Cuba - Blogabond

Cuba, what can one say, I think that almost everyone has an image popping up when they think about this island either its Che Guevara, Castro, old American cars, rum, cigars or maybe a little bit of everything.

We came here by plane from Panama City and everyone had told us that it was so hard to get through customs or that it took really long time to get your bags or just problems in general. We didn’t get any of these though, we came filled in the papers and just went through, I had some problems with the immigration lady but that was more because of my Spanish than anything else, she just ended up giving me a look like “stupid tourist, learn Spanish” when she waved me by.
After we had gotten to our Casa particular which means that you rent a room in someone’s home I went to bed and when I started to relax after the trip I started to feel this massive fever that had been built up during the trip so I spent the night freezing while my body was at around 40 degrees, dreaming that Steffi was a rabid dog and even hit her in my sleep, so the next day we went to the tourist hospital where I got some new antibiotics and got cleaned up =)

Apparently the old infection didn’t really die from the first antibiotics so now as soon as I got a cut or a mosquito bite it got badly infected really fast. The doctor also told me that I’m wasn’t allowed to walk and I had to come back for a couple of days to get cleaned.
The next day my mother came to Cuba to visit me and Steffi and so that we could travel around together and experience the country. She also brought things we needed from Sweden (read: a lot of candy). She stayed with us at the casa and since I was confined to bed she and Steffi had to explore the city without me at least for the first couple of days.
On Friday I got the weekend off since the nurse who usually checked the cuts was off and everything was looking better. I was allowed to stay out from the hospital but I was supposed to still be in bed.
Then on Saturday we went to the museum of the Revolution to learn more about what happened. It was a really big museum with too much information. You didn’t know what was really important and what was just meaningless facts like “this weapon was used in the fight at… bla bla.”

This was also my first real look at the City of Havana and it is a really cool and beautiful city, feels like going back in time. You see old American buicks and Chevrolets driving around some looking almost new and some look like they have been driven for 1000 km every day since they were built. It’s also a special city because there is no commercial or billboards only some propaganda.

The day after we went on a day trip to Viñales where the best tobacco comes from. It was really beautiful although it rained a lot.
It is really hard in Cuba to live as cheaply as the locals although we did change our money to the national currency. I didn’t like that they separated tourists by having two different currencies. Going inside most of the shops you didn’t get much to choose from. Most of them only offered rum, cigars, salt, sugar, some canned food and juice.
After Havana we decided to go to Trinidad. A colonial city ………. Our host at the Casa Particular in Havana had recommended another Casa Particular in Trinidad so we went there.
When we arrived there the lady who had the Casa started with the dumbest selling tactic I’ve ever witnessed. Telling us that Trinidad is dangerous for tourists and that we would do better eating breakfast, lunch, dinner in her home rather than putting ourselves at risk walking the streets in Trinidad.
We asked what the meals cost and it was a fortune for her so to say. We started packing our things ready to go and she goes on telling us that all Casas Particulars are full and tourists have to sleep in the park because they can’t afford the hotels or find a casa particular. She really got on our nerves as we walked out the door.
15 minutes later we found even a better Casa Particular for the same price with a really nice balcony, a nice room and a nice lady. The following two days we explored Trinidad. We also went to the beach

me and mom

and saw most of the sights in Trinidad to bad we didn’t know more about the history though but nevertheless it really is a beautiful city

After Trinidad we decided to go to Varadero to let Steffi fulfill one of her dreams, to swim with a dolphin. When we arrived we saw the beach and it was one wave after another, people doing kite surfing and strong onshore winds nice sights and since I still have the problems with my feet it didn’t bother me that the swimming wasn’t the best.
Early the next morning it was time for Steffi to meet the dolphins. An experience of a life time, she was the first one in and last one up, got to try to stand on the nose of two dolphins got a kiss and also tried getting towed by two of the dolphins she got to try everything you see at the tv.

And after the swimming we also saw a cool dolphin show which ended with one of the dolphins swimming around with the Cuban flag... hehe

We got back to Habana and the last night we slept at the same Casa particular and took the plane early the next morning and ended our two weeks in Cuba that we spent with my mother and it was really nice I think all three of us really enjoyed it although I had some problems.

Next we jump to Jamaica Kingston for six days and then it’s almost time for South America.

Chris

written by

Steffi & Chris on November 14, 2009 from La Habana, Cuba

from the travel blog: 212 days

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