Feb 2006

I spent last week in Havana. It is a beautiful city and I think everybody should visit it at least once in their lives. The architecture is amazing although many buildings are falling apart. You can tell from all the mansions that Havana must have been something in i´t´s prime. I´d be curious to know the amount of money there was there (and there is there today). The malecon is beautiful. I loved walking along it, day and night. I loved Havana and would like to go back soon...

We went by truck...but not the same type of truck we ride in the cities. We actually sat in the cab of this one! Friend of Alex´s stepdad is a truckdriver and was going up when we wanted to go. It was cheaper, more comfortable and faster than the train so we took the ride. In Cuba, knowing people is definately a plus. You get by a lot more easily that way. For example, in Holguin, I now know a casa particular owner well enough that he charges me less. Connections are even more important here than back home.

In Havana, transportation is better. They actually have buses and a fair number of them too!!!! But oh my, riding one is quite something!!! I have never been so squished in my life. When you see a bus that is jampacked, full to the gills, about to burst, there´s room for at least 5 people more. And when those 5 have somehow managed to squeeze on, there´s room for at least 5 more! Alex and I actually managed to get on one of these buses with our huge backpacks. We had to take the bus because of money problems...More on that below. An interesting point that I noticed n the buses...Cubans don´t stink. I was on one in the middle of the day. It was crazy hot, wé were packed in like sardines and I noticed that there was no BO stench like there would have been on a bus in Montreal on a hot summer´s day. And later that day, to confirm my theory, I stuck my nose right up into Alex´s armpit and nothing!!! This was after a long day of walking around in the hot sun. I stank like week old fish and he didn´t at all. I don´t understand it. Another interesting thing about the buses is that although people in Cuba are very friendly, on buses it´s every one for themselves. If there´s a seat available, you take it. And on some buses, people will shove and push to get on. I think it´s because the rule is, if you can touch the bus, that´s the same as actually being on it. I saw a man have his arm in the bus, the bus starts moving and he´s running alongside it in an effort to get his foot on the step. I don´t know if he ever managed. Needless to say, I don´t think I will ever find a bus in Montreal full again!

The food...We ate street meat basically all week. I don´t know how Cubans manage to stay alive on this shit! Very cheap but my god. Bread with ham (processed or not), bread with bologne, bread with hamburger (made of pork), bread with croqueta (as far as I can tell, deep fried dough), etc. I was so fed up of eating these sandwiches. At least in Holguin they have bread with tomatoes. It´s funny. They sell bread with mayonaise and bread with butter as well. I always think, here´s an idea, combine the mayonaise with the tomatoes and you´ll have something!!! But I survived. They have a place called the Coppelia where people line up for ice cream. And after tasting that ice cream, I understand why. It was delicious. Definately a place worth visiting.

The money problem was that my card wasn´t working. I couldnt wuthdraw money and all we had left was 4cuc and about 30 cuban pesos!! Quite stressful. In the end I managed to withdraw some money but then it turned out not to be enough for Alex and I to take the train back. So we hitched, all the way from Havana. We were lucky and it didn´t take us too long. We met a guy on the way who had left Havana 3 days earlier!!! We got to Holguin at about tyhe same that we would have had we taken the train (and assuming the train hadn´t broken down which apparently happens frequently) and it only cost us a total of 300 cuban pesos including the food! Not bad. Otherwise, it would have cost 56cuc to take the train. But I was able to take money out in Holguin so all is good.

More to come...

I finally made it to Cuba on January 30th. I arrived in Camaguey, a city about 200km north of thr city of Holguin, where I am staying. I rented a room in a casa particular (like a B and B) that night close to the bus station. You should have seen the owner´s face when I told him that for supper I di´dn´t want any meat!!! In the end, I accepted a small piece of ham. It was easier than arguing. The next morning I went exploring Camaguey, which is a city that was built as a maze to protect against pirates (although I´m not sure how many pirates they had since it is inland!). Walking around there was pretty nice except that if you didn´t know it, you would just think that it was a badly designed city!!!

I took the Viazul bus that afternoon to go to Holguin. Got to Holguinj at around 5pm, met up with my friend Alexei that I had met on my last trip. Poor guy. His brother, to whom I was sending the e-mails, had told him that I was arriving at 1:30 but I was actually leaving Camaguey at that time. So he waited for almost 4 hours for me. How patient!

I stayed in Holguin for a few days. I was supposed to go stay at Alex´s grandma´s house with him nbut because of the laws in Cuba, I couldn´t. For a foreigner to stay in a Cuban´s house who is not renting the room, you have to be married to him or a blood relative. So now I have to stay in casas particulares. I left Holguin because it was too expensive. But don´t worry, I´m fine. Everybody here has been really nice to me and helping me out. Alexei´s family is wonderful and they all try to please me and anything I say that I like, they get for me. They are the sweetest people...

Cuba is so different from Canada. Tranbsportation is a big prblem. What would take a couple of hours top do in Canada takes all day here. I´ve ridden on trucks, bici taxis (bicycle taxis), in cramped 50ies cars full of Cubans, on horse drawn carts and finally I´ve gotten a ride sitting on the back of someone´s bike. I like the trucks the best ´cause you´re high up and the wind is blowing in your hair. Plus I enjoy climbing up and down them. I think I´m still a little too Canadian for the horse drawn carts and bici taxis. Their slowness drives me crazy! I have to learn to be more patient. I have to remember that the attitude in Latin America is different from the one in Canada. Cubans seem to spend a lot of time waiting and this inaction is hard for me. I remember when I was in Panama, that same inaction and waiting for things t happen would frustrate the hell out of me. Oh well, I´ll adapt!

Food here is quite plentiful, much to my surprise. Cubans seem to malways have food cooking, any time of day or night. And it doesn´t matter what time you arrive at someone´s house, they´ll have a meal on the table for you within the hour. When you buy food using Cuban pesos it can be pretty cheap. Alex and I went to a Cuban restaurant the other night in Holguin. Our meal cost 24.95 cuban pesos i.e., about 1 convertible peso (CUC) which is about $1.30CDN. Pretty cool. Food is expensive though for cubans who earn about $15CUC per month. Yesterday I went to a market and we bought onions. They cost 15 cuban pesos for 2 bunches. However, that´s a lot if you consider that for 1 days work, they can get paid about 18 cuban pesos. Imagine working almost all day to be able to afford to buy onions!!! Food here is very greasy/fatty. A 750mL bottle of oil will only last about 4 days here. I´m having a bit of a hard time with that. Plus I´m having to eat meat. It´s way too difficult to explain. But for those of you freaking out, the meat here isn´t factory farmed so I don´t mind. Actually, last saturday at the grandma´s place, we ate a pig, slowly roasted over a fire. I had mentioned that I liked that type pf pork so the family decided to go out and buy a pig. It was the first time in my life that I had seen my supper alive before eating it! And when it squealed, I thought of you Wayne! I saw them stab it, bleed it, kill it, shave it. I saw the whole thing. It was pretty interesting.

I haven´t been out of Holguin yet. Haven´t even been to the beach. It´s been quite cold. The Cubans find it really funny that a Canadian is colder than they are! Next week I might go to Havana.

So that´s it for now. I´ll write soon.