We had always wanted to visit Cuba. A communist country in the current times seemed shrouded in mystery that we wanted to experience. After Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba in 2016, the relations improved and US citizens were allowed to travel to Cuba to “help the Cuban people”. Therefore, we decided to visit the country.
Thu, May 25 – Havana
We landed in Havana on Thu on a direct flight from Washington DC to Havana. We had to purchase an $85 tourist card at the boarding gate. Cuba does not stamp the passport. They simply give you the tourist card (like Israel) that is kept with your passport during your stay in Cuba. It is taken away at departure.
When we arrived in Havana at 2 pm, we were stopped from some health form which we had not filled out (there was no mention on any blog). We filled it out online using the local Wifi at the airport. After that checkpoint, immigration was smooth and uneventful.
We were picked up by a taxi driver arranged by our AirBnB host. He charged $30 to drop us at the apartment. We reached the apartment around 4 pm.
We placed our bags and immediately proceeded by walk to Equestrian Statue of Maximo Gomez, a horse statue at the entrance to Havana Harbor. This was an open area where some kids were playing.
Then we went to Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, a fortress built to protect the Havana harbor entrance. There was nothing much inside. Signboards where in Spanish. We used Google lens to translate.
Then we walked along the main sea drive, pretty much like Marine Drive in Mumbai, India. We came back to our apartment, ate dinner.
In the evening, we took a taxi to Morro Castle. Morro Castle is a fortress guarding the entrance to the Havana harbor. The design is by the Italian engineer Battista Antonelli. Originally under the control of Spain, the fortress was captured by the British in 1762, returned to Spain under the Treaty of Paris (1763) a year later.The Morro Castle was the main defense in the Havana harbor until La Cabaña was completed 1774. The taxi driver charged us $20 for two way fare. The taxi went into a tunnel under the harbor and came out on the other side.
We ended the day with the Cannon Ceremony exactly at 9 pm. The cannon firing ceremony is a Havana tradition that dates back to the colonial era. For centuries, every evening at 9 pm, a cannon has been fired to inform Havana’s residents of the nightly closure of the gates in the city wall. This ritual dates back to 1774, when the city had to defend itself from regular pirate attacks. To announce the closing of the city gates, the cannon was originally fired from a ship in the harbour, before the ceremony later moved to the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress.
General impressions of our first day were:
- Cuba is a very chilled place
- Consumerism has not touched Cuba. It is hard to find even basic items for purchase like ice cream. That is both good and bad!
- There are hardly any people or cars on the street.
- Some neighborhoods look really poor, but it is very safe to walk around
- On the street, US Dollars are exchanged at an unofficial rate of 180 pesos per USD (compared to the official rate of 24 pesos per USD.
- Most businesses are owned by the government, but the apartments are private
Fri, May 26 – Havana
We started the day with a tour of Old Havana at 9.45 am. Our guide was Clara. She was a criminal attorney, but she had gotten into the tourism industry because it paid more. She was very knowledgeable and spoke great English. We started at Plaza del Angel. As usual, musicians were playing Cuban music.
La Bodeguita del Medio is a restaurant-bar in Havana, Cuba. La Bodeguita lays claim to being the birthplace of the Mojito cocktail, prepared in the bar since its opening in 1942, although this is disputed.
We proceeded to Plaza de la Catedral, one of the four main squares in Old Havana and the site of the Cathedral of Havana from which it takes its name. Originally a swamp, it was later drained and used as a naval dockyard. Following the construction of the Cathedral in 1727, it became the site of some of the city’s grandest mansions.
We went inside the Cathedral of Havana. When Cuba became communist in 1959, religion was not allowed. So people stopped going to churches. When the Pope visited Cuba in 1998, that is when people became religious again. The pope’s visit was a watershed event in the history of communist Cuba. Catholic is the main religion. Also, secretly a lot of people of the African origin continued to practice the African Yoruba religion. They used the Christian pictures inside the church and gave them African names.
University near Cathedral Square.
In Cuba, everyone seems to know everyone else. Clara knew the street vendor who was selling something similar to sweet tortillas.
We visted the El Templete Museum on the east side of the Plaza de Armas, one of the four main squares in Old Havana, Cuba. This small building resembles the appearance of a Greco-Roman Temple and commemorates the founding of the village. This chapel was built in 1828, in the same place where, in November 1519, under a Ceiba tree, the first mass in Havana was held.
A trip to a cigar and rum shop is customary during a visit to Havana. Our guide took us to one of these shops. These shops are run by the Cuban government. Cuban cigars are very popular and the most expensive cigar in this shop was $150 per cigar.
Plaza de San Francisco de Asís (Saint Francis of Assisi Square) is a public square in the district of Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. Founded on 2 June 1628, it is one of the oldest squares in Havana. It is named after the nearby Convento de San Francisco de Asís, a Franciscan convent built between 1575 and 1591. The iconic Fuente de los Leones, built by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Gaggini, was installed in 1836.
A popular local landmark near Plaza San Francisco, this is a life-size statue in brass commemorating an apparently much-loved Havana street person who roamed the city from the 1950s until his death in the 1980s. Some say he was a philosopher, others that he had lost his marbles. Legend has it that holding his finger, stepping on his foot and rubbing the statue’s beard brings good luck – hence while the rest of the statue is a dark metallic brown, his much rubbed beard now has a beautiful golden glow. It is a very popular photo spot.
We ended the day tour at around 12.30 pm at Plaza de la Catedral. We headed out for lunch. Vegetables are not plentiful in Cuba. Onions, green bell peppers and cabbage are added to every dish they make. Beans are not plentiful either. We ate at a private restaurant.
We rested a little and headed to the Central and Modern Havana free walking tour at 4 pm in the afternoon. On the way, we saw El Floridita, the bar where Ernest Hemingway used to spend a lot of time here.
Our tour guide was Lisandra, an intelligent young lady. She was a student. The tour started under a Ceiba tree in Fraternity Park in Central Havana. Ceiba trees were highly revered by the indigenous inhabitants of Cuba, who were all wiped out by genocide and disease when Cuba became a Spanish colony. For the Africans brought here as slaves to replace them, the ceiba tree filled the void left by the absence of their beloved baobabs.
We walked to the Grand Theater. Gran Teatro de La Habana is a theater in Havana, Cuba, home to the Cuban National Ballet. It was designed by the Belgian architect Paul Belau and built by Purdy and Henderson, Engineers in 1914 at the site of the former Teatro Tacón. Its construction was paid for by the Galician immigrants of Havana to serve as a community-social center. Located in the Paseo del Prado, its facilities include theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, a video screening room, as well as an art gallery, a choral center and several rehearsal halls for dance companies. It hosts the International Ballet Festival of Havana every two years since 1960.
Next stop was the Capitol. El Capitolio, or the National Capitol Building (Capitolio Nacional de La Habana), is a public edifice in Havana, the capital of Cuba. The building was commissioned by Cuban president Gerardo Machado and built from 1926 to 1929 under the direction of Eugenio Rayneri Piedra. It is located on the Paseo del Prado, Dragones, Industria, and San José streets in the exact center of Havana. “El Capitolio” has a size of 681 by 300 ft. Although its design is often compared to the United States Capitol, it is not a replica. It is similar to that in Washington D.C, but a meter higher, a meter wider, and a meter longer, as well as much richer in detail (at least that’s what the Cubans say 🙂 )
Havana has a Chinatown with no Chinese 🙂 Most of whom fled the island soon after Fidel Castro nationalized businesses in 1959. Those that remain have long since scattered into other districts or left Havana altogether.
We also visited San Cristobal, a private restaurant where Barack Obama ate in 2016. The prices were quite reasonable. Btw, Paladar means Private. Paladar restaurants are specially licensed by the government to operate privately without government ownership.
We also saw a very large hospital. Medical services are provided for free.
Hamel Alley or Callejon de Hamel is a narrow alley in Havana filled with lively colorful murals and sculptures made from bathtubs, hand pumps, and pinwheels. It offers visitors to Cuba’s capital a taste of the city’s local art. We simply walked through that alley.
University of Havana is a very important university in Central America. Fidel Castro was a graduate of this university.
We then transitioned into Modern Havana. This is where the American Mafia from Las Vegas had built the biggest movie theaters, casinos and hotels in the 1940-50s.
Hotel Tryp Habana Libre is one of the larger hotels in Cuba, situated in Vedado, Havana. The hotel has 572 rooms in a 25-floor tower. Opened in 1958 as the Habana Hilton, the hotel famously served as the residence of Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries throughout 1959, after their capture of Havana.
We ate dinner at a vegan restaurant, El Shamuskiao. It was pretty good. Limited to 4 options, but the food was decent.
On this day, we learned quite a few things about Cuba:
- 5,000 pesos per month (about $30) is the average salary. Police, doctors make 15,000 pesos ($90) per month.
- Most businesses are government owned, except Paladar (private) restaurants that have special permission from the government
- Apartments are private owned.
- They got internet only in 2010, mobile internet in the last 5 years. They are waking up to their unfulfilled aspirations.
- Younger people are speaking quite freely against communism. Both our tour guides were not really hush-hush about their feelings about communism. My feeling is that after Raul Castro (92) passes away, communism may not survive.
- Younger generation wants to leave Cuba. Spain is giving passports to anyone who can show Spanish descent. Cuban government is not stopping citizens. There is a mass emigration happening in a country of 11 million people. Definitely a crisis.
- Cars in Cuba are expensive. A used 1970 Russian Lada costs $15,000. A new Hyundai will cost around $70,000.
- Racial differences seemed very minimal. Blacks, Whites and mixed races seem to be very comfortable with each other. No hostility or differences visible.
- American cards do not work in Cuba. But the US dollar is accepted everywhere.
- While Americans had imposed an embargo, Canadians freely travel and trade with Cuba.
Sat, May 27 – Bay of Pigs, Cienfuegos, Trinidad
We started the day with a hearty breakfast at the AirBnb.
We had reserved this day for our 500 km drive from Havana to Trinidad via Bay of Pigs and Cienfuegos. We started at 9.15 am from Havana in a 1952 Ford Custom Line model. Our driver was Eduardo.
Our first stop was the Guama crocodile park around 12.30 pm. Located in the tourist resort of Guamá, in the Tesoro Lagoon in the Zapata’s Peninsula Nature Park, there were lots of crocodiles slumbering here. It was a tropical forest park. There was a highway from Havana to here. Lane markings were sparse, but hardly any traffic. At most 2-3 vehicles on the highway at one time. Lots of two wheelers.
We also went to a private home which had lots of humming birds.
The drive to Bay of Pigs had some spectacular views of the Southern coast of Cuba.
Next stop was Playa Giron or Bay of Pigs. which we reached around 1.45 pm. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF), consisting of Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution, covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government. The operation took place at the height of the Cold War, and its failure influenced relations between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union. This repulsion of a US backed invasion was seen as a major victory for communism at the height of the cold war and inspired many a nations who were suffering from American imperialism. This invasion is celebrated in a grand manner in Cuba. It was interesting to see the Cuban perspective.
We had pizza, sandwich, drinks because in general food was hard to find. Hardly any eateries or restaurants. It seems that everything was stuck in time in Cuba in the 1950s.
We ate a Cuban sweet on the way. It was like a milk cake.
We proceeded to Cienfuegos, a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about 250 km (160 mi) from Havana and has a population of 164,924. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba’s main industrial centers, especially in the energy and sugar sectors. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur (Pearl of the South). Although Cienfuegos literally translates to “one hundred fires” (cien, “one hundred”; fuegos, “fires”), the city takes its name from the surname of José Cienfuegos, Captain General of Cuba (1816–19).
We reached the Bay of Cienfuegos at about 4.45 pm. Though the city was big, we could hardly see any commercial activity. Since it was hot, I wanted some ice-cream, but I could not find any icecream. One the one hand, this relaxed nature of the country seems fresh, on the other hand, this unavailability of basic items that you take for granted bothers you.
Our driver was trying to find diesel for his car, but the two pumps in the city were out of diesel. A major fuel shortage is seen all over Cuba. Diesel is 15 cents per liter and Petrol is 25 cents per liter. But it is not available. Even if it is available you have to pay the pump guy an extra 500 pesos (3 dollars) bribe to get the fuel. Gas stations do not have a convenience store.
We reached Trinidad at 6.30 pm. We checked into Casa Cidron, an AirBnB in Trinidad.
Trinidad, founded in 1514, is a town in the province of Sancti Spíritus, central Cuba. Together with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988, because of its historical importance as a center of the sugar trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the sugar trade was the main industry in the region.
The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is a plaza and an open-air museum of Spanish Colonial architecture. Only a few square blocks in size, the historic plaza area has cobblestone streets, houses in pastel colors with wrought-iron grilles, and colonial-era edifices such as the Santísima Trinidad Cathedral and Convento de San Francisco. The Municipal History Museum is nearby.
We ate at the La Botija restaurant bill and got a 6,500 pesos bill ($35 bill). It was a high end restaurant with decent food, good music. However, due to lack of general unavailability, the vegetables used in the burrito were very limited.
Learnings of the day about Cuba:
- Cuba is a beautiful country with thousands of km of beach. It is a perfect tourist destination. The seas are amazing in their beauty.
- Major fuel shortages. 20 liters per day max. People hoard fuel when possible.
- Roads are in ok shape but not great. No money to maintain the roads. Very little traffic
- Bay of Pigs is celebrated as a great victory against Americans. In 1961 it was ok, but people are not buying the story about the victory of communism anymore.
- Having lived through socialist times in India, I feel that capitalism, though unfair in its own way, is most naturally aligned with human behavior. It is the only system that will sustain in the long term. Every other system is a distortion of how humans behave and lasts only until the government can keep feeding convenient stories to its citizens. In communist systems, power concentrates in ways other than money. It does not work. The internet has been a major player in taking the blinds off people’s eyes.
- The people of Cuba are really nice. They are friendly to tourists.
- The lack of consumerism also means that Cubans are eco-friendly. No mountains of garbage when you eat at a fast food place, no plastic bags, no plastic containers.
- Bottled water is $1 per liter, petrol is 25 cents per liter.
Sun, May 28 – Trinidad, Playa Ancon, Havana
We started the day at 8 am with a great breakfast at Cafe Don Pepe. We had lots of guava, tamarind and mango juice. The mangoes had purple skin, tasted decent, but not great.
At around 9 am, we visited Playa Ancon, where we enjoyed the beach and then did some snorkeling in the sea. The cost was $10 per person. We went 1.5 km into the sea on a sail-based catamaran. The corals were really nice.
We came back to Trinidad and visited the tower in the Convent of Saint Francis of Assini, around Plaza Mayor. There were great views of Trinidad.
We also visited the Municipal History museum of Trinidad. It is a regional history museum with unique neoclassical architecture, murals & a central courtyard. Most displays were in Spanish. So we had to make do with photos and our limited Spanish.
We started driving back to Havana at 3.15 pm. Samir got a chance to drive the classic car on the highway at 100 kmph. No power steering and the Hyundai engine. Interesting experience.
Reached Havana AirBnb (different from the earlier stay) at 8.45 pm. Our AirBnb was on the 4th floor and there was no lift. We had to take our bags all the way up. It was a fantastic apartment, but the climb was a challenge. Got some legs training done 🙂
Learnings of the day:
- Tourist activities in Cuba are very inexpensive even with inflated tourist prices
- The beaches are fantastic. Clean and not very crowded
- The classic cars driven by Cubans are not very easy to drive. I felt like I was driving an Indian Premier Padmini
- Tropical fruit – guava and mango was found relatively easily.
Mon, May 29 – Havana
Sahil left in the morning for his flight to Dallas. He had to get back by Monday.
Aditya and Samir wanted to start off by taking a guided tour of the Capitol in Central Havana. Typically, they have guided tours at 10, 11, 2 and 3. But on Mondays it is closed. So we missed on that.
Then we went to the Museum of Revolution. This is a highlight of a Havana visit. But it was undergoing renovation and it was closed as well. We took pictures from the outside.
Our next stop was the National Museum of Fine Arts, a museum of fine arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations. Unfortunately, that was closed as well on that day.
We just had a leisurely day. We ate pizza at a high end place. It was pretty good New York style pizza. When we were walking back, a couple of kids asked whether we would give them the pizza. They seemed desperate to get that, though they were not threatening in any way. We kept walking not knowing how to respond.
Learnings of the day:
- Things in communist Cuba happen at their own pace. The most important tourist spots were closed.
- No need to pack each day with things to see. A little leisure is fun as well
- Most restaurants and bars are out of economic reach for local Cubans.
- Cuba is a very safe country. Walking around even at midnight is not a problem.
Tue, May 30 – Flight to Miami, Las Vegas
We left our AirBnb at 8.45 am and went to Havana airport. Cost was $20.
Immigration and security was a breeze. They simply took away our tourist card. No stamping. Once we were in the secure area, they were selling 1 hour of good internet access for $1. All three of us got that.
We also purchased some duty free perfumes. They were $9 per perfume bottle. It was really good.
We boarded the American Airlines flight to Miami and onwards to Las Vegas at 11.45 am and landed in Miami at 12.50 pm. We boarded the Last Vegas flight at around 2.45 pm and arrived in Las Vegas at 5.20 pm.
It was a wonderful trip to Cuba, full of unique experiences.
