Day 1: Santa Clara and Cayo Santa Maria

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

Cuba -- Introduction

In March, Brenda and I took a 5-day trip to Cuba ("Vintage Cuba") with Insight Cuba.  Before we get to the pictures, I'll start out with some questions that you undoubtedly have:

Wait -- Americans can't travel to Cuba, can they?

Yes they can, as long as they go on a "people to people" tour.  A small number of companies are authorized to run these tours, which require that a certain percentage of the tour activities involve cultural events and meetings with Cubans.  As it turns out, Americans aren't prohibited from going to Cuba (you could go to Canada or Mexico and fly from there), but unless you are on a "people to people" tour or have a special permit to visit (such as visiting relatives), you can't legally spend money there.

How did you get to Cuba?  US airlines can't fly there.  

US Charter companies flying passengers on approved tours can fly there.  It turns out that the company that flew us (ABC Charters) used a American Airlines planes from Miami to Santa Clara, Cuba and from Havana to Miami.  There were only 22 people on our tour but both flights were completely full 737's.  I assume the rest of the passengers were Americans visiting relatives in Cuba.  The flight to Cuba was just like a regular American Airlines flight, with an AA crew, and departing from a regular AA gate in Miami.

I'll bet they kept a pretty tight rein on you in Cuba.  Did you feel like you were being followed?

Absolutely not.  The only requirement was that we had to participate in the "people to people" activities during the day--this was to meet the legal requirements of the tour.  After 5:00, except for some group dinners, we were totally on our own.  We could walk or take a taxi to anywhere we wanted, and we did.

Were there lots of old American cars?

Yes--I'd estimate that about 15% of the cars were American models from before 1959.  About 40% were old Soviet Ladas from the 1960's and 1970's,  Another 35% were older Japanese and European cars from the 80's and 80's.  About 10% were relatively new cars, mostly owned by foreigners. (I know that doesn't add up to 100%).  Most of the American cars were barely running, but a few had been nicely restored.

In the smaller towns outside of Havana, there were fewer cars, and more reliance on very primitive forms of transportation, such as horse carts and bicycle carts.

What condition were the buildings in?

A few government buildings were in good shape, but the exteriors of most buildings were in a state of disrepair--peeling paint and stucco, and moldy concrete.  On the other hand, even though most of the houses and residential buildings looked like they were falling apart on the outside, on the inside they were clean and had nice furniture and most appliances, including televisions.

What about the Cuban people?

The people were very friendly and almost all of them would wave, smile, and talk with you.

Are they starving?

No.  In fact, I would guess that the lowest 10% of the Cuban population is doing better than the bottom 10% of Americans.  They have all of their basic needs (housing, medical, food) taken care of by the government.  Obviously their standard of living is not very good, but they don't seem to be bothered by it. 

Can you explain how the Cuban economic system works?

No.  Nobody can.

Oh, come on--can't you try?

OK, first their money.  Cuba has two types of currency--Cuban pesos (CUP) and Convertible pesos (CUC).  Cuban pesos are meant to be used by Cubans, and CUCs are meant to be used by foreigners and in international trade.  A CUP is worth about 4 cents, and a CUC is worth $1, so they are not interchangeable.   Cubans get paid in CUPs and can use them to buy heavily-subsidized goods in government stores.  The average Cuban makes about $20 per month in CUPs, but it's actually enough to live on, because housing and medical care is free, and the prices in government stores are ridiculously cheap.  But to get more than the minimal amount to live on, Cubans need to get their hands on CUCs.  Most goods other than the basic necessities are sold in stores that only take CUCs.  There are two ways that Cubans get CUCs--from relatives abroad, who send them money, and from tourists, through tips.  Because of this, people in the tourist industry make a lot more money than doctors, lawyers, and other workers.  For example, the standard tip for a hotel maid is one CUC per day per room.  So, if a maid cleans 20 rooms a day, she gets $20 CUCs in tips, which is approximately the monthly income for a worker who gets paid in CUPs.

Does the government own everything?

For the most part, yes, but that is slowly changing.  For example, the government owns the companies that make soda, beer, and rum.  Among other things this means that there are only 2 brands of domestic beer (Cristal and Bucanero, although some imports are available), one brand of cola (TuKola), and 2 or 3 brands of rum.  On the other hand, the government products are cheap, even for foreigners.  Most of the restaurants, including fast-food and snack bars, are owned by the government.  One of the interesting side effects of this is that there are no advertising signs anywhere in Cuba.  There's no need to advertise Cristal and Bucanero, since there's no competition.

The government owns the housing, but it is possible for a person to buy their own house from the government.  This would probably require funding from a relative outside Cuba or getting lots of tips from foreigners. 

In the past few years, the government has permitted people to open some types of private businesses (mostly restaurants) and form private co-ops.  Over time, this will increase.

Where did you go in Cuba?

We flew into Santa Clara, which is in the middle of the country.  Our itinerary was as follows (note that this was the itinerary that we were issued--in a few cases our activities didn't match the itinerary):

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

Day 2: Caibaríen / Remedios / Cayo Santa Maria 

• After an early breakfast at the hotel, depart for Caibarién
• Meet with members of a local community print shop
• Meet with local children and the head artist at the community project “Color de Miel”
• Board a vintage train to the town of Remedios, en route stop at a traditional Cuban restaurant where you will enjoy an typical Cuban meal
• Tour Remedios by “bicitaxi” and meet with local residents at the town warehouse. Participate in a discussion about Parrandas, the traditional carnival of Remedios
• Return to hotel Melia Las Dunas

Day 3: Cayo Santa Maria / Caibaríen / Santa Clara / Havana 

• Breakfast at the hotel; check out, depart for Havana
• Stop in Santa Clara for an exchange with the last remaining Piquetes band, the Piquete Melodías Antilanas
• Stop for light lunch at Aguadads de Pasajeros before continuing to Havana
• 5:00 PM Check in at Hotel Melia Cohiba
• 7:30 PM Dinner at Mediterraneo Restaurant inside the Hotel Melia Cohiba

Day 4: Havana 

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Participate in a discussion about the Cuban economy before departing for Old Havana
• Lunch at La Mina
• Engage in an educational exchange with a Cuban hairstylist who trains and promotes teaching life skills to at-risk youth
• Interact with local men and woman at a nonprofit sewing exchange that promotes and teaches traditional sewing skills to children with disabilities (we didn't do this)
• Enjoy dinner at a paladar of your choice (a paladar is a privately-owned restaurant.  We went to a baseball game instead)

Day 5: Havana 

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Meet with members of a local car repair cooperative
• Visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Central Havana
• After lunch, meet with the dancers of the Santa Amalia Project
• 7:30 Dinner at El Aljibe

Day 6: Havana / Miami 

• ¡Adios, Cuba! After breakfast, bid farewell to Cuba and board your flight to Miami. 

How were the hotels?

For the first two nights we stayed at the Melia Las Dunas, which is a resort on the coast, an hour from Santa Clara.  The good part is that it was a really nice resort, although beginning to deteriorate a bit.  The bad part is that it wasn't really a Cuban experience--all of the guests were foreigners (Canadians) and the resort was completely isolated.  The next three days were in Havana.  In Havana, we stayed at the Melia Cohiba, which is a relatively modern business hotel--probably the best in Havana.  We had the same issue as with Las Dunas, in that it wasn't really a Cuban experience inside the hotel.  On the other hand, it was in a good location in Havana, and it was easy to get out of the hotel and walk the streets.  Both hotels are jointly owned by a private Spanish company (Melia Hotels) and the Cuban government.

Was there much of a government presence in the streets?

Very little.  There were lots of propaganda signs everywhere (they loves them some Che Guevara), but I saw little evidence of a military or police presence.  I felt like I could go anywhere I wanted and photograph what I wanted.

Were you able to bring back lots of rum and cigars?

Unfortunately, the only things that the US Government lets you bring back from Cuba are literature, art, and music.  Cigars, rum, and coffee can't be brought back.  So we now have several pieces of Cuban "art".

Did you have any trouble with US Immigration or Customs when you returned?

None whatsoever.  They didn't even look at our baggage.  In retrospect, I suppose that we could have brought back cigars and rum, unless they have a rum-sniffing dog at customs.

Should I go to Cuba?

Absolutely!  In a few years, the country will be completely different, and it's definitely worth it to see Cuba the way it is now.  It's kind of a time-warp--like going back to the 1960's in a lot of respects.  Also, there is absolutely nothing to fear or worry about--we felt completely free to go wherever we wanted, and Insight Cuba took care of everything.  I also highly recommend Insight Cuba--Lisette and Lily did a great job!

Next: Day 1-- Santa Clara and Cayo Santa Maria