When there was a widespread outbreak of the Swine Flu, I was already in Cuba. As Cuba is really a closed-country, there is not much news from the outside world. Besides, the internet service in Cuba is really expensive, that is 5 to 6 CUC per hour (compared with Mexico, it is only less than 1CUC per hour), so I decided to be 'out of civilization' for at least two weeks, without knowing that all of my dear friends were worrying about my situation in Mexico.
I heard about there was a suspenion of all the flights from Mexico to Cuba at the start of my trip, but I was not worried because I was already in Cuba. Then I went for the car trip with my spanish friends for 1 week. I really enjoyed the time and I was not worried about anything at that moment.
When I came back to La Havana, I started to realized that I might not have a return flight back to Mexico. So I called my airline, Cubana, and found out I really needed to change my flight to another airline, Mexicana, as all the flights of Cubana via Mexico had been cancelled.
The process was quite smooth and I successfully changed my ticket to Mexicana, I even met my Australian friend whom I met on the flight when I came to Cuba. But he had bad luck, as he only knew that we could change the ticket to Mexicana after I had told him. And he had been working on the ticket for a week!
So I also changed the date of my flight two days earlier as I was running out of my money in Cuba, and I really missed the good food in Mexico.
On the date of my flight, I went to the airport at 14:15 to catch my flight at 16:30, but I found out the flight had been cancelled! How could they do that without informing the people?
Then it was a chaos. All the passengers were queueing in front of the office of Mexicana. And they said two flights to Mexico were cancelled, the only one remained was the one at 23:40. So all the passengers had to transfer to this flight, but it would only to be first-come, first-serve.
So this arose another chaos, as every body rushed to the line to queue and pushed the line. I was lucky to meet a group of nice US tourists, they let me to queue with their group.
Then I found out they didn't let me to check in as other passenger. Because my ticket was originally from Cubana, so they needed to give priority to the passengers from Mexicana. The only thing I could do at that time was to wait until 22:30, by that time all the passengers of Mexicana should have been checked in, then they would know if there were any vacancies for me.
It was really a shock. But I was not too worried as my connecting flight would be 2 days later(luckily I change my flight to Mexico 2 days earlier, so I was not in a hurry to get on the flight on that day), and I was ready to sleep in the airport that night.
I met my Australian friend again, then I met two other American travellers who are journalists also. And later their journalist friend from the UK. So we worked together to sort out what could we do to get on the plane, as they had connecting flights the next morning, so they were really worried.
The two American journalists even thought about buying the tickets from another airline company to get out of Cuba as soon as possible, because there was no guarantee that if we could get on the flight that night, or the flight the next day.
But the problem was that they are Americans. So they had no access to money and their mobile phone networks are not working also. All ATM or credit cards from the US are not working in Cuba. There is no internet service. And the international call costs 10CUC per minute, and there is no way that we can buy a phone card even though we are willing to pay for that. As there was no cash left in their pocket, so they were totally cast away in the airport. And there was nothing that they could do at that moment.
Cast away at a corner in the airport.
We waited and waited, and we were ready to hold an overnight party at the airport. But by the time of 22:15, we found out after all the passengers had checked in, there were still seats for us! It was such a piece of great news and we were totally grateful for that.
Finally, we were getting on the plance at midnight.
So my last experience in Cuba was really not pleasant at all, which made me don't want to go back to Cuba even though I would have a chance.
And one more recommendation, if you will ever go to Cuba, don't buy the ticket from Cubana Airline, their service are really bad! And bring enough cash with you, remember no USD, but Canadian dollar and Euro are the best.
Cuba is a very complicated country. If you haven't been there, you cannot truly comment about the country. Even though I had been there, I found it is far too more difficult to judge.
I love cuba, but I was also pissed off by the system that works on tourists.
I can briefly say that the weird things which are happening in Cuba nowadays is mainly because of the imperialism of the US since the start of the 20th century. As US failed to annexed Cuba to its terriory, and also afraid of the new communist government initiated by Fidel Castro, the trade embargo that began in the 1960s create the society of Cuba which I experienced in the past 12 days.
First, I have to talk about the accomodation system for tourists. For backpackers, Cuba is a very difficult country to backpack, because there are only expensive hotels and Casa particulars(like a home stay, it is a family house which rents out rooms for tourists). Unlike other countries, there are no cheap hostels, not to say dormitories.
The garden of my Casa particular in Vinales.
The super nice lady of my Casa particular in Remedios.
For a backpacker travel alone, he or she has to pay the complete fee for the whole room, even though the room is for 2 people. So the fee of the room has already occupied almost half of my daily budget. As each house normally only has one or two rooms, so it is difficult for me to meet other backpackers also.
Second, it is the currency system. A few years ago, Cuba imposed a heavy commission for people who exchange USD with Cuban currency. So every 100USD exchanged, 10USD will be charged as commission. And they also createred the 'Convertibles' or 'CUC' currency for the tourists to use. 1 CUC is around 1.18Euro or 0.9USD. While the local people are using the 'National' currency, which is 1CUC to 25 Nationals.
The 5 pesos at top and the 20 pesos are CUC, the others are for example, the one with the face of 'Che' are nationals.
Thanks for the embargo, this box of chips costs 3.55CUC, isn't it crazy?
But this beautiful hand-made basket with about 20mangos which I bought from a child on the road only cost 1CUC. Unluckily, the mangos made me allergy again. No more mango ever after!
They don't have Coca Cola, but they have the Cuban brand, Tu Kola.
Under this weird monetary system, tourists have to pay a lot for all the services. For example, one night of Casa particular in La Havana costs 25CUC. One day of car rental costs 60CUC, one litre of gasoline costs 1CUC. So you have a rough idea that Cuba can be as expensive as Europe.
But if you can 'find' the National currency and spend it in local restaurants, the food is incredibly cheap. For example, one cone of ice-cream is 2 nationals. A dinner with rice, bean, meat, a soft drink, a salad is around 20 nationals. But on the contrary, if you are willing to pay a price of 8 to 10CUC in Casa particular, you can eat very good food also.
This meal of lobster with soup, salad, french fries, rice and dessert costs 10CUC.
This time we ate a lobster as big as a man's palm, with soup, salad, french fries, juice, curry, rice and dessert also costed around 10CUC.
Because of the accomodation, the car rental and the gasoline had already totally occupied my tight budget, so I didn't indulge myself very often. On the contrary, I was in the stage of hunger most of the time. And I reduced my meals from three to two, so as to save some money. The expenses in Cuba can really make a poor backpacker feels more misery.
And the people here earn incredibly little amount of money per month, and also because they have free ration food, free house, free education and free medical system. For the old generation, as the hope of changing is fading, they always lead a very relaxing lifestyle.
Every month, Cuban people can get certain amount of free food from the market for free.
A very talkactive 68 years old man.
Sitting in the armchair. It is the favourite pastime of the people here.
Besides armchairs, balcony is also a place where they spend their spare time.
Younger people perfer to chit chat in the doorway during the heat of the day.
To smoke a cigar is really one of the favourite activities too.
In additional to football and volleyball, Cuban people also love baseball.
What makes Cuba famous? Music and dance are certainly two of the most important elements. Cuban people are very charming, they can sing anytime and dance everywhere.
We met 2 musicians in a convenient store on the road. When they saw me, they started to sing,'Chinita, te quiero...' and came to perform in fornt of us, just for fun, but not for tips. Cuban people are so happy all the time!
The funny guy even gave us a kiss.
Playing music whenever and wherever they want.
There are also many street musicians, aiming at selling their CDs or get some tips.
Even though there were no people watching, they just kept playing, enjoying themselves a lot.
Steet musicians in Trindad.
And from people as old as 65 to people as young as 10, they can all dance excellent salsa. The people dancing in the disco in La Havana impressed me the most, my jaw were always dropping when I saw how the women could shake their hips. Unluckily, I didn't bring my camera with me.
The people dancing salsa on the street in Trindad are equally impressive.
Salsa dancing in a bar in Trindad. Except a few Cuban men, they are all tourists.
The cocktail, 'Mojito' mixed with Rum and leaves of mint is a must-drink in Cuba.
On the 1st of May, the Labour Day, there were big parades in almost every city in Cuba. People could even get free beer on the day.
Cuban people decorated their house with flag and also patriotic slogans.
The people mainly dress themselves in red, with the face of 'Che' or Castro on the 1st of May to show they are patriotic.
As it is a very important festival for them, all the people dress well.
They also eat well on that day.
Without knowing the outside world, the children can still live happily in this lost country...
South of Trindad, there is the beach called Playa Ancon. The sea near the coast is not too deep and very transparent, so we did a little bit of snorkeling here(even though I cannot swim), and I could see many fish and coral reef.
There is also a natural swimming pool where the waves are blocked by the rock, so I learnt swimming from my spanish friend. But I was still too nervous and tired to learn for a long time, so I didn't succeed, but I did make a progress.
The quiet part of the Playa Ancon.
All the beaches in Cuba are equally beautiful.
Sitting under the shade of a palm tree.
There are many coral bones on the beach.
About 3 hours east of La Havana, there is the other resort beach, Varadero. Actually, I don't know why is it so famous among Europeans. My spanish friends said it is very popular for Spaniards to come for holiday, so they really wanted to see it. But after visiting this touristic place where there weren't any local people, we all agreed that it was not worth to come here. Because comparing with other beautiful, wild and not touristic beaches in Cuba, the only special thing Varadera has, are the many ugly hotels located along the beach.
Beach in Varadera.
It totally didn't arouse me any interest of taking pictures.
There are only European tourists.
The reason why we went to Remedios is mainly because of the famous 50km road which built directly on the sea and leading to the originally unreachable Santa Maria area.
In the North Coast of Cuba, there is the untamed coastline of wild nature. There are many birdlives, flora and different species of fish. In order to tap the tourism resources, the Cuban government built the 50km road to reach the beaches. With the access of road, it arrived the big resort hotels and wealthy tourists, who usually only stay inside the hotels for two weeks, without knowing any about the cities nearby or the Cuban people, then they will fly home.
It is said that the road is a disaster for the nature, but the 50km unbroken coastline along two side of the road is really impresive. And the beaches are really nice, though I still like the tranquility of Cayo Juitas much more.
The scenery of the 50km road is fantastic.
Plenty of wildlife.
A cuban man was fishing, but he said he didn't has much luck.
How amazing is the mixture of colours.
We first arrived the free entrance beach, Playa Blanca. It was so quiet that, there was only one fishing guy and we on the beach.
Leave only our footprints.
The water is super transparent.
Incredibly green and white.
The wildlife is so rich.
Then we went to see the big resort hotel Melia, it is just like a small community which has all the facilities. That's why the tourists don't need to leave the hotel.
Path with palm trees leading to the swimming pool.
Charming greenery and flowers.
All are European tourists.
A bar beside the beach.
The private beach belongs to the hotel. If you want to stay on the beach, you need to pay around 60Euro for a day.
Boats on the sea.
Though I don't like the idea of private beach, the hotel is really beautiful, comfortable and charming. But with such a high entrance fee, it is not a beach for me.
Then we went to see another hotel, though it is much cheap, you still need to spend at least around 16Euro, plus 4 Euro entrance fee.
There were much less tourists here. So I like this beach more.
Fabulous view.
As we all had got sunburn quite a lot from many days of sun and beaches already, so we didn't spend our days in any of these beaches. But it was really a pleasant day to see all the heaven-like scenery.
