July 15, 2017
We got up and had breakfast at our casa. It was delicious. There were fruits, bread, eggs, cheese and tea- way more than we could have ever eaten! After breakfast we were picked up by Osnear for our tobacco farm tour. He was incredibly friendly and spoke very good english. He walked us through town to where the horses were corralled. He then saddled Tash and I up and we headed off into the countryside. The horses rode really easily. My horse was named Tito and he loved to eat. He stuck his head into the pasture as we walked and ate an entire ear of corn- stalk and all! We stopped our horses at the tobacco drying house. The tobacco farmer, Lionel, invited us inside to learn about the farming process. Soon after it started POURING so Lionel also had to invite our horses inside as well. The cuban government has worked out an "agreement" with the farmers that they will take 90% of the tobacco grown and the farmers will get to keep 10%. There are four parts of the tobacco plant- the cohiba, monte cristo, romeo and juliet, and the fourth which I can't remember. They use the different parts to make the different types of cigars. First, the farmers plant the seeds and when the plants grow big, the farmers have to transfer them to a larger area. Next the tobacco is dried in house for 4-5 months. There are two stages of fermentation. First the tobacco is wrapped in a palm leaf. Then the farmers remove the center stem of the tobacco leaf for the 10% that they will keep. They do this because 85% of the nicotine is found in the center stem. Farmers leave the center stem intact on the 90% of plants that they will give to the government because the nicotine, along with other chemicals, helps to preserve the cigar. Also, the nicotine is the addictive property which will keep consumers coming back for more. Because the farmers remove the center stem, they use a natural remedy to preserve their cigars which allows them to last up to 3 years as opposed to the 10 years that the government claims they will last. Consumers MUST insist on papers of authenticity when purchasing cigars otherwise the status of cuban cigars decreases and the farmers are left hurting. It's good business to buy straight from the farmer, so that's what I did. Because of the rain, Lionel offered to light one up for us inside. He dipped the end in honey and then poked a hole in the middle. He said this was the farmers' favorite way to smoke them. He didn't have to cut the end of the cigar, because he rolls and finishes them naturally, unlike the government who uses a woodpress to finish the cigars. If you don't cut those, you risk getting chips of wood in your mouth. Because we were stuck inside, Osnear offered to put on music and teach us to salsa. The four of us spent time practicing while puffing. It was a really enjoyable afternoon and I was so glad to have learned so much from Lionel.
Once the rain finally let up, we took our horses outside and rode to the coffee fields to see how cuban coffee is made. The beans go through three colors, green, then yellow and finally red. The beans are ripe when they are red. The farmers pick them and ground them in a mortar bowl to lose the skins. They are baked for 20-25 minutes in an oven. The farmers then perform a smell test on the beans. This is apparently a very highly regarded trait and not all farmers have the "nose" for it. Once complete they are either ground or used as beans. Cubans make their coffee by putting the beans in boiling water for 4-5 minutes and then drinking that "water" which is now coffee.
After sampling some coffee the farmer showed us how to make the cuban dark rum. They use guavita fruit. The guavita is INCREDIBLY small and only grows in that particular region of Cuba, so it is called Guavita del Pinar. The farmer gave us a small teacup of the rum which I threw back as a shot but apparently I was just supposed to sip it. Ooops! It was quite strong.
We rode our horses back to the corralling area. Because Tash and I were on large, long stretches of open land we asked Osnear if we could run our horses. He allowed us to do so and damn was it fun! After returning to a normal speed, Osnear pulled mangoes from the trees and showed us how to poke holes in them in order to drink the juice. It was incredibly refreshing! Tash and I had such an amazing morning with Osnear and are so thankful to have learned so much about the cuban people and their way of life in the countryside.
Tash and I were starving so we headed to a small cafe in town. I ordered Ropa Vieja (beef) because it is one of my most favorite cuban dishes. This ropa vieja however came with beans which didn't agree with my stomach. I had to get up in the middle of lunch and scoot quickly back to our casa to use the restroom. I then had to quickly head back so we could pay and do some more exploring. We started toward the center of town but low and behold the beans were coming back to bite me once again and I had to quickly return to our casa. I felt bad that I kept leaving Tash so I hurried back as quickly as I could. Unfortunately however, it started to rain so Tash and I had to turn back. I was paces ahead of her the entire way because you guessed it, I had to use the bathroom AGAIN. People on the porches were beginning to notice and were pointing at me as I went by them for a 5th time that afternoon. I was thankful that the rain kept us in the casa for a little while.
Once the rain ended we got on a bus that circled the outskirts of the town. We visited a prehistoric mural and the highest viewpoint in the city. We thought we were also going to the infamous caves however they had closed hours earlier so we just got to drive by them. Unfortunately this kept us on the bus for an extra 30 minutes.
That night we went to Trepacas for dinner and a drink. It was a super cute hipster bar. While dining on the patio, we watched construction workers across the street putting up a building. It was so odd to see the way they were working. It seemed as though there were WAY too many men on the job site and that they were all looking for something to do. Mena, our server, informed us that the government puts Cuban people to work on these projects and then promises them jobs at the building once it's complete. Rarely do the workers receive the jobs. I noticed one man standing on a long board running between the tops of two pillars. On the ground, directly under the man, was another worker who was using a rubber mallet to repeatedly hit the pillar the man was being held up by. Mena enjoyed our company and at the end of our meal, he got us up to salsa dance with him on the porch.
Tash and I were determined to see the caves, so for our evening entertainment we decided to attend a disco being held in them. We found two boys from Switzerland to accompany us in a taxi to the caves. When we first arrived there was a show with cuban dancers and singers. Then, there was music for us to dance to. Mena showed up to dance with us but he became much too handsy so we found a nice man, Fredericko who let us sit with him. There was an incredibly long line for taxis home but we found some boys heading the same directions as us so we hopped in with them. They invited us back to their hostel because it had a beautiful rooftop area where we continued our party much too late into the evening.
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.
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!
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!
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.
