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Time Warping In La Habana Vieja

Jason — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:03:46 +0000

Spent the day wandering around La Habana Vieja taking in all the sights and sounds of this city that seems to be preserved in the late 60′s. Such a trip.

Back In Havana

Jason — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:33:42 +0000

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week here on the island, which means the trip is halfway over. The next half will be spent exploring all that Havana has to offer. The drive back here was quite interesting in that three-quarters of the drive was down the single freeway in the country — a freeway with a total of 3 lanes, and no divider. So you’ve got a lane for eastbound traffic, a lane for westbound traffic, and a lane in the middle for both eastbound and westbound traffic in the form of a mutual head-on passing lane. Not exactly the safest road in the world, but that’s what you get when the USSR pulls out of the project halfway through completion.

Getting Away From Getting Away From It All

Jason — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:04:55 +0000

After almost 7 days of nothing but pork, rice, beans & crappy pizza, I headed over to a little slice of paradise called Cayo Santa Maria. Up here in the north you’ll find nothing but 5-star resorts along white sand beaches and crystal blue waters. It’s also the one place on the island where you’ll actually find a decent variety of food, so if traveling to Cuba you may want to come here halfway through your trip which is exactly how it ended up working out for me. There’s not much else here besides the beaches, and it’s far cry from the REAL Cuban culture. Here you’ll find a bunch of foreign tourists and not much else. It’s a good spot to take a break and enjoy some comforting amenities of home before getting back into the thick of things.

Che’s House

Jason — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:18:17 +0000

The route from Trinidad to Cayo Santa Maria in the north is one of the more challenging stretches of road. Not only is it lacking signage, but it’s also lacking road so you could be driving for miles on dirt roads not knowing if you are even going the right direction. I stopped off in Santa Clara to take a break from off-roading to grab some “pizza” for “sustenance” and to check out the mega-plaza dedicated to the hero of Cuba — Ernesto “Che” Guevara. I also went on a tour of a large Cuban cigar factory. The photos may be a tad out of focus since technically I wasn’t supposed to be taking photos from inside the factory. So technically you’re not supposed to look at the photos either. Please avert your eyes for the remainder of this post.

Milk & Bread Lines

Jason — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:51:01 +0000

One of the more perplexing things about this culture is how people manage to survive on what amounts to roughly $25 USD per month. The fact that the government gives them feed answers part of the question, but I’m still baffled be the fact that you can find Cuban people in restaurants that are charging about 30% of their monthly income for a single meal. People must have side-gigs here. I’m convinced that the menu prices are in CUP for locals (aka 1/25 the price), and CUC for everyone else. I will continue to investigate this phenomenon.

Trekking Through Trinidad

Jason — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:15:27 +0000

Trinidad is one of the more picturesque cities in Cuba, with cobblestone streets, an amazing nightlife outdoors at Plaza de la Musica, and lot’s of artisans and colorful old buildings.

Outskirts of Trinidad

Jason — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:34:33 +0000

Left from Cienfuegos this morning for the 45 minute drive to Trinidad (an UNESCO World Heritage Site). It took a bit longer however as I traded in the car for a horseback ride through the countryside. Capped off the night watching some incredibly talented dancers in Plaza de la Musica.

Cuban Culture In Cienfuegos

Jason — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:43:16 +0000

Getting to Cienfuegos was a bit of an adventure. Despite the advice of my Cuban/German friend, I decided to rent a car in Havana in order to see some of the other cities on island. I had the car for a week and the first stop on the map was the city of Cienfuegos. Oddly enough, while driving to the city I did pass by quite a number of small brush fires on the side of the road. I didn’t count them, but it was probably close to 100. Anyways, Cuba has very poor signage on the roads, and so finding your way can be quite difficult, especially if you don’t speak the language, but I needed the flexibility that having a car provides so I had to rely on a guidebook, a map, a hitchhiker, and my acute sense of direction. Picking up hitchhikers is actually very common here, and perfectly safe. The guidebook even recommends it as a way to find your way around the country. What it does not recommend however is driving on a warped wheel that makes the car shudder anytime you exceed 30 MPH. And so changing a wheel on the side of the road in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language can now be added to my list of accomplishments. Check.

Cuban Cuisine

Jason — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:16:58 +0000

Having recently spent the better part of 4 weeks in Palm Beach, FL, where I was becoming a regular at Havana’s Restaurant (order the Lechon Asado con Cebolla!) I was looking forward to traditional Cuban food. Unfortunately I was in for a big surprise. Apparently the best Cuban food is at Cuban restaurants outside of Cuba (like in Budapest believe it or not). You see, Cuba has limited resources due to the embargo, so most meals consist of rice, beans, pork, beans, pork, rice, rice, pork, beans, rice, beans & pork. Or pizza. Really cheap bad pizza sans sauce. One of the few exceptions is breakfast where you can at least get some eggs, and some fresh fruit smoothies to hold you over until your pork, rice and beans meals. I’m surprised they haven’t yet concocted a rice-bean-pork-smoothie for when you need a meal on the go. Fortunately we we’re lucky enough to stay at a casa particular in the city of Cienfuegos where the host was a chef and he was able to delight our taste-buds with some non-swine soup and salad. Once we left there however I started resorting to some drastic measures as you will see in the last photo.

If You Want It Bad Enough, Make It Happen

Jason — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:40:43 +0000

This will be the first in a long series of posts about “the forbidden island,” Cuba. I’ve always been fascinated to the country ever since my trip to Czech Republic where I had the chance to experience what was once a communist country. In Cuba I would have the chance to experience first hand one of the last remaining communist countries in existence. It would be the next best thing to a time machine and would allow me to see what life was like in much of the world decades before I even knew what communism was.

On top of the historic aspects, there’s this silly idea that the government in my country of birth thinks they can control me and tell me where I can and cannot go on the planet. What a bunch of bull! It’s not your planet. I’m not your prisoner. I’ve never been one to play by all of the rules, and so going to Cuba despite the embargo was something I felt I had to do. With Fidel’s deteriorating health and the relaxing of restrictions by Obama, there’s no telling how much longer Cuba will be preserved in it’s current state. The time is now.

And so I woke up bright and early to catch a flight out of Nicaragua, connecting on Costa Rica, before finally touching down at Aeropuerto Internacional Jose Marti. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous. I had done plenty of research ahead of time, and knew it was possible. But there was the feeling deep down in my gut that said told me there was still some risk. Almost missing my connecting flight didn’t help. Were the powers that be trying to tell me something? Screw ‘em! I sprinted through the terminal to make sure I would not be left behind on this trip of a lifetime.

The excitement grew and grew with every mile that we got closer to the island. When I finally saw the land below I had a perma-smile on my face until landing, and all the way up until the point that a pre-customs agent started grilling me with questions on my intentions in the country. So to all those who follow in my footsteps if you can avoid any (or all) of the following when arriving in Cuba, please do so: traveling solo, having two backpacks on you person, using the bathroom BEFORE going through customs. All those I feel were red flags that made me look suspect. Luckily I was able to pass through to level two of customs where they willingly AVOID stamping US passports. SCREW THAT! I want it documented that I accomplished my goal. Stamp please!

And with that. I was in! Mission accomplished.