Cuba: April-May 2016  

We made it… CUBA! Our expectations were so high…maybe a little too high. My friend Tiffaney really wanted to go to Cuba as well, and with only a couple weeks notice, she made it happen. We met up in Cancun and flew to this mysterious country together.

Tiffaney and Jackie.

On arrival, we were approaching passport control and this man walks up to us. He asked where we were from, what we were doing in Cuba, how many of us were traveling together, and what we did for a living. We answered the job question with radiology, nurse, and…social worker. The guy looks at Tiff and asks her if she works for an NGO. She said yes. He says, “Follow me…” And away she went. Nice knowing you Tiff…

Another man came to talk with her since the first guy didn’t speak English. The guy walked back to us and asked us again if it was just the three of us. We confirmed. We waited. He told us to go through passport control, that we could wait on the other side, and that Tiff was fine, they just needed to ask her a few questions. The whole thing happened so fast, and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. Once on the other side, we waited for Tiff. Something in my head clicked. We were in Cuba. She is a social worker. Never mind that she basically works for DCFS, to them a social worker who works for an NGO could be an activist. Human rights stuff. Tiff was equally confused when she met with us. They asked her what kind of work she did and what she knew about Cuba. She said she was so nervous, and clearly not prepared for this type of questioning, the guy decided she was harmless and let her pass. So, note to anyone thinking of going to Cuba- just say you’re a nurse.  

Welcome to La havana. La Havana, Cuba.

Cuba has a few famous hotels, but we had read that most people stay in local homes called “casas particulares”. Javier had looked up a few, and when we arrived, we took a cab to Habana Vieja. But before this, we would experience our first unpleasantry in Cuba. The only way for us to get Cuban currency is to exchange money. Normally, we just pull money from the ATM, and while other from other countries can do this, Americans cannot. So we waited to change money…for a long time. Then, our taxi driver overcharged us $10 USD. We didn’t know the going rate, nor the currency. Javier and I both have a currency app, which we update as we move. Our app had two currencies. Unfortunately, we both downloaded the pesos, but not the other. What we didn’t know is that Cuban Pesos are so incredibly weak, they have come up with a new currency, the CUC. 1 CUC = 1 USD. We learned this the hard way. We had the taxi take us to one of the casas Javier had mapped. When we arrived, they only had one night available. We decided to look around so we didn’t have to move the next day. We walked to the next place a few blocks away, and on the way there, a guy comes and starts asking us if we’re looking for a place to stay. We were open to suggestions, so we decided to see his place. Long story short, we didn’t like it, so we walked back to the place we had originally set out to find, and rang the bell. The street guy followed us, and when the man answered the door, the two of them got into a heated discussion. The man at the door then told us that we couldn’t stay at his place because we were the street guy’s clients, and he couldn’t take business from him. What??? Javier tried to explain our situation, but he rudely dismissed us. We were so confused by this situation. The two Cubans were yelling at each other- they weren’t friends, so why did all this happen??? We were at a loss. It turned out to be fortuitous. After walking all over the place, and realizing too late that the maps provided by TripAdvisor were ALL WRONG, we decided to choose a place based on location. The building we chose housed two families. One family had no vacancy for the night, but was available starting the next day, while the other had availability for one night only. We were so desperate, and my back was killing me, so we took the one night, with the plan to move next door the next day. The woman at the first casa was not very nice. We found this to be the personality of many Cubans we encountered- very short fused, impatient, and often times, downright rude. We spent the evening walking around and having dinner. We noticed immediately that everywhere offers live music, which we really enjoyed. 

View from our Balcony. La Havana, Cuba.

We moved next door in the morning, and were happy we did! Not only was our room nicer, but so were our hosts! We set out for the tourist information center. The guy helping us wasn’t too friendly at first but warmed up after a while. He gave us recommendations for Havana, a few other cities we were interested in, and bus schedules. We were also able to connect to wifi, but only to download the tourist information… nothing else. 🙂 Oh, and he also told us how to obtain wifi. We had to buy a card, and could receive 1 hour of wifi for $2. We asked if there were any other places, a restaurant, coffee shop, anywhere where we could buy a meal or drink and get wifi…nope. The wifi only worked in a couple areas of the city, so we would walk down one block and see everyone on their phones. The next block, nada. 

We left with a vague plan. Tiff really wanted to go to Varadero, the beach location in Cuba. Javier and I weren’t really into the beach, but voted for Trinidad and Viñales. Tiff also wanted to go to those places, so we set out a schedule, realized we didn’t have enough time for all three, and settled on Trinidad and Viñales. Sorry Tiff. 

La Havana, Cuba.

We visited all of the major plazas in Havana, as well as other famous landmarks. After a day of walking, we ended at La Bodeguita del Medio- a place made famous for its mojitos by Earnest Hemingway. After a mojito and some live music, we headed back towards home. We rested, and readied ourselves to go out. We went to Buena Vista Social Club where we listened to music, drank mojitos, piña coladas, and daiquiris.

Mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio. La Havana, Cuba.

At one point in the show, they went around the room and asked where people were from. For every country, they played a song, and when they could, they would do a dance from that country. Most of the people were from Latin America. The music and dancing was so much fun. There was a white couple from South Africa, and the performers looked confused…”Are you sure you’re from South Africa?” Haha! For these folks, they played ‘Waka Waka,’ by Shakira…close enough. Then there was a couple from Kuwait. They all looked at each other confused…Kuwait!?! For them, they said, “I’m sorry. We don’t have a song for you. Come back tomorrow, we’ll have a song then!” We were last. When Tiff said, “U.S.” they started some big band music and said…”Well, we’re friends NOW!!!” And started swing dancing. Very cute. It was a fun night. 

The next morning, we walked around the city and signed up for some tours. We were told to visit the a certain hotel to sign up for everything. When we arrived, the doorman told us that the concierge desk was closed for the week. As we stood there and asked him where else to go, several other people walked by and were told the same thing. Weird. As we were on our way to the next place to try and book our tours, Javier says, “I bet the actors from Fast and the Furious are staying there.”  That’s right!! They were filming F&F 8 while we were there. They were also having some sort of fashion show, with more celebrities showing up for that. This hotel is the fanciest in Havana, and definitely where the big names stay. No wonder they were closed to the general public. We found another smaller hotel to book our tours, one of which was a city tour and the other, a cigar tour. We wanted to see how they made the cigars. The tour lady told us to take a taxi to the factory since it was a little far away. After a quick lunch, we decided to take one of the old cars to our tour. We asked around and were quoted ridiculous prices.

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“tour” in an Old car ride.

Finally, one guy said he’ll take us there for $5 CUC. The tour lady said the ride should cost about that much, so we said okay. The guy confirmed that we wanted to go to the factory, and Javier said yes. No problem! He literally drove us around the block and dropped us in front of a building. We were confused. The tour lady told us the drive would take at least 10 minutes. He pointed at the sign and said, this is the Partagas building. We shrugged it off, paid him and went into the building. When we asked around, the security guards told us that the factory was closed and is now only a shop. The working factory is further away. We were really upset. This guy knew exactly what he was doing and just ripped us off. We found another guy who drove this little yellow egg-looking thing.

Moto taxi. La Havana, Cuba.

I had been wanting to ride in one, and he was willing to take us there and back for 10CUC. We were running out of time, so we took it. When we arrived at the factory, the last tour was just starting. The guide gave a brief history before taking us upstairs and showing us where the workers roll the cigars. He warned us that we could take pictures anywhere, except the top floor. When we arrived on the top floor, we could look in the doorways and see all the workers rolling the cigars. Tiff leaned over and said, “This is how I picture a sweatshop,” and she was right. Me not even thinking said, “I wonder why we can’t take pictures?” Tiff says, “Because it’s a sweatshop, and probably a human-rights violation.” Interesting. Our guide came over and grabbed a couple of cigars and explained the process. I thought cigar factories were like wineries, each brand has their own factory where they make only their cigars. Well, that might be true if they were privately owned, but since they are ALL owned by the government, they are all made at the same place. Each “brand” has their own recipe.

There are three tiers of tobacco leaves- those closest to the sun (1), those in the middle (2), and those at the bottom (3). They are picked, dried, and sold by farmers. So one brand may have the recipe, 1, 2, 1- and that’s the order the cigar is made. Different combos, different flavors, different brands. Cohiba is the most famous because it is what Fidel used to smoke until he quit for health reasons. Che Guevara smoked Montecristos- which I’ve come to enjoy.

Cigars. La Havana, Cuba.

Our guide told us that some of the brand names originated from stories that were read to the people. The workers used to have stories read over the loud speaker to keep the morale high. While going through a Shakespeare phase, they created the “Romeo and Juliet.” While reading Dumas’, “The Count of Montecristo”- well, you get the point. Our guide said that the workers make between $60-$80 CUC a month, which he thinks is not enough. They also get to take home 20 cigars a week, or 4 per day of work. 

We took our little egg back to the hotel where we inhaled some food and waited for our city tour. The tour took us to Revolution Square, where they were preparing for a celebration. May 1 is Worker’s Day, and true to most dictatorships, it is celebrated first and foremost with military displays. The tour took us to a shop where they sell cigars and rum. We sampled the rum and bought a 3-pack of Montecristos for later. The tour went through modern day Cuba and old Cuba. One thing that was repeated over and over was the Revolution. I knew the Revolution was important, but not to this extent. Being in Cuba, you would think it happened last year, not almost 60 years ago. It is very evident that this is a nation living in the past, and not necessarily because of the embargo, but because of the mentality of the people. The Revolution is not something of the past, it is very present and permeates every corner of society. They are so busy looking backward, it seems difficult to move forward. 

Jackie and The Montecristo

We spent the evening at our local bar, listening to live music, drinking mojitos and local beer, and smoking our Montecristos. It all felt oh so Cuban. 

We spent the next morning at the Revolution Museum. The museum was interesting in the beginning, but quickly became redundant. According to the museum, there was not a single Cuban who opposed the Revolution, and who knows, maybe that’s true. Any and all opposition came directly from the CIA. Even natural disasters where the works of the CIA. While maybe some of this is true, it gets kind of ridiculous…almost laughable. I thought I was being really insensitive in my thinking until I heard a couple of European girls speaking English with each other, both with different accents, rolling their eyes and even giggling at some of the stuff being displayed. It’s one of those things where you read it and say…truly, no one in their right mind would believe all of this. If it had been more objective, it would have been much more credible.

Before walking out, we walked by a wall that had former US presidents all as caricatures. They have Regan dressed as a cowboy, Bush Sr as Cesar, and George W wearing a Nazi helmet. Next to every one of these caricatures is a plaque that says, “Thank you cretin, for helping us STRENGTHEN THE REVOLUTION.” I think I make more exceptions for developing nations than Javier. I fall into the trap of the double standard where I would expect better from my own country, but don’t feel like I can criticize another out of fear of being insensitive or worse, a “typical American.” Javier on the other hand, has a completely different outlook and isn’t afraid to express his opinions. While I saw this and was surprised, it didn’t make me angry, Javier on the other hand said it was pathetic and he was ready to leave. His take was that this is a government sanctioned history museum, not an art exhibit. They want to be taken seriously, and this is the type of thing they display?? He was absolutely right. As we were walking back to our casa, Javier was telling Tiff and I about the letter from Che to Fidel. It was kept secret for many years, but Fidel decided to allow it to be published and put on display. The part we found most interesting was his parting with Fidel. He was going on to Bolivia to continue the fight there. But he mentioned in the letter that he wasn’t exactly in agreement with the direction Fidel was taking the country. He didn’t outright say this, but that was the intonation. It was all very interesting. I don’t know much about Che, but the little I do, I think he’s okay. We had just enough time to grab some sandwiches and hurry home to meet our driver who would be taking us to Trinidad.

“Los Cretinos”

To see more pictures of Cuba, Click HERE.

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