leisurely pace. There was a ride variety of food however most of it seemed more appropriate for lunch or dinner as it included pizza, a cheese and tuna melt, rice and two beef patties acting as buns with cheese/ham. My non beach ready body was content by the I waddled back to the room and after making sure we’d left nothing behind made our way back to the lobby.
Most of the day was spent on the coach as we travelled from Havana to Trinidad. We were on a small coach but there was plenty of space for our group and it was more modern than I’d expected. Looking out of the window the scenery was pretty, with lots of palm trees lining the road and I noticed lots of birds of prey but without dad and Jenny I had no what they were. I spent the 6 hours writing my blog, reading my lonely planet guide and finally sorting some travel themed playlists on my phone.
On the way to Trinidad we were meant to stop at Santa Clara however the Che Guevara monument was closed so we drove to UNESCO listed Cienfuegos. After having lunch at a restaurant in a small harbour we had the opportunity to explore the Neoclassical architecture around the Paraue José Martí which included the City Hall (Palace de Gobierno), Cathedral (Catedral de la Purisima) and Theatre (Teatro Tomás Terry).
A large group of us then decided to climb the stairs to the top of the Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte. We could hear music so once we were at ground level went to explore and saw a band practicing. We continued to a nearby bar for a mojito before going to a supermarket for cheap large bottles of water. Like at the airport service was slow and they operated a strict one in one out policy however we were all back at the meeting place in time. Next stop Trinidad.
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