Viva La Revolucion... (pt 1 of 3)

H a v a n a

We'd both longed to get to Cuba, and after moving to the US it was always going to be our first port of call - before Fidel kicks the bucket and Raoul starts changing everything. It just so happened that 2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, so we figured we should be there over Christmas and new years to witness it...

Havana is a one of those cities that's more legend than fact. Since the revolution and the subsequent embargo by the US, the city has unfortunately in decline. It's probably one of the few places on the planet where you find vintage American cars running off Russian Lada engines, ration shops juxtaposed against once gleaming colonial palaces all dowsed in a liberal coating of revolutionary sloganeering and graffiti


Once the stomping ground for pirates, a heavily fortified slave port for the Spanish and even a lucrative gambling capital for the North American Mafia during prohibition, Havana seems to have survived everything that has been thrown at it...

Habaneros (inhabitants of Havana) love their city - though they live crammed into dilapidated old apartment buildings, everyone maintains their own gardens and chicken on their balconies...

This is a massive marble statue of Jesus that over looks the city from Casablanca
The fort at La Cabaña has overlooked and protected the city for over 100yrs - so much so, that Fidel and Che set up shop here immediately after the revolution. There's an awesome display of che's old office and a whole bunch of his stuff from the early days running the new country

Despite it's relatively high population, there's still not a huge amount of traffic in the old city as cars are too expensive - also you don't park on the street as you'll find your car stripped of everything that is and isn't bolted on, so abandoned lots have become parking garages where someone'll watch your sled for a few pesos...
The balcony really seems to be the centre of a havanan home, as it's from here that you do your shopping by dropping down baskets (with money tied on); it's where you swap things with you neighbours, grow your food , keep your pets, and most importantly talk to your friends... There's a great hum in the evenings as everyone is having loud conversations from the street up to their friends on the third floor!!

Whilst many of the 50's US cars that everyone thinks of when they hear the word Cuba are in pretty good nick, most are barely holding on, often held together with Russian or even improvised parts...
... thus the easiest way to get around is by bike taxi (or in Havana - a coco taxi which is a little round yellow fibreglass blob attached to a motor bike which looks like it's been stolen from a Disney ride....)

Further out , where there's less cars, horse or mule drawn wagon are the transportation of choice

... or you can just build your own, however you want....

One thing that strikes most people about Cuba is that it's still a government run Communist state, and as such doesn't have any advertising or commercial branding anywhere (even on the limited number of shops...) So, while there's no Coke or Pepsi billboards staring down at you wherever you go like the rest of the planet, there are plenty of political slogans and patriotic images all about the place to remind cubanos about their responsibilities as a cuban...

"Fatherland or Death - We will win" has been a slogan since before the revolution when an "oath" was pledged to rid the country of the spanish (at the time). Since then it has evolved to mean more - that every cuban is required to fight for the greater good and the freedom on the country... Here Fidel (in his younger days) is rousing his people...

No one man conveys that spirit of vigilance is fighting against oppression than "El Che" who is coveted almost like a god in these parts. His image (and sometimes a simple "viva el che!" or "viva la revolucion!") can be seen in houses, on billboards, and the side of buildings, in every corner of cuba...




Another group that cubanos are constantly reminded of via billboard is the Miami 5 - five men who were sentenced in 2001 to prison terms of between 15 and 25 years for allegedly acting as Cuban agents within the exile community in Miami. The men and their supporters have consistently protested that they had come to the US to infiltrate and disrupt right-wing exile groups perpetrating acts of terrorism within Cuba and have therefore been jailed unjustly. As for the local propaganda, it's used to help bolster anti-American sentiment (such as the common phrase "Yankee imperialist..."

"The victory was, is and always will be ours! "

Viva La Revolucion... (pt 2 of 3)

T r i n i d a d

After enjoying the hustle and bustle of Havana, it was time to get into the cuban country-side. So we headed down to the historic old town of Trinidad via the city of Cienfuegos (just past the bay of pigs...)

Apart form old cars, Cuba is famous for two things: Cigars and Rum.
... and this is rum country. Well, more specifically, this is sugar country - from which the rum is made...and they don't let you forget it either. Where ever you go, rum's $2 a bottle and you're more likely to be able to get a mojito than a coke. It catches up to you after a while...

Guide books tell you that Trinidad is a museum in itself - and they're kinda right the hundreds of tourists visiting the 500-year-old city find Spanish colonial architecture and cobbled stone streets that mark the tiny city as one of the country’s greatest attractions. Only a few square blocks in size, historic Trinidad is famous for its lovely, cobblestone streets, pastel coloured houses with elaborate wrought-iron grills, as well as majestic palaces and plazas. This area is a world heritage site and cars are banned, so it's nice to be able to just walk around.

A church at the Plaza Mayor
There's no shortage of locals enjoying cigars...
no cars means a nice quite ride through town

Apart from the big resort areas (which we didn't go to) Cuba doesn't actually have that many "hotels" - There's a few government run places and a few big chains are moving in (especially in Havana), but the main place to stay are the hundreds of casa particulars (private houses) in towns all over the country.

It's exactly as it sounds - you stay at someone's house! Ever since the special period in the '90's when the economy fell into a massive hole after the split of the USSR, cubans have been looking for ways to earn additional income by playing to their strengths. If you're a good cook - your house is a restaurant, if you make coffee - sell it out the front window, if you have a spare room - you're house is a hotel... Now it's fully legalised and houses actually do extensions to create more room for their "casa" to generate business. We stayed at a place where we had a room on the top floor and an outdoor spot for meals - it was awesome!! all for $20-25 a night.

We'd originally only planned to stay in Trinidad for a few days, but there was so much stuff to do just outside town we ended up staying longer. The Topes de Collantes is a national park in the mountains behind the town where the only way to get in is on the back of an old russian military transport. We took a ride with a cool bunch of italian, brittish, dutch and french folk and went for a hike to one of the waterfalls...

swimming pool

being on the coast, there were plenty of beaches to lie on and a few reefs to dive. Unfortunately many of the reefs got trashes by hurricane Gustav last season, but we still had fun. We took a catamaran out to this tiny little atoll to do some snorkelling - awesome.


We'd planned to do something for Christmas, however we hadn't realised that it doesn't really exist here...

Appartenly, following the declaration of Cuba as an atheist nation, Christmas was removed from list of holidays of Cuban calendar in 1969 when Fidel Castro decided it was interfering with the sugar harvest festival. Cuban authorities banned the public display of Christmas trees and nativity scenes, other than in places frequented by tourists, such as hotels. But in 1997, President Castro restored the holiday to honor, in the honor of the visit of Pope John Paul II in the island. So while the island is quite catholic - there ain't no Santa here, baby...

Despite all that we had a great time drinking Crystal (beer) by the sea

Viva La Revolucion... (pt 3 of 3)

V i n a l e s

The sleepy little town of Vinales seems to have become quite a major tourist destination without being overrun like so many places on the planet. There's a couple of big hotels out of town in the hills, but the town itself is still the snoozy little farming town it's always been - surrounded by tobacco plantations in a rich valley enclosed by amazing limestone cliffs called mogotes. The valley is actually a UNESCO world heritage site, though the locals don't really seem to care as they quietly go about their lives - riding donkey carts out to the field and harvesting tobacco leaves...

[click on pic for full size]

As with Trinidad, we stayed in peoples homes "casas" again - our hosts in Trinidad had actually called trough to friends of theirs to expect us. At the end of a little track just off the main road was a little house that belonged to Mario and Elizabeth - "Las Bicarios"

These two (both old enough and short enough to be our grandparents) were the nicest people I think I've ever met. They didn't speak a word of english but were happy to sit and chat in broken spanish to me - and if we didn't understand a good laugh would erupt and we;d move on to something else...

[l-r Elizabeth's daughter (back for new years eve), Elizabeth, Mario and John]

Elizabeth could really cook as well!! We'd planned on staying for a night or two and ended up there for four nights - every night being treated to a vast array of fresh fruit and salads and fish or pork (as well as the obligatory rice and beans...)

Sleepy Vinales waking up
(you can see one of the mogote rock formations in the background)
The vinales valley
The government has set up this little tourist bus that drives around the valleys all day and you just get on and off as you please for one price - or you can ride bikes or horses
(there's no traffic coz no one owns a car..)
As the limestone is porous, there are huge networks of caves
throughout the area (some stretch for 10's of km)

Here's a video of us inside one (it's full of water so we're in a little boat)


This is where the boat eventually come out - quite bizarre...
the main mode of transport around here is man or animal powered
thought the roads are often lined with people hoping to catch a lift on a truck or one of the occasional buses
Everyone around here has beautiful - well maintained gardens
The main export form the Vinales valley is tobacco.
This is inside one of the huge drying huts
(unfortunately a lot of these were damaged last season by hurricane Gustav)
As smoking cigars comes a close second to drinking rum as the top national pastime around here, you need blokes like this who can roll cigars in their sleep!! This guy could create a work of art in a minute or two whilst chatting away and still smoking his own cigar (balancing on the corner of his desk in the bottom half of the picture) - classy stuff!!