Cavorting Through Cuba – November, 2014
In November, 2014 Misti and I traveled to Cuba, our second trip. Our first visit was in 1996, and I went to Cuba in 1958, when I was eighteen years old, just a few months before Castro took over on January 1, 1959.
We spent a week in Havana, then rented a car and drove about 1,200 miles across the island. The changes we noticed, since our previous trip eighteen years ago, were amazing with so many more tourists, tourist facilities and tourist money coming into the country. Sadly, however, the people still mainly live in poverty and, while seemingly happy, they look forward to the time when their country comes out of its slumber and joins the rest of the world.
For anyone looking for new and different travel destinations, seeking adventure and interesting experiences, Cuba is a good choice. If you want to see a country that remains in a time warp, that is close to the US and is incredibly inexpensive, Cuba is the place to go.
As I’m writing this (December, 17, 2014), President Obama has just announced a new US policy to establish more normal relations with the Cuban government and facilitate travel and money transfer between the two countries. It’s likely this will accelerate an ending to the 54 year old US embargo (Cubans call it “bloqueo” or blockade). So the Cuba Misti and I saw will possibly soon see radical change if millions of American tourists discover this sleepy island. It’s lucky we happened to make the trip before this announcement was made.
When you tell someone you just returned from a trip to Cuba the first thing they ask is “Is it legal to go there” and “is it safe?” Officially the US State Department does not prohibit US Citizens from going to Cuba, but it does prohibit them from spending money which amounts to the same thing. The US government seems to ignore US citizen transgressions on “sneaking” into Cuba and there are almost no prosecutions.
Americans can get a license for legal travel which usually involves traveling with a group, that’s not appealing to many independent travelers. It’s really not difficult to go on your own. We went through Cancun, Mexico. Misti booked a round-trip flight to Havana, from Cancun, on Cubana Air through a Canadian travel agent. She also booked a rental car through the same agency. Americans can’t use US credit cards in Cuba or US issued travelers checks, so booking through Canada enabled use of a US credit card.
As for being safe, from what I’ve experienced, Cuba is one of the safest countries in the world. Perhaps it’s the communist regime and some very harsh penalties for crime, or the fact that most of the population is just very poor, but the country has very little crime. There are jinteros (Spanish for jockey), mostly in Havana, who are touts that try to get you to buy something, but they are quite harmless and generally leave after being told “no.” If travel restrictions for US citizens are lifted, and there is a deluge of American tourists with money, crime might increase.
Language: If you really want to see Cuba close-up, suggest you bone up on your Spanish. While English is spoken in many Havana hotels and restaurants, outside of Havana it’s almost only Spanish. Even basic Spanish makes all the difference and enables you to stay and eat in private homes (casas particulares) and get to know the very friendly and hospitable Cuban people. I have a reasonably good working knowledge of Spanish and found that I could carry on lengthy conversations with families, which made for a richer experience and better understanding of how the people feel about their “situation” vis-à-vis the United States.
Americans in Cuba: We ran into very few independent American travelers, especially outside of Havana. The Americans we did encounter were on group tours and generally stayed close to their groups. I had the feeling they were missing much of what the country has to offer and what the people are really like.
The last night we were in Cuba we splurged and stayed one night at the Hotel Nacional, an elegant hotel on the Malecon in Havana built in 1930 and modeled after the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. It’s a five star hotel with lots of history, a bit run down and very pricey by Cuban standards ($187 a night which is about seven month’s salary for an average Cuban) but lots of character and definitely worth at least a one night stay. Many photos of Castro meeting with Khrushchev in the early 1960’s, a Hall of Fame with photos of American movie stars from the 1920’s through the 1950’s and an exhibit of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis which was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear holocaust.
Outside the hotel I struck up a conversation with several taxi drivers and asked them how Cubans feel about Americans. They said there is a saying in Cuba that Americans only do two things right: “making movies and everything else”. Sort of sums up the impression I got repeatedly that Cubans love America and Americans and would love to see relations between the two countries improved, and the sooner the better. They know the giant United States is only an hour or so to the north and that two million of their countrymen (out of a total population of 11.5 million) have fled Cuba and are living in the US. They know that Cuban Americans living in Florida send home almost three billion dollars a year and that money keeps them going. The average Cuban earns about thirty dollars a month.
Cuba’s Political Situation: Cuba is constitutionally defined as “a Marxist–Leninist socialist state guided by the principles of Jose Marti and the political ideas of Marx, the father of communist states” (from Wikipedia). Jose Marti is a 19th century Cuban national hero known for his role in helping Cuba win its independence from Spain. Throughout the country there are tens of thousands of large, colorful billboards and posters extolling the virtues of communism, the revolution and revolutionary heroes and socialism. As you enter each city and small town you will see many of these billboards.
Rarely is the word “communism” used. Interestingly, while there are many pictures and slogans about Che Guevera, Caesar Chavez and many of the revolutionary heroes, there are few references to either of the Castro brothers. Perhaps they like to keep a low profile. Also, we saw no anti-US signs. I guess the Cuban government realizes that one day relations will improve with the US, so best not to irritate the giant to the north.
It’s difficult to gauge how Cuban’s feel about their government and political situation. Many understand that the government is a repressive dictatorship and speaking out can get you in trouble. I did, however, talk with several people who came right out and denounced their government in very clear terms.
My feeling was that Cubans generally aren’t happy with the state of things and would like to move on to another way of life. While some say their socialist system provides good health care and education, the reality seems to be that they have little medicine and medical equipment and their schools are short on supplies and in poor condition. True, there are some benefits to their socialist system, but it appears the negatives far outweigh the positives. Many feel that the revolution was well intended and appropriate 55 years ago, but the world has changed and it’s time for their country to move on. With TV and the internet the Cuban people are able to see what the rest of the world has, and who can blame them for wanting a piece of the action.
I often heard the word “esperando” which in Spanish means “waiting.” Cuba is a country where the people are waiting for a change. They see tourists, mostly from Canada and European countries, and their ability to spend money, stay in nice hotels and eat in good restaurants - and they want this for themselves. The other word you often hear is “cuando” or “when.” When will the change take place.
Money in Cuba: There are two “official” currencies in Cuba. The main currency that tourists use is the CUC, which stands for Cuban Convertible Currency and is used for purchases such as hotels, restaurants, etc. and is valued at one CUC to one US dollar. The other currency is the CUP, or Cuban peso (also called moneda nacional), which Cubans use for local purchases and is valued at twenty-five to one dollar.
Ironically, even though the CUC is pegged to the value of one US dollar, you are penalized ten percent if you use US dollars to purchase the convertible peso. Perhaps, this is the Cuban government’s way of snubbing its nose at the US. Until 2004 the US dollar was the main currency in Cuba. Since more than three billion US dollars, each year, are sent from Cuban families living in the US (mostly Florida) to relatives in Cuba, the Castro government is now making a tidy three hundred million dollar commission on these remissions. As relations with Cuba improve, the amount of remissions will likely increase significantly and perhaps the dollar penalty will be removed. We took euro with us so we would avoid the dollar to CUC conversion penalty. Every purchase is with cash (CUC) - no checks, credit cards or ATM’s for Americans
Casas Particulares and Paradores: Casa particular (sometimes called hostales) means private house. In 1997 the Cuban government began allowing private citizens to rent rooms in their houses thus providing them with a badly needed source of income. All hotels are still owned only by the government. Paradores are privately owned restaurants. All casas particulares must be licensed and regulated by the government and the facilities vary from large and elegant rooms in colonial homes to smaller apartments. They range in price from 15 to 30 CUC (US dollars) a night and most will also provide excellent meals at reasonable prices; always 4 CUC for a full breakfast and 10 for a nice dinner (we sometimes had a large lobster dinner for that price).
We stayed in casas almost every night and were always pleased with the experience. Spending 20 to 30 dollars a night for lodging does wonders for your travel budget. There are many websites that list thousands of casas all over Cuba. Reservations can be made online, but payment is always in cash. We always found the hosts to be pleasant and friendly and they often volunteered to find us casas in the next city we planned to visit. Our hosts generally didn’t speak any English and liked the fact that two older Americans were traveling by car through their country and were able to communicate with them in their language, apparently something they don’t often experience.
The American cars: When discussing travel to Cuba, Americans always ask about the old American cars. Seeing tens of thousands of US autos (they call them Yank Tanks) everywhere is amazing and it’s like going back in a time machine. There are no estimates of how many there are in Cuba, but they’re all over the country, not just in Havana.
The cars are mostly vintage 1946 to 1958; no American cars came in after Castro took over the government in 1959. It’s a testament to US manufacturing skills in the 1940’s and 50’s that so many of these cars are still in good running condition. While the US embargo ended importing replacement parts, Cubans have kept them running with Russian and Chinese parts, or just making parts as best they could. There are also many Russian Ladas brought in during the Soviet relationship with Cuba from the early 1960’s to 1989, when the USSR faded away. Cuba is now importing new cars from China, mainly the Geely and Emgrand.
Because gasoline is expensive, many of the cars have diesel replacement engines. Many are in immaculate condition, and worth a small fortune, but owners aren’t allowed to sell them to foreigners. When trade with Cuba finally opens, these cars will be a treasure and sought by collectors all over the world. It’s a paradox and must be very frustrating to Cubans that they own these antique cars, some of which are worth $50,000 or more, and yet these same people earn an average of about thirty dollars a month. Do you think these people would like to see change?
Driving in Cuba: Driving in Cuba is at the same time both the easiest place to drive and the most difficult. Easy because there are so few cars on the road and virtually no traffic. Even driving in Havana Vieja (Old Havana) is easy, although its narrow streets are a challenge.
What’s difficult is the lack of signs, the ubiquitous horse carts, bicycles and pedestrians which require total concentration and focus and the poor roads with many potholes. Despite these difficulties, in the 1200 miles we drove throughout the island we never saw an accident or experienced road rage. We were advised by the car rental company to be careful not to get a ticket since they were expensive, and there were lots of cops on the lookout. But one doesn’t speed on potholed highways with many bicycles and horse carts, and I always waved at the cops and often stopped to ask them directions. I never got a ticket but met several Europeans who did.
The scarcity of road signs can be a real problem and results in a fair amount of getting lost and backtracking. There aren’t many roads and we had a decent map and compass to at least give us the direction we were going (not exactly GPS navigation). We often had to stop and ask people directions, in Spanish of course. This proved to be a good way to meet people and often resulted in conversation which helped us improve our Spanish.
The car we rented was a French Renault Scala, a strong runner that sipped fuel sparingly and was tough enough to endure the poor roads with no problems. We were lucky that just by chance we didn’t get the Chinese Geely, because several people we met said they had problems with that car
Out trip itinerary: We spent the first four nights in Havana, then picked up our rental car and drove to Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Trinidad (2 nights), Sancti Spiritus, Camaguey (2 nights), Remedios, Santa Clara, back to Havana (2 nights), then west to Vinales, Las Terazas (2 nights) and our last night in Havana.
Havana- Jorge and Milene casa, 11/5-8
Matanzas- Hostal Azul, Joel, 11/9
Cienfuegos- Hostal Nautico, 11/10
Trinidad- Hostal Rosmar, Rosa and Disner, 11/11-12
Santo Spiritus- Hotel del Rio, 11/13
Camaguey- Casa Mercy, Celia (daughter), 11/14-15
Remedios- Frank’s casa, 11/16
Santa Clara- Hotel Santa Clara, 11/17
Havana- Pepe and Rafaela casa, 11/18-19
Vinales- Casa Authentica Pergola, 11/20
Las Terazas- Hotel Moka, 11/21-22
Havana- Hotel Nacional, 11/23
Art Faibisch
December 17, 2014
