Vinales - Escape to the mountains

We took the bus from Havana to Vinales which takes around 3 hours, once you are out of the city it is not too long before you can see the mountains stretching along the side of the motorway.  Vinales has both a national park and a small town which sits in a valley surrounded by the limescale mogotes.

The entire town is set up for the visiting tourists although has not been turned into an unsightly tourist resort.  When you arrive on the bus the locals swarm the bus, they are either Casa owners who are there to pick up guests or try to tempt visitors who do not already have a Casa booked.  We had booked Casa Sol Coral on line before arriving and Fran the owner was there to great us.  First impressions on arrival at the Casa were that we were impressed.  The bedroom was large, clean and had a huge double bed and it had a beautiful shower room.  Nury, Frans wife greeted us and thankfully spoke some English which was good as we were struggling to speak with Fran.

Our lovely clean and modern bedroom

Casa Coral

Nury soon brought us some lovely fresh Guava juice and we agreed that we would eat dinner in the Casa and Nury was happy to make Vegetarian dishes.  Dinner was great that evening, we were given soup and plantain chip as a starter and then beans and rice for our main meal, followed by fruit for dessert all of which was great for us.  We also met with Claudia and Peter a lovely German couple who were also staying at the Casa and had been in Cuba for over 2 weeks.  What was even better for us was they spoke perfect English so we got to chat with them all night.  It turned out that Peter and Claudia also sailed so along with our trip to Cuba we had lots to talk about.

Next day after a 4 course breakfast we had agreed to take a walking excursion though the National Park, it was difficult to get hold of a map for the National Park and you felt that your only option was a guided tour.  Funny that our tour was in English but our guides English was a little limited but he was able to point out all the plants in the park, as we trotted along behind him in the very muddy farmers field.

 

Amanda trying to keep up with the guide

A large amount of the farmers crop is tobacco and this is at various stages of growth and there are various different farmers.  We also saw beans, bananas, coffee plants, sweet potato, yuka, lemons and guava.   

Fields of tobacco plants

Our first stop on the walk was a cave in one of the mogotes, we clambered down inside the cave which was quite small but still interesting but seemed like it was also a chance for the various guides to get together for a chat, there were 2 other horse riding tours at the cave at the same time.

A muddy Amanda in the cave

We were then onto the coffee plantation, this was a small shack in the middle of a field and although we were glad of the shelter as it had started to rain, this is also a chance for you to buy a drink you probably don’t want.  Mark tried the local coffee which was super strong and Amanda had a guava juice,this was around 10.30 and there were plenty of tourists already sampling the rum!

The views in the Park were quite spectacular even with the low lying cloud and the occasional rain.

Stunning view

Rainy day cross the tobacco fields

Next stop was the tobacco farmer where not only does he growth the tobacco but he dries it and makes cigars but only a small proportion of this crop belongs to him as 90% belongs to the government and is made into cigars in a large factory.  It was interesting to see the leaves drying and find out a bit more about the process, for example the are kept moist with natural products such as lemon, orange and honey, even more interesting was that when they take the leaves to roll them into cigars they remove the stalk that runs down the middles and this contains the nicotine.  He them demonstrated rolling the actual cigar, he was keen for us to try the cigar but we both declined.

Tobacco leave drying

Entrance to the tobacco house

That night we shared another traditional Cuban meal prepared by Nury, it was nice that she managed to cater for our vegetarian needs with lots of rice, beans, salad and various oher bits and pieces like fried Plantain. We also shared another interesting evening with Peter and Claudia, it was nice to hear about some of their other travels.

Unfortunately that the next day we were both suffering, we think it was probably the Mojito at the tobacco plant but we ere not keen to be doing very much although exploring the village and watching the world go by was just a perfect way to relax.  On our way around the village we watched the ox and carts deliver the building material for a house, it was amazing to see the drivers manoeuvre the ox’s backward and forward to get in position, they were surprising well trained.

We also had a short walk our of the village just to admire the countryside, we also came across a beautiful garden where we watched the butterflies and hummigbirds.

 

More wonderful countryside

Pretty garden

On our walk back we also made a new friend, the cutest little puppy had been following two guys walking out but had decided he was now our friend and started to head back to town with us, he wouldn’t leave Mark’s side. It was both sad and relief when he found a friendly dog to play with when reached town, sad to see so many stray dogs roaming the streets.

Cute new friend

Mark and his new buddy

During the afternoon we were both still struggling so we headed to the local hotel just up the hill from our hotel and spent the afternoon reading our books, admiring the scenery, chatting to the chickens and even managed a beer on our dodgy tummies. 

Mountain view over Vinales

Chickens

Great view

Mark relaxing

Our final evening we spent alone at dinner but another nice meal prepared by Nury and at least we could still manage to eat.

The next day it was up early and ready for the long bus journey back to Veradero, this did mean an hours wait to change bus in Havana, so we left at 7am and were not back to the boat until about 4pm, long day which was not ideal as we still not recovered but some nice scenery and we had a lovely trip.

A tobacco house along the way

 

Havana - Dirty, smelly but lots of character

We took the coach from Varadero to Havana, it was a 3 hour journey and it was nice to take in the scenery.  We luckily had a map in our Lonely Planet so we had some idea where to go but it was quite daunting wandering around some very old what looked almost derelict buildings, 3 or 4 stories.  Along the ground floor their were doorways, some with doors some without which if you looked into you could see they were family homes, often with very limited furniture, little or no paint and more than 1 generation of family sat in a small room with what looked like not many other rooms connecting.  Unfortunately we did not manage to get any photos, we were feeling a little uncomfortable with our rucksacks and map and were a bit unsure whether we were safe to be walking in this area. 

As we neared our Casa the area improved slightly although we still attracted some attention.  We were staying with a family in Havana, in Cuba houses area able to rent out up to 2 rooms to tourists, as with everything this is govern by the Government but there Casa makes an great inexpensive way to see some real Cuba.  Our Casa was run by Deren (not sure on spelling) and Johanna, who had a lovely little girl, Granddad also lived in the property along with Tigger the parrot.

The street with our Casa on

The ourdoor walk way from the main Casa to our room - at least it kept most of the rain out!

Tigger the friendly parrot

Mark sat in the lounge

The Casa we stayed in on the second floor

Our first impressions of Havana did not disappoint, yes it is filled with lots of old American cars which share the road with old Russian cars and as we found when we used a few of these old cars as taxis inside the car could be anything, a Peugeot car with a Seat steering wheel and a dashboard from another car was normal and don’t even think about any seat belts.  We later found out a 30 year old Lada could cost 8000-10000CUC and the big American cars 40000-50000 CUC.

Some of the more significant buildings in Havana were not necessarily what we had envisaged from the guide book as many of these buildings are under going renovation or a little worn around the edges.  It was a shame not be able to visit the Capitolio National which is supposed to be magnificent inside, it was built in 1929 and took over 3 years costing over $17million.  Now it looks like it might need some love and care.

Capitol building

The Gran Teatro de Habana is also an amazing building which is surround by scaffolding and being worked on, many of the upper window now longer seem to be in the building and you can only assume this space is no longer used.

Gran Teatro

Lucky for us these some of the main sights were 5 minutes walk from our Casa but the old town was only 20 minutes and you could loose yourself there for an entire day or more.  The buildings are amazing and within the main squares these have often been restored, they are beautiful but funny to walk just outside the square and it can be very run down.

Cathedral in old town

Cool statue in old town

Just off the main squares which have been renovated

Mark in the old town

Havana old town

Havanaold town

We spent the day in the old town, we were very lucky to return to the Casa late afternoon as the heavens opened and we had torrential rain.  The houses are not really made for the rain and although the rain did not come into the house the wind whistled through the windows and we really were not keen to head out for dinner but were so glad we did.  We passed a Palladar/restaurant earlier in the day and it was a few minutes from the Casa and looked nice, so we popped our heads in the door to look at the menu.  We were greeted by Leonardo, a Cuban guy who spoke amazing English.  Although brought up in Cuba his mother was French, his father was Indian and is Grandmother had lived in the US and so had taught him English.  He was hugely welcoming and very interesting, a train Psychologist who worked in a hospital he had a job in the restaurant meeting and greeting to supplement his income and in less than a week he would earn the same as a month in the hospital, he was obviously very intelligent but working in  restaurant was the best way for him to support his family.  The welcome we received just to look at the menu was enough for us to book that evening and to venture out in the wet. 

We had such a lovely evening, the restaurant was really nice, glamorous and interesting, it was a shame that we felt a little underdressed as we had to wear our walking shoes to dinner as the streets were so dirty from the rain and the cold front meant it was cold, so the summer dressed Amanda packed for dinner stayed in the rucksack but without any trousers we were still dressed in shorts. The food was superb by Cuban standards the cocktails were amazing; we loved our first Daiquiri and the service great.  If you are reading this and visit Cuba give the restaurant a try – Sans Christopher which is on San Rafael close to Escobar.

Amanda  enjoying her first daquari

Fancy Paladar

Mark and Amanda enjoying way too much rum

The entrance to the delightful Paladar - you would never know what was inside

The next day we visited the Revolution Museum which is housed in the former Palacio Presidecial, which is an impressive building.  I took some good photos of the impressive interior what I should have also captured was that around 50% of the building is falling into disrepair with broken windows and door, no paint, chipped walls and floor which we were now coming to expect in Cuba.  But great to see the grandeur of the place and find out a little bit more about the Revolution and the early Fidel years although still difficult to put it together with current situation, still would be interested to find out more which hopefully we can do during our stay.

Inside the Revolution museum

Inside Revolution Mueseum

Revolution museum

Fantastic armoured vechile used in the Revolution made from a farm vehicle

Varadero and Santa Marta - First thoughts

It felt odd that the marina was going to be our home for the next few months and we still had so much to find out about the area – how did we change our money? How did the money work? Where could we get some fresh food? How far were we from Varadero centre? How far was this from where Amanda’s mum and dad would be staying? Were we going to speak enough Spanish?

So we hopped on our bikes and headed into Varadero which is the local tourist resort, it is only about 10-15 minutes ride.  We found a main street running along the seafront with various hotels, shops/shacks and bars/cafes.  Being New Years Day it was quite quiet but most places were open.  With the sun beating down on us we probably managed to get half way along the strip that runs for around 10 miles.   We were joined on the road by horse and carts, old American convertible cars and even a hop on hop off tourist bus, odd how all these things fit together.

Later that afternoon we visited the beach for the first time, again it is easier to access by bikes, it is a beautiful golden sandy beach and the waves were crashing on the shore which a bit of a northerly breeze.   It was quite busy filled with both Cubans and tourists, making the most of the sunny New Year.  This was our first proper dip in the sea since the Bahamas the previous May, it was lovely to get back into the warm, clear waters.

Varadero Beach

The next day we did attempt a trip to the local village market in Santa Marta which is 10 minutes walk from the marina although we were told that we had yet more paperwork to complete, this time with the Vet, this was mainly about food waste and disposal on this whilst in the country, odd but another necessity.

Our first trip to the market was a disaster as we were unable to find it, we knew it was in Santa Marta but it wasn’t obvious where but it was nice to look around the village.  It was a hive of activity, with people bustling around on bikes, in cars and by horse and cart.  There were a few small supermarkets all of which seemed to have a queue outside, we have since learnt this is because only a limited number of people are able to access at one time.  So after an unsuccessful trip we headed back to the marina back on our bikes and out to Varadero to see if we could succeed in getting to the bank and using the internet, 1 out of 2 didn’t seem bad as we managed the internet, the queues for the bank were just too long and then they closed – gone were our easy days of going to the cashpoint and popping into Starbucks to get wifi.  We did also managed to purchases bus tickets into Havana for the weekend so we were at least getting to learn how some things worked, any small progress felt like a major achievement.

Round two at the market the next day and Debbie the local liveaboard Canadian who is super helpful took us into Santa Marta.  After stopping via the bank and teaching us the Spanish we needed to know just to join the queue we were then off to the market.  Unfortunately the market was very limited but we at least knew were it was located and also how it worked – you would think this would be straight forward but with two currencies in Cuba this is not quite as easy, the Convertible Pesos we had just obtained at the bank were not what the locals used at the market so we also needed some National currency, we at least knew for our next visit.  The good news was the few bits of fruit and veg we did manage to get were very cheap, fresh and would keep us going for a few days.  It felt like we were finally getting to see the real Cuba as we sat in a local café and watched the world go by.

Cuba – New Year in Varadero, Marina Darsena

We had thought our first day in Cuba would be taken up with checking in with the various parties but it was actually quite painless.  First the doctor came on board he asked us various questions but mainly took details on the boat and then asked if we had been sick and he was quite happy with us just answering “no”, he then had a brief look around the boat and he took our passports and boat details to immigration – or so we thought.

An hour or so later the marina manager came and asked in the Coastguard had visited which they hadn’t so he went and hurried them along.  A young woman came onboard and had completed around 90% of our paperwork, we had prepared one sheet of information in Spanish including boat name, dimensions, type of engine, nationality, etc which was the majority of what they needed to know.  She then disappeared with this information and we continued completing paperwork with the marina manager. 

Next came the lady from Agriculture, she was to inspect our food, we were a little concerned as we had huge amounts of tins vegetables and beans and lots of treat filling every available space but she asked about fresh meat, fresh fruit and veg which we didn’t have and then about tea which she inspected and cereal but all was OK and she left happily with a signed document and a can of Coke.  We have since found out that people arrived from the States with various fresh fruit, veg, meat and they were able to keep it all, if only we had known.

Our box of goodies

We were still confined to the boat until our passports were return but within the hour the Coastguard return and presented us with our passports and tourist visas, this was all our Customs and Immigration paperwork complete, took around 2.5 hours, so not too bad.

We were now free and able to leave the boat but all we did was get off to wash the boat and have a little look around the marina.

That evening was New Years Eve and we were invited to join the other cruisers for a Pot Luck dinner although our contribution to this was limited as we had only just arrived and threw together a bean salad.  The food prepared by the other cruisers was amazing, a big chilli, fresh bread, spaghetti bolognaise, ribs and even some wonderful brownies for dessert.  We ate our dinner in the staffroom which had been prepared to be festive but funny that it had one light bulb and we ended up borrowing light bulbs from around the marina to ensure we had enough light, this was a sign of things to come where there is a shortage of many things in Cuba.  Although we did not stay up to see in the New Year to was nice to meet some other cruisers and enjoy the night in company before an early night.

Florida Keys to Cuba - How lucky are we

Amazing, after weeks and weeks of pushing hard to get south so we were in a position to leave the states before 31^st Dec, the expiry date of our visa’s, a weather window opened up for us on the 30^th !!!

Leaving the Key - 7 miles bridge

The forecast was for light winds, but with 90 miles to cuba we could motor all the way if we had to. In effect the weather was kind to us yet again and we sailed in light winds and calm seas all the way.

We arrived at the 12 mile territorial waters of Cuba and radioed the coastguard to gain permission to continue, no response so we pressed on anyway, about 6 miles out we managed to raise the marina. Mark tried to gain information about water depths in the approach channel but the language barrier proved too difficult, so we entered the channel warily with one eye on the depth sounder. We had minimum 4metres all the way so thankfully it had been dredged since our out of date pilot book was published.

We entered the marina and were directed to the quarantine dock to await processing.