Last Day in Cuba

We were up and out early on Saturday. A taxi was picking us up at 11:30am to head to the airport and we all wanted one more pina colada from Hotel Ambos Mundos.

We took a cab to the downtown area and walked around for a bit enjoying the quiet streets until the rooftop bar opened at 9:00am. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet as we waited for the bar to officially open. At about 9:45am we couldn’t wait any longer and we finally asked the waiter if we could order drinks. The waiter laughed at us, asked us if we were German (I guess Germans drink early!?), and then delivered our drinks. They were just as delicious the second time around!!

Quiet Streets of Old Havana

View from the rooftop

The Best Pina Coladas!

After enjoying the relaxing meal and drink, we took one final ride in a convertible on our way back to the hotel to grab our taxi to the airport.

We couldn't get enough of the cars!

Riding back to the hotel

the US Embassy

There we began our long journey back through Houston to Hartford and Boston respectively. A long journey to start our planning for the next trip!

Cuba Final Full Day...

We were up and out early today, checked out and on the road by 8am. We first drove up into the mountains that surrounded Trinidad. Starting at the town of Codina, we took a tour of the area in old Soviet Trucks. Our guide described the bumpy ride as "Cuban massages". It was not exactly a nice massage!

The Soviet Trucks

Beautiful View from our Ride in the trucks

Our first stop was at a local coffee shop where we learned about the Arabico beans that were grown in this area of Cuba. Our guide explained to us that the farmers pick the beans, and 90% of what they pick is bought by Japan. The other 10% is their own to sell.

From there, we stopped at a little “shop” on the road that sold locally grown goods. We were able to pick up a granola bar and a peanut butter fudge bar. Both were delicious. We also bought some coffee to bring home. The guy running the shop gave Brit too much change. After doing the math ourselves we then gave back the $5 he had undercharged us. He was so appreciative that he gave us another free peanut butter fudge bar.

The Local Farm Stand

After the small shop, we continued on to our lunch. There we took a short hike around the area to check out a nice view. We then settled in for some freshly barbequed pork and rice/beans. A few drinks later we were back on the truck for another massage on our way back to the bus.

After the tour of the mountains we drove 4.5 hours back to Havana. We enjoyed a delicious dinner final dinner of filet mignon. And, they were quite generous in their topping off of the mojitos with Vitamin R.

After dinner we said goodbye to our newest friends before heading back to our rooms to pack.

Cuba Day 6 ~ Trinidad

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we headed to a large tower on the outskirts of Trinidad. We climbed to the top of the tower which had been built years ago. It felt like a risky climb, since some of it was normal stairs and other parts were more like a ladder. It offered great views though, so it was impossible to pass up.

After the tower, we headed to a ceramics shop. We saw a car from 1912 in the shop, which was incredibly neat! 

The car from 1912

A main street in Trinidad. Mopeds, Bicycles, Horse & Buggys & Buses!

We then went on to Trinidad where we explored the city in daylight. Many of the buildings were colorful, and they were perfect for pictures. 

Plaza Mayor

We learned a bit about the history of the city from Rosie while we walked around. We then caught a bit of a dance performance in a bar while enjoying a mojito. The dancers tried to drag both of us up, but we refused (surprise, surprise!). Kendra, Tracy and Joe ended up going up instead.

We walked around and did a little shopping. Afterward we boarded our bus for a return to the hotel for lunch. From there, we enjoyed a rest on the beach with amazing scenery and light blue water. Very much the island feel! 

After relaxing, we headed back to Trinidad for the night. Our cab driver was very thankful for our $3 tip and offered to meet us for the ride home. We didn't know what time, so we were unable to take him up on his offer, but this was just the first of a few different examples in Trinidad where the locals were extremely thankful for our tips. (We have learned a lot about money, nurses make $120/month while just a normal job only pays $60 a month) 

Views from the top of a church in Trinidad

We were joined by Joe and SanSan again, and we went to a restaurant run by Rosie's friend. The food was good, although Brit wasn't a huge fan of the seafood plates. After our meal we enjoyed a drink on a roof top bar before finding a cab and riding back to the hotel. 

Cuba Day 5 ~ The drive to Cienfuegos & Trinidad

Today we were up and out of the hotel at 8am. We actually had to check out because we are switching hotels. We boarded the bus and drove 2 hrs to a rest stop.

(The highways are crazy, we could be going 55 mph and then all of a sudden are breaking because people are crossing the road. The bus driver is always is always beeping at them. There are also times on two lane roads where we come across a horse and buggy and the bus has to slow down because it can't pass. Drivers in Cuba all abide by the rules and if it is a no-passing zone then they won't pass, even if no one is coming. There are also cops every where with speed guns, pulling people over, so needless to say, drivers are not like drivers in the US!)

At the rest area there we saw a really cute dog, and we grabbed a quick coffee before continuing on. 

We then stopped at Cienfuegos, a small town that was far different than Havana. There we walked around the town, checking out some of the local stores. We went into our first 'grocery' store, which was very small and had limited goods. 

View from our lunch spot in Cienfuegos

After Cienfuegos we continued on for another hour or so to Trinidad. Here we checked into our all-inclusive hotel around 4pm. Although a beautiful spot on the water, the hotel is not quite as nice as we were hoping! That being said, it does the job and we have free pina coladas. 

The beach at our hotel ~ beautiful view of the mountains

Beautiful Sunset.

After a buffet dinner, we took a taxi into Trinidad. Joe and San San came with us for the trip. We walked around downtown briefly in search of La Casa de Musica. After finding it, we enjoyed beautiful live music while we sat outside sipping on drinks. It was a great night. The area was packed, but because we had gotten there early we were lucky enough to be right in front of the bands playing. 

Around 11 we returned to our hotel taking unmarked taxis a hotel concierge grabbed for us. One of the vehicles actually had to be hot-wired in order to get it started. Not the first time we had been in vehicles that we were unsure would make it back to the hotel, but this was our first hot-wire experience, the old soviet vehicle was in pretty rough shape!

The hot-wired car

Returning to our rooms, we watched some of the USA v. Puerto Rico baseball game before falling asleep. Good win for Team USA!

Cuba Day 4 ~ Hemingway House, Bars & a Jazz Club

We left the hotel at 9:30am and drove about 30 minutes to visit Hemingway's House. The house was preserved from when he left it in the 1961. We were not able to go into the house, but all windows and doors were open and you had a clear view of every room in the house. We saw some of his old typewriters, and also the massive amount of books he had collected.

After a visit to the house, we went to the local Organic Farm and learned about how most of the food in Cuba is organic. The women, Isis, that gave us the tour explained to us that one of the many challenges to living in Cuba is the lack of access to tools. She kept referring to Home Depot and how nice it would be to have one there. She said that although they have the money to buy the tools, the tools that would make their job easier are not available in Cuba.

We had a fantastic lunch at Cafe Ajiaco - all organic and the Mojitos were excellent. Quite possibly the best yet, and we have had a lot of mojitos this trip! After lunch we drove back to Havana and went cigar shopping. Rosie took us to a local shop that was right next to the factory and we purchased cigars. At this point it was mid afternoon and we were free for the remainder of the day. 

We made a quick stop at our hotel to run our cigars up to our room, and then Tony dropped us off in Old Havana and we spent the rest of the day (our final day in Havana) exploring. 

So many classic cars!

We did a mini Hemingway pub crawl; our first stop was the rooftop bar at Hotel Ambos Mundos (which is where Hemingway stayed - room 511), and we had the best pina coladas we have ever had. They were served in coconuts and were absolutely amazing. 

Andy asking for more rum!

Our next stop was La Bodeguita del Medio, one of Hemingway's favorite bars and we purchased delicious mojitos. 

Our final Hemingway pub crawl stop was La Floridita where we had some amazing (and STRONG) daiquiris. At this final bar we enjoyed some live music, and were entertained by Ryan (a Puerto Rican who was on our tour who loved to sing and dance!) as he enjoyed the music. 

La Floridita ~ Hemingway Bar

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that Rosie recommended with three other members of our tour group. La Terraza Restaurante was amazing. It was a rooftop terrace restaurant, and the food was fantastic. Andy enjoyed a pork shish-kabob that was huge. We had never seen a skewer as long as this one! Brit wasn't daring and she stuck with the white rice and black beans, but they were good too. 

After dinner we took a long walk through some of the local neighborhoods and along the coastline to get to our final stop of the day, a very well known Jazz Bar La Zorra y el Cuervo. 

On our walk we walked down some local streets that if we were in the US we would never have walked down at night. It was very run down, and in the US we would have thought that it was very unsafe. Here in Cuba there were little kids running around, and families sitting outside of their houses. Cuba is a very safe country, there is very little crime even in the most impoverished areas of the city. 

We had to wait in line at the popular jazz club. 

The club entrance is the phone booth.

At first we were unsure if we would be able to get in but thankfully we made the cut and were seated just prior to the young band taking the stage. We stayed listening to music for about 45 minutes before calling it a night. We left with Ryan and he helped us get a ride back to the hotel. The 5 of us crammed into a small car and it was quite humorous, we arrived home safely and were in for the night by 11:30pm. We had a very long and productive day exploring the city of Havana!

Cuba Day 3 ~ Las Terrazas

Today we had a bit of an earlier start, as we headed out after breakfast (and coffee on the porch!) at 8:30. On the bus we headed to Las Terrazas, which was west of Havana. There we visited a small community of about 1000 people. 

We enjoyed a welcome cocktail (Vitamin R) while listening to a Cuban musical group, (Find name of group). Music is a big part of the culture here and every where we go musicians are performing. This group was the best that we had heard so far, they had actually just returned from a tour in the US! 

Our first stop on our tour of Las Terrazas was the town center. In the small center there was a doctors office(that also included a dentist), library, cafe and grocery store. The store wasn't like what we would think of in regards to a grocery store, it was rather a counter that you could approach and get your monthly rations (and maybe a few extra things if you had the money). Each Cuban family gets a rations book, and is able to receive an amount of eggs, bread, rice, etc a month. We saw women filling their bags with their monthly bread rations, and for 50 cents one of our group members purchased enough for our entire group to try. We enjoyed a coffee at their local cafe, we all tried their local favorite which was like a Frappucino. It was delicious!

the "grocery store"

a local picking up her rations

After enjoying our coffee we went to the local elementary school building and learned about their school system. Here we were able to drop off some of the donations that we brought. We then took a walking tour of the town, stopping by the local artist's shop along the way. 

the playground at the school

We ended our visit to the town with a lunch at the top of the hill at an old coffee plantation. We were served what would now become a typical meal of rice, beans, potatoes, and chicken/beef. 

After lunch we returned to the hotel. We spent some time relaxing by the pool. Unfortunately it was raining so we were unable to get some sun, but we did sit and enjoy some pizza and drinks before heading up to the room for a quick nap and to get ready for our evening activity. 

Rosie & Tony picked us up at 7:45pm and we drove to the Hotel Nacionale, the beautiful hotel up on the hill that all of the famous people stay at. (We kept our eyes out for Stephen Colbert!) After enjoying a dinner of the same old we attended the Cabaret Parisien. It was a two-hour dance performance. It was a very colorful production, but was a bit long for us!

Cuba Day 2 ~ Old Havana

This morning we woke for breakfast around 7:45, and met our group for the day at 9:30. The hotel serves watered down coffee with breakfast, so we enjoyed a nice, not watered down, cup of coffee out on the porch from the hotel bar. We then boarded our small bus and headed into Havana.

We stopped first at Revolution Square, where we saw the location of the majority of Fidel's speeches. After a few pictures, we headed to the esteemed art museum of Havana. We wandered around with an art museum guide half listening and half joking with each other, as we had trouble picking apart the art pieces for what the artist was truly trying to say. 

Revolution Square

From the art museum we headed to Old Havana. There we wandered the quaint streets, admiring the work of local artisans and being encouraged to drink mimosas like Hemingway. We ate lunch on a nice patio, and we enjoyed shrimp and fish over rice... well some of us did. Brit had a special chicken lunch prepared for her instead. Life is really tip-based in Cuba, so when using the restroom at the restaurant we needed small coins to tip the cleaning lady sitting outside of it. This is something we will need to get used to moving forward.

Following lunch, the bus returned to the hotel, but we stayed behind to explore Old Havana some more. We stopped in some stores, bought a few souvenirs, and visited a massive market. Afterward, we hailed a taxi that was an old school, pink Ford convertible. We took a slow, and very enjoyable, ride back to the hotel. 

(There are official yellow cabs in Cuba, taxis like the pink convertible that are labeled where you have to barter with the driver for your fare, and then there are just locals who offer rides. When driving around the towns (and the highways) we saw a lot of people standing along the side of the road hitchhiking. Hitchhiking is very popular here and we often would see someone climb into an already full car to get a ride. Rosie also explained that the bus system is very popular as well because a ride is very cheap, like under 10 cents cheap, and so buses were often overflowing with people.)

We then spent a bit of time regrouping before heading out for dinner. Back in Old Havana we had a nice meal of shredded beef (like pulled pork, but beef) before heading to a cannon firing at Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña - a fort protecting Old Havana. The cannon goes off at 9pm every day of the year, and we did not miss it on Sunday, March 19, of 2017! We then headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed a drink by the pool with another tour companion, Ryan, from Puerto Rico.

Cuba

Today we departed from Boston and Hartford, respectively, with both of us landing in Newark with a combined flight time of just 1hr 15 min. After finding each other in Newark and sitting through a layover, we left Newark and landed in Havana around 3pm.

First Glimpse of Cuba

We were a bit nervous traveling through security, mainly because of the fear of being interrogated about why we were visiting. However, we passed through customs just as we have in various other countries of the world - without an issue. In fact, the only snafu we had was the fact that our driver got into a verbal altercation with the policia about how he pulled up to the curb to pick us up!

We found our guide, Rosie, waiting for us outside of customs. After introductions, we exchanged our money for Cuban Pesos and boarded our bus toward Havana. We are part of a 15 person group, with a tour guide (Rosie) and driver (Tony). The four of us  - the Carr kids, Tracy, and Kendra -  were driven to The Presidente Hotel where we settled in for the afternoon and evening.

Our Hotel

View from our Room (the first buildings are a school)

After arranging our stuff in our two rooms, we walked along the boardwalk and into the Havana downtown arts district.

Along our walk we noticed a few things. The first is the obvious, there are absolutely no American shops. No Starbucks, no McDonalds, no Subway... all stores we have seen in so many destinations we have been in the past. We also saw really neat old cars we had heard so much about, and many people sitting at 'internet spots' where they could surf the web... internet access is not the norm yet.

After our walk, we returned to the hotel for the hotel dinner buffet. We then simply headed to bed early to be ready for the next adventure on Sunday.