My take on the beautiful Pearl of the Antilles!
- During this trip I visited Habana and Viñales Valley. This was my first solo trip! I spent 5 nights in Habana and 1 night in Viñales. Cuba is as big as Pennsylvania (about 43,000 square miles). So much to see so little time!
- One day I was checking the flights and the prices, and it turned out that I was able to use points with JetBlue because I have their credit card, so, I used 26,600 points and my ticket ended up being $77, round trip from San Francisco to Habana! I mean, how could I pass? Off I went.
- I was mostly drawn to the island for the history, culture, music, dances, and overall, the curiosity to see how people live under such a different system. If you think about it, San Francisco and Habana are in such distant opposites! From the future to the past! Time travel is possible at the moment, I do hope the island starts catching up in time and better opportunities come to the incredibly friendly cuban people.
- Airbnb worked great and my hosts were really nice and extremely helpful. The first family took me all over and I was not expecting this at all. They helped me get to the bus terminal to buy my ticket to Viñales, they can get sold out, so I am so thankful they told me about this and took the time to go with me.
- Habana is a big city, with 2.1 million of inhabitants, is the fourth largest in the Caribbean.
- I used taxi, guagua, horse, Via Azul buses, small train in Habana, hop on hop off, almendrones and my precious little legs and feet! I broke all my previous records of daily steps and in one day I got 26,145 steps! Most of your money will probably be spent in transportation, so keep this in mind when you budget.
- Cuba had been in my list of places to visit for quite a while! Before November 2016, Americans were banned from visiting the island, but then Obama re-stablished formal relationships and the visitors started pouring in! Some locals fear this could change with the current political environment but I am keeping all fingers crossed that it won’t be too drastic of a change.
- I asked quite a few people, including friends and family, if they wanted to go on a trip to Cuba so we could plan a trip. Most people said they wanted to go but for one reason or another, it was extremely difficult to coordinate. A friend from back home said that if she wanted to see poverty she could do so in Colombia (!!!!what!!!). Anyhow, to each it’s own, we like what we like, so obviously she had zero interest. I wouldn’t say Cuba is poor, I have seen worse in my own country, from my perspective, they have the basics covered, and the resources are scarce or very expensive so most people can’t afford it, but they are not desperate to the point of violence like other countries, they don’t have people begging on the streets, they have education and health. Things move slow and it feels for the most part very safe. It is like going back in time. At the same time the sense of community is quite strong, the kids play outside and they are not glued to screens, it’s like back in the day, literally.
- Habana has quite the history, the city was founded in the 16th century, and it offer a mix of architecture, neoclassical, colonial and baroque, art deco and modernism. It’s quite an eclectic city, specially old habana, central habana, and vedado, but the city is very extensive. It could take months to really explore it.
- I learned that the Bacardi family and factory was originally in Cuba, I even walked by the Bacardi building in Habana. After 1959, they relocated to Puerto Rico as they didn’t support the new system. The new rum is Habana Club and you can visit the rum museum. There are bottles that are over $350, crazy ha!
- The music is fantastic and cubans talent for arts is remarkable.
- Viñales is a very small town and its valley offers a breathtaking sight. Nature is the best! Viñales Valley was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1999. The land is worked using animals, no machines are allowed. There is coffee, fruit, vegetables, and mostly tabaco plants. I took a horse tour that lasted about 5 hours. Definitely wear pants. I was wearing shorts because it was so hot, but it was uncomfortable because the seat leather rubs against your skin, luckily I was able to borrow a piece of fabric and that helped but your legs can get scratched from trees, etc. The tour guide stops in different places, a mirador, the coffee farm, the tobacco farm, you can taste the local rum and you get samples of all the products produced in the valley, you can also buy if you want.
Here is a visual summary of the short but fulfilling trip!
It takes about 5 minutes, fyi, but you also get to hear a really nice cuban melody! 🙂
So many memories, so much to see, so little time. Cuba, such wonderful people, so much history, so hot, so colorful, so vivid, so green, so many parks, so intense!
Best wishes for the cuban people and what is coming for them.
There are quite a few things that are positive in Cuba and the people are extremely nice and helpful, however, I can’t help to feel their system may leave a lot of unfulfilled potential for a lot of them, a bit like cutting their wings short, although, if someone is really eager then there is no mountain high enough.
Thankfully, “there is no evil that lasts a hundred years and no body that can resist it”, and I can hear winds of change, slowly, but surely!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask me, and I can recommend you a really wonderful tour guide if you are planning to visit Habana! His name is Pedro and he is fully bilingual, and he is super knowledgeable about their history.
Thanks for reading my Cuban adventures!
Brownie! 