Day 1: Miami / Santa Clara:
- 6:00 AM Check in at Miami International Airport Concourse D
- 8:00 AM Depart on American Airlines Flight AA 9458 (chartered by ABC)
- 9:30 AM Arrive at Santa Clara International Airport, Cuba
- Visit the Che Guevara memorial before departing for lunch at the community project, NaturArte
- Discussion with specialist at NaturArte on the efforts of raising environmental awareness
- Explore the town center of Santa Clara before departing for Cayo Santa Maria
- 5:30 PM Hotel check in
We began the day bright and early, checking in at 6:00 AM at the Miami Airport for our 8:00 flight to Santa Clara, Cuba. Although the flight was "officially" run by ABC Charters, it was an American Airlines plane and crew, and we left from one of the regular American Airlines gates. If you're ever in the American Airlines terminal in Miami and you see a flight listed to Havana or Santa Clara, that's what it is. The plane was a Boeing 737 and other than the 22 passengers on our tour, the plane was filled with Americans going to Cuba to visit their relatives.
 |
| Countryside on the outskirts of Santa Clara |
 |
| Arriving in Santa Clara |
The airport in Santa Clara was clean and in good shape. A lot of the modern buildings in Cuba (and there aren't many) are built in bright colors both outside and inside, which has the effect of making them look older than they actually are.
Immigration was no problem (even friendly!), and we were in baggage claim in about 10 minutes. After collecting baggage, we breezed through customs with no questions asked. The next step was to change Euros to Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUCs), which was also no problem. Why Euros? You can change dollars to CUCs, but they add a 10% surcharge for changing dollars. It's actually cheaper to change dollars to Euros in the US, and then change the Euros to CUCs when you get to Cuba.
 |
| Outside Abel Santamaria International Airport |
 |
| The airport restaurant. Beer was 1 CUC ($1) |
 |
| Our first old American car sighting--a 1956 Cadillac (I think) |
After we cleared customs, we were met by our guides. Lisette, who works for Insight Cuba, is an American, of Cuban descent. Lilly, our local Cuban guide, works for a Cuban (government) tour company, contracted by Insight Cuba.
Our group consisted of 22 Americans, mostly in our age range, but also including a couple of teenagers and college students.
Once we met each other, we piled on our Chinese-made bus and headed to Santa Clara.
 |
| On the way into Santa Clara |
Our first stop was the
Che Guevara Mausoleum. Che was Fidel Castro's main co-revolutionary in overthrowing the Cuban government in 1959, and is a folk hero in Cuba today. He was killed in 1967 and his remains and monument/memorial are in Santa Clara. We did go inside the mausoleum, but couldn't take pictures there.
 |
| Che Guevara Memorial |
 |
| One of the few military people we saw in Cuba. |
 |
| Fidel says, "Be like Che!' |
 |
| Hugo Chavez, "our best friend" |
 |
| A tree near the Che memorial, possibly a Royal Poinciana? |
 |
| Near the Che Memorial |
 |
| Neighborhood in Santa Clara, near the Che Memorial |
From the Che Memorial, we headed to
NaturArte, a private cooperative that has converted a former trash dump into a mixture of art and gardens.
 |
| Some (nicer) housing on the way to NaturArte |
 |
| A local school |
 |
| On the street outside NaturArte |
 |
| On the street outside NaturArte |
 |
| Entrance to NaturArte |
One of the members of the cooperative gave us a tour of NaturArte. The tour was in Spanish, translated to English by Lily, our Cuban guide.
 |
| Cooperative member (left) and Lily (right) |
 |
| Some artwork |
The next few shots are of various animals that we saw at NatureArte.
Eventually, we ate lunch at NaturArte--typical Cuban food from a buffet line.
 |
| Most of our group |
A word about Cuban soft drinks, beer, and liquor. All domestic beverages are produced by government companies. Soft drinks and bottled water are of the Ciego Montero brand. "TuCola" is the Cuban equivalent of Coca Cola, and tasted pretty decent to me. There is also a diet version of TuCola, and the company also has orange and lemon-lime soda. I did see CocaCola (from Mexico) in a few places, but it is probably a lot more expensive.
The two main beer brands are are Cristal (lager) and Bucanero (amber). We did see some imports (Heineken and some Mexican brands) in a few places, but almost always, our choice was between Cristal and Bucanero.
Havana Club was the default rum. It came in various forms--light, 3 years old, 7 years old, etc. There were some other brands (also made in Cuba) available, such as Mulata and Santiago de Cuba, but almost all drinks were made with Havana Club. A bottle of light Havana Club ran about 5 CUCs ($5) in stores. It was also available for much less in stores that took CUPs.
After lunch, we went to the center of Santa Clara. The next few shots are from our drive to the center of town.
In the center of Santa Clara we had about an hour to wander around the central plaza, Parque Leoncio Vidal.
In general, the government buildings around the main square were in good shape, at least on the outside. Once you got away from the main square, things deteriorated.
We also took a few minutes to wander the streets near the park. All through the trip, we were free to go wherever we wanted.
There were relatively few cars in the towns that we visited. Most of the transportation was in the form of bicycle taxis, and in many cases, horse-drawn carts.
 |
| Some bicycle taxis |
 |
| Another, more primitive, taxi |
 |
| A (presumably) government-run pizzeria |
After the revolution, the government restricted religious practice, but the restrictions were gradually lifted, and there are lots of churches.
 |
| Catedral de Las Hermanas Santa Clara Asis |
 |
| Catedral de Las Hermanas Santa Clara Asis |
 |
| For many people, a '57 Chevy is a religious icon |
 |
| A government bank |
 |
| Another government pizzeria |
 |
| The big green building is a hotel on the main square |
Although most of the non-government buildings (and some of the government buildings) looked decrepit on the outside, the residences were much nicer on the inside. All of the residences that was able to see into looked clean and reasonably well furnished. And they all love Che.
After we got back to the square, we boarded our bus to go to the hotel.
 |
| Did I mention that they love Che? |
Below are a few of the nicer houses on the outskirts of Santa Clara.
Entering the town of Caibarien, whose "mascot" is a crab. We would return there the next day.
 |
| An apartment building in Caibarien |
At around 5:00, we arrived at our hotel, the Melia Las Dunas. The hotel is a resort, jointly owned by the Melia Hotel Group of Spain, and the Cuban government. It is located on Cayo Santa Maria, a spit of land on the coast that is connected to the mainland by a 25-mile causeway. The good news is that the hotel was very nice (and filled with Canadians, who can travel to Cuba without any problem), and had a really nice beach. The bad news is that it wasn't particularly Cuban, and was completely isolated from Cuban civilization. So we spent the next two days there alternately enjoying ourselves and feeling guilty.
 |
| Lobby of Melia Las Dunas |
 |
| The building where our room was |
 |
| Our room |
Regular Cubans only have access to a few on-the-air channels on TV. However, hotels have satellite TV, but since there is no Cuban satellite provider, they use Dish Network from the US. So, when we turned on the TV, the first thing we saw was "Seinfeld" in English, on TBS. We also got real ESPN (not the European version which only covers cricket and soccer), so we actually got to watch the ACC tournament in Cuba. The downside is that we never got to see any Cuban TV.
 |
| Fidel's favorite program |
The grounds of the hotel were very luxurious, although they were beginning to show a lack of maintenance. Still very strange to see scenes like the following in Cuba.
 |
| A map of the grounds |
 |
| One of the two swimming pools |
 |
| One of the hotel restaurants |
The hotel was an all-inclusive resort, which meant that all food and drinks were free. This fact made it necessary for me to do extensive research on
mojitos.
 |
| One of the hotel bars |
 |
| A band playing before dinner |
The entire group ate at the "Restaurante Romantico Isabel y Fernando" in the hotel.
While I felt kind of awkward eating a meal like this in the middle of an impoverished country, our guide explained that hotel waiters and maids make more money than doctors and lawyers, since they get tips in CUCs from tourists. So, a hotel maid can make more in one day than a car mechanic can make in a month. While this made me feel OK about the waiters, I still felt awkward eating this stuff while mechanics made $20 a month. On the other hand, I was given no choice, and I was given several (free) mojitos to ease my pain.
After dinner, I did some more research on Cuban rum at the bar. Near the bar, there was a theater that was putting on a performance of Grease, which we passed on. At least they had no trouble finding cars from the 1950's.
 |
| Cuban Culture |
Next:
Day 2 -- Caibarien and Remedios
