Cuba!

Day 1

The flight from Nassau to Cuba took about 40 minutes. From the International airport we took a taxi to Varadero which is about two hours by car from the airport. The lady at the information desk was really frustrating to speak with. She didn't speak fluent English and she didn't understand us when tried asking about a bus to Varadero. She kept saying that they weren't any. Urgh. In fact there is a bus station when you drive from the airport to Havana but she didn't know or didn't want to tell us. In the end we had to take a taxi.

We finally got to Varadero in the afternoon. in Cuba there aren't any backpapers/hostels.  Your only options are Hotels which are all inclusive, or Casa de Particulars. They way I understand it is that because Cuba is communist there are hardly any entrepreneurial businesses here. Particulars are one of the few that are allowed to operate by the government. Basically Cuban's can rent out spare rooms in their houses to travellers. They do have to pass rigourous inspections and submit paperwork to the government but it is really cheap.   I only paid $15 CUC a night which amounts to the same in Australian dollars.

The Particular we stayed at (picture above) in Varadero was nice but didn't have the best location.  After dumping off our stuff we went out to get something to eat. One of the nice things about Cuba is that the food is cheap, meals averaged around $4CUC.  However, some things were outrageously expensive, like sunscreen for example.

We managed with what little Spanish we know to the amusement of the locals.  I'm pretty sure we look ridiculous but luckily the people here are friendly and don't mind.


Day 2

It was very hot in Varadero, the daily temperature averaged around 33C.  I didn't sleep very well due to these annoying roosters who started cock-a-doodling at 3 in the morning and on other nights they were constructing a room just outside ours. To my frustration Denise didn't hear a thing.   We got up and had breakfast and then went to the beach. The water was so clear and beautiful and unlike the Bahamas there were no rocks or seaweed in the water. After the beach we hit the stalls and did some shopping. All the stalls were pretty similar and everything started to blur after awhile.

One thing I love about Cuba is the cars, they are so many classic 1950's Cadillac's on the road and some have been kept in pristine condition. I've posted a few of my favourites below.

There isn't much to do in Varadero except go to the beach which is what we did again in the afternoon, Denise being the competitive gal that she is challenged me to a coconut throwing contest. It was a tie. :P We also booked a bus to Havna. As it was really hot today we rested often and had cool drinks. In my case it was often a Mojitio which cost around 1.30 CUC, alcohol is really cheap here.

Before we left for Cuba Denise and I had polite disagreement about who was the better photographer (as I'm writing this Denise  states that she is - ignore  her she cheats) . Today I took some awesome photos and she is in BIG trouble

Day 3

Today we took a Jeep safari tour out and around Varadero. Our tour guy was called Pedro, after hearing his name I really wanted to watch Napoleon Dynamite.  We ended up sharing a jeep with a Canadian couple. Pretty much all the tourists in Cuba are from Canada. American's can not travel to Cuba without special permission. Safe to say we were the only Aussies on the trip. We took a ferry up river which was fairly uninteresting. We then drove to Playa Coral which was a reef at the northern tip of Cuba in the Mantanzas province where Varadero is. The reef was fantastic but we didn't spend as much time snorkeling as I would have liked. After that  we had lunch and then went swimming in this giant cave. It was cold  but the water was crystal clear and even without snorkels you could see fish. It was incredibly deep.

We learnt some interesting things about Cuba from Pedro. Apparently in Cuba women do not drive. It's not against the law but instead it's a social norm that they depend on the men for transportation. In Cuba there is no car insurance so instead you carry cash on you. There is no house insurance either as all the houses are owned by the government. It is illegal in Cuba to buy or sell a house. If you want to move you have to exchange with someone. Houses are allocated on a priority basis. Families are at the top of the list with single men at the bottom. Apparently a lot of men still live at home for this reason. However, the welfare system is free, education, doctors, dental etc. Pedro did say that apparently next month the government will be trying to pass a bill to change housing regulations.

Tomorrow it is off to Havana!

Day four

The bus to Havana took two hours and then a short taxi to the Casa we were staying at. Enrique was the owner and very friendly. It helped that he spoked English and warned us about certain scams.

Havana is more densely populated than Varadero. As a result there are more people trying to get money out of you. They often call out "hola" (hello) and when you reply and keep walking they get up and follow you. They then ask you where you are from, when we say Australia they go " is very nice" and after this they start asking for money. The other creepy way is that they blow kisses and call you beautiful lady.  The homeless also ask for strange things like soap or toothbrushes, weird.  Havana is not what I expected. There isn't much to do there. Aside from a few beautiful buildings it is very hot and the streets are fairly dirty and the hustlers really wore me down. We did stop at a few places for drinks along the way and they were nice as they often had people playing live Cuban music. We walked around and saw most of what there was to see so we booked a tour to Vinales for our last day I'm Cuba.  This way we get to see a bit more of Cuba before we leave.

Day 5 Vinales

Vinales was beautiful. In the morning we stopped by a distillery and a Cuban cigar making factory.  In the afternoon we went into the Vinales valley and saw this giant mural on the wall. It was painted 50 years ago and is often the topic of heated debates in the art community. Apparently some people claim it's naive and others say it's true art. To me it did like look a 5 year old could have painted it but I don't understand art like that so maybe I'm wrong...






We then did a boat tour through an underwater cave and after went to a Cuban cigar farm. I tried a Cuban cigar here, not sure how to describe it but I didn't hack my lungs. I had only puff but Denise snapped a cool picture.













If you want to check out all photos for my Cuba trip you can do so here: https://picasaweb.google.com/zo.french/Cuba?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuV8t6wssH4bA#

I also uploaded the photo's onto Facebook.

The Bahamas

So, I'm currently visiting my friend Denise who lives in the Bahamas. She teaches at an IB school called St Andrew's.

The Bahamas feels like paradise after living in and around Seattle, however, it is hot and humid here and it was a bit of an adjustment after all that rain and cold weather in Bellevue. The trip wasn't to bad, I left home at around 5am and arrived here in the afternoon, it's a 10-12 hour flight including stops.  Unfortunately, I was delayed in Fort Lauderdale due to bad weather. At this point I was really tired. I had gotten up at 3am and I had not eaten a decent meal due to the short tue short connection times.  We were then further delayed because a guy passed out on the plane just as we were getting ready to take off. It turned out that he was a deep sleeper and the the flight attendants panicked when the couldn't wake him. Boy was he embarrassed when he finally woke up. :P

The Bahamas are just as nice as I remember. Beautiful weather, clear water, great beaches etc. There is a beautiful beach just down the the road from Denise's house. I've been catching up on some sunshine and I'm reading 'Catch 22' while relaxing on the beach. I went snorkeling today on this beautiful reef nearby today and even though the water was murky due to windy weather there were so many tropical fish. I even spotted a few starfish. We kept an eye out for stingray but did not see any. ;(

Tomorrow we are off to Cuba! We are staying in Varadero for two nights before travelling west to Habana for another two nights!