CUBA

Typical doorway in Havana Centro

Well. I went to Cuba, and it was so different to anywhere else I've been. I found the poverty quite hard to take at first. But it will eventually change - and part of the reason for the holiday was to see it beforehand.
This is some of how the holiday was.

Plane arrived. “Stay in your seats while we fumigate”. Welcome to Cuba. Small people carrier to take us into town, sliding door shut by driver by accelerating and braking suddenly. Havana was so dark when we got there that I thought the windows were tinted. But there’s just very low lighting everywhere – cheaper. Blocks of flats with pale green lights glowing inside. Traffic lights red or green have lights counting down time before they change.
We started off with 3 days in Havana, at the Hotel Tejadillo, in lovely part of old Havana. Big rooms opening on to beautiful courtyard. Wendy (ex-RCA) met us next morning, and showed us a lot of the real Havana.

We also met some friends of hers - Carlos, who runs a government allotment (he's a lawyer but prefers to work for the same money - he earns about $30 dollars a month - in the garden) and Ramon, an epidemiologist (who studied for 6 years but has no computer) who earns about $40 a month.

Wendy had been to 7 shops that morning just to find some toilet paper.

The roads were not busy, compared to London, and what cars there were are the famous ‘50s American cars.

Beautiful to look at but smelly as hell as only run on leaded petrol, and slow to drive. Most only have 3 gears. They break down a lot. I’m sure the locals would prefer a new Lada to an old Chevrolet.

No trees in Central Havana. Many buildings have no door numbers – they were hand-written on the outside of the buildings.

Tables in the road with men playing dominos. Or making mattresses. Pot holes everywhere. Small “cocos” (scooters with egg-shell shaped roofs) to ferry people around, and push bikes with double seats (like rickshaws). Old cabs may only be used by locals– although I did get a ride in a couple with Wendy, as she's a resident. They often had no handles, perished rubber, no carpet on floor etc. Well, they’re about 60 years old.

Dual-currency - Cuban pesos and Cuban converted pesos for tourists. Very confusing.I took some stuff to a church in Havana, which holds regular lessons for children who either have AIDS or whose families do. And it was embarrassing how grateful the priest was. I felt so utterly humble. Well, I felt stinking rich too - all the time. Scattering manna wherever I went.

There were some beautiful places and some lovely people in Cuba. We stayed in a couple of casa particulars outside Havana - rather like bed & breakfasts - and the people who ran them were kind and helpful and cooked lovely meals for us. So much nicer than the hotels, which were expensive and the staff were surly mainly. (Although not always their own fault - I was served by a waiter in the bar of our hotel in Havana one afternoon, who, when I asked for the bill as he leant on the counter, couldn't stay awake, and when I talked to him he revealed that he'd been working for 17 hours straight, and still not finished. Which he did 15 times a month.)

After 3 days in Havana we took a bus for about 3 - 4 hours, to Vinales, 2000ft up. The (empty) motorway didn't have any ads, just a few political slogans, and there were double yellow lines along the middle of part of the motorway which were to be used as an emergency runway when necessary. 

Vinales was also very poor.

But with beautiful surroundings - we walked in the Vinales valley and took a bus to the seaside one day - Cayo Levisa, white sand and crushed shells. Acquamarine sea.

Lovely contrast to all we'd seen.The town was small, friendly people. A pack of feral dogs which were always in the centre of town (which was very small) who would suddenly charge off barking furiously after a dog, or a person, for no particular reason. But they weren’t vicious, and we didn’t see anyone kick them or appear angry with them.

After 3 days we took an ancient (Chinese) bus to the town of Trinidad - 8 hours away. As soon as we arrived, touts descended like vultures for our business.

We eventually fought our way through and got into the back of some bikes to our casa particular. Which was lovely. Like having your own villa with staff. Renier and Ana, our hosts, were so welcoming, Renier always had a cool drink ready for us when we came home and served magnificent mojitos every evening.]I asked the cleaner at our casa in Trinidad to do a bit of washing for me. Which she did. But when I asked how much it cost she shrugged and said 'whatever you want'. And whilst everything was clean, it was sort of grey. I then realised that she'd just pummelled it all in water, by hand - she had no soap. Of course I gave her about £10,000 and most of my clothes and possessions...

There was a 'banda' - a festival one day, celebrating one of the Communist leaders. All the children were dressed up:

Cuba has very little begging, and no homelessness. Excellent health service and full literacy. But, when people did stop and ask for something, it was for mundane things like soap. Or shampoo. Or a pencil. They have NOTHING. Rations have been cut. And of course hardly anybody has a car. In the country they use a horse and cart and there are of the the beautiful 50s American cars everywhere.

We went back to Havana for the last 3 days and one day took a small, local ferry over to Casablanca - to El Moro, the fortress Che Guevara worked. We had hoped to go to the theatre or a concert but, when Wendy tried to get us tickets was told that performances were only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. So I took another bus tour and generally hung out, and by the time we left I really feel that I knew Havana pretty well. 

More photos of Cuba