Goodbye Havana, Hello Vinales

July 14, 2017

We were up early for breakfast and instead of having her mother make it Damaris came to make it herself. She felt so badly that we were "vegetarians" and had been served meat the day before. Today she made us guacamole, eggs, bread, yogurt, fruit and juice- it was delicious and completely unquestionable :) 
Before leaving town Tash and I went to the museum that we weren't able to make it into yesterday. I found the museum very, very interesting because I didn't know a lot about the Cuban revolution, or the roles that Che Guevara and Fidel Castro played. Although the exhibits in the museum kept jumping around so the timeline was hard to follow, I definitely got the sense that Che was a hero to the cuban people (and a hottie too!) He was executed young while fighting for independence in Bolivia. Fidel and Che started off working together and were great friends, however things went south for a number of reasons, and resulted in Che being imprisoned and then formally "kicked off" the communist party committee. Che left the country to revolutionize people in the Congo and Bolivia which is where he was killed. Because of this, he's viewed as a heroic revolutionary. In order to commemorate Che, Cubans put pictures of him EVERYWHERE. His face is in museums, on the fronts of buildings, on restaurant signs and in peoples homes. Tash and I wondered about this because the image of Fidel (their current leader at the time) didn't seem to be used nearly as frequently. Tash was talking with a woman about this and she shared with us that Fidel gave strict orders that his photo was not to be used for personal or commercial use and that only he had rights to use his photo where he saw fit. There weren't any photos of Fidel as an older man because he didn't like how they clashed with the young image of Che. This woman however had a photo of Fidel that was special to her that she kept hidden in her house. 

After the museum we said our goodbyes and got ready to head to Vinales in a shared taxi. Up until this point I hadn't felt unsafe or unsure of my travels in Cuba. However, our taxi driver changed that. Our driver stopped to pee along the side of the road. After hopping back in the car, he started driving really, really slowly behind another car. Up until this point, we had been flying, and even passing other cars along the way. After what felt like forever, he moved to pass the car. As he was passing, he rolled down the window and exchanged words with the driver. He then kept doing double takes in his rearview. He turned off the air conditioning and rolled down all of the windows. We could sense that he was tense, but we weren't sure what was going on. Further up the road, we were stopped at a police check point. Sitting, watching our driver give over his documents and speak to the officers was very unnerving. Could this have been what he had been tense about earlier in our trip? Could this have been the reason why he had exchanged words with the other driver? After having to wait for quite a while, our driver was permitted to get back in the car and continue on. However, when he tried to start the car, the engine wouldn't turn over. He tried four of five times and finally, the car roared to a start. To this day I'm not sure what happened on our ride. I don't know if my taxi driver was just paranoid, became too cold with the AC and wanted some fresh air, or if there really was something he needed to look out for. Either way, the thing that struck me the most, was that seeing the local police didn't take away the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I feel very lucky that in America our local law enforcement isn't bribed or paid off and that they do, for the most part, try to uphold all facets of the law. In Cuba, and in many other countries I've traveled to, this isn't always the case. 
We reached Vinales without any more cause for alarm except for the fact that at our casa, Villa Louis, they spoke very little english. It started pouring almost immediately upon our arrival, so we sat with the windows open, playing cards and enjoying a few beers. Once the rain finally eased up, we headed into the small town of Vinales to explore. As we walked along the dirt road, we passed a huge soccer field with kids playing, and tons of tiny houses that were painted very brightly. We encountered a barber cutting hair on his porch. He waved us over and joked with us for several minutes. We continued on and found a spot for dinner. Our dinner didn't sit particularly well with me but our dining experience was much cheaper than any of our dinners in Havana. After dinner, we continued exploring and wandered through a small outdoor market. The cubanos were incredibly friendly here, so much so that I got a kiss on the cheek! We decided that we'd had enough excitement for one day and headed back to Villa Louis to read and relax in the rocking chairs on the porch.

Travel Restrictions in Cuba? Psh! We Found Americans There!

July 13, 2017

The next morning we woke to breakfast from Demaris' mother. Tash and I sat down to find cold hotdogs, cut in half lengthwise, staring up at us. Hot dogs from the US are questionable, but hot dogs from Cuba? Who knows what's in those! However, tourists eat like kings in Cuba while locals barely have enough food to eat so Tash and I felt terrible leaving food on our plate. We made up a white lie and told the woman that we were vegetarians. That's right. Non meat eaters. That was believable, right? As long as she didn't see our leftover "meat" tacos in the fridge or put together that Tash is a Texan. 
After breakfast Ariel came to show us the "local" Havana. We wandered through shops and into a mini market with sodas and food. Making a few spanglish comments here and there in a club over the music is one thing, but wandering down the streets during the day is quite another. Our brains were fried from multiple attempts to decode Ariel's english and then craft appropriate responses in spanish. Needless to say, when we got back we were ready for a little nap. However, the government was in our apartment when we returned. They were taking pictures for the website and needed us to remove all of our things. 
After a much needed cold shower (they still had water- yay!) we were ready to hit the town. We went to an outdoor bar with what looked like a mariachi band, for shrimp and rice. 

We tried heading to the National Museum but struggled with finding it. An older man offered to help us so we followed his lead. Little did we know that this man would walk us around for 30 minutes, not bring us anywhere near the museum, and then demand money from us. Tash and I walked away feeling pretty upset that we fell for his trick. We finally made it to the museum and as we walked up the steps we ran into Julianne. Julianne. A US citizen. A friend we had met while traveling abroad in Thailand. Could she really be here, in Cuba, right before our very eyes? She could, and she was! It was one of the wildest encounters. There were hugs all around. Unfortunately, because it had taken Tash and I so long to finally find the museum, it was closing. On the flipside however, we were able to head to a HUGE vendor market near the river with the girls. It took us about 45 minutes to walk there and as we explored Cuba we encountered some really amazing local life. 

Many of the homes are open with stone floors and concrete walls. There was a really lively group of musicians who welcomed us in. We entered cautiously and watched while the locals danced, sang and then participated in a water ritual. There was a puddle of water on the floor in front of the band. The locals walked up, touched the water with their hand and then put the water on their forehead and the back of their neck for good luck. The musicians were motioning for us to do this, so we participated as well. 

Once we made it to the market, we ran into Marilyn, our house mother from our first homestay. She was selling beautiful paintings made by her son. Luckily for us right next to the market was a HUGE brewery. It was open air, right on the water and had live music. We ordered a tower of sweet black beer, and talked and danced as the sun melted away over the water. 

For dinner, we walked to the other side of town to a restaurant called El Dandy. The girls recommended it and boy was it delicious! No mystery meat or cold hot dogs here. No siree! Instead there were sweet potato fries with garlic aioli and cuban sandwiches that were to die for. Tash and I really, really enjoyed our evening out with the girls!

Old Fashioned Cars in Cuba

July 12, 2017

Tash and I awoke to breakfast being served by Marilyn's mother, an older, incredibly sweet cubano woman. We enjoyed our food leisurely, not realizing that we would have to vacate the premises that morning and that the couple who would be staying in our room would arrive early. We were shooed out with less than 10 minutes to get our things together. Talk about a rushed morning!
Demaris came to pick us up and walk us to our new homestay, Villegas 66. She is a good friend of Frank's and because Frank didn't have room for us he set us up with her. Her apartment was huge and it was completely vacant. She lived in a flat down the road with her husband so we had the place all to ourselves. There was a walk in shower, which we both took advantage of, because at Frank's they had "run out of water". This happens sometimes because the way water delivery works in Cuba is much different than in other places. Each walk up has big blue tanks on the roof, porch or somewhere inside. These tanks hold the water for the household. Each week a truck comes around to refill these giant tanks. However, if you use all of the water in the tank before the truck comes around again, you're SOL. 
After freshening up, Demaris set us up for a driving tour of Havana. She told us that her friend would take us and that he had a GREAT car for it. A few minutes before the tour, Demaris' friend showed up with his car. A few minutes later, the cops showed up. Demaris told us to wait upstairs. She headed down with lemonade and sweet talked the cops for a few minutes before Tash and I were allowed to take our seats in the car. Demaris' friend wasn't a great guide because he didn't say much at all, but she was right, he did have a pretty cool car. We drove around Havana in the HOT, HOT sun and saw many of the beautiful buildings, landscapes and monuments. There were even a few people who asked to take photos with our car! 

After driving around Tash and I headed to Cha Cha Cha, an open air restaurant with an upstairs seating area. We ordered what we thought were chicken fajitas, but were really fried chicken fingers. Ooops! We went back to our homestay where Demaris gave us a cigar from her humidor. Papi Frank had recommended a taco joint for dinner, so we headed there. It was a super small place that was really difficult to find. Tash and I thought the tacos were questionable at best, especially considering we weren't exactly sure what the mystery meat was in the middle. Because Demaris' apartment had a cute little balcony we decided to have a few beers at the house before hitting up the Buenavista Social Club. 

This is an outdoor club with live music where you're allowed to smoke cigars. The place was flooded with old people. Tash and I were the youngest there by years and years. We didn't care though, because when it came time to light and cut our cigar, there were plenty of people around who were able to help us out. We did some dancing while at the club, but mostly just listened to the music. 

As the band was wrapping up, we noticed a guy around our age lingering, so we headed over to chat. He was a tour guide who was just getting ready to bring his group back to their hotel for the evening. He offered for us to jump on the bus so that we could learn a few more things about Havana on our way home. We dropped off the chinese tourists at their hotel, and then Edgar the tour guide and Michael the bus driver took us on an adventure we'll never forget! They brought us to a store to buy a few beers so that we could sit back, relax and enjoy the views as we drove around. They then took us to a completely cubano club. I mean no tourists, none. Not only was the club all cubano, but they allowed smoking INSIDE the club. Not on the dance floor though, rather, on the floor before the dance floor. Last time I checked smoke rises, but who am I to judge? We danced the night away and I even tried some of my spanish on a local, Ariel. Shoutout to Mo for all of those helpful spanish lessons! I was able to roughly communicate but that was more than enough for him. He offered to take Tash and I for pizza, however Edgar warned that it wasn't in a great neighborhood, so we turned back and taxied home. What a night in Havana!

Welcome to Havana, Cuba

July 11, 2017

Tash and I were up at 3am and in a taxi by 3:30. We had a really early flight to CUBA :)
I sat one row in front of Tash on the flight and boy did she have some crazy amigos sitting next to her. They ordered orange juice with four sugars each and then asked for extra cans of pop. They tried to explain to the two of us what hot commodities the pops were and wanted us to have them before exiting the flight.
Tash and I took a pirate taxi from the airport driven by none other than Rico Suave himself. This car, as well as this man's style, was E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E. However, dropping us on the side of the road at some random unmarked building to exchange our money did not leave us feeling very E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E. We eventually got to our hostel though, which was more like a homestay, run by an AMAZING couple Marilyn and Frank. 

Papi Frank as we affectionately started calling him, sat and chatted with us for a long while and then took out us and about in Cuba. Among other things he told us, was that if we didn't see a blue anchor sign on the door, it meant that the place of residence wasn't a sanctioned homestay and that we needed to avoid it. 

After, he brought us to a local restaurant with a fish and beef special that was so delicious (but way, way too much food for Tash and I). 

We walked around after lunch and noticed that all of the buildings were so colorful! The heat was horrendous though, so we headed back to our casa to take a nap. I think Frank and Marilyn thought we were crazy for sleeping midday, but also for running the AC while it was still light outside. Tash and I had a really hard time getting up from our nap, but we knew we would regret it if we slept away our first night in Havana. 

While we were getting ready, the power went out. Papi Frank told us that this was extremely common and sure enough, we looked around to find that the whole block was out. Tash and I used our phone lights to navigate the little house through the small sliding door that provided closure to our bedroom and down the tiny stairway that even I had to duck under. 

Tash and I went to the Florida hotel which had a bar downstairs for dancing. This bar however, was like no normal hotel bar. The restrooms were down the hall and man were they a sight. Firstly, the door didn't latch, which wasn't a big deal until I came to find that the toilet was missing it's seat. Not only that, but there was no toilet paper in sight. Upon exiting the restroom, I found that both sinks were completely dry. I sure was glad we were staying in our homestay and not this hotel. However, what the hotel lacked in facilities, it made up for in experiences. The music was bumpin, the mojitos were strong and the men were ready to dance! Tash and I were immediately scooped up by the local cubanos whose pleasure it was to teach us to salsa all night long. 

Roberto took a particular liking to us and even offered to bring us to another club before we headed home. Papi Frank warned us about these overeager cubano boys though, so Tash and I headed home on our own, counting our first night in Havana as a win.

If Reading Isn't Really Your Style

I am so lucky to be traveling with such an awesome companion. Not only does she take tons of photos and video footage, but then she compiles them into a memory of our trip that will last us a lifetime. Check out this video if you want to see and experience Costa Rica like we did!
Costa Rica Video

Surf's Up, Dude

July 10, 2017

This morning Tash and I got up early for our surfing lessons. We had two instructors, Diego and Axel, who were teaching us and a family of four. We spent the first part of our time on the sand. The instructors drew surfboard outlines for us and showed us proper technique. We had to practice laying on the boards and then jumping up quickly into the sideways position. After some sand practice, we headed out to the water. The boards were huge and incredibly awkward (earlier we saw a couple take off from our hostel with two rented boards and head toward the beach-- there is no way I would've been able to carry my board all the way to the beach. I struggled carrying it from the surf to the sand). 
My instructor was awesome and helped me position myself in the water. He saw a wave coming and told me this was the one we were going to catch. He yelled for me to start paddling and then told me when to stand up. I hopped up and didn't lose my balance but instead rode the wave in toward the shore. I was so fucking excited that I had ridden the first wave that I'd tried! Earlier this morning I was thinking I'd be lucky if I got the hang of it by the end of my lesson and was able to catch one or two waves. Boy was I wrong! Now I was hooked. I grabbed my board and headed back out to the water to ride again. Diego was really helpful because he told me which waves to catch and he helped me by yelling "Stand!" By the end of our hour though, Diego was letting me judge which waves I should take and letting me "feel the vibe of the wave" in order to determine when to stand. Surfing on my own was a bit more difficult, but still manageable. 

Meanwhile, Tash was battling her board, much like I had been yesterday with the paddles. She just couldn't seem to get up. She tried, and tried, and tried some more. Our instructor even encouraged her with the kind words, "don't suck, try harder", which should have been all the motivation she needed :) Finally, after a much needed fruit and water break (you don't realize how exhausted you are until you get out the water), Tash was able to get up on her first wave. We all (instructors, myself and the family of four) were so happy for her!
Surfing was one of my most favorite activities in Costa Rica. I would definitely love to go again sometime!
After finishing we headed back to Flutterby for lunch. I ate a hearty meal and then relaxed in a rocking chair on our cabin porch to finish my book. 

Around 2pm, Tash and I waved Flutterby goodbye and headed to the bus station, where we waited for 2 hours. Our bus finally picked us up and we started our 7 hour bus journey to San Jose. 

When we arrived the station was closed so we were caged in in a very awkward way. It was like being in a zoo. All of the taxi drivers were outside hooting and hollering and waiting for us to step out of the metal enclosure. Tash and I were incredibly overwhelmed and grabbed a man who wasn't straining his vocal cords to get our attention. Overall, Tash and I didn't get a good vibe in San Jose. To be fair however, we arrived at night, when it was dark, and most establishments were closed. We tried to ask our hostel clerk if it would be safe for us to walk and get a bite to eat but he just smiled. This exchange turned into Tash and I trying to act out our question by using the words "hombre mal" and pointing at the street. Needless to say, this charade ended with Tash and I on the streets hoping that we wouldn't be "mauled" by an "hombre mal". We found a bar so had a quick beer (this is where I first experienced the classic "beer napkin" tradition of central america") and some food (did you know that "rice with shrimp" and "shrimp rice with" are actually two different dishes? Me Neither!) before heading to bed. We had to be up at 3:30 the next morning for our flight to Cuba.

one and done, paddle boards are not for everyone

Jul 9, 2017

This morning Tash and I got up at 6am to wish Chelsea goodbye. We then hurriedly went back to bed. This was the first morning of the whole trip that we'd gotten to "sleep in". We checked out of our three bed and took a taxi to Flutterby, the hostel we had spent some time at the day before. Tash and I booked a two bed cabin and then indulged in Sunday brunch. 

After, we headed out for our paddle board tour. Tash and I thought we had enough time to make it to our meeting spot but ended up being rerouted through the Uvita National Park which added a considerable amount of time to our trek. We both had bags and were huffing and puffing through the wet sand and blazing sun. Did I mention Tash had had a bloody mary at breakfast and I hadn't? She was way more relaxed about this situation than I was. She's three times my height yet I was yards ahead of her. I had to keep turning back and urging her forward. #littlepeopleproblems
I was so incredibly worried that we were going to miss our tour that by the time we got there we were in shambles. And to make matters worse, when we showed up at the hut, no one was there. Greatttt. Now what? All that running for nothing? Slowly but surely a little man, Tico, came 'round the corner. He explained that our "group" was having lunch and that it would be a little while before we left, but we were free to wait in the restaurant. While Tash shot me daggers-- guess we didn't need to speedwalk 35 minutes--, we cooled off under the fans at the bar. Not enough however, because we still both had to peel ourselves out of the leather chairs when it was finally time to go.
I should have picked up on the foreshadowing, because I could never in my wildest dreams imagine what the rest of the day had in store for us.
Tash and I were grouped together with 13 teenage girls. As we left the restaurant, we watched the girls get on an air conditioned bus while Tash and I crawled in the back of the pickup hutch that stored the paddle boards with the four guides from the tour company.
We drove a little over half an hour to a secluded area and unloaded the boards. The girls then arrived and we all got in the water and onto our boards. The tour started off beautifully-- the water was calm and the mangrove trees were on all sides of us. We entered a clearing and it looked like open water for miles. We paddled alongside it and then found ourselves winding back into the mangroves. However, because we visited during rainy season, the water levels were extremely high. We had to sit, and in some areas lay on our boards to get under the low hanging trees. We had to put our paddles across our laps and just try to float through. The girls were having a hell of a time with this and up ahead all I kept hearing was shrieking and crying-- we were floating in a line one by one and could only see the person directly in front of us because of all of the twisting and turning. It came through the grapevine though that someone had fallen off her board. How? How was it even possible that she had fallen off while we were in a sitting position? All I knew was that now we were stopped because she was crying and didn't want to keep going. Tash and I exchanged looks but what could we do? So we sat back relaxed and reveled in the shrieks. We got up and moving again and after a relatively long stint through the trees the water opened up a bit again. This time however, we were in a much smaller area. I was doing quite well with my paddle and felt like I had a handle on the manuevering of the board, when all of a sudden the teen queens' bus driver came barreling toward me. He was throwing his arms up and exclaiming "I can't stop! I can't stop!" He stepped backward on his board which sent the nose of it straight into mine. I wobbled from foot to foot waving both arms awkwardly as I tried to regain my balance while my board shot backward. Luckily for me there was a large tree branch behind me that my board caught on. The jerk sent me stepping back but only for a second and by some grace of god I managed to stay on my board. The bus driver however, was not nearly as graceful and ended up diving forward as he fell- sort of a last ditch effort if you will. He grabbed my hand but faltered and fell straight into the water. I again, somehow, by the grace of god, managed to stay on my board. Now though, I was stuck in the tree branches and had to get one of the guides to come help me out. Luckily though, I was deemed worthy of help. The guides took one look at the poor shmuck driving the bus and put him straight in their canoe- he had lost his paddle privileges for the day. But onward we went and soon we were stuck in quite the predicament. There were downed trees across our path so each of us, in a single file line, had to get off of our boards and into the water, undo our leg strap, pass the board over the branches, crawl over the branches, sit back on our board and reattach our leg strap. Our guides had to get everyone over, so while this took place the group of us who had already gone were waiting in the still water ahead. The only problem? We were soaked and sitting in a swamp and it was feeding time for the mosquitoes. They were everywhere. And there was no swatting them. After making it a bit farther down the swamp our guide realized that our path was blocked yet again but this time in a much worse way. HhMm.. what now? Where were we going to go? Back the way we came, that's where! Our guide had us all backtrack so now what was supposed to be a 3 hour leisurely paddle through the mangroves was turning into a 6 hour haul from hell. Not only was it starting to get dark, but we could see off in the distance that a storm was coming. My energy was completely drained. I was paddling and paddling and paddling some more but my board wasn't even moving. I was drifting further and further behind so I tried laying on my board and paddling with my hands- no use. I tried sitting and paddling with my paddle- yet again, no use. I literally couldn't move myself ahead, even though I was paddling with all of my might. Tash and one of our guides found this rather humorous, so floated along next to me as I struggled to keep up. Finally, laboriously, after what felt like an eternity, the shore was in sight. I was so happy I leapt from my board to land. My arms and legs were exhausted and I couldn't wait to get going... going to the bathroom that was. After six hours of activity my little self needed to use the toilet, and now. However, instead of using a toilet, I watched the teen queens get on their air conditioned bus and drive away, leaving Tash and I with our four guides, the pickup hatch and a million paddle boards. The guys had to load up the truck before we could head out. Then, we still had a half hour drive back to the meeting point. So, now, not only did I have bug bites all over my back, arms and legs, but I had them on my ass as well. #whenmothernaturecalls
Boy was I ready to get in that truck. We made it in the back just in time for it to start pouring rain. The windows fogged up and the sweaty men, Tash and myself all crowded in. Finally, we were on the road. We convinced the guys to drop us at our hostel instead of at the meeting point. #onewinfortheday

I pulled some leftovers out of the fridge in our hostel kitchen and slumped over one of the tables while shoveling them into my mouth. Imagine my surprise when one of the guys working the desk at the hostel came over to tell me that I had a phone call. That's right. a call. for me. on the hostel phone. what in the?
It was Tico. He felt so badly about what had happened that he offered Tash and I free surfing lessons for the next morning. As exhausted as we were, since our surf sesh with Chelsea had been a bust, we decided to go for it. Which meant there was no other option that night except going straight to bed. Woof. What. A. Day.