Grinder backpacking Cuba
October 27th, 2019 at 7:54:31 PM
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This trip report will be a shorter one but maybe that will mean I don’t fall behind, I guess we will see. (I definitely fell behind; I finished writing this 6 weeks ago but didn’t add the pictures so it didn’t get sent out) A couple of months ago one of the travel sites that I follow posted a deal for a round trip flight from Winnipeg to Havana, Cuba for $223 Canadian plus taxes (total ended up being $273 each). The only downside is that the flight path was not the greatest with two stops both ways. I can honestly say that I had never even thought of going to Cuba but for this price how could I say no? I called my friend Eric and we booked the deal 20 minutes later.
Our journey to Havana started on Sunday August 18 at 8:55 Pm with a flight to Calgary. I grabbed a 2 hour nap midday to try and make the forthcoming lack of sleep a little easier. Eric’s mom drove us to the airport at 7 and we made a quick trip through security. On the other side of security we found out our flight had been delayed for 30 minutes, that didn’t matter much as we had a 2 hour layover in Calgary. We grabbed some dinner, a burger and sweet potato fries for me and then we waited for the flight to board.
The flight to Calgary was painless. We lost some more time after the delay while we waited to take off so we only had 45 minutes to get to our next gate (until we found out about the 30 minute delay for the next flight). The flight to Mexico City was 5 hours. I watched the Bumblebee (Transformers) movie on the plane’s movie options. They had over 100 movie options which were by far the most I’ve seen offered on a plane. I filled the rest of the time with stuff I had downloaded on Netflix. The meal they served reminded me of an elementary school lunch, a croissant with turkey and Swiss, an apple sauce cup and a mini twix.
August 19
We arrived in Mexico City and went through customs. Funny story, we were a little slap happy at this point from a lack of sleep. We were walking towards security when I saw a Hasidic Jewish man walking a bit in front of us. I jokingly started talking in Hebrew to Eric but I don’t know much Hebrew anymore so basically I was speaking nonsense. In Hebrew I said “I like ice cream, I like dogs and I like friends”. We didn’t realize that the man’s wife and kid were walking right in front of us, she turned to me and said in Hebrew while laughing “what kind of ice cream do you like? Chocolate?” Eric and I immediately started uncontrollably laughing. I was in pain from laughing so hard, again we were slap happy from lack of sleep. We had about 3 hours to kill until the next flight. It was around 7 am so we looked for somewhere to grab breakfast. The restaurant we found was pretty good. I had chicken Chilaquiles (pronounced Cheela-keelays I think) with a red sauce. They are basically Mexican nachos. They had chicken, sour cream, the red sauce and a cheese that I don’t think I’ve had before on top of fresh made thick chips. There was also a side of refried beans which were the best that I’ve ever had. The sauce had a really nice taste with a little kick to it. Eric had chicken enchiladas which he said were equally good.
We went to our gate and spent the rest of the layover there. Around 30 minutes before take off after most people had boarded we tried to board. We were told we had to go to guest services and buy our visa for Cuba. I’m not sure why the guy who checked our ticket to let us go to our gate didn’t tell us this but that didn’t matter now. We rushed over to buy our visas and then rushed back to board. Again they wouldn’t let us board because we hadn’t filled them out (we were just going to do it on the plane). We quickly filled them out and they finally let us board the plane. Eric and I had a good chuckle probably more out of sleep deprivation than anything. I was exhausted!
We got stuck with a window and a middle seat but there were two rows of economy plus seats that weren’t being used. I asked the flight attendant and she said I could move but after takeoff. I was really uncomfortable so I tried to move before takeoff and play dumb but she called me on it and made me move back until after takeoff. I took the window seat, put my eye mask and ear plugs in and tried to grab some sleep. I was able to fall asleep for the better part of the next 1.5 hours and when I woke up we were preparing to land. After being awake for so long that was the refresher that I needed.
Immigration was an interesting experience. Eric and I were one of the first to get in line, I went up first. The lady didn’t seem to like my passport and asked me for another piece of ID. I gave her my driver’s license; she looked at it and gave it back to me. About five minutes later she asked me to step back to where people were waiting. A guy came and took my passport from her and he went to another room. My assumption was that I don’t have a beard in my passport photo so I don’t really look like my passport photo. After about 10 minutes a guy in a soccer jersey came and introduced himself to me. He spoke English and asked me for my driver’s license. He confirmed that it was the beard that they were worried about but he laughed and said not to worry. He went away for another 5 minutes before directing the immigration lady to stamp me through.
I found Eric waiting for me and told him what the issue was. Our next stop was the currency exchange. Online I read from travellers that unlike almost every other airport, in Cuba the best exchange rate will be at the airport. Cuba uses two currencies, the convertible peso for tourism like hotels, tours and taxis and the normal peso that locals use for everything else. The convertible peso is linked to the USD at 1-1 and the local peso is 1 convertible peso to 25 local pesos. In the airport they have bank machines that will convert CAD, USD, euros and pounds to convertible pesos. The machines have a guard in front of them. After getting our money we took a taxi to our “hotel”. In Cuba they call them casa particulars which are basically a room in someone’s house or a bed and breakfast. The room was nice and only 15 convertible pesos for a 3 bed private. I booked the 3 bed because the 2 person room had one large bed. Breakfast is an additional 5 CUC (convertible peso) per person.
After getting settled in (around 3 in the afternoon) we went in search of water for the room and coffee/food. The owner of the place we were staying told us where to find everything and we found nothing! The area didn’t seem to have anything in the way of a convenience store. After walking for quite awhile and only finding an ice cream place we found a few restaurants. After the restaurants was a little hole in the wall that sold a couple of chicken and rice dishes and espresso. Eric grabbed an espresso and I got the pollo (chicken) asada. Here’s where having two currencies makes things difficult. I paid in CUC but got change in both CUC and CUP and the girl didn’t seem like she knew what the exchange was. At the time I thought it was 25-1 but she gave me change as if it were 30-1, I went with it because I wasn’t sure. I confirmed the exchange rate later so I basically didn’t pay for the chicken. The food was mediocre at best, everything was room temperature. There was a purple rice with beans that was too salty, a potato thing that wasn’t a potato and tasted bad and the chicken which tasted fine but wasn’t hot. I ate the chicken and about half the rice for sustenance.
We continued walking around aimlessly looking for anyone that would sell us water; we ended up at the water which is like finding drinking water I guess. We settled for a beer while sitting in the shade with a breeze coming off the water.
We walked back to where we were staying, both completely exhausted from the day of travel. Our goal was to stay awake until 9 but neither of us made it. Eric gave up around 5 and I turned out the lights and went to sleep around 6 just hoping I would sleep right through until morning. I woke up a few times but for the most part I slept solid right to 7:30 am, a solid 13.5 hour sleep. Eric said he woke up a few times throughout the night for different amounts of time, I clearly didn’t notice.
My first impressions of Havana were not great. There was a very foul odour as we walked around the neighbourhood that we were staying in. It was a mixture of people throwing garbage on the streets and the fact that the group of dumpsters were full of garbage that was cooking in the heat. There was a strong sewage smell that made India smell like roses.
August 20
Breakfast is served for 5 CUC per person, I think they assume everyone will get breakfast from them because it was already set up waiting for us before I ordered it. Breakfast consisted of an enormous plate of a whole banana, half a mango, some papaya and a round of pineapple. Also included was a huge fresh bread roll, scrambled eggs made to order, mango juice and coffee or tea. Last night before I fell asleep I had asked the owner if he could book a car for us to Viñales for that morning. Basically you pay for a seat in a person’s car and they call it a collectivo. We figured that it was a better idea than the bus because the drive is shorter and only 8 CUC more than the bus. We were very wrong! That might have been the worst transportation I have ever dealt with, either that or the bus I took in India. They stuffed 5 people in the car plus the driver, the seats were covered in plastic so all we did was sweat and the drive wasn’t even as short as we had read.
Nice car though
I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life; as soon as we got to Viñales we booked 2 seats on the bus back to Havana for Thursday figuring it can’t be worse than the collectivo. I had back surgery 4 years ago when I fractured my lower spine, the only residual pain I get is in my hip if I sit somewhere uncomfortable for an extended period of time. Let’s just say I was in quite a bit of pain for the final 90 minutes of the drive as I couldn’t move my legs anywhere in the back seat of the car.
The casa we stayed at in Vinales is nicer than the one in Havana.
My friend from El Salvador said this is pretty standard bedding in Latin countries. I just thought it was tacky.
The hosts were very kind and they have a whole book for guests to look at different tours that they can book for us. We had a fridge in the room with water, beer and wine that we could drink for a very reasonable price. After we checked in and had bought our bus tickets we stopped for lunch at a tapas bar. Their tapas didn’t interest us but I ordered seafood rice and Eric ordered a pork skewer, the food then took 45 minutes for some reason. The restaurant only had 1 other table of people so I’m really not sure what took so long with the food, we will chalk that one up to island time. Eric got a Negroni and I got a Cuba Libre because I figured I had to in Cuba. I took two sips of it and left it, it didn’t taste very good, way too strong. When the food arrived it was worth the wait. My seafood rice was very good, the fish was very tasty although the shrimp on top were a bit mushy and so those weren’t very good. Eric enjoyed his skewer with rice and what we figure were plantain chips.
We walked back to a little market that we had passed earlier that sold souvenirs. We looked around a bit, it seemed like everything was hand made from magnets, to cigar boxes, baseballs and many more things. We found our way to a little store to buy water and shampoo as neither casa provided it. After we walked around a bit more we ended up back at the room where we cooled down from the heat. It is very hot and very humid in Cuba. I fell asleep for about a hour before we headed out for dinner.
We were walking down the street when a guy approached us to come to his restaurant where they had roasted a whole pig. Good game guy, you win. We ordered the rib over the leg. They cut off two ribs and then put it on the grill under the pig for about 10 minutes. They served it with a bunch of stuff to fill out the plate that mostly didn’t get eaten. The pig was absolutely amazing! The meat was all tasty but the meat attached to the rib bone had so much flavour. The skin was a giant salty bacon cracker, that’s the best way to describe it. Not the healthiest meal but definitely the tastiest.
Eric wanted to try and find a restaurant with better free wifi and he accomplished half of that. We stopped at a place that sold wifi for 2 CUC per hour and the wifi was great he said. I had a glass of Chilean wine while he used the wifi and sipped on his mojito. We made our way back to the room to cool off from the insane humidity. I went to bed as soon as I cooled down as we were having breakfast at 8 and a tour at 9.
August 21
The plan to turn in early was a great plan in theory, the execution however was poor. I wasn’t tired so I watched a couple episodes of izombie before trying to sleep at 11. I spent the next hour+ tossing and turning. I finally fell asleep only to wake up around 3:30 with a splitting headache. Most trips I forget to pack something, unfortunately this trip it was Tylenol. I went back and forth between sitting up which made the pain lessen and laying down which made it worse. I fell back asleep around 5 am for almost 2 hours.
At breakfast I asked the casa owners if they had Tylenol and they eventually understood I had a headache. She came back with pills I couldn’t identify but she said it would help so I took one and thankfully my headache went away. Breakfast was much the same as in Havana, a mix of fruit, bread, eggs, tea/coffee and this casa also included cheese and ham. We ate and then went to get ready for our tour.
At 9 a guy in a tiny car showed up and took us to a tobacco farm. We were taken into the drying hut and he explained in English about the planting, drying and the different quality of leaves that the tobacco plant has.
Not a bad view
We took a few pictures of the landscape and some baby chicks before our next stop which was to watch how a cigar is made. The guy showed us how he takes apart the leaves and then rolls them inside of another leaf for the outside of the cigar. He does all the rolling by hand. After he is finished rolling the cigars they dry for 4-5 hours. He then rolls the cigar in a flat leaf to make the outside look better. He gave us a cigar to try; they dip the end you smoke in honey or rum. The cigar had a great taste to it especially with the honey. I had 3 puffs and Eric smoke the rest of the cigar which made him feel quite ill. Eric bought a humidor with 48 cigars for 100 CUC which seemed like a great price right from the farm.
We were unsure of where else we were supposed to go as the tour didn’t have a lot of guidance. We eventually made our way to the coffee guy. He explained the process of taking the coffee beans from the plant, through the drying process, the removal of the shells, to the cooking of the beans and finally the grinding of the beans for coffee. The beans had an amazing smell.
Next up was the honey and rum guy. He started us off by letting us taste the honey they make at the farm. I’m not a big honey person but this had an amazing taste. If I could legally take it into Canada I would have bought some. Finally he told us about the rum that is made using honey and guava. This rum isn’t sold in any stores; you can only buy it from the farm. He gave us a sample to try. The rum had a great taste but I didn’t really want to drink a whole shot of rum at 9 am so Eric had mine and his which probably helped with him not feeling well. We both bought a bottle of their rum for 25 CUC, mine for a friend as I don’t drink much. I have to say I was very impressed at the products they create on the farm; the flavour of all 4 products was exceptional. We weren’t planning on spending 150 CUC between us at the farm so we found ourselves almost out of local currency.
Our driver drove us to the next stop of the tour which is the small Indian cave. At the caves they give you a guide who explained some artifacts from Cuban history before taking us through the caves. The first 200 meters are on foot and then for 5 CUC each we got a boat tour on the river that runs through the cave. Eric was struggling to climb the stairs to the cave after smoking most of the cigar and two shots of rum. The caves were very cool as caves always are. I managed to smack my head on a rock when I didn’t duck low enough.
The rocks in the cave were quite wet so I assume the roof has holes that leak when it rains. The boat tour was short but allowed us to see much farther into the cave. The guy driving the boat kept pointing out rocks that looked like things ie. seahorse, skull, alligator. A couple were a bit of a stretch but he has to fill the time on the boat with something. We spent our last 10 CUC on the boat tour and tipped our guide almost $4 usd worth of the local pesos because that’s all we had left. On the way from the caves to the next stop the driver stopped at a bank so we could pull out more CUC and not be poor anymore.
This was the exit from the cave
Flush with cash again we headed to one of the weirdest attractions I’ve seen, the prehistoric mural. The best way to describe the enormous mural is an ugly atrocity among beautiful natural scenery. The mural is honestly so funny to look at, it looks like a grade 4 class had paint time and this was their final project. I’m not sure why Fidel Castro wanted it done or why he chose to have something created that looks so out of place. It was 3 CUC each to enter the “park”. I did get to take some pictures of a beautiful old purple car though.
The last stop of our tour was to hotel Jaz Mines where we had a perfect view of the Viñales Valley.
There is not much going on there outside of the view. It was a short visit to enjoy the view, take a few pictures and not buy anything from the gift shops. The view was well worth the visit. Our driver dropped us off back at our casa. The 3 hours of him driving us around was 15 CUC each and we gave him an extra 10 CUC as a tip. He was a great driver even though we couldn’t communicate as he only spoke Spanish. It was pretty funny getting in and out of the backseat of that car over and over. We are both only 5 ‘10’, I can’t imagine what someone tall would have done with a car that small.
I took a cold shower to cool down from the insane heat/humidity, I’ve never been so happy for a cold shower. Eric did the same and then we went in search of lunch. We stopped at a restaurant that was grilling lamb, chicken and pork right outside. We shared a platter of the 3 meats plus rice and a few veggies.
The pork and lamb had this really tasty vinegar sauce and that’s saying something because I don’t usually like vinegar. After lunch we went and bought a bunch of bottles of water to stock our fridge before going in search of wifi cards and dental floss both for Eric. The wifi cards were easy as we went to the restaurant we got it from last night instead of waiting in line at the phone place. Eric managed to scratch both cards too hard to read the number underneath the scratch off so neither was useable. Like I always say 10% of money, 10% of time will be wasted on trips. The dental floss was amusing. The store we went to sent us to the pharmacy who sent us next door who then sent us back to the pharmacy, all told no dental floss.
We went back to the room to enjoy the nice air conditioning. At some point we got bored and ventured out again. We found a guy selling ice cream cones with caramel and nuts for 1 CUC and then we had mint lemonade frappes at the bar across the street which was called Poker Bar, they had no poker. We checked out the market on our way back to the casa but didn’t really look too hard because of the heat. We picked up souvenirs the next day after we checked out. I watched the last two episodes of izombie and as far as last seasons of series go that wasn’t too bad at all.
Around 7 we went in search of food in an area we hadn’t looked at menus in yet. On the way there we passed the place that was roasting a whole pig again but Eric vetoed me. We ended up at a fancy restaurant which in Cuba means it’s still very reasonably priced. We both got the seafood paella which was excellent.
Whenever I’m surrounded by water I try and eat as much seafood as possible. The paella had two large chunks of lobster, shrimp, mussels, calamari and huge chunks of fish. Before the meal the waitress brought out fresh baked bread with a balsamic drizzle with salt and pepper on top. Hard to screw up fresh baked bread. I had a new local beer called Bucanero, I liked this one a lot more than the Cristal we had a couple days ago. I’m assuming Bucanero is Spanish for buccaneer because there was a pirate on the can, I could be a detective. The drink and dinner came to a whopping 12 CUC! On the way back we grabbed ice cream sandwiches at the store which tried to melt faster than we could eat them.
It was thundering very loudly outside and possibly raining but I didn’t care enough to go check. After not sleeping much the previous night I was going to try and get a good sleep. Our bus tickets were for the 2 pm bus back to Havana the next day. We planned to go back to the fancy restaurant the next day and then go to the market for a couple nick nacks. Other than that we were going to try not to overheat. I’m glad that we went to Viñales because it is a beautiful town and well worth the trip but I think we went for the perfect amount of time. There really isn’t a whole lot to do in Vinales once you’ve taken a tour.
August 22
We woke up and had breakfast at the casa. She had added a new mystery fruit to breakfast that was a blood red colour and quite mushy. I tried a little piece, it didn’t have much flavour and the texture was horrible. She showed us the fruit on her tree a few feet from where we were eating. It was about the size of a cantaloupe but shaped more like an egg. Eric seemed to like it as he ate it all. Other than that breakfast was the same as the first day. There was a German girl who was staying in the mixed dorm upstairs who we talked to for awhile. After breakfast I went and took a cold shower and packed up my stuff. Between the two hostels I liked the hot water with no water pressure better in Havana while Eric preferred the cold water with decent pressure. I’d say I’m right here but I’d be biased.
Eric had continued to talk to the German girl and told her that although we were leaving in a couple of hours that she was welcome to join us until we left. Our plan was to hit the Poker Bar for lemonade frappes sans mint and wifi and then lunch at the fancy place before grabbing some souvenirs.
I took a couple pictures of the houses in Vinales.
We left our luggage at the casa and headed out. Hannah found us about 20 minutes after we got there. We talked about randomness for about 30 minutes before heading to the restaurant. The lemonade frappe was so refreshing that I had two.
For lunch I was debating between having the risotto again and the delights of the sea which was seafood in a red sauce. I went with the risotto again because I’m a creature of habit and Eric got the delights of the sea which he said was good but not as good as the risotto. Point to me I guess. Hannah ordered the mussels tapas which consisted of 10 mussels, she then proclaimed she was full... no eating contests for her I guess. I ordered a bucanero beer again, they do this weird thing where they pour a tiny amount in the glass for you and then leave the can. The conversation took a very odd turn into politics and pedophiles who don’t want to act on their urges. I’m not sure how Hannah got us onto that topic lol.
After lunch we stopped and grabbed a few things at the souvenir market before heading back to the casa to get our bags. We loaded up on giant bottles of water because of the trouble we had finding water in the neighbourhood of our casa in Havana. One more stop to exchange Canadian to Cuban pesos before we headed to the bus. They were very adamant that we needed to be 20 minutes early for the bus but we have both learned over the years you don’t need to be early cause they never leave on time. We didn’t start loading the bus until 2 when the bus was supposed to leave.
The bus was much more spacious than the car ride down to Viñales but they were having issues with the air so everyone was dripping sweat. Even with how hot it was in the bus I thought it was still much more comfortable than the collectivo car. The first 30 minutes of driving from Viñales to the main highway was made up of a bunch of tight turns and Eric wasn’t feeling great. I wasn’t perfect but the turns didn’t bother me as much as they did Eric. About 90 minutes into the drive a worker walked through the bus and opened the 2 escape hatches in the roof to let some air in and directed some people how to open their windows. Only some of the windows on the bus were able to be opened but at least we had some air circulating. The rest of the bus ride was much better. For some reason 40 minutes from Havana the driver decided to make a pit stop for 10 minutes. It seemed odd to stop so close to our destination but it was nice to get a cold drink and use the bathroom. People were swimming in what looked like filthy water; I seemed to be the only one grossed out by it.
We arrived at the bus station in Havana and went in search of a taxi. We found a guy who took us to a driver, both of them seemed unsure of where we wanted to go. Both guys got in the car and attempted to take us to the casa. They asked about 5 different people on the way how to get to the address of where we were going but we eventually got there. I took a quick shower and we went for dinner at the place we had the beer at the first night in Havana. I had shrimp cooked with onions with rice, nothing special but it tasted good and only cost 5.5 CUC.
We walked along the Malecón roadway towards the castle as the sun was going down. We found a few restaurants and an area where people were just hanging out by the sea wall having a drink or taking pictures. I got a few good pictures of the sunset and we walked until there was only road and therefore nowhere for us to walk.
On the way back I met some nice Cubans who were visiting from Viñales, we couldn’t chat much due to the language barrier but they seemed nice. After I said goodby a group of guys started playing music and singing for us, I knew this was just there way of getting money out of tourists but Eric wanted to go along with it. At the end they asked for money which I didn’t have as Eric had all the cash we changed in Viñales. He gave them 10 CUC and they started begging for more saying they needed to feed their babies. I thought Eric was quite generous with them for their 2 minute song. A couple more locals approached us on our way back to the casa and they all asked us how long we had been in Cuba, where we were from and then asked for money like a rehearsed routine. I started ignoring them when they approached, I enjoy talking to locals but I am not an atm, I enjoy genuine interactions like I had with the guys from Viñales near the castle.
The next day our plan was to have breakfast at the casa and then head out in the direction of old Havana. Hannah had told us a couple of places to go when we had lunch in Viñales. We walked around 3 km through old Havana towards the water where Hannah said there was a warehouse turned into a market. On our way we found a few touristy areas with some stores and restaurants but honestly nothing worth spending too much time on. I enjoyed seeing some old cars that had been taken care of over the years but mostly we found that we were just walking around. By the time we got to the market warehouse we were both dripping from the humidity/heat so it was nice to be inside for a bit. There were hundreds of stalls selling things but really they were the same 10 stalls over and over. There was a large section of the warehouse where artists were selling canvas paintings. There were some amazing pieces of art there. I felt bad looking at all of their work because when we would look the artists would try and sell us something but neither of us had any interest in buying; we just wanted to look at the paintings. If I had somewhere to put the pieces of art I would have definitely bought something but I don’t know what I would have done with it. We spent about a hour in the warehouse looking around and avoiding the heat. I bought a shirt for my dad that got destroyed when I washed it at home and some keychains for friends.
Neat car by the warehouse market
We walked inland looking for lunch. We came across a guy trying to sell us a tour in his car but we weren’t overly interested as we had seen most of the landmarks that he wanted to take us to. We said no thanks that we were headed to lunch. He told us he knew this non touristy place that he loves and he could take us there. We decided why not, I knew he was getting a commission for taking us there but I’ve been taken to some great restaurants in other countries in this same situation. This was not a great restaurant; in fact this restaurant was terrible. It was a 10 minute walk there and the guy left us there to eat. He said that he ate there all the time but between the prices being 20 CUC per meal and the fact that this place looked new I doubt he had ever eaten there. We both ordered octopus in different sauces. I had a clear view into the kitchen and honestly the next 45 minutes was scary watching them try to figure out what to do. There was a main chef and then 6 other people who either watched him cook or tried to help. The finished product was over cooked octopus or in Eric’s case inedible octopus.
My garlic octopus was a bit chewy but the flavour was ok, I tried Eric’s and it was terrible tasting. His was also a lot more overcooked than mine was. We paid our bill and left quite unhappy with the experience. The guy who brought us there was still outside the restaurant and asked us how it was; we just told him it was terrible.
We walked inland some more but all we seemed to find were a bunch of restaurants and a few grocery stores. One odd thing I noticed about the grocery stores in Havana was that each one had a line outside of it and the door was locked. I’m assuming they control how many people are inside at any one time for theft reasons. We stopped at cafe when we got overheated again. I had chocolate cake that was much better than my cake experiences in Asia and South America. Eric went with a mocha frappe and mocha ice cream, probably smarter since we were so hot.
After the cafe we went in search of an atm as we were running low on money again. We wandered around getting directions multiple times and eventually we found it. Eric wanted to get a massage so we were keeping any eye out as we walked. We found a place in a dark building on the third floor, I was pretty sure this was where Eric was going to get murdered. There was a man doing the massages, Eric decided against it and we moved on. Only a couple blocks from our casa we found another place that looked less murdery so Eric stayed and got a massage from the man that was working there while I headed back to the casa.
Back at the casa I was thrilled to be out of the heat, I stood in front of our air conditioner for about 20 minutes before taking a shower. I laid down on my bed totally exhausted from walking around in the heat/humidity for 5 hours. Eric came back about 2 hours later from his massage which he said was well worth the money. We took it easy that night going for dinner around 7 a couple blocks away. We had been given a flyer for a buffet that sounded good, it was ok but a lot of the meat wasn’t great and it gave me an upset stomach for only 10 CUC! After dinner we stopped for a beer at the hotel down the street that sold wifi cards for 1 CUC per hour. I was able to download some shows on Netflix while browsing randomness online. I looked online for more things to do on our last day in Havana but we had basically covered everything in the 5 hours we walked around. At this point we were both just glad that we only had one more day in Havana before our very early (5:50 am) morning flight the day after.
This building had blank pieces of paper rolled up and put into the pillars, we never found out why.
We slept until 9 and had breakfast at the casa. We walked the opposite way down the Malecón to this market that google said was a huge market. In reality it was a medium sized market that was half women’s clothes and the other half nick nacks. We didn’t spend too much time there; I bought a cigar holder to hold my cigar from the farm in Viñales. We stopped at a hotel that was selling wifi and enjoyed being out of the heat with cold water. After our hour of wifi was done Eric went to a new place for a massage and I headed back to the casa. On my way back I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate and coconut. While I was walking and eating a local family told me about a place to get the best ice cream but it was 30 minutes in the opposite direction. I found a food stall selling tamales and I almost got one but getting food poisoning the day before a travel day seemed like a terrible idea. I made one last stop on the way back to the casa to buy a pack of cigarettes for my cousin. When I asked the price the guy said 2 CUC, I repeated it back to him to verify and he gave me this guilty smile and said yes 2 CUC. I assume I got up charged but for that price who cares.
In the market they were selling pouches of vodka...
Amazing mural I saw on the walk back to the casa.
Eric came back to the room less than a hour later because the massage parlour was all booked up for the day. Around 3 we went for lunch/early dinner at a place called Nazdarovie where we had gotten a flyer from the first day in Havana. They are a Russian restaurant that Guy Fieri had visited when his show went to Cuba. The restaurant was up 3-4 flights of stairs and they had a cute sign right near the top.
The food was absolutely amazing! We started off with pelmini which are Russian dumplings. I got the lamb and Eric had the pork/beef combo. The meat was beautifully seasoned and the dough for the dumplings was thick and a little chewy. On top they had onions, dill and sour cream.
We then both had the chicken kiev. I had only ever had frozen chicken Kiev before so this was obviously much better. The chicken was seasoned very well and the butter poured out when I cut into it. There is a video of Guy’s visit to this restaurant on Diners Drive ins and Dives online if you want to see the food. I didn’t bother eating the weird stuff on the side, I couldn’t figure out what it was and it wasn’t very tasty.
For desert we had nalesniki which is basically a crepe with goat cheese inside and a strawberry sauce on top. I love the Jewish blintzes which are similar. The goat cheese was a little nauseating by the end but it tasted so good I ate it all. We left the restaurant extremely happy with the meal and we honestly debated going back for more pelmini later that night.
This was the view from the restaurant balcony where we ate.
Our plan was to try and get to sleep by 8 or 9 since we had to wake up at 3 and take a taxi to the airport. We stopped at the wifi hotel one more time and ended up with one card that didn’t work, not only will they not replace the card but they had also sold out of their daily allotment so we couldn’t buy another. I let Eric use mine that worked and I went back to the room to pack. I was able to get a few hours of sleep that night sleeping from 11-3 am but I knew that the next 30 hours was going to be rough.
We saw these murals all over Havana; I figured they were meant as a statement against the government. When I got home I was able to find an article that mentions they started with one artist and that was the meaning that he was trying to get across. Notice that he painted the guy with a black eye.
Our taxi got us to the airport with lots of time and it turned out we needed it. Eric had bought too many CUC the day before so he waited in line to exchange it back to Canadian. I found a different exchange spot with a shorter line so we moved over there. This was the slowest currency exchange ever; it took 30 minutes for 3 people to change money. There was a local exchanging CUC for thousands of euros, neither of us could figure out where he got the money or why he was changing it to euros. It was finally Eric’s turn and we find out that the only currencies that they have left are usd, euros or pounds... Eric took usd. How do you not have the most common currency that gets changed in Cuba?
Next up was checking in for the flight which took about 45 minutes as they only had 1 person working. At one point while we were in line one of the women cleaning the floor started waving her mop back and forth through the air. I started laughing and showed Eric, she kept going for over 3 minutes. We have no idea what she was possibly doing but it made us laugh uncontrollably. Going through security was easier although she made me a little nervous when she looked at me, then my passport, then her computer 3 times each. I figured I was getting stopped again as I did on the way into Cuba but she eventually just waved me through. The flight to Mexico City was quick and painless.
Our plan for the 10 hour layover in Mexico City was food and casinos but because we landed at 8 am we weren’t sure if the table games were going to be open anywhere. Either way Ubering around Mexico City seemed like a decent way to kill a layover. We had a good Mexican breakfast which for me was eggs and meat in a red sauce with tortillas and beans on the side. It was very tasty and probably the most Mexican Mexican food that I’ve ever had.
Around 9:30 am we took an Uber to the first casino which no surprise, wouldn’t be opening their table games until 1. We decided to walk the 25 minutes to the next casino as it was beautiful out and thankfully had none of that Cuban humidity. On our way we found 2 more casinos that I didn’t know existed but there tables didn’t open until 5 and 6 pm. When we got to Casino Life and their tables weren’t open until 5 and we realized this was a lost cause. We found a cafe with wifi, Eric grabbed a coffee and I grabbed a chocolate cookie shaped like a pretzel. After spending some time there Eric wanted to go get a massage so we Google mapped our way there. On the way we found a little market making tacos so I grabbed two different ones, took a bite of each and then tossed them after leaving. The meat had no flavour and they don’t put tomatoes or lettuce on them like I’m used to. I knew they would be different but I thought they would have more flavour.
We got to the massage parlour and Eric stayed for a massage while I decided to walk back to the casino that was opening its tables at 1.
I got back to Casino Palace and was told at 1 that the tables would now open in thirty minutes. I found a slot machine to vulture so I tried to put money in but it wouldn’t work. I had to sign up for a slot card that they load your money onto and then you can play. I did that and won 105 pesos. When I cashed out they charged me 1.8% of my total cash out including my buy in as a tax. (Government not the casino) I went back upstairs to get a new card that would let me buy chips for the table games. I came down and at 1:30 they told me 30 more minutes for the dealer to wash (mix them face down on the table) the cards, this should only take 30-60 seconds so I thought maybe they meant 3 minutes but 10 minutes later the dealer was STILL washing the same cards so I gave up. I kept two 25 peso chips (one for me and one for Eric) and cashed out so I could meet Eric at the next casino we planned to meet at. When I came down from cashing out a new dealer had relieved the previous dealer and she was now washing the same cards lol.
We met at Big Bola casino where the tables didn’t open until 4; our next stop was the first really successful one of the day. We got to Caliente Casino and everything was open! I tried buying in at the table but was told to go get another card, the guy made me my card and forgot to give me my passport back but luckily I’m anal about that type of thing. We played for about 10 minutes until we were up 650 pesos, we decided to go double or nothing on one hand and then leave. Obviously we got a double down (5,6 vs. 3) so we doubled down for 650 more and we were dealt a 2 ugh. The dealer flipped a 10 under her 3 and pulled a Jack for a bust and we were big winners. We won 1950 pesos which converts to 100 USD which is not nothing. We walked over to one more casino that wasn’t dealing table games yet before going to the airport to check in.
I put the wrong terminal into Uber so we had to take the airport subway to the correct terminal. I watched Aquaman on the flight to Calgary and then something else that I’ve totally forgotten. Aquaman was meh, just a standard DC movie. There is a reason why I refuse to pay to watch DC movies anymore, they just aren’t Marvel. We landed in Calgary around midnight and didn’t fly out again until 6:30 am. Calgary is one of the best airports I’ve ever been in for places to sleep. Whenever I’m in Calgary for a layover I just find the big comfy leather chairs and push two of them together to make an undersized bed but it works. I slept for about 4 hours with my face mask and ear plugs and woke up stiff as hell.
Last leg of the journey was a short jaunt over to Winnipeg. Eric’s mom picked us up and gave me a ride home. I unpacked, did my laundry and went to bed exhausted from the ridiculously long journey.
A couple thoughts, first the flight was crazy cheap but because of the long layovers it made the price very unappealing. I’m not sure if I’d do a horrible flight path like that again just to save a couple hundred dollars. Second thought is I know I haven’t made Cuba sound very appealing but both Eric and I believe that if the embargo is lifted with the US again an influx of money would do wonders for that country. Third I was told by a friend who has gone 4 years in a row that the Holguin area of Cuba on the east coast is a much better place to go especially if you like snorkeling, scuba diving or other water activities. Final thought is that Mexico seemed like a really nice place to visit and I would definitely like to go back for more than 10 hours.
Oh wait I lied, one more thing. Eric and I have now taken 3 trips together this being the smallest one and I love travelling with him. We are both very easy going which makes travelling easier. It’s very nice having a friend that I know I can travel with any time.
Our journey to Havana started on Sunday August 18 at 8:55 Pm with a flight to Calgary. I grabbed a 2 hour nap midday to try and make the forthcoming lack of sleep a little easier. Eric’s mom drove us to the airport at 7 and we made a quick trip through security. On the other side of security we found out our flight had been delayed for 30 minutes, that didn’t matter much as we had a 2 hour layover in Calgary. We grabbed some dinner, a burger and sweet potato fries for me and then we waited for the flight to board.
The flight to Calgary was painless. We lost some more time after the delay while we waited to take off so we only had 45 minutes to get to our next gate (until we found out about the 30 minute delay for the next flight). The flight to Mexico City was 5 hours. I watched the Bumblebee (Transformers) movie on the plane’s movie options. They had over 100 movie options which were by far the most I’ve seen offered on a plane. I filled the rest of the time with stuff I had downloaded on Netflix. The meal they served reminded me of an elementary school lunch, a croissant with turkey and Swiss, an apple sauce cup and a mini twix.
August 19
We arrived in Mexico City and went through customs. Funny story, we were a little slap happy at this point from a lack of sleep. We were walking towards security when I saw a Hasidic Jewish man walking a bit in front of us. I jokingly started talking in Hebrew to Eric but I don’t know much Hebrew anymore so basically I was speaking nonsense. In Hebrew I said “I like ice cream, I like dogs and I like friends”. We didn’t realize that the man’s wife and kid were walking right in front of us, she turned to me and said in Hebrew while laughing “what kind of ice cream do you like? Chocolate?” Eric and I immediately started uncontrollably laughing. I was in pain from laughing so hard, again we were slap happy from lack of sleep. We had about 3 hours to kill until the next flight. It was around 7 am so we looked for somewhere to grab breakfast. The restaurant we found was pretty good. I had chicken Chilaquiles (pronounced Cheela-keelays I think) with a red sauce. They are basically Mexican nachos. They had chicken, sour cream, the red sauce and a cheese that I don’t think I’ve had before on top of fresh made thick chips. There was also a side of refried beans which were the best that I’ve ever had. The sauce had a really nice taste with a little kick to it. Eric had chicken enchiladas which he said were equally good.
We went to our gate and spent the rest of the layover there. Around 30 minutes before take off after most people had boarded we tried to board. We were told we had to go to guest services and buy our visa for Cuba. I’m not sure why the guy who checked our ticket to let us go to our gate didn’t tell us this but that didn’t matter now. We rushed over to buy our visas and then rushed back to board. Again they wouldn’t let us board because we hadn’t filled them out (we were just going to do it on the plane). We quickly filled them out and they finally let us board the plane. Eric and I had a good chuckle probably more out of sleep deprivation than anything. I was exhausted!
We got stuck with a window and a middle seat but there were two rows of economy plus seats that weren’t being used. I asked the flight attendant and she said I could move but after takeoff. I was really uncomfortable so I tried to move before takeoff and play dumb but she called me on it and made me move back until after takeoff. I took the window seat, put my eye mask and ear plugs in and tried to grab some sleep. I was able to fall asleep for the better part of the next 1.5 hours and when I woke up we were preparing to land. After being awake for so long that was the refresher that I needed.
Immigration was an interesting experience. Eric and I were one of the first to get in line, I went up first. The lady didn’t seem to like my passport and asked me for another piece of ID. I gave her my driver’s license; she looked at it and gave it back to me. About five minutes later she asked me to step back to where people were waiting. A guy came and took my passport from her and he went to another room. My assumption was that I don’t have a beard in my passport photo so I don’t really look like my passport photo. After about 10 minutes a guy in a soccer jersey came and introduced himself to me. He spoke English and asked me for my driver’s license. He confirmed that it was the beard that they were worried about but he laughed and said not to worry. He went away for another 5 minutes before directing the immigration lady to stamp me through.
I found Eric waiting for me and told him what the issue was. Our next stop was the currency exchange. Online I read from travellers that unlike almost every other airport, in Cuba the best exchange rate will be at the airport. Cuba uses two currencies, the convertible peso for tourism like hotels, tours and taxis and the normal peso that locals use for everything else. The convertible peso is linked to the USD at 1-1 and the local peso is 1 convertible peso to 25 local pesos. In the airport they have bank machines that will convert CAD, USD, euros and pounds to convertible pesos. The machines have a guard in front of them. After getting our money we took a taxi to our “hotel”. In Cuba they call them casa particulars which are basically a room in someone’s house or a bed and breakfast. The room was nice and only 15 convertible pesos for a 3 bed private. I booked the 3 bed because the 2 person room had one large bed. Breakfast is an additional 5 CUC (convertible peso) per person.
After getting settled in (around 3 in the afternoon) we went in search of water for the room and coffee/food. The owner of the place we were staying told us where to find everything and we found nothing! The area didn’t seem to have anything in the way of a convenience store. After walking for quite awhile and only finding an ice cream place we found a few restaurants. After the restaurants was a little hole in the wall that sold a couple of chicken and rice dishes and espresso. Eric grabbed an espresso and I got the pollo (chicken) asada. Here’s where having two currencies makes things difficult. I paid in CUC but got change in both CUC and CUP and the girl didn’t seem like she knew what the exchange was. At the time I thought it was 25-1 but she gave me change as if it were 30-1, I went with it because I wasn’t sure. I confirmed the exchange rate later so I basically didn’t pay for the chicken. The food was mediocre at best, everything was room temperature. There was a purple rice with beans that was too salty, a potato thing that wasn’t a potato and tasted bad and the chicken which tasted fine but wasn’t hot. I ate the chicken and about half the rice for sustenance.
We continued walking around aimlessly looking for anyone that would sell us water; we ended up at the water which is like finding drinking water I guess. We settled for a beer while sitting in the shade with a breeze coming off the water.
We walked back to where we were staying, both completely exhausted from the day of travel. Our goal was to stay awake until 9 but neither of us made it. Eric gave up around 5 and I turned out the lights and went to sleep around 6 just hoping I would sleep right through until morning. I woke up a few times but for the most part I slept solid right to 7:30 am, a solid 13.5 hour sleep. Eric said he woke up a few times throughout the night for different amounts of time, I clearly didn’t notice.
My first impressions of Havana were not great. There was a very foul odour as we walked around the neighbourhood that we were staying in. It was a mixture of people throwing garbage on the streets and the fact that the group of dumpsters were full of garbage that was cooking in the heat. There was a strong sewage smell that made India smell like roses.
August 20
Breakfast is served for 5 CUC per person, I think they assume everyone will get breakfast from them because it was already set up waiting for us before I ordered it. Breakfast consisted of an enormous plate of a whole banana, half a mango, some papaya and a round of pineapple. Also included was a huge fresh bread roll, scrambled eggs made to order, mango juice and coffee or tea. Last night before I fell asleep I had asked the owner if he could book a car for us to Viñales for that morning. Basically you pay for a seat in a person’s car and they call it a collectivo. We figured that it was a better idea than the bus because the drive is shorter and only 8 CUC more than the bus. We were very wrong! That might have been the worst transportation I have ever dealt with, either that or the bus I took in India. They stuffed 5 people in the car plus the driver, the seats were covered in plastic so all we did was sweat and the drive wasn’t even as short as we had read.
Nice car though
I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life; as soon as we got to Viñales we booked 2 seats on the bus back to Havana for Thursday figuring it can’t be worse than the collectivo. I had back surgery 4 years ago when I fractured my lower spine, the only residual pain I get is in my hip if I sit somewhere uncomfortable for an extended period of time. Let’s just say I was in quite a bit of pain for the final 90 minutes of the drive as I couldn’t move my legs anywhere in the back seat of the car.
The casa we stayed at in Vinales is nicer than the one in Havana.
My friend from El Salvador said this is pretty standard bedding in Latin countries. I just thought it was tacky.
The hosts were very kind and they have a whole book for guests to look at different tours that they can book for us. We had a fridge in the room with water, beer and wine that we could drink for a very reasonable price. After we checked in and had bought our bus tickets we stopped for lunch at a tapas bar. Their tapas didn’t interest us but I ordered seafood rice and Eric ordered a pork skewer, the food then took 45 minutes for some reason. The restaurant only had 1 other table of people so I’m really not sure what took so long with the food, we will chalk that one up to island time. Eric got a Negroni and I got a Cuba Libre because I figured I had to in Cuba. I took two sips of it and left it, it didn’t taste very good, way too strong. When the food arrived it was worth the wait. My seafood rice was very good, the fish was very tasty although the shrimp on top were a bit mushy and so those weren’t very good. Eric enjoyed his skewer with rice and what we figure were plantain chips.
We walked back to a little market that we had passed earlier that sold souvenirs. We looked around a bit, it seemed like everything was hand made from magnets, to cigar boxes, baseballs and many more things. We found our way to a little store to buy water and shampoo as neither casa provided it. After we walked around a bit more we ended up back at the room where we cooled down from the heat. It is very hot and very humid in Cuba. I fell asleep for about a hour before we headed out for dinner.
We were walking down the street when a guy approached us to come to his restaurant where they had roasted a whole pig. Good game guy, you win. We ordered the rib over the leg. They cut off two ribs and then put it on the grill under the pig for about 10 minutes. They served it with a bunch of stuff to fill out the plate that mostly didn’t get eaten. The pig was absolutely amazing! The meat was all tasty but the meat attached to the rib bone had so much flavour. The skin was a giant salty bacon cracker, that’s the best way to describe it. Not the healthiest meal but definitely the tastiest.
Eric wanted to try and find a restaurant with better free wifi and he accomplished half of that. We stopped at a place that sold wifi for 2 CUC per hour and the wifi was great he said. I had a glass of Chilean wine while he used the wifi and sipped on his mojito. We made our way back to the room to cool off from the insane humidity. I went to bed as soon as I cooled down as we were having breakfast at 8 and a tour at 9.
August 21
The plan to turn in early was a great plan in theory, the execution however was poor. I wasn’t tired so I watched a couple episodes of izombie before trying to sleep at 11. I spent the next hour+ tossing and turning. I finally fell asleep only to wake up around 3:30 with a splitting headache. Most trips I forget to pack something, unfortunately this trip it was Tylenol. I went back and forth between sitting up which made the pain lessen and laying down which made it worse. I fell back asleep around 5 am for almost 2 hours.
At breakfast I asked the casa owners if they had Tylenol and they eventually understood I had a headache. She came back with pills I couldn’t identify but she said it would help so I took one and thankfully my headache went away. Breakfast was much the same as in Havana, a mix of fruit, bread, eggs, tea/coffee and this casa also included cheese and ham. We ate and then went to get ready for our tour.
At 9 a guy in a tiny car showed up and took us to a tobacco farm. We were taken into the drying hut and he explained in English about the planting, drying and the different quality of leaves that the tobacco plant has.
Not a bad view
We took a few pictures of the landscape and some baby chicks before our next stop which was to watch how a cigar is made. The guy showed us how he takes apart the leaves and then rolls them inside of another leaf for the outside of the cigar. He does all the rolling by hand. After he is finished rolling the cigars they dry for 4-5 hours. He then rolls the cigar in a flat leaf to make the outside look better. He gave us a cigar to try; they dip the end you smoke in honey or rum. The cigar had a great taste to it especially with the honey. I had 3 puffs and Eric smoke the rest of the cigar which made him feel quite ill. Eric bought a humidor with 48 cigars for 100 CUC which seemed like a great price right from the farm.
We were unsure of where else we were supposed to go as the tour didn’t have a lot of guidance. We eventually made our way to the coffee guy. He explained the process of taking the coffee beans from the plant, through the drying process, the removal of the shells, to the cooking of the beans and finally the grinding of the beans for coffee. The beans had an amazing smell.
Next up was the honey and rum guy. He started us off by letting us taste the honey they make at the farm. I’m not a big honey person but this had an amazing taste. If I could legally take it into Canada I would have bought some. Finally he told us about the rum that is made using honey and guava. This rum isn’t sold in any stores; you can only buy it from the farm. He gave us a sample to try. The rum had a great taste but I didn’t really want to drink a whole shot of rum at 9 am so Eric had mine and his which probably helped with him not feeling well. We both bought a bottle of their rum for 25 CUC, mine for a friend as I don’t drink much. I have to say I was very impressed at the products they create on the farm; the flavour of all 4 products was exceptional. We weren’t planning on spending 150 CUC between us at the farm so we found ourselves almost out of local currency.
Our driver drove us to the next stop of the tour which is the small Indian cave. At the caves they give you a guide who explained some artifacts from Cuban history before taking us through the caves. The first 200 meters are on foot and then for 5 CUC each we got a boat tour on the river that runs through the cave. Eric was struggling to climb the stairs to the cave after smoking most of the cigar and two shots of rum. The caves were very cool as caves always are. I managed to smack my head on a rock when I didn’t duck low enough.
The rocks in the cave were quite wet so I assume the roof has holes that leak when it rains. The boat tour was short but allowed us to see much farther into the cave. The guy driving the boat kept pointing out rocks that looked like things ie. seahorse, skull, alligator. A couple were a bit of a stretch but he has to fill the time on the boat with something. We spent our last 10 CUC on the boat tour and tipped our guide almost $4 usd worth of the local pesos because that’s all we had left. On the way from the caves to the next stop the driver stopped at a bank so we could pull out more CUC and not be poor anymore.
This was the exit from the cave
Flush with cash again we headed to one of the weirdest attractions I’ve seen, the prehistoric mural. The best way to describe the enormous mural is an ugly atrocity among beautiful natural scenery. The mural is honestly so funny to look at, it looks like a grade 4 class had paint time and this was their final project. I’m not sure why Fidel Castro wanted it done or why he chose to have something created that looks so out of place. It was 3 CUC each to enter the “park”. I did get to take some pictures of a beautiful old purple car though.
The last stop of our tour was to hotel Jaz Mines where we had a perfect view of the Viñales Valley.
There is not much going on there outside of the view. It was a short visit to enjoy the view, take a few pictures and not buy anything from the gift shops. The view was well worth the visit. Our driver dropped us off back at our casa. The 3 hours of him driving us around was 15 CUC each and we gave him an extra 10 CUC as a tip. He was a great driver even though we couldn’t communicate as he only spoke Spanish. It was pretty funny getting in and out of the backseat of that car over and over. We are both only 5 ‘10’, I can’t imagine what someone tall would have done with a car that small.
I took a cold shower to cool down from the insane heat/humidity, I’ve never been so happy for a cold shower. Eric did the same and then we went in search of lunch. We stopped at a restaurant that was grilling lamb, chicken and pork right outside. We shared a platter of the 3 meats plus rice and a few veggies.
The pork and lamb had this really tasty vinegar sauce and that’s saying something because I don’t usually like vinegar. After lunch we went and bought a bunch of bottles of water to stock our fridge before going in search of wifi cards and dental floss both for Eric. The wifi cards were easy as we went to the restaurant we got it from last night instead of waiting in line at the phone place. Eric managed to scratch both cards too hard to read the number underneath the scratch off so neither was useable. Like I always say 10% of money, 10% of time will be wasted on trips. The dental floss was amusing. The store we went to sent us to the pharmacy who sent us next door who then sent us back to the pharmacy, all told no dental floss.
We went back to the room to enjoy the nice air conditioning. At some point we got bored and ventured out again. We found a guy selling ice cream cones with caramel and nuts for 1 CUC and then we had mint lemonade frappes at the bar across the street which was called Poker Bar, they had no poker. We checked out the market on our way back to the casa but didn’t really look too hard because of the heat. We picked up souvenirs the next day after we checked out. I watched the last two episodes of izombie and as far as last seasons of series go that wasn’t too bad at all.
Around 7 we went in search of food in an area we hadn’t looked at menus in yet. On the way there we passed the place that was roasting a whole pig again but Eric vetoed me. We ended up at a fancy restaurant which in Cuba means it’s still very reasonably priced. We both got the seafood paella which was excellent.
Whenever I’m surrounded by water I try and eat as much seafood as possible. The paella had two large chunks of lobster, shrimp, mussels, calamari and huge chunks of fish. Before the meal the waitress brought out fresh baked bread with a balsamic drizzle with salt and pepper on top. Hard to screw up fresh baked bread. I had a new local beer called Bucanero, I liked this one a lot more than the Cristal we had a couple days ago. I’m assuming Bucanero is Spanish for buccaneer because there was a pirate on the can, I could be a detective. The drink and dinner came to a whopping 12 CUC! On the way back we grabbed ice cream sandwiches at the store which tried to melt faster than we could eat them.
It was thundering very loudly outside and possibly raining but I didn’t care enough to go check. After not sleeping much the previous night I was going to try and get a good sleep. Our bus tickets were for the 2 pm bus back to Havana the next day. We planned to go back to the fancy restaurant the next day and then go to the market for a couple nick nacks. Other than that we were going to try not to overheat. I’m glad that we went to Viñales because it is a beautiful town and well worth the trip but I think we went for the perfect amount of time. There really isn’t a whole lot to do in Vinales once you’ve taken a tour.
August 22
We woke up and had breakfast at the casa. She had added a new mystery fruit to breakfast that was a blood red colour and quite mushy. I tried a little piece, it didn’t have much flavour and the texture was horrible. She showed us the fruit on her tree a few feet from where we were eating. It was about the size of a cantaloupe but shaped more like an egg. Eric seemed to like it as he ate it all. Other than that breakfast was the same as the first day. There was a German girl who was staying in the mixed dorm upstairs who we talked to for awhile. After breakfast I went and took a cold shower and packed up my stuff. Between the two hostels I liked the hot water with no water pressure better in Havana while Eric preferred the cold water with decent pressure. I’d say I’m right here but I’d be biased.
Eric had continued to talk to the German girl and told her that although we were leaving in a couple of hours that she was welcome to join us until we left. Our plan was to hit the Poker Bar for lemonade frappes sans mint and wifi and then lunch at the fancy place before grabbing some souvenirs.
I took a couple pictures of the houses in Vinales.
We left our luggage at the casa and headed out. Hannah found us about 20 minutes after we got there. We talked about randomness for about 30 minutes before heading to the restaurant. The lemonade frappe was so refreshing that I had two.
For lunch I was debating between having the risotto again and the delights of the sea which was seafood in a red sauce. I went with the risotto again because I’m a creature of habit and Eric got the delights of the sea which he said was good but not as good as the risotto. Point to me I guess. Hannah ordered the mussels tapas which consisted of 10 mussels, she then proclaimed she was full... no eating contests for her I guess. I ordered a bucanero beer again, they do this weird thing where they pour a tiny amount in the glass for you and then leave the can. The conversation took a very odd turn into politics and pedophiles who don’t want to act on their urges. I’m not sure how Hannah got us onto that topic lol.
After lunch we stopped and grabbed a few things at the souvenir market before heading back to the casa to get our bags. We loaded up on giant bottles of water because of the trouble we had finding water in the neighbourhood of our casa in Havana. One more stop to exchange Canadian to Cuban pesos before we headed to the bus. They were very adamant that we needed to be 20 minutes early for the bus but we have both learned over the years you don’t need to be early cause they never leave on time. We didn’t start loading the bus until 2 when the bus was supposed to leave.
The bus was much more spacious than the car ride down to Viñales but they were having issues with the air so everyone was dripping sweat. Even with how hot it was in the bus I thought it was still much more comfortable than the collectivo car. The first 30 minutes of driving from Viñales to the main highway was made up of a bunch of tight turns and Eric wasn’t feeling great. I wasn’t perfect but the turns didn’t bother me as much as they did Eric. About 90 minutes into the drive a worker walked through the bus and opened the 2 escape hatches in the roof to let some air in and directed some people how to open their windows. Only some of the windows on the bus were able to be opened but at least we had some air circulating. The rest of the bus ride was much better. For some reason 40 minutes from Havana the driver decided to make a pit stop for 10 minutes. It seemed odd to stop so close to our destination but it was nice to get a cold drink and use the bathroom. People were swimming in what looked like filthy water; I seemed to be the only one grossed out by it.
We arrived at the bus station in Havana and went in search of a taxi. We found a guy who took us to a driver, both of them seemed unsure of where we wanted to go. Both guys got in the car and attempted to take us to the casa. They asked about 5 different people on the way how to get to the address of where we were going but we eventually got there. I took a quick shower and we went for dinner at the place we had the beer at the first night in Havana. I had shrimp cooked with onions with rice, nothing special but it tasted good and only cost 5.5 CUC.
We walked along the Malecón roadway towards the castle as the sun was going down. We found a few restaurants and an area where people were just hanging out by the sea wall having a drink or taking pictures. I got a few good pictures of the sunset and we walked until there was only road and therefore nowhere for us to walk.
On the way back I met some nice Cubans who were visiting from Viñales, we couldn’t chat much due to the language barrier but they seemed nice. After I said goodby a group of guys started playing music and singing for us, I knew this was just there way of getting money out of tourists but Eric wanted to go along with it. At the end they asked for money which I didn’t have as Eric had all the cash we changed in Viñales. He gave them 10 CUC and they started begging for more saying they needed to feed their babies. I thought Eric was quite generous with them for their 2 minute song. A couple more locals approached us on our way back to the casa and they all asked us how long we had been in Cuba, where we were from and then asked for money like a rehearsed routine. I started ignoring them when they approached, I enjoy talking to locals but I am not an atm, I enjoy genuine interactions like I had with the guys from Viñales near the castle.
The next day our plan was to have breakfast at the casa and then head out in the direction of old Havana. Hannah had told us a couple of places to go when we had lunch in Viñales. We walked around 3 km through old Havana towards the water where Hannah said there was a warehouse turned into a market. On our way we found a few touristy areas with some stores and restaurants but honestly nothing worth spending too much time on. I enjoyed seeing some old cars that had been taken care of over the years but mostly we found that we were just walking around. By the time we got to the market warehouse we were both dripping from the humidity/heat so it was nice to be inside for a bit. There were hundreds of stalls selling things but really they were the same 10 stalls over and over. There was a large section of the warehouse where artists were selling canvas paintings. There were some amazing pieces of art there. I felt bad looking at all of their work because when we would look the artists would try and sell us something but neither of us had any interest in buying; we just wanted to look at the paintings. If I had somewhere to put the pieces of art I would have definitely bought something but I don’t know what I would have done with it. We spent about a hour in the warehouse looking around and avoiding the heat. I bought a shirt for my dad that got destroyed when I washed it at home and some keychains for friends.
Neat car by the warehouse market
We walked inland looking for lunch. We came across a guy trying to sell us a tour in his car but we weren’t overly interested as we had seen most of the landmarks that he wanted to take us to. We said no thanks that we were headed to lunch. He told us he knew this non touristy place that he loves and he could take us there. We decided why not, I knew he was getting a commission for taking us there but I’ve been taken to some great restaurants in other countries in this same situation. This was not a great restaurant; in fact this restaurant was terrible. It was a 10 minute walk there and the guy left us there to eat. He said that he ate there all the time but between the prices being 20 CUC per meal and the fact that this place looked new I doubt he had ever eaten there. We both ordered octopus in different sauces. I had a clear view into the kitchen and honestly the next 45 minutes was scary watching them try to figure out what to do. There was a main chef and then 6 other people who either watched him cook or tried to help. The finished product was over cooked octopus or in Eric’s case inedible octopus.
My garlic octopus was a bit chewy but the flavour was ok, I tried Eric’s and it was terrible tasting. His was also a lot more overcooked than mine was. We paid our bill and left quite unhappy with the experience. The guy who brought us there was still outside the restaurant and asked us how it was; we just told him it was terrible.
We walked inland some more but all we seemed to find were a bunch of restaurants and a few grocery stores. One odd thing I noticed about the grocery stores in Havana was that each one had a line outside of it and the door was locked. I’m assuming they control how many people are inside at any one time for theft reasons. We stopped at cafe when we got overheated again. I had chocolate cake that was much better than my cake experiences in Asia and South America. Eric went with a mocha frappe and mocha ice cream, probably smarter since we were so hot.
After the cafe we went in search of an atm as we were running low on money again. We wandered around getting directions multiple times and eventually we found it. Eric wanted to get a massage so we were keeping any eye out as we walked. We found a place in a dark building on the third floor, I was pretty sure this was where Eric was going to get murdered. There was a man doing the massages, Eric decided against it and we moved on. Only a couple blocks from our casa we found another place that looked less murdery so Eric stayed and got a massage from the man that was working there while I headed back to the casa.
Back at the casa I was thrilled to be out of the heat, I stood in front of our air conditioner for about 20 minutes before taking a shower. I laid down on my bed totally exhausted from walking around in the heat/humidity for 5 hours. Eric came back about 2 hours later from his massage which he said was well worth the money. We took it easy that night going for dinner around 7 a couple blocks away. We had been given a flyer for a buffet that sounded good, it was ok but a lot of the meat wasn’t great and it gave me an upset stomach for only 10 CUC! After dinner we stopped for a beer at the hotel down the street that sold wifi cards for 1 CUC per hour. I was able to download some shows on Netflix while browsing randomness online. I looked online for more things to do on our last day in Havana but we had basically covered everything in the 5 hours we walked around. At this point we were both just glad that we only had one more day in Havana before our very early (5:50 am) morning flight the day after.
This building had blank pieces of paper rolled up and put into the pillars, we never found out why.
We slept until 9 and had breakfast at the casa. We walked the opposite way down the Malecón to this market that google said was a huge market. In reality it was a medium sized market that was half women’s clothes and the other half nick nacks. We didn’t spend too much time there; I bought a cigar holder to hold my cigar from the farm in Viñales. We stopped at a hotel that was selling wifi and enjoyed being out of the heat with cold water. After our hour of wifi was done Eric went to a new place for a massage and I headed back to the casa. On my way back I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate and coconut. While I was walking and eating a local family told me about a place to get the best ice cream but it was 30 minutes in the opposite direction. I found a food stall selling tamales and I almost got one but getting food poisoning the day before a travel day seemed like a terrible idea. I made one last stop on the way back to the casa to buy a pack of cigarettes for my cousin. When I asked the price the guy said 2 CUC, I repeated it back to him to verify and he gave me this guilty smile and said yes 2 CUC. I assume I got up charged but for that price who cares.
In the market they were selling pouches of vodka...
Amazing mural I saw on the walk back to the casa.
Eric came back to the room less than a hour later because the massage parlour was all booked up for the day. Around 3 we went for lunch/early dinner at a place called Nazdarovie where we had gotten a flyer from the first day in Havana. They are a Russian restaurant that Guy Fieri had visited when his show went to Cuba. The restaurant was up 3-4 flights of stairs and they had a cute sign right near the top.
The food was absolutely amazing! We started off with pelmini which are Russian dumplings. I got the lamb and Eric had the pork/beef combo. The meat was beautifully seasoned and the dough for the dumplings was thick and a little chewy. On top they had onions, dill and sour cream.
We then both had the chicken kiev. I had only ever had frozen chicken Kiev before so this was obviously much better. The chicken was seasoned very well and the butter poured out when I cut into it. There is a video of Guy’s visit to this restaurant on Diners Drive ins and Dives online if you want to see the food. I didn’t bother eating the weird stuff on the side, I couldn’t figure out what it was and it wasn’t very tasty.
For desert we had nalesniki which is basically a crepe with goat cheese inside and a strawberry sauce on top. I love the Jewish blintzes which are similar. The goat cheese was a little nauseating by the end but it tasted so good I ate it all. We left the restaurant extremely happy with the meal and we honestly debated going back for more pelmini later that night.
This was the view from the restaurant balcony where we ate.
Our plan was to try and get to sleep by 8 or 9 since we had to wake up at 3 and take a taxi to the airport. We stopped at the wifi hotel one more time and ended up with one card that didn’t work, not only will they not replace the card but they had also sold out of their daily allotment so we couldn’t buy another. I let Eric use mine that worked and I went back to the room to pack. I was able to get a few hours of sleep that night sleeping from 11-3 am but I knew that the next 30 hours was going to be rough.
We saw these murals all over Havana; I figured they were meant as a statement against the government. When I got home I was able to find an article that mentions they started with one artist and that was the meaning that he was trying to get across. Notice that he painted the guy with a black eye.
Our taxi got us to the airport with lots of time and it turned out we needed it. Eric had bought too many CUC the day before so he waited in line to exchange it back to Canadian. I found a different exchange spot with a shorter line so we moved over there. This was the slowest currency exchange ever; it took 30 minutes for 3 people to change money. There was a local exchanging CUC for thousands of euros, neither of us could figure out where he got the money or why he was changing it to euros. It was finally Eric’s turn and we find out that the only currencies that they have left are usd, euros or pounds... Eric took usd. How do you not have the most common currency that gets changed in Cuba?
Next up was checking in for the flight which took about 45 minutes as they only had 1 person working. At one point while we were in line one of the women cleaning the floor started waving her mop back and forth through the air. I started laughing and showed Eric, she kept going for over 3 minutes. We have no idea what she was possibly doing but it made us laugh uncontrollably. Going through security was easier although she made me a little nervous when she looked at me, then my passport, then her computer 3 times each. I figured I was getting stopped again as I did on the way into Cuba but she eventually just waved me through. The flight to Mexico City was quick and painless.
Our plan for the 10 hour layover in Mexico City was food and casinos but because we landed at 8 am we weren’t sure if the table games were going to be open anywhere. Either way Ubering around Mexico City seemed like a decent way to kill a layover. We had a good Mexican breakfast which for me was eggs and meat in a red sauce with tortillas and beans on the side. It was very tasty and probably the most Mexican Mexican food that I’ve ever had.
Around 9:30 am we took an Uber to the first casino which no surprise, wouldn’t be opening their table games until 1. We decided to walk the 25 minutes to the next casino as it was beautiful out and thankfully had none of that Cuban humidity. On our way we found 2 more casinos that I didn’t know existed but there tables didn’t open until 5 and 6 pm. When we got to Casino Life and their tables weren’t open until 5 and we realized this was a lost cause. We found a cafe with wifi, Eric grabbed a coffee and I grabbed a chocolate cookie shaped like a pretzel. After spending some time there Eric wanted to go get a massage so we Google mapped our way there. On the way we found a little market making tacos so I grabbed two different ones, took a bite of each and then tossed them after leaving. The meat had no flavour and they don’t put tomatoes or lettuce on them like I’m used to. I knew they would be different but I thought they would have more flavour.
We got to the massage parlour and Eric stayed for a massage while I decided to walk back to the casino that was opening its tables at 1.
I got back to Casino Palace and was told at 1 that the tables would now open in thirty minutes. I found a slot machine to vulture so I tried to put money in but it wouldn’t work. I had to sign up for a slot card that they load your money onto and then you can play. I did that and won 105 pesos. When I cashed out they charged me 1.8% of my total cash out including my buy in as a tax. (Government not the casino) I went back upstairs to get a new card that would let me buy chips for the table games. I came down and at 1:30 they told me 30 more minutes for the dealer to wash (mix them face down on the table) the cards, this should only take 30-60 seconds so I thought maybe they meant 3 minutes but 10 minutes later the dealer was STILL washing the same cards so I gave up. I kept two 25 peso chips (one for me and one for Eric) and cashed out so I could meet Eric at the next casino we planned to meet at. When I came down from cashing out a new dealer had relieved the previous dealer and she was now washing the same cards lol.
We met at Big Bola casino where the tables didn’t open until 4; our next stop was the first really successful one of the day. We got to Caliente Casino and everything was open! I tried buying in at the table but was told to go get another card, the guy made me my card and forgot to give me my passport back but luckily I’m anal about that type of thing. We played for about 10 minutes until we were up 650 pesos, we decided to go double or nothing on one hand and then leave. Obviously we got a double down (5,6 vs. 3) so we doubled down for 650 more and we were dealt a 2 ugh. The dealer flipped a 10 under her 3 and pulled a Jack for a bust and we were big winners. We won 1950 pesos which converts to 100 USD which is not nothing. We walked over to one more casino that wasn’t dealing table games yet before going to the airport to check in.
I put the wrong terminal into Uber so we had to take the airport subway to the correct terminal. I watched Aquaman on the flight to Calgary and then something else that I’ve totally forgotten. Aquaman was meh, just a standard DC movie. There is a reason why I refuse to pay to watch DC movies anymore, they just aren’t Marvel. We landed in Calgary around midnight and didn’t fly out again until 6:30 am. Calgary is one of the best airports I’ve ever been in for places to sleep. Whenever I’m in Calgary for a layover I just find the big comfy leather chairs and push two of them together to make an undersized bed but it works. I slept for about 4 hours with my face mask and ear plugs and woke up stiff as hell.
Last leg of the journey was a short jaunt over to Winnipeg. Eric’s mom picked us up and gave me a ride home. I unpacked, did my laundry and went to bed exhausted from the ridiculously long journey.
A couple thoughts, first the flight was crazy cheap but because of the long layovers it made the price very unappealing. I’m not sure if I’d do a horrible flight path like that again just to save a couple hundred dollars. Second thought is I know I haven’t made Cuba sound very appealing but both Eric and I believe that if the embargo is lifted with the US again an influx of money would do wonders for that country. Third I was told by a friend who has gone 4 years in a row that the Holguin area of Cuba on the east coast is a much better place to go especially if you like snorkeling, scuba diving or other water activities. Final thought is that Mexico seemed like a really nice place to visit and I would definitely like to go back for more than 10 hours.
Oh wait I lied, one more thing. Eric and I have now taken 3 trips together this being the smallest one and I love travelling with him. We are both very easy going which makes travelling easier. It’s very nice having a friend that I know I can travel with any time.
Last edited by: beachbumbabs on Oct 28, 2019
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 27th, 2019 at 7:57:05 PM
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I have mentioned in the past that I collect a banknote from every country I visit, well this is what I currently have.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 28th, 2019 at 2:55:59 AM
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Dsmmmn. Started reading then realized it was a 25k word post. Will have to finish later.glad you didnt die, at least I dont think you did. After watching American horror story I guess anything is possible.
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
October 28th, 2019 at 6:59:58 AM
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I had a bit of the same experience and will have to go back to read the rest.Quote: GWAE... Started reading then realized it was a 25k word post. Will have to finish later.
I just wanted to post now to let you (PG) know that there is a minor typo that keeps your first photo from showing up (the August 19 food photo.) If it is too late now for you to edit, perhaps BBB or another mod will help you on this.
October 28th, 2019 at 8:09:38 AM
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Quote: DocI had a bit of the same experience and will have to go back to read the rest.
I just wanted to post now to let you (PG) know that there is a minor typo that keeps your first photo from showing up (the August 19 food photo.) If it is too late now for you to edit, perhaps BBB or another mod will help you on this.
Saw it as I was reading and edited so the photo now shows. Only edit I made.
Great trip report, PG! You do a fantastic job on these - I love that you notice the art and architecture, and that you describe the food and experiences so well. Thanks!
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:30:34 AM
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I always get so mad/jealous when restaurants serve tomato based dishes in cast iron. I touch mine with tomato or vinegar and the seasoning basically melts off. How do they do that all day every day?!?
"So as the clock ticked and the day passed, opportunity met preparation, and luck happened." - Maurice Clarett
October 28th, 2019 at 10:37:22 AM
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Quote: GWAEDsmmmn. Started reading then realized it was a 25k word post. Will have to finish later.glad you didnt die, at least I dont think you did. After watching American horror story I guess anything is possible.
When your standing in a line or something, jumping around on your phone, looking for something to occupy your mind, that's when PGs travel posts are gold.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:52:14 AM
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Quote: RigondeauxWhen your standing in a line or something, jumping around on your phone, looking for something to occupy your mind, that's when PGs travel posts are gold.
I think this is a compliment? Either way I’m taking it as one lol.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 28th, 2019 at 11:20:43 AM
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It is one. Several times I've been, say, at an airport. A nice long trip report is perfect.
October 28th, 2019 at 2:28:25 PM
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Loved your trip report. Well done.
I counted the 'collectible' currency in your photo, and including the U.S. $2 dollar bill, I saw only 22 items. Somehow, I got the impression that you had wandered through more countries than that.
I counted the 'collectible' currency in your photo, and including the U.S. $2 dollar bill, I saw only 22 items. Somehow, I got the impression that you had wandered through more countries than that.
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
October 28th, 2019 at 2:57:12 PM
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I was disappointed when the US Travel Ban was placed back on Cuba, but after your trip report, although it sounds like you had a good time, it makes me feel like there are probably some better places to travel.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:26:34 PM
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I'm going to hijack PG's thread to post a few shots of Mexico City, from my recent trip there. I've been to almost as many cities as Johnny Cash and it's one of my favorites. If money and time are factors, it is similar to visiting a European capital, but with about 12 hours less air travel time. Round trip tix from LV are <$200. Amazing street food is $1-2. A gourmet coffee at a cafe in a nice neighborhood is about $1.25. A comfortable hotel with AC and cable in a wealthy area is about $50/n. (you get the best price by walking in and offering cash) Mid priced restaurants are about 1/3 U.S. prices and world class fancy restaurants are about 1/2. It is a very good place to go if you are a single man.
I saved over $1,000 on dental work, so it was basically a free trip.
Since this forum seems to be on the worry wart side of the spectrum...
The international drug trade doesn't run through CDMX as the cool kids call it. The murder rate is lower than most big U.S. cities, including Dallas, Boston, Philly, NOLA, Miami and obviously Chicago. I was warned to avoid taxis. But uber is like 60% of U.S. prices. I guess just be aware of the fact that you are in a big city and anyone can look at you and know you are relatively rich and a foreigner and don't be an idiot. I've been there for a total of about a month and never had a whiff of a problem. In fact, I've attempted to overpay for something and had the vendor correct me and give me back my money like 20 times. I've walked everywhere, standing out like a sore thumb... over six foot, blue eyes, blonde (from their pov) hair, speaking cave man level Spanish.
$2 chicken soup. Mui excellente. Optionally comes with the rice and garbonzos. Tortillas made about 3 minutes before you order them. Then you add the onions, cilantro, salt, lime and chili to your liking. Kind of a Mexican pho.
A delicious taco the size of a baby. $1. The greens/tomato topping is named after the flag because it has the same colors.
tlacoyo. This is a thick, usually blue tortilla. As usual, they make it right there. It's grilled so that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. You can get a lot of different stuff in it. I had potatoes, chorizo and spinach. 75 cents.
CDMX has the 10th most museums of any city, by one count. I went to several. Either free, or about $3.50. My personal fav was El Carmen, a convent from the 1600s converted into a house of art and mummies.
CDMX is a fantastic city to visit, and probably a cool place to be middle class or rich. But life ain't so easy for everyone. This guy was in his 60s and seemingly made a living dragging his cart around picking up coke bottles. Don't complain about your soft ass life, you wimp.
At the park I found a spirited political rally by the city's young people...
...it turned out to be a Pokemon hunt.
I saved over $1,000 on dental work, so it was basically a free trip.
Since this forum seems to be on the worry wart side of the spectrum...
The international drug trade doesn't run through CDMX as the cool kids call it. The murder rate is lower than most big U.S. cities, including Dallas, Boston, Philly, NOLA, Miami and obviously Chicago. I was warned to avoid taxis. But uber is like 60% of U.S. prices. I guess just be aware of the fact that you are in a big city and anyone can look at you and know you are relatively rich and a foreigner and don't be an idiot. I've been there for a total of about a month and never had a whiff of a problem. In fact, I've attempted to overpay for something and had the vendor correct me and give me back my money like 20 times. I've walked everywhere, standing out like a sore thumb... over six foot, blue eyes, blonde (from their pov) hair, speaking cave man level Spanish.
$2 chicken soup. Mui excellente. Optionally comes with the rice and garbonzos. Tortillas made about 3 minutes before you order them. Then you add the onions, cilantro, salt, lime and chili to your liking. Kind of a Mexican pho.
A delicious taco the size of a baby. $1. The greens/tomato topping is named after the flag because it has the same colors.
tlacoyo. This is a thick, usually blue tortilla. As usual, they make it right there. It's grilled so that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. You can get a lot of different stuff in it. I had potatoes, chorizo and spinach. 75 cents.
CDMX has the 10th most museums of any city, by one count. I went to several. Either free, or about $3.50. My personal fav was El Carmen, a convent from the 1600s converted into a house of art and mummies.
CDMX is a fantastic city to visit, and probably a cool place to be middle class or rich. But life ain't so easy for everyone. This guy was in his 60s and seemingly made a living dragging his cart around picking up coke bottles. Don't complain about your soft ass life, you wimp.
At the park I found a spirited political rally by the city's young people...
...it turned out to be a Pokemon hunt.
Last edited by: Rigondeaux on Oct 28, 2019
October 28th, 2019 at 8:27:51 PM
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Quote: gordonm888Loved your trip report. Well done.
I counted the 'collectible' currency in your photo, and including the U.S. $2 dollar bill, I saw only 22 items. Somehow, I got the impression that you had wandered through more countries than that.
Not that many more. Before 2017 I had only been to 5 countries. I had travelled to almost every state and more than half of Canada but not overseas. My banknotes don’t include Macau (I forgot but I will be there in January), Israel because that was before I started collecting and St Kitts for the same reason. Also the Euro covers 4 countries that I’ve been to that all use the Euro.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 28th, 2019 at 8:29:31 PM
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Quote: gamerfreakI was disappointed when the US Travel Ban was placed back on Cuba, but after your trip report, although it sounds like you had a good time, it makes me feel like there are probably some better places to travel.
It’s not a place that I would suggest. Also I’ve heard that the resorts in Cuba are crap compared to Mexico and the DR.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 7:36:12 AM
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Quote: RigondeauxI'm going to hijack PG's thread to post a few shots of Mexico City, from my recent trip there. I've been to almost as many cities as Johnny Cash and it's one of my favorites. If money and time are factors, it is similar to visiting a European capital, but with about 12 hours less air travel time. Round trip tix from LV are <$200. Amazing street food is $1-2. A gourmet coffee at a cafe in a nice neighborhood is about $1.25. A comfortable hotel with AC and cable in a wealthy area is about $50/n. (you get the best price by walking in and offering cash) Mid priced restaurants are about 1/3 U.S. prices and world class fancy restaurants are about 1/2. It is a very good place to go if you are a single man.
I saved over $1,000 on dental work, so it was basically a free trip.
Since this forum seems to be on the worry wart side of the spectrum...
The international drug trade doesn't run through CDMX as the cool kids call it. The murder rate is lower than most big U.S. cities, including Dallas, Boston, Philly, NOLA, Miami and obviously Chicago. I was warned to avoid taxis. But uber is like 60% of U.S. prices. I guess just be aware of the fact that you are in a big city and anyone can look at you and know you are relatively rich and a foreigner and don't be an idiot. I've been there for a total of about a month and never had a whiff of a problem. In fact, I've attempted to overpay for something and had the vendor correct me and give me back my money like 20 times. I've walked everywhere, standing out like a sore thumb... over six foot, blue eyes, blonde (from their pov) hair, speaking cave man level Spanish.
$2 chicken soup. Mui excellente. Optionally comes with the rice and garbonzos. Tortillas made about 3 minutes before you order them. Then you add the onions, cilantro, salt, lime and chili to your liking. Kind of a Mexican pho.
A delicious taco the size of a baby. $1. The greens/tomato topping is named after the flag because it has the same colors.
tlacoyo. This is a thick, usually blue tortilla. As usual, they make it right there. It's grilled so that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. You can get a lot of different stuff in it. I had potatoes, chorizo and spinach. 75 cents.
CDMX has the 10th most museums of any city, by one count. I went to several. Either free, or about $3.50. My personal fav was El Carmen, a convent from the 1600s converted into a house of art and mummies.
CDMX is a fantastic city to visit, and probably a cool place to be middle class or rich. But life ain't so easy for everyone. This guy was in his 60s and seemingly made a living dragging his cart around picking up coke bottles. Don't complain about your soft ass life, you wimp.
At the park I found a spirited political rally by the city's young people...
...it turned out to be a Pokemon hunt.
You should start your own thread Rig. This is good stuff!
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
October 29th, 2019 at 9:09:10 AM
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I was debating whether to go to Africa, Central America or Asia in January. Africa would be amazing but a lot more expensive because of the trekking and safari costs. Central America is amazing and I’ve mapped out a very long itinerary and for that reason I’d like to do Central America when I have 3-4 months to go and do all 7 Central American countries plus Mexico. I’m leaning to going back to Asia. For me Asia is just so comfortable and easy to travel. The route that I’m thinking is fly into Hong Kong (cheapest flights from Winnipeg), go to Macau for 2 days before flying to Taiwan for 13-14 days. From Taiwan I would fly to Manila in the Philippines. 3-4 weeks in the Philippines before a quick jaunt over to the tiny country of Brunei. Brunei would only be 3-4 days but the reason I want to add it on is if I don’t know I will probably never go. You can fly rt from either Manila or Kuala Lumpur for about $90 USD from either place but a lot more from anywhere else. I’ve already been to Kuala Lumpur with no plans to return anytime soon so I figure for the cost why not go to Brunei.
The reason I didn’t consider Europe is I want to go somewhere warm.
The reason I didn’t consider Europe is I want to go somewhere warm.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 9:18:51 AM
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Quote: PokerGrinderI was debating whether to go to Africa, Central America or Asia in January. Africa would be amazing but a lot more expensive because of the trekking and safari costs. Central America is amazing and I’ve mapped out a very long itinerary and for that reason I’d like to do Central America when I have 3-4 months to go and do all 7 Central American countries plus Mexico. I’m leaning to going back to Asia. For me Asia is just so comfortable and easy to travel. The route that I’m thinking is fly into Hong Kong (cheapest flights from Winnipeg), go to Macau for 2 days before flying to Taiwan for 13-14 days. From Taiwan I would fly to Manila in the Philippines. 3-4 weeks in the Philippines before a quick jaunt over to the tiny country of Brunei. Brunei would only be 3-4 days but the reason I want to add it on is if I don’t know I will probably never go. You can fly rt from either Manila or Kuala Lumpur for about $90 USD from either place but a lot more from anywhere else. I’ve already been to Kuala Lumpur with no plans to return anytime soon so I figure for the cost why not go to Brunei.
The reason I didn’t consider Europe is I want to go somewhere warm.
I know it doesn’t check the box for warmth, but any interest in Russia?
October 29th, 2019 at 10:04:06 AM
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My impression is that there are more places in Africa where an armed escort is required than not. Outside of South Africa, where are the casinos on the continent?
Two weeks in Taiwan seems like a very long time for a relatively small place.
Have you been to Australia/New Zealand?
Two weeks in Taiwan seems like a very long time for a relatively small place.
Have you been to Australia/New Zealand?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
October 29th, 2019 at 10:38:03 AM
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I can honestly say that I’ve never seriously thought about going to Russia. Maybe if I looked into it more it might I interest me but right now it doesn’t even make the list.
Aye casinos are everywhere in Africa from what I’ve looked at. Africa is actually much safer than the average person thinks. All we hear are the bad things when those are just a small piece of the continent. My plan was Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and maybe Ethiopia which are all very safe and get a lot of backpackers every year.
Two weeks isn’t too much in Taiwan. I want to go to 6 cities between the east and west coast of the island so just over 2 days per city. There a lot of places in the country that I’m skipping as well because they don’t interest me. Some travels spend a month in Taiwan.
I haven’t been to New Zealand or Australia but I actually thought about moving to Australia for a year a few years back. I’d like to go but it’s not a priority at the moment.
Aye casinos are everywhere in Africa from what I’ve looked at. Africa is actually much safer than the average person thinks. All we hear are the bad things when those are just a small piece of the continent. My plan was Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and maybe Ethiopia which are all very safe and get a lot of backpackers every year.
Two weeks isn’t too much in Taiwan. I want to go to 6 cities between the east and west coast of the island so just over 2 days per city. There a lot of places in the country that I’m skipping as well because they don’t interest me. Some travels spend a month in Taiwan.
I haven’t been to New Zealand or Australia but I actually thought about moving to Australia for a year a few years back. I’d like to go but it’s not a priority at the moment.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 10:44:06 AM
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I haven't looked at it in a few years, but Ghana appeared to be a good travel destination in Africa. A stable country with a lot of culture and not much extreme poverty.
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/ghana-travel-guide/
If you want to go look at lions and stuff, I think it's still Kenya. Less stable, but they depend upon tourism, so I'm sure they keep you safe. But you probably have a very touristy experience.
Airfare to Africa always seems to be really high and it's a long trip.
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/ghana-travel-guide/
If you want to go look at lions and stuff, I think it's still Kenya. Less stable, but they depend upon tourism, so I'm sure they keep you safe. But you probably have a very touristy experience.
Airfare to Africa always seems to be really high and it's a long trip.
October 29th, 2019 at 10:55:20 AM
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Quote: RigondeauxI haven't looked at it in a few years, but Ghana appeared to be a good travel destination in Africa. A stable country with a lot of culture and not much extreme poverty.
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/ghana-travel-guide/
If you want to go look at lions and stuff, I think it's still Kenya. Less stable, but they depend upon tourism, so I'm sure they keep you safe. But you probably have a very touristy experience.
Airfare to Africa always seems to be really high and it's a long trip.
The whole west coast of Africa is very safe but they speak almost exclusively French which I don’t speak lol. Kenya is honestly very safe and yes I want to SAFARI! 😃
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 10:59:46 AM
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Also, I am going to KL with my mom in December. I'm trying to pick another place in Asia to go on my own. Any thoughts?
I'm keep waivering from place to place. Manilla, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand all make strong arguments.
I'm keep waivering from place to place. Manilla, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand all make strong arguments.
October 29th, 2019 at 11:04:22 AM
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Depending on how much time you have the easy answer is Vietnam. I absolutely loved Vietnam, I spent about 3 weeks going south to north but you can spend more or less time.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 11:05:06 AM
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Singapore is an easy one because it’s so close but I would spend a max of 3-4 days there as I didn’t think it was anything special.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 12:19:17 PM
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Quote: PokerGrinderThe whole west coast of Africa is very safe but they speak almost exclusively French which I don’t speak lol. Kenya is honestly very safe and yes I want to SAFARI! 😃
Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Ghana's official language is English.
Looking at airfares in Asia, it seems GTO is to get a one way ticket to Beijing for like $275. Even if I only stay there a couple days, I can fly to about anywhere else in Asia for $75-200. Then, figure out how to get back home. Most likely in a shipping container.
October 29th, 2019 at 1:19:06 PM
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Still reading but had to post.. taking pills from a strange lady in a foreign land.. what could possibly go wrong.
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
October 29th, 2019 at 1:24:56 PM
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Quote: RigondeauxOh yeah, forgot to mention. Ghana's official language is English.
Looking at airfares in Asia, it seems GTO is to get a one way ticket to Beijing for like $275. Even if I only stay there a couple days, I can fly to about anywhere else in Asia for $75-200. Then, figure out how to get back home. Most likely in a shipping container.
Oh lol must be the other countries that speak French.
That’s a terrible idea. It will be cheaper to go from KL to any of those countries you listed than going to China and then flying there.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 2:26:21 PM
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Thank you for the wonderful photos of your travels. I too was hoping to visit Cuba soon, but looks as if that won't be for a long time if ever. At least it feels like I've traveled there along with you!
October 29th, 2019 at 2:31:22 PM
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When I was in the military people going to Africa had to get a shit ton of shots. Way more than South America. I'd rather see Africa on YouTube. I want to go to St. Petersburg, Russia during Christmas. Unfortunately wife will not go. I think our next trip is going to be the UK. It is currently pretty cheap.
October 29th, 2019 at 2:37:48 PM
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I think PG should go to Greece. I really want to read a trip report from each of the islands with beach ratings. That will be the next big trip my wife and I take, other than our annual St. Martin beach vacation, and I know nothing about it.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
October 29th, 2019 at 3:17:45 PM
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Quote: DRichI think PG should go to Greece. I really want to read a trip report from each of the islands with beach ratings. That will be the next big trip my wife and I take, other than our annual St. Martin beach vacation, and I know nothing about it.
I can give you advice about Santorini. Just did honeymoon there in July. Also been to Kios, Rhodes, katakolon, but just for day stops. PM if interested.
October 29th, 2019 at 3:31:47 PM
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Quote: DRichI think PG should go to Greece. I really want to read a trip report from each of the islands with beach ratings. That will be the next big trip my wife and I take, other than our annual St. Martin beach vacation, and I know nothing about it.
I’m not much of a beach person so Greece isn’t high on my list.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 29th, 2019 at 3:52:13 PM
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Italy is awesome. Hard to go wrong there. I imagine Greece is much the same with a little poverty mixed in.
October 29th, 2019 at 7:58:17 PM
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Quote: GWAEStill reading but had to post.. taking pills from a strange lady in a foreign land.. what could possibly go wrong.
Nothing. Non American hotel managers don't sit around waiting for someone to complain of a headache so that they can poison them any more than American ones do.
October 29th, 2019 at 8:28:52 PM
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Quote: RigondeauxNothing. Non American hotel managers don't sit around waiting for someone to complain of a headache so that they can poison them any more than American ones do.
That's what he said.
October 30th, 2019 at 5:12:05 AM
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Quote: GWAEStill reading but had to post.. taking pills from a strange lady in a foreign land.. what could possibly go wrong.
Not the first time that I’ve done that actually. If you remember I did that when I had the flu in Naples.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 30th, 2019 at 5:53:18 AM
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Quote: RigondeauxNothing. Non American hotel managers don't sit around waiting for someone to complain of a headache so that they can poison them any more than American ones do.
Yeah but he said he didnt know what were if I recall. I would at least let them trick me by putting them in a tylenol bottle
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
October 30th, 2019 at 5:54:29 AM
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It's Cuba, not Somalia lol.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 30th, 2019 at 6:45:28 AM
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Quote: PokerGrinderI’m not much of a beach person so Greece isn’t high on my list.
Quit being selfish, do something for me.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
October 30th, 2019 at 6:53:28 AM
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Quote: DRichQuit being selfish, do something for me.
You’re right, I’m sorry 🤣
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 30th, 2019 at 7:54:16 AM
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Thanks for the report, it reminds me of my time in Cuba some 14 years ago... ! But I can see that not much has changed all this time there (!?), it's a shame because I think the real ordinary Cubans are the nicest people you ever meet (exclude hustlers and scammers and etc.)
Your trip was really short, and I see you like your food, so it was concentrated a bit on what you could get to eat - Cuba would be the wrong country for food for sure, lots of shortages there.
There are a lot more to see and do in Havana and other cities on Cuba (Trinidad is beautiful), I think I spent 3 weeks and didn't cover it all. A really nice thing to do in Vinales was a horse ride through countryside, very beautiful. Havana has some museums, one or two nice parks and an interesting cemetery to visit. And of course the nightlife, I love Salsa music and dancing, I am surprised you didn't mention it once or ventured out at night - Havana is famous for that, even just sitting around sipping on a mojito and watch is a lot of fun... ! It is also very safe for tourists in Havana late at night - police state, they are all over in plain clothes...
I used to travel a lot and done all the Asia and many places in Latin America, but that is another story. As for Africa the Kenya's Masai Mara safari is literally out of this world and a must, specially near Serengeti border of Tanzania. But there are some dangerous area in the north of Kenya with Al Shabab terror group now, so to be avoided. I have also done north Africa, Tunisia and Morocco, it's an interesting area, kind of nicer Arab countries and culture than middle east....
Good luck with your travels and keep reporting....
Your trip was really short, and I see you like your food, so it was concentrated a bit on what you could get to eat - Cuba would be the wrong country for food for sure, lots of shortages there.
There are a lot more to see and do in Havana and other cities on Cuba (Trinidad is beautiful), I think I spent 3 weeks and didn't cover it all. A really nice thing to do in Vinales was a horse ride through countryside, very beautiful. Havana has some museums, one or two nice parks and an interesting cemetery to visit. And of course the nightlife, I love Salsa music and dancing, I am surprised you didn't mention it once or ventured out at night - Havana is famous for that, even just sitting around sipping on a mojito and watch is a lot of fun... ! It is also very safe for tourists in Havana late at night - police state, they are all over in plain clothes...
I used to travel a lot and done all the Asia and many places in Latin America, but that is another story. As for Africa the Kenya's Masai Mara safari is literally out of this world and a must, specially near Serengeti border of Tanzania. But there are some dangerous area in the north of Kenya with Al Shabab terror group now, so to be avoided. I have also done north Africa, Tunisia and Morocco, it's an interesting area, kind of nicer Arab countries and culture than middle east....
Good luck with your travels and keep reporting....
October 30th, 2019 at 8:20:07 AM
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I actually was quite happy overall with the food in Cuba. We had the option of doing the horseback ride but neither of us had been on a horse in well over a decade so we decided against it. We didn’t do the salsa dancing at night mostly because the first night in Havana we were exhausted from the planes, the first night back in Havana after Vinales we were exhausted from walking for 5 hours in the heat and the final day we had to wake up the next morning at 3 am so we grabbed a bit of sleep.
Africa is definitely high on my list. Of course there are danger spots but as long as you’re smart I’ve been told the main areas are very safe.
Africa is definitely high on my list. Of course there are danger spots but as long as you’re smart I’ve been told the main areas are very safe.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 30th, 2019 at 9:31:11 AM
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PG, I recall mention of the possibility of coming across casino memorabilia in Cuba. Any sniff of a cheque or token? Did you come across anyone selling old license plates?
How thoroughly did they search your luggage when you departed? Was it cursory, or did they got through everything?
How thoroughly did they search your luggage when you departed? Was it cursory, or did they got through everything?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
October 30th, 2019 at 9:33:39 AM
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I didn’t look for anything casino related as the only thing like that that interests me would be a chip from a casino still in business.
License plates were sold randomly in shops.
They didn’t search my luggage at all, just the normal through the scanner on the conveyer belt.
License plates were sold randomly in shops.
They didn’t search my luggage at all, just the normal through the scanner on the conveyer belt.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
October 30th, 2019 at 11:42:05 AM
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Quote: GWAEYeah but he said he didnt know what were if I recall. I would at least let them trick me by putting them in a tylenol bottle
Stuff in different countries is different. In Mexico some of the headache medicines are like Alka-Seltzer. The aspirin comes in bigger pills and you take one instead of two.
People are about the same. Sure, crooks might see a tourist and figure they have a lot of cash. But on the other hand, a lot of people are really helpful when they see you are a foreigner. If anything, I'd guess you are less likely to be killed by a random person in most foreign countries.
My favorite statistic which I have quoted here before is that 10,000 Americans die of food poisoning each year. However, to my dismay, a new study suggests it is only 3,000 deaths and 78,000 hospitalizations.
But the point remains. We shredded the constitution in hysterical fear because of 9/11. Yet we've all decided to gamble with that really good food that's been sitting out for a while. Food poisoning is a 9/11 every year, but we never think about it. Many of us, including me, shorten our lives with alcohol, french fries, etc.
IMO, it's best to minimize fear. But, if you are going to be afraid, do it rationally instead of worrying about urban legends and stuff that is overhyped by the media.
Like, imagine if someone from Latin America was planning a trip to NYC to check out the museums and central park and go to a Yankees game and their friend was like, "no way I'd go to the U.S. You might be killed in a mass shooting." Yes, it is a very remote possibility. But it would be a silly fear to base your decision on.
November 1st, 2019 at 11:28:50 AM
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PG: How did you find the casa and how much please?
November 1st, 2019 at 11:50:37 AM
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The casa’s were both nice and comfy. They were both 15 USD per night for the two of us. ($7.50 each)
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
November 1st, 2019 at 1:03:51 PM
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Obviously, since they are short on LadyBoys. (-:Quote: PokerGrinderI can honestly say that I’ve never seriously thought about going to Russia.
♪♪Now you swear and kick and beg us That you're not a gamblin' man Then you find you're back in Vegas With a handle in your hand♪♪ Your black cards can make you money So you hide them when you're able In the land of casinos and money You must put them on the table♪♪ You go back Jack do it again roulette wheels turinin' 'round and 'round♪♪ You go back Jack do it again♪♪
November 1st, 2019 at 2:09:36 PM
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This is officially a travel thread! Axel has made his tranny comment 🤦♂️
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
November 1st, 2019 at 2:47:40 PM
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How and where did you find the casa please?Quote: speedycrapPG: How did you find the casa and how much please?
