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After spending the night in what we regard as one of the best airport serving hotels in the country (Crowne Plaza Gatwick) we flew out to Cuba on Virgin Atlantic for our two week summer break.  We’ve reviewed the hotel seperately, so you can read up on our experiences by clicking here if you haven’t already seen it.

A lot of people have asked how we enjoyed our holiday and we have both struggled to answer except by saying it was ‘very interesting’.  This is probably down to the culture of the place, the food on offer and the service being pretty poor by western standards.

Although we stayed in the predominantly tourist area of Varadero, we did over the two weeks explore quite a large area of the island.  Our first outing was to spend two days in Havana, where we took in the very famous Tropicana show on the first evening.  It was a very good production with the added bonus of us having been seated near the show director, where we could watch him giving instructions to those going on, or coming off stage.  He certainly was a prima dona!

Havana

Havana itself was fascinating for all the wrong reasons.  What used to be beautiful buildings are now crumbling around those who live in them.  Many don’t have roofs, as wood is apparently an expensive product in ‘modern’ day Cuba.  The people though are wonderful; always well turned out in modern colourful clothing, despite living in near dereliction in places.  We spotted a couple leaving what could only be described as a shed, which was their home, dressed up to the nines!

The flea market was fun and I fell for the very cute smile of a young lad who as a result managed to sell me some old tat for $5.

The second day had us stopping for lunch in the National Hotel, a famous landmark in Havana that used to be the home of the first Casino, set up by the then American Mafia.  A fantastic building which seems to have stopped in time.

While in Havana we stopped off at La Floridita, where the daiquiri was invented; a drink we came to like several times over while soaking up the atmosphere in the bar!!!  This was after trying a couple of mojitos at the hotel Ernest Hemingway liked to stay in.

Trinidad

On our second two day trip into the country we found ourselves stopping off in Trinidad which is now a world heritage site.  A beautiful place, with great buildings and people.  Again though, except for those that have been renovated, many of them are falling down.  One previous large theatre now has no roof, but in true Cuban style, this doesn’t stop the people continuing to put on plays inside.  There is one thing we came to understand about Cubans; they are nothing if not resourceful and seem to relish solving problems, which are many in this socialist/communist country.

Santa Clara

We didn’t get to see much of Santa Clara on an official tour, instead being whisked to the Che Guevara memorial site which stands in the centre. What was especially interesting is the housing that surrounded this site looked more like old shanty town huts, which was strange given they were celebrating the revolution.

Cienfuego & Topes de Collantes

One trip had us climbing the mountains between Cienfuego and Trinida up to Topes de Collantes. The mud and rock built roads were sliding away underneath us as we made the final forty minute journey to the top by Russian Truck.  There was no way our air conditioned bus would have got up.  We spent the night in a mountain hotel and the cooler climate was a welcome relief from the near 40 degrees centigrade we were not getting accustomed too.  The next day we hicked (and some swam) along the river in the mountains with a very knowledgeable guide pointing out all the flora and forna along the way.  He could speak six languages and was learning his seventh!  The scenery was spectacular and we both agreed that travelling through the mountains and along the river, was by far one of the best parts of the whole holiday.  Wonderful and well worth the risk of travelling by Russian Truck on landsliding roads!

There were quite a few other towns and villages we either drove through or stopped off during our visit, but depressingly, they were all the same.  What had clearly been beautiful buildings now crumbling around those who still live in them.

Transport

Transport in the country was next to non existent for everyone except tourists who travelled around in comfortable air conditioned coaches.  The Cubans themselves having to make do with horse (and Cow) drawn carts, trucks, old buses packed to overflowing, bicycles and their own two legs.  Hitch hiking seems to be art form in the country and most vehicles (except tourist buses) where expected to stop and pick someone up if they had space.

Things we missed.

While in Cuba, we felt completely cut off from the rest of the world.  There was nothing by way of daily or even weekly newspapers and the limited internet access we could find was painfully slow as to make it useless.  The shops themselves are very few and far between.  We spotted less than three that actually sold western goods in all our time there.  The locals have to buy their ‘rations’ at local government run shops and when sneeking a peep inside, they looked bare and souless.  A good Sainsburys’ chain is what they need!

Summary

In summary as we say, it was very interesting indeed.  To see how a once vibrant and colourful country has effectively stopped in time was fascinating.  The old American cars that serve now mainly as taxis were testament to Cuban resolve and the countryside (especially the mountain areas) was beautiful.    All in all though, we were both glad to board the Virgin Atlantic flight back home.

It would be nice to visit in ten years time though to see if things change.

Cuba Pic’s Part 1 Cuba Pic’s Part 2

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