So we arrived in Havana, Cuba on August 3nd and left on August 12th. We originally were supposed to be here on August 2nd but we missed our flight. Prepare to be at the airport at least 3 hrs early and bring locks for your luggage. The people who visit Cuba often, probably from Cuba, wrap their luggage up in clear wrapping paper to prevent someone from getting into their luggage and stealing it at the airport while they are waiting for their baggage. We arrived on time but waited forever for our baggage in a crowd, and I mean a crowd of people arriving at the same time from Miami. We got through customs easily but waiting on luggage was worse than I had ever experienced anywhere.
After going outside to meet the family members of our future daughter-in-law we went back inside to convert our money in a different place in the airport. We converted our US dollar to Canadian in Tampa International Airport and then received 1090.00 from our 1000.00 US. We thought it was easier to convert Canadian to CUC in Cuba after doing some research. We got more Canadian money for our US dollar but in Cuba received that lovely fee they give the Americans for coming to Cuba and spending their money, and we ended up with $808.00 CUC which is equal to same in US dollars. We lost money basically converting but would have been more probably if we converted straight from US but I’m not sure. We did convert some US money once after being there a few days and got $350.00 CUC for our $400.00 US dollars. But the money is pretty in Canada, lol and we took a picture because my son and his girlfriend converted their US dollar to Euro. So our table of money was a little Euro and Canadian mixed with US dollars.
So our cab ride cost us $35.00 plus a 5.00 tip to get to our airbnb home we rented for the next 9 days. We already lost one day since we missed our flight. The home was just as pictured on the internet and the host was very nice and welcoming. She had water and beer in our refrigerator waiting on us and showed us around the house. We had to show ID and passport to prove who we were and apparently the owner has to show proof to the government of whom is staying in their home at all times. After getting all that done we finally got to relax. It was a bit overwhelming at first seeing people we did not know and we could not speak Spanish so our daughter-in-law had to translate everything for us and her family and the host, so she was very overwhelmed. When everyone who was visiting left, we finally took a deep breath and enjoyed our first day in Cuba by the pool.
The next day we woke up refreshed and looking forward to our first adventure our into Havana and to see one of the beautiful beaches about an hour away from our home. We took a cab drive to the beach which costs us $40.00 each way, so total of $80.00 to go to this beach. The ride was interesting seeing some of the area monuments on our way and getting an idea of where we might want to come back to later in the week. We finally arrived and was dropped off by the beach in front of an area store that sold drinks etc and found that it was not what we expected, you had to wait in a line to get into the store to shop and they only let in about six people at a time and watched every move you made while you were in the store. This was not an easy thing to deal with when your not used to this treatment, but we managed, bought our waters and soda and go out of that store as quickly as we could and off to the beach. The locals are not friendly and did not smile at us or try to talk to us, and we couldn’t speak to them since we don’t speak Spanish so that was disappointing.
Here is the first beach we visited and it is beautiful. The Playa Cayo Santa Maria is a stretch of white sandy beach and clear green water. We loved it. The one thing that I did not like is all the trash you see just sitting around where people decide they don’t care about the environment and just leave their trash. Really made us sick to our stomach to see people just walking in the water with whiskey bottles, and probably throwing them in the ocean afterwards. There was a man with a snorkel and he was going around and collecting broken glass he found in the sand in the water we were swimming in. The water is amazing and the waves are big, perfect if you were a surfer, which I am not, but they are exhausting after awhile and I lost my new hat I bought for the trip which really disappointed me. But overall we liked the day at the beach and our family members we were with actually made a little cover from the sun from a palm tree branch and attached it to the palm tree. It actually worked, and we had a little shade. I heard a lot of people say how hot the Cuban sun is and it is hot, not really much hotter than Florida but it is hot.
After a long day at the beach we took the long taxi home and ate a nice dinner prepared by our host. Our dinner was beans and rice with pork and chicken along with a salad made of cucumber, tomato, green beans, and avocado. Again our refrigerator is stocked with beer and water and our day comes to an end.
Our day began again with a nice big breakfast prepared by our host which costs us $5.00 each and our dinners cost usually about $5.00-8.00 a plate. Our host has a son who runs a restaurant (small building next door) and he cooks pretty good, not great, but then I’m comparing my meals to United States meals, and they are nothing alike trust me. But we enjoyed what we were served and she always made sure we had whatever we asked for.
We decided to catch another taxi and go exploring in downtown Havana today and the taxi was $10.00 CUC there and we had to get a different ride back which cost $12.00. You just stand out on the side of the road in Cuba and hitch hike basically. There are so many taxi cabs around, and they are in those old 1950’s cars in many different colors. We had a large party so it was always us being squeezed into a car together. If these cars had air conditioner, they did not use them. I think one car we rode back to the airport in at the end of our trip had air conditioning and actually used it. Downtown Havana is very old of course and again dirty. Most of the buildings are nice even though they are old but the majority of the buildings are in bad condition. People just sitting on the sidewalks or in the park, just hanging out, which it appears they have nothing to do or anywhere to get to fast. Here in the good old United States we are all so busy and in a rush all the time, worrying about work and even on our off days, what errands we will have to do. These Cuban people don’t appear to worry about anything or care about too much. The taxi drivers certainly make money so I’m surprised more people don’t drive people around for money to eat or live on. This is just my opinion remember so I don’t mean to offend anyone who is Cuban. We met some really nice, good hearted people while in Cuba but most we came across did not appear happy to see us or try to interact with us at all.
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba
This is a beautiful hotel where some our our United States Presidents have stayed while they visited Cuba. We should have went to see the inside and the grounds but we did not. Look it up online and see the pictures, they look nice but old of course and the pool looks like nice. It sits right on the Malecon, which is what they call the wall that stretches along the coastline in downtown Havana. We walked down the Malecon during the evening and the water is very clear by the shore. The breeze was nice by the water and people sit on the wall and just hang out during the day and evening. Here are some pictures of downtown Havana.
The Morro Castle is a fortress guarding the entrance to Havana Bay in Cuba. It can be seen from miles around as it dominates the port entrance. They actually let off canons around 9pm nightly which we missed so I don’t have pictures or video which I had hoped to have to share. The capital building is very big and we climbed over 50 steps to get to the top and take pictures. It was a very hot day and a lot of walking so we were all ready to go back home to the pool!
Relaxing back at the house…
This picture on the end is of Eric and Yaima’s father along with our host for the house.
Trying to watch TV here is almost impossible since everything is in Spanish. We found one channel literally that had a few shows that were in English and were able to watch some movies but most of the time you hung out talking and laughing and falling asleep before you knew it. We had a great time just hanging out together and trying to communicate with our Cuban house guests.
Our morning began again with a wonderful breakfast and finding a taxi to take us out to the countryside where Yaima’s family live and she was raised. This ride was going to take us about two hours or so in a truck full of other people trying to get to the same place. The cheapest way to get to Pinar del Rio was to get our taxi to take us to the terminal for $10.00 CUC and then find another taxi to take us to Pinar del Rio. We found the truck quick due to our house guests and got a great deal at only $5.00 each person. The truck had about 12 people in it so the driver still made good money taking us, but we got there cheap compared to a private taxi of our own driving that far and then back to Havana.
So we got to this hotel which we were previously told had rooms available but they did not. Apparently they could care less about service or satisfaction with their business because they are so rude and no reservations are made. You literally show up and hope there are rooms available. Since we had no room and we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, we were left at the mercy of our Cuban friends and relatives to help us out and we ended up going to visit family for the night and luckily they were very nice and accommodating giving us their home to sleep in, feeding us dinner, and hanging out with us until late at night outside on the rocking chairs drinking beer and getting to know each other. We were glad we had a place to lay our heads and see another side of Cuba. Driving down these roads and being told through translation that the taxi driver could get in trouble driving Americans was to say the least and eye opener. Eric and I looked at each other and thinking where the hell have we gotten ourselves into? People were literally riding horses or being pulled on a wagon by horses and cows or ox. People were walking everywhere and no one was smiling at us. We felt very alone and awkward until we arrived at the family home. We were welcomed with smiles and hugs with kisses and things started looking up from there. They say things happen for a reason, well I’m glad we were able to stay here for a night and experience how they live and where our future daughter-in-law gets her kindness.
We left in the morning after securing a hotel room from the same hotel that turned us away the night before, and reluctantly we paid them only $20.00 CUC for the night each room and we left our new found family which was sad since we only spent a night getting to know them and thinking we probably will never see them again. But maybe we will, who knows, never say never. Going back to this hotel and its review let me just say for $20.00 it wasn’t bad, but the service was not good, the room was not cleaned properly, and the bathroom door had glass so you could see someone using the toilet or showering, so luckily it was just Eric and I in our own room. That was so weird to see that in a hotel room. We had a balcony but it was dirty and no chairs to sit on so we only took a picture out there once. The pool was nice and big so that was the best feature they had except everyone who wasn’t staying there and lives local likes to sneak in and use the pool so it was crowded and of course there security is a joke, just like their service. The food was awful but cheap so again, we didn’t eat much on this visit to the country. We were able to watch a few movies in English and fell asleep to awaken the next day early for another adventure to one of the rivers where Yaima’s father had taught her to swim. She recommended it and it also was her father’s birthday so it was a celebration day. This turned out to be my favorite day of the whole vacation. Her aunt and cousin along with her dad all came along so it was a great day jumping off the cliff into the river, which I did, but was terrified. We met some nice people from England there and it was so nice to speak to someone who understood English. We ate at a small restaurant for lunch on the side of the river under a tiki hut. This place was very cool and reminded us a little of our rivers in Tennessee but a tropical version. You walked along the rocky path through the green trees down around the river edge looking at the waterfalls and everyone just sitting in the river and having a great time. Our taxi driver waited for us so we did not have to find anyone else to take us home out in the middle of nowhere. This trip cost us $150.00 CUC round trip so it was not cheap.
After our fun day on the river and saying goodbye to our new English friends we met our taxi driver and got back on the road again. Back at the hotel we knew the food would be awful so we just went to bed with a few snacks we picked up during shopping at a local souvenir store on our way home. We planned for another long day in the am traveling to another area of Cuba we were told was beautiful and not to miss. I wanted to see the caves and ride the boats through the cave so that is what we did. The taxi ride was not easy but Yaima’s family helped secure someone good and we paid another $200.00 roundtrip to get to the area of Vinales Valley and back to Havana that night. We took some amazing pictures and video. The ride was long but worth it. The cost to get into the caves was only $5.00 CUC for us and 10 pecos for our Cuban family members. They will get you good for being an outsider.
This was our best driver Jose and he was very friendly and helpful being our driver and our guide for the day. He arranged for us to eat at the local restaurant for a great price, and the food was really good. We ate lobster here at this cute little restaurant right across the street from the caves. We only paid $10.00 CUC a plate for the lobster. We fed all of us and the driver for $117.00 CUC including drinks!
We had a great day together but dreaded that long ride back through the mountains in that hot truck/jeep and our backs killing us from that uncomfortable bench seat. Even the driver was tired and hot and looked like he had a long day and now we had to drive another two hours or so to get back to our airbnb home we had left for three days. We paid $1400.00 to stay in this house maybe 5 total nights but we didn’t realize how far we would have to travel to see family and it was too far to turn around and drive back each day. Oh well, money can be made again but memories are priceless. Arriving home in Havana it was dark but our host was wonderful and offered us food anyway and then we ate and I got my hair braided for a new look the next day and then finally went to sleep preparing for another long adventure to another beach hours away the next morning.
This ride was another long one and it seemed the longest to me. The host served us breakfast and then offered to get us a taxi which she stated was an air conditioned van and the driver was her friend and would take us to this beautiful beach called Varadero. The ride would cost us $150.00 round trip so we agreed. When our driver arrived we saw that he had a friend with him so that meant no one could sit in the front seat to help with comfort in the back. The second thing was that it was not an air conditioned van it was a jeep/truck with another set of uncomfortable seats to sit on for hours so we were already pissed off. Then it gets better with the jeep getting a flat tire when we were almost there and we got stuck sitting on the side of a busy road waiting for these guys to fix the tire. They did not even have a jack so they used a rock to hold the truck wheel off the ground while they changed the tire. They barely tried to communicate with us and our cuban family spoke to them when needed and they didn’t even act like they wanted to talk to them, so we were definitely not tipping them and even thought long and hard about paying them for the one way trip and catching a bus back but we didn’t.
After hours in this jeep and them fixing the flat tire we got back in and rode some more until finally we arrived to a beautiful beach and we were pleased to see not too much trash laying around and the water was crystal clear for miles. The waves were small so it was very relaxing to cool off and snorkel a bit. It was such a relief to finally arrive and get cooled off . It was another hot day and no shade so we decided to rent an umbrella which was cheap costing only $4.00 for an hour. It was closing soon so that is why we only could use it for an hour, but it worked so we said yes. All we wanted was to get in the water and get some more sun anyway. They had shopping just across the street so after beach time we walked across the street to buy some really nice items, best we found so far and at good prices. Eric picked up some Cuban Rum and we walked back to our taxi for that long ride back home. Another adventure down. Now back to the house hoping our host would stay up late and still bring us dinner, which of course she did. She was wonderful.
Varadero Beach, Cuba
The long day and evening was good time but exhausting. Drinking some of our rum before bed we all slept well and all agreed that we would spend our last full day hanging out poolside and go back downtown in Havana in the evening to celebrate our last night in Cuba. It was nice just hanging out watching some TV and playing in pool and just napping. Going everyday somewhere really is exhausting but we got a lot of great memories to share and remember. We got all dressed up and went out this evening to Havana and saw some night life that was very loud and fun and ate some street food which was interesting since we had no fork to eat with but we managed. We rode in a beautiful pink 1950’s car we had always wanted to ride in and sat on the Malecon ourselves afterwards. The water was clear even in the night.
Our last day in Cuba was sad because we had to leave our son and his girlfriend behind since they were staying a couple extra days to see more family. We were a little afraid to try to get to the airport alone, but the taxi driver who took us out last night had a brother who agreed to pick us up. We packed the night before and early in am since our flight did not leave until 6:10pm. We knew we would not be late leaving so we got picked up at 1:30pm and got to airport about 2:30. We checked in easily by 3 pm and went through customs fairly easily as well. But the flight was delayed for hours due to some birds flying into the airplane is what we were told. Southwest Airlines did compensate us for our time by giving us a $200.00 voucher each and a free sandwich, water, and juice while we waited. We were grateful we got our flight at all because some others were leaving for Miami and they were there since 10am and still sitting at 10pm then told to leave and come back tomorrow. Luckily we did not have that happen to us and our flight finally left Cuba at 1:15am and we arrived safely at 2:30am and were so glad to be back in the great USA. You never appreciate truly what you have until you go somewhere else. We were so glad to get home.
Will we go back? No probably not. We had a great time with family and new friends but Cuba is not a place I want to see again. Remember this is my opinion on my stay here, so don’t be offended. Hopefully you have or have had a great time and think differently. But my next travels internationally are going to be to Greece, England, and all over Europe so I hope you will keep checking back and reading my blog.
We got a lot of good video on this trip and I am presently preparing my Youtube video for publishing so stay tuned for that. I hope you enjoy our pictures and tips and please let me know what you think about my blog. Happy Travels!
Weekend Getaway Travel Company 