CAMMINO DE CUBA: DEC'14 - FEB'15

Here we are in Cuba. 1st December 2014 we left London Gatwick 12.30 and arrived the same day in the afternoon 17.30 in Havana (Cuba) - 5 hours of time zone difference. We moved the clocks backwards. The 10 hours flight wasn't a big deal, actually I haven't even felt asleep. I kept working on my lap to sort out the outstanding stuff. I watched a couple of movies of which one I have seen before in London on a big screen 'Began Again'. Very good cast and very good music. Fantastic to watch how one who is very successful can reach the bottom and vice versa - how another one can reach the stars and help out the depressed one. Any way the film and the flight were pleasant. By the way I forgot to mention, since the beganing of our journey literally still being in London we took the train from New Cross Gate to Gatwick with the oyster card and we had to pay the penalty of 20£ each plus reduced 7.50£ fee on each Oyster card when we get back. Apparently the Oyster card is accepted only up to some point of this journey and further up you pay the penalty if you don't have a ticket. The beginning of our trip wasn't promising but the rest of the journey paid off. When we arrived at Havana on 1st December, exactly the same day of departure from London (10h flight, 5h back time difference) for the first time someone was waiting for us with a paper on which were written our names. I can not explain how nice and welcome it feels when you arrive in a new country on a different continent with such a diverse culture/life style and you find someone waiting for you at the airport. It felt nice and safe. The taxi driver was driving his falling apart old Lada's car. The beauty of driving a car in Cuba is that you don't necessary need to fasten the seatbelts which laterally do not exist. The driver was of Spanish origins with an European passport so he traveled a lot and didn't really experience the communism of Cuba, having a freedom of transit and opportunity of living in a different parts of the world. The most of cars were the old American cars (from 30/50's) with rebuilt engine so they could run as taxi. Those cars are characteristic for the whole Cuba and makes this country very special. The price of such an old American car from 50's is pretty good, approx 10 000$ while the other modern cars cost is around 40 000/50 000$. We found the last minute accommodation on couchsurfing.com. In Cuba there is a tax charge on each free foreigner hosted in a private house therefore the 'casas particulares ' (private houses - hostels) are for rent 15/25$ per night. The food in a local bars is very cheap, basically with 4$ a head per day we could survive. They use the double currency in Cuba: one Cuban peso - the national currency and CUC Cuban convertible peso which became a second currency after Americans came to Cuba. 1CUC is more or less 1$ and 25 pesos cubanos. Vegs, fruit, flour, bread and local food are sold in Cubanos Pesos while the alcohol, drinks, sweets, teas, cloths in convertibles CUC's. It makes such a confusion especially for foreigners who travel in Cuba. It's very common that Cubans take advantage of tourists and make the currency exchange of one currency in to the other one by their own rate which is convenient for them and tourists initially have no clue what's going on until they get used to this bi-currency country. Havana has an old part which is very unique and characteristic with all the markets and decadent shops while the modern Havana looks much more like USA or Europe. There is a lot of police patrol on the streets to defend the tourists from exhausting locals who are trying to rip off the strangers by inviting them to a very expensive bars such as Hemingway where you pay for one non alcoholic drink - negroni approx 5$. Compering to other local prices this is the rubbery. Unfortunately we ended up by meeting a couple of Cubans in their 40/50's who were very nice to us and shown us around the old part of Havana. At the end they took us to the Hamingway's bar where we left 28$ for 7 negronis. Well, we learnt the lesson and we tried to stay away from each Cuban met on the street. It's such a bad publicity for the country and bad taste but of course not all Cubans are the same and more than that they are very poor and the foreigner seem to be the gods for them. At the end it's difficult to blame them for such a primitive and poor behaviour. 1 litre of milk costs here 2.4$ and the average salary of an labour is 10$ per month so I am not really surprise that they try different sources of income. It's like 20 years back in Poland during the communism. We couldn't get passport to travel abroad and we had the vouchers to purchase clothes and food, anything on top of that was impossible to get. The Pewex shops were selling foreign articles in $ which were almost impossible to purchase with a similar salary's equivalent to Cuban's. Partly I feel for Cuban citizens because of the misery I remember from living in the past in my country - Poland. From the other hand I can not see a big culture and good ethics behind their behaviours. I can not generalise either. We were very lucky to end up in a family house of Osmara, whose accommodation I have found last minute on the couchsurfing website. A very nice family: housbant and wife with 2 kids who shared their family's life with us for 3 days only for 15$ per day. I could bland the fruit and vegs everyday, Osmara would offer us her food but at the end we didn't get opportunity to eat it. She looked after us as we were a part of her family. She arranged even our accommodation in Varadero for a next couple of weeks and additionally gave us indications where to go during our two months trip. It was such a pleasant experience. At the beginning of our trip we spent in Havana only 3 days but they weren't very productive in terms of sightseeing. We had to sort out very basic stuff such as purchase some cosmetics which weren't easy to find by descent price. Cuba is very expensive from this prospective, the exported articles such as shampoos, bathing soaps, toothpaste and so on cost double/triple comparing to the European prices. The cost of the cheapest accommodation at the hotel in Varadero-the main tourist destination in Cuba (150 kms away from Havana on Atlantic Ocean) is 500$ per week/per 2pp while at the hostel where we are actually staying is 300$ (including 20$ per night, breakfast per person 5$ including fresh juice, fruit, omelette, guava/pineapple home made jam with a toasted bread accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee; 10$ dinner every other night including tomato and garlic bruschettas, mixed salad, main course either lobster, fish, shrimps or steak with rise and platanos fries). In fact for 10$ per dinner we could treat each other with lobster every day ;) The staff is very pleasant and the sea is wonderful. We have ahead a quality two weeks of pure holiday's treat before we go on trip around Cuba. After having a pretty intense time for a last two months in London, living here and there, moving from one friend to another, escaping from rats and bikes robbers, we have managed to get away from such a frustrating life style of crazy London and finally get rest in a tropical climate of Cuba. Salsa in the night; sea, sunbathing, swimming and walking during the day. What else could we dream of...? The stay in Varadero is pretty constant and boring but I guess it's all we need at the moment. During the day we walk along the coast for kilometres as the weather is pretty chilly (27cel). The strong wind, sunshine and clouds from time to time give us the energy and make us feel uplifted. I've already been introduced to the most of the coast's safeguards who very kindly reminded me of danger of the ocean considering the strong currents. In fact waves compering to the Portuguese coast are gentle and the ocean is much more accessible. There were few drawings in the area between the 47 and 46 calle because of the strong current. The coean sucks you in and doesn't allow you to come back to the shore. I guess as long as you let yourself float on the surface of the water you can easily manage to come back. If you are taken by panic then you can not become boyent and can not stay on the surface of waves. I think the lifeguards should be vigilant but without making others scare of getting into the water and swimming. It might creat trauma in some cases and people won't jump in to the water at all because someone has drawn. Yoga in the morning, long walks along the beach, swimming, yoga in the evening, lobster's dinner every other day in our hostel and very other day 1/4 of chicken in the local restaurant/bar/discotheque where we dance salsa are more or less our habits in Varadero. 600$ 2 weeks stay in Cuba is so far too expensive (for Cuban reality). However this is just what we needed during this time. Then we will explore the rest of Cuba by backpacking and changing the locations every 3 days. We made some local friends who are teaching us salsa in the night club calle 62. Therefore we are not attending any dance school which is exactly what we wanted. There is such a rasism between the habitants of the island, the police doesn't allow the locals to talk to tourists because of the political inclinations I guess. It might be also because of the protection of tourists from being taken financially advantage by locals. It was the case at the beganing of our journey to Cuba in Havana. The weather here during the winter Dec - Jan is not the best, however for us it's just right. During the day it's windy so we can actually lay on the beach without sweating, sometimes when the clouds arrive it's a bit too chilly around 26 degrees. In the evening we need to put some jackets on but still the temperature doesn't go down below 25 degrees. The tourists complain about the temperature's drop while the locals are so happy to have at least a couple of months a year without constant heat. There are two groups playing the music in the club on Calle 62 which alternate. One night plays a female troupe which is very sexy and animating, while the other night is played by a male group which seems to be more authentic and less vulgar. Both are playing pretty well and we can dance as much as we want from 9.30pm to 1am every night. Initially we were skipping every other night out (seeing always the same band) as after having such a complete dinner consisted of lobster (tomato bruschetta, mixed salad, lobster with rice, platanos and pineapple-orange ice cream desert followed by tea or coffee,10$) we were falling asleep. Only a few nights later we broke up the pattern, went out and manage to see the alternating band. It was such a great experience except from making A jelouse because of my sexy dance with a couple of locals. In fact they didn't behave nicely neither in mine nor his respect. I kind agree with him that it wasn't the best idea to dance with them. However I must admit one of them was such a great dancer.. We came to the conclusion of our stay in Varadero, lots of dance and plenty of Bacardi Ron consumed by A and our local friend Buddy during the last night. At the end A fell unconscious in the bed. I asked myself why people overdose the alcohol use if it makes them feel so terrible the following day. It makes them do the things they would never have done if they were sober like cheating on their partner ...it wasn't his case... I don't think the alcohol makes them feel themselves. It's just an illusion. It makes you sick and crests only the troubles... It was a pretty intense night. A was charmed by the local singer who was consciously seducing each tourist hypnotised by her. He would stare at her all the time she was performing up to the point that she invited him to dance salsa with her on stage. Eventually he had got chance to talk to her and offer her a drink while she was purposely leaning on him and touching him in my presence. Being honest I couldn't understand both of them for such an obvious game in front of me. I didn't pay too much attention to what was going on as I didn't want to be part of it. In my opinion it was childish. I have enjoyed that night anyway by dancing. 17th Dec 2014 We are about to leave Varadero and go to Playa Larga which is around 1-2 hours distant from Varadero on the way to south Cuba by the Caribbean Sea. Apparently there is a plenty of Mosquitos but wonderful riffs to explore by snorkelling or diving. We've spent our first two weeks on Atlantic Ocean, however the water was warm, it was windy but still pleasant. After 1.30pm the wind was increasing but till then it was pretty quite and hot. The last breakfast at our hostel - la CASA particular on 47 calle in Varaero I had on my own as A was still recovering from the last night drinking. He had got with our local friend Buddy the 1l bottle of Bacardi rum. He hardly could walk back home. During the night and next day he kept throwing up so many times eventually we've managed to get on bus on calle 36 and travel to Playa Larga. After 3h of bus'es trip we got off in Playa Larga and took the first offer to stay at Villa Juana. 15$ per night, she proposed us the 5$ breakfast and 10$ dinner per person. As A wasn't well I took a walk along the village and found out about Edel's restaurant where the breakfasts for two turned up to be 4$ and dinner for 2 including lobster 10$. The next day after my yoga practice on the roof of our CASA particular we went to the National Park (5$ each) by taxi 5$ to see the crocodiles. They were so many. The tourists were feeding crocodiles with meat and the crocodiles were fighting for it. It was a big battle initiated by Russians. Poor crocodiles... We've been recommended to stay for a few nights in Playa la Boca (Caribbean Sea) where we can relax by the beach. Then we can continue traveling from Trinidad (9am) to Camaguey (1.40pm), spend 1 night there and leave the next day from Camaguey (1.40pm) to Guardavaca (8pm). After few days in Guardavaca (beach) we can head off to Guantanamo (old primitive colonial place in Cuba) and finally to Santiago de Cuba (Oriente) - the most antique city of Cuba. Then we could go by plane from Santiago de Cuba to Havana or Vinales, then to Pinar del Rio and Playa Maria la Gorda for snorkelling. Then back to Havana and fly back to London. This is the 4th night since we've been staying in Trinidad (Caribbean Sea), the town is very old, picturesque and so touristic. On the first day we went horse riding to the Cubanita waterfall. It was almost the whole day trip. You don't need to be a horse rider to get on horse here. The horses are very average and badly equipped so you need to have a very muscular bum to handle it, alternatively you can not ride the horse more than a couple of hours a day. We paid only 15$ for two and spent 5 hours horse riding plus a couple of hours swimming and sunbathing by a waterfall. The swim in a fresh spring's water was very pleasant and the place was wonderful. On the way back we stopped by the restaurant but we didn't buy anything as it was just for tourists. The locals try constantly to rip you off with the surreal prices. We figured out more or less how the prices work and we can survive. We went to this famous restaurant the Ceiba with a huge tree in the middle and we made a deal of eating for 6$ per person menu all inclusive. We've eaten some shrimps fried in the old oil with the hinge of honey and the fried Cuban style fish with chilly. We haven't been served the fruit salad because we spent too little. That was pathetic. We weren't impressed by the food and poor service. We learnt the lesson that the best treat and the cheapest we've got in CASA particular (Cuban hostel style). The food in our house was good and a big quantity. They cook very well their own dishes like shrimps/fish/crab in tomato sauce. The platanos fried are my favourite. Cubans seem to be very offensive, whenever you ask them for something like additional egg, they make a face as you were going to kill them. They negotiate constantly even though the prices for tourists are 10 times higher than for the locals. As we had to extend our visas for one month we met at the immigration an Austrian guy - Dominique. He was missing the 25$ stamps to complete the application form for extension of the visa so were we. 3 of us went to the bank Nation de Cuba to collect those stamps and eventually we've managed to complete the application's process. After all we took a cab (negotiated 5$ of 8$) and went to Ancon's beach. It was a long sandy beach with plenty of tourists. The water was muddy. We weren't very impressed. We spent there all afternoon being reinforced by the revitalising coconut water which was a part of our daily diet. Then in the evening after a nice dinner at CASA particular (shrimps in tomato sauce) we went out to main plaza (square) to listen to the Cuban music and dance salsa. I've found a pretty good salsa dancers who was moving great but drinking too much. We were supposed to stay in Trinidad for 3 nights but eventually we extended our stay for one more night to benefit of the beach. We rented the bikes (3$each) and went from Trinidad to Boca (4 km). I took a long swim, the water was a mixture of the river and Caribbean Sea. The current was pretty strong but the swim was lovely. Playa Boca was very authentic just with a few tourists. We've managed to find the best so far accommodation during our monthly trip in Cuba. We booked the room and continued cycling along the coast and exploring other beaches on Ancon's peninsula. Few of them were sandy and with remarkable reef. That night we came back to Trinidad for a last meal and salsa dance. After our romantic dinner on the roof A and I we went out to the Plaza Mayor to listen to the music and dance. A wasn't in the mood, I wanted to enjoy myself and initially I did by dancing with a local dancer, the one from the previous night but this time he had seriously got too much of alcohol. Eventually I was sitting with A and others: Dominik and a couple of American girls we met the night before. They girls were on the 2 years contract as English teachers in Equator. They came for a week holiday to Cuba. It was a nice company and pleasant night. Unfortunately the pleasure has been interrupted as soon as the local 'Italian' appeared there. Initially we saw him by the waterfall and were convinced he was local. That time our eyes crossed and that was it. When I saw him again in a different reality wearing Versace belt, scarf and cowboy's boots I couldn't believe how wrong I was by exchanging Italian for a local. My comment to A about it, made him him jealous. It was totally unneeded as I wasn't interested in anyone else but A. We had got a fight later on and few hours of silence. In Boca we came back to our dimension, with a romantic dinners in the light of candles, great swims and sunbathing on a wonderful beaches we made it up pretty soon;) In Playa la Boca we ended up at the 'hostal Calzada del Sol'- 5min away on the bike from the sea. It was run by an ex lawyer who quitted his profession (20$ salary per month) to work with tourists by renting 2 bedrooms propriety, cleaning and cooking delicious food. The government's salary is ridiculous in Cuba and the highly qualified professionals switch into more profitable jobs such as taxi driver or house rental. The propriety we found at Playa la Boca was in a colourful Caribbean style with a huge outdoor area in the basement and two terraces on the first and the second floor. We used to have our breakfasts and dinners on the top terrace which was the most romantic and very intimate. We could see the sea and the mountains during the day and in the evening we could listen to the sound of the sea 50 m away and the breeze of wind in the light of the candle. The meals were served by Giovanni in a perfect fashion. They were arriving gradually opposed to other places where all was served at once. His cooking was fancy, I have especially enjoyed the Creole style of fish in tomato sauce. He also served juices every dinner even if usually drinks weren't included in the 5$ meal deal. The juices we have consumed so far during the trip were made of papaya (fructo de bomba), guava, mango and orange. We spent in this lovely house 4 days 24-27th Dec'14. Day by day we were exploring around by the bike a various corals beaches with a fine white sand. The access to the sea was pretty challenging made of stones and corals. But the bottom of the sea was wonderful to watch while swimming in the googles. The next destination was Camaguey on the way to Guardalavaca (Atlantic). We stayed there over night in a beautiful 100 years old Colonial fancy house. We've managed to negotiate the price from 25$ down to 15$ and breakfast 5$ down to 2.50$. It was so far the most elegant accommodation we have stayed in Cuba. Breakfast in a lovely furnished and sunny kitchen with a turquoise and white tails. I was sick since we've left La Boca after I drank the pure de tomato con lemon and row octopus. My stomach was on fire for a few days. We aren't a great funs of the cities however Camaguey was an old 400 years city with beautiful colonial houses, churches, arts galleries and characteristic local streets. We ate a local ham pizza for a dinner and biscuits with fresh mango and ananas juices. It was pretty nice. The cookies are primitive, very simple not too sweet, not too aromatic but still tasty. They try to imitate whatever we've got in West even Starbacks cookies. The prices are silly for 1$ you can have a dinner with the desert on the street, the problem is that there is no fruit or vegs that's why we only eat in casas particulares where the nutrition is complete and the food is fresh and tasty. Then we headed back to the Atlantic Ocean - Guardalavaca - for a New Years Eve (28dec-2jan). Guardalavaca is the less recommended place on our list. The beach is nice but surroundings completely opposite. The advantage of this place is the accommodation. Beside the hotels there are some rental houses. But the local buildings look like old communist palaces which remind me of Poland. We found a Caribbean style little house in the middle of village and every morning 6.30am we go to the beach for a yoga practice, swim and run, then we come back home for breakfast 9am. Then back to the beach 11am up to 5pm. We dine at 7pm. The family we are staying with is average. There are owners: Liliana and Roberto, their daughter with two kids, 2 staff members and 3 tourists who are renting. They've got some other guests for dinners and breakfasts. The New Year's Eve dinner was celebrated with a huge pig killed for this occasion and roasted. Apparently they practice this ritual on every big occasion such as Xmas, New Year's Eve, bday, wedding. We weren't very impressed by this custom because of obvious barbarian reason of killing poor animals. Never the less the food wasn't impressive either. The meat didn't taste of anything as they didn't marinate it. There was no sauce, and it was all we had during the party including some rise and vegs. The cake was also disgusting made of fake cream which we don't use anymore in West. It was so far our worst food experience in Cuba. The last night at Guardalavaca we were invited for barbecue by locals - brother of the owner of our casa particular. It was actually a nice evening, the food was good opposed to the night before, so was the company. We've met those two young guys who were marial artists, one of whom - Alex spoke a pretty good English. They were shy with beautiful bodies and hearts. They cooked for us and organised the whole family's dinner on the 1st of January. We exchanged some political views regarding the Cubans screwed up system. For example: food, clothes and transport for them are expansive. The houses are cheap, after 10 years of paying monthly 10 cents they can buy them. Anything else is pretty unaffordable. That's why they eat, if at all, just tiny bit of meat with rise, no vegs. We had a problem with a taxi driver who came to pick us up from Guardalavaca to Santiago de Cuba for 65$. He came from Holgin (60km) with his family to pick us up in Guardalavaca. We were supposed to give him a call beforehand to confirm the transport. He came straight away without hearing from us. We have changed our plans and weren't too keen on taking a cab anymore. We've been told by locals that we can pick up a public transport and with 5$ each get to Santiago de Cuba (300km). There are some special tracks which are used as a public transport and with very little you can travel all around Cuba. The only request is the large window of tolerance. You can wait for hours until it gets dark and you might still not have found any car to pick you up if the buses (tracks) are on holiday. This was actually our case as we were traveling during the New Year's Eve break. Eventually we've managed to get to Santiago by 9pm. The 300km trip took us 8h including all the changes and waiting time. We have saved 60$ on a cab. The journey was interesting as it was pretty cool to be on the track with a local people with a good ventilation as there are no windows neither AC. The only discomfort is that you never know if they turn up and if they do, so what time. Very often there is a huge crowd of people and no seats rather bunches available. Everyone is sweaty and hot. As soon as the track leaves it becomes cooler because of the wind blowing through the lofts. There are no windows, it's actually much cheaper (10x less than tourists transport Viazul) and much more comfortable as you can also stand up if you wish or don't have a choice. We moved to Santiago de Cuba where we stayed over 3 nights. We picked up the jeep half way Guardalavaca- Santiago (8$) and we ended up in this nice accommodation at Eduardo and Eugenia's house (30$ X 2pp with food included). We had got the whole floor - all apartment for ourselves. After very average conditions in Guardalavaca we felt like in the royal palace. It was very clean and spacious with a terrace, living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The owners were very well educated, he was a teacher of a fiscal education and she was an ex pedagog. She was actually training a little chiwawa and selling them all over the world, mostly to her clients who were renting the accommodation. She was making little clothes for those dogs. It was pretty pathetic to dress up the dogs when the temperature was going down. How much the temperature can go down in Cuba from 35 to 25 deg? Is this enough to put the clothes on these little dogs...? She could tell us stories about life in Cuba, the sex trade and abuse of the economy by foreigners such as Germans, Italians and Spanish. They would steal the business of locals such as rental proprieties and work as pimps by charging the interest rate of the prostitutes services. It's pretty normal that everyone tries to make some money but the way they do it is so sad. Apparently Italians make the biggest number of old tourists who come to Cuba for sex purposes. They stay with 40 years younger girls. Very often those men are ugly, fat and drank while the girls are pretty. One nigh stand is 5$. It's really bad. The city of Santiago de Cuba is like most of the other cities we visited such as Havana, Trinidad, Camaguey - very colourful, colonial, with lots of squares, music and dance. It was actually the first location during our trip so far where the music was really everywhere. The dance Afro Latin performances here and there presented by professional ballet and contemporary trained dancers were of high standard. The people, music and dance were very much of Caribbean origins. It was like being back to the Caribbean Islands. The rest of Cuba is very white. It doesn't seem at all like being in Cuba but the Oriental -Eastern part of the country is black and it feels much more like the Caribbean. Some of locals have a very strong and envious look as we did something wrong. They probably dislike us for ruining their economy by investing in their country and dominating it. But they don't realise that because of foreigners their life changes for the best. The prostitution level is that high because is the easiest way of making money and getting out of here. If a tourist falls in love then gets married and take the spouse out of Cuba, then such a pretty young Cuban girl or boy will get divorced while obtained what expected and carry on with their own lives. The lack of pride and respect for themselves is pretty remarkable over here. People would sell themselves for any penny. It's really sad. The trip from Santiago to Guantanamo was pretty straight forward by a local transport - lorry. It took us an hour of journey to make 80km and it costed 1$ each. We wanted to go directly to Baracoa - a very extreme east side of Cuba, but we didn't manage because it was too late to find another track. We stoped in Guantanamo and decided to have some pizza. During that time we missed out our transport and had to stay over night in Guantanamo. Initially we encountered a very unpleasant situation with the lorry driver in Guantanamo who wanted to charge us 40$ for a single trip to Baracoa. He said that there was no more transport to Baracoa after 3 pm but we knew there was one more at 6pm. In fact when the bus arrived at 6pm while we were taking bags to get on board, this monkey lorry driver told the bus driver not to take us. That was the most disgusting behaviour in Cuba we have experienced so far. Then he wanted us to stay at his friend's house over night for 10$. It was close to the bus stop but 4km away from the centre of Guantanamo and it was illegal. We refused both the taxi and the rental offer telling him off for such a poor behaviour with the bus's driver. A was really pissed off with the lorry driver and told him to stay away from us. Eventually we took a cab and went to the centre of the city. They tried to rip us off again by charging 8$ for 4km trip to the town. We gave 3$. Even if Guantanamo is not such an interesting touristic destination and it doesn't offer much but the ex US naval base since the First World War, there was a problem to find a free accommodation. Eventually we did for 15$ with breakfast included. The house was nice with such a pretty natural conservatory in the middle. One side of the house was made of a glass wall with the tropical vegetation outside, it opened the space and gave a light to the rest of the house. We went for a walk in the evening and found a local restaurant outside of the square. We ate like kings the fried fish fillet refilled with ham and cheese, the second dish was made of shrimps in tomato and papers sauce, all accompanied by rise and mixed salad. We had the bet flan ever for desert. It was such a delicious dinner for only 10$ X 2pp. The restaurant was very busy and frequented by local families, well dressed young local prostitutes accompanied by the old Italians. This made us sick, but overall the whole experience was pretty good as the food was so tasty. It was worth to go through all inconveniences during the day to find the reward at the end of it. Here we are at the same point we were in the last night, waiting for transport to Baracoa. Nobody else is here but us and the lorry's driver. Who knows how we gonna get there and when....? We've managed to get on the track but for 5$ each, they needed to increase the cost just for us to amortise the journey's cost, considering reduced number of people. The price for locals was 1$ each. A was really angry and almost had got a fight with the driver but eventually we got on the road. It took us 4h to make 150 km. The journey was very picturesque and pretty, the people on the track were nice and friendly. It was the nicest view we've experienced so far during the trip in Cuba. Apparently Baracoa is the most attractive tourists destination in Cuba. Indeed it is such a wonderful place, after all the curves and serpentines in the middle of the mountains we ended up in the Baracoa's bay. We rented out the place in a colonial house for 25$ per night all included. It was just for a night because they had already got the other reservations. The food was delicious and of huge amount. We ate for dinner the fried little fish - apparently the speciality of Baracoa. The beans soup was great as well. The breakfast surprised us with a cup of hot dense chocolate - the speciality of Baracoa. In fact this was the first and the last time we drunk a good cup of chocolate in Baracoa. Other place the Casa de Chocolate served the most disgusting hot chocolate ever in dirty cups and chocolate was over sweet and too liquid. The comida (food) in the house was very good but the room and bathroom were dirty. They offered us one more night to stay but we preferred to move out to a different place for next 6 nights. We found a place in the centre of Baracoa with our own terrace and a Yunke's (mountain) view. The place was clean in a Caribbean style, run by a couple of very religious people (Baptists). They have been going to the church 4 times a week. Beside it, they were so nice. She was a physician working at the hospital for 20$ a month, while he was professionally a construction engineer, but eventually working in his family's trading business, as his salary as engineer would be only 10$ a month. They both are doing pretty well. The curious thing is that most of landlords in Cuba complain about they low life style but all of them have got their cleaning lady at home. Our bathroom was cleaned every day. We both paid daily 20$ with a huge breakfast included. The breakfast was very rich so we could divide it into both lunch and breakfast. We decided to spend 1 week in this beautiful area, immersed in the middle of a tropical nature. We visited the 575m high Yunke - a flat mountain which we could see from our accommodation. The trip was pretty hard but short. It took us 2 hours to climb up and 2 hours to climb back. From the pick point we could see the whole Baracoa and national park of Yumuri. There was not much space on the pick to walk on, it was literally just a view point and that's it. On the half way back, the rain started and eventually we ended up under the roof of a fruit seller. For 1$ one could taste all different types of fruit or just find the shelter from the rain as we did. When we reached the river at the end of our trip we jumped into it from 4m hight. It was such a refreshing and long swim. On the next day we skipped the agency and went to Yumori. It's such a beautiful natural reserve with a river in the middle and huge mountains around. There are always some locals who follow us. In this case there was a couple of women with a child who wanted some money and clothes. We couldn't really help them. There is always such a quarry and at the end you don't know if they really need it or are pretending they do. I took the local lades home address in case I would like to send some clothes. The last trip we did in Baracoa was the national park of Holguit. It was worth to do it as well, the nature in that region is so beautiful that it's worth to do all of the tours. We ended up by having a swim in the river and in the ocean. On both days we had food by the beach in local restaurants. With 5$ each we had lobster, rice, vegs and fruit included. The last day we chilled by the beach - on the way to Playa Blanca. There was one frick who was masturbating in front of us in the bush. Some of locals are really disgusting and primitive. The trip from Baracoa to Sierra Maestra was mostly by Viazul 200km (tourist transport), the last 60km was by lorries in the middle of the mountains and darkness. We managed to arrive at Maso half way between Bayamo and Santa Domingo. It was the worst place we have ever stayed with the cane sugar factory in the middle of village. We made a record with the lowest price of the accommodation 4$. It was 2m2 bedroom with a 1m2 bathroom. There was no place to have any descent food in a village. We ended up by having a sandwich with omelette and terrible water made of a sweet syrup. It was the first time we experienced such a poor local life without any access to what foreigners are used to such a hot water, sink and fresh food to eat. The next day was rewarding as we climbed by lorries up to Santo Domingo. The view from our casa particular was stoning. We had got the wall of reach vegetation mountain in front of us. We took a bath in a nearest spring and walked around the village. It's amazing how people can live a basic style life in such a bad conditions far away from civilisation. However partly I am envious of them, the quietness and the beauty of nature were impressive and unforgettable. We didn't want to move away from there. But we did go on the trip up to the highest pick in Cuba - Turquino. The journey up was pretty challenging but a view during the trail totally worth it. We stopped for a night on 1300m hight after 5h (8km) walk up and down to reach the shelter. The 1900m high Turquino was still waiting for us. The next day we were up to walk 18km in much worst condition. Again the vegetation was stoning. The way back was very bad on our knees as the track was very raft up and down up for 18 km. in total we did only 900 m hight and it took us two days and 26km. The relief after the arrival to our casa particular at 6pm the following day was huge. And again we went on the road by couching the lorries on the way to Havana and then to Vinales - occidental part of Cuba. We did approx 900km in tracks ant spent 8$ for the whole trip while by the bus it would have costed us 60$. We ended up in this unpleasant casa particular at Vinales where we stayed for 4 days. We negotiated the price from 50$ down to 35$ all inclusive and the attitude of the owners was very ignorant and negative. They served plenty of food but the taste and content were average. The breakfast was as usual: 1l of fresh mango juice, fruit salad, omelette, bread, guava and coffee milk. The dinner consisted of few more dishes as usual such as 2 soups: vegs and beans, fruit salad and desert then the rest was the same: mixed salad, rise, platanos, yuka and fish or lobster. Those last two weren't well prepared, lobster's taste was covered by the tomato souse which actually was good but the bed smell of lobster was still in the air. The owners of casas particulares tend to prepair the huge portions as the food was for 4 people instead of 2. We managed to eat more or less all of it with rise exception. The amount of food and number of dishes was everywhere more or less the same, sometimes was served with desert or fruit or none, the same was with soups - sometimes they appeared. Any way the meals were huge and it was impossible to eat 3 times a day, we ate twice: breakfast - brunch and dinner. A part form food which is one of the main points of traveling we did some excursions in Vinales. We explored the national park behind the house by walk and it was notice to swim in the lake. The water wasn't transparent because of the muddy bottom, but still very nice and refreshing especially after 17 hours of traveling by lorries from Oriental part of Cuba - Bayona (Sierra Maestra) through Havana up to occidental Vinales. We explored the caves of Indios by the boat, which were actually nice. The total size was 5,5km but only 150m was available for visitors. The Indios were hiding there during the slavery period to avoid being cough and forced to the labor work. We met a couple of guys - English Warren and Polish - Peter, with whom we continued cycling tour from the caves to the spring. Warren has been living in Mexico for last 2 years and he was complaining about Cubans saying that's the worst country he has ever visited considering Cubans who are constantly trying to rip you off. There are no more friendship's values left but capitalistic ideas of making money. I must agree with him on it, Cuba some time ago used to be an interesting destination because of the ideological and revolutionary point of view but this is all gone and people are selling their identity for any penny. I don't like it either. We've met few Canadians during our trip and their comments based on multi-visits in Cuba are the same. They don't want to come back to this country any more. Peter lives in London and makes films, it was nice to chat with him about the important film productions he made as a cameraman assistant including the recent James Bond's film. His ambition is to become a film director. The spring we finally got to was large and deep so I did my long swimming while guys were having a lunch after 25 km of cycling. On the way back A had got a puncture therefore half of the journey he made on foot. Overall we made 50 km of cycling around the mountains, country sides and springs of Vinales. It was such a nice trip. We met a couple of Canadians, Sandra (68) from Montreal and her partner (76) from London, both living in Canada. They were staying in the same casa particular as us. We had got a pleasure of being invited by them to get on their rented car and visit the beach Jutia 60km away. When we got there, the beach was crowded. The Caribbean Sea was transparent and turquoise, the beach was white and fine, I had got a great swim. There was a couple of people doing Capeira, whom I've joined and was dancing this Brazilian way of defence by the sea. I loved the experience, whatever is physical, nurtures the set of mind. I would like to mention the Canadians couple's story which was very impressive and remarkable. They met when they where in their 18'ns, they fell in love and they've never been together since they've met again in their 70'es. They've both had got families and children with other partners but they alway were in love with each others. Eventually at the end of their lives their ways crossed again and they are happily and fully in love. Such a wonderful story... The best part of this Region of Vinales was the Cayo Levisa. We've got there (29$ each) by the bus (1h), followed by the boat trip (45"). The island was marvellous, it seemed to be finally in the Caribbean. Such a wonderful water (Atlantic Ocean), fantastic and smoothy white sand and reach vegetation. The sun was burning our skin. The water was shallow for a long distance so it felt like being in the middle of the ocean while swimming far away from the shore. We found the sea stars and a huge shell. After lunch the cyclone came and the tropical rain overcame the island, after an hour we were already walking along the beach and sunbathing. We don't mind the bad weather as our skin needs to rest from the sun shine. It was definitely the best place we have visited in Cuba so far in terms if the beaches. We came back eventually to Varadero - our starting point of holiday where we needed to rest and recharge our batteries after such a long trip around Cuba. Calle 47 gave us a safety and security, great food - lobsters every day and fantastic service. We love this casa particular where in overall we spent almost 1 month of holiday. Cuba is wonderful but very trying if one wants to travel and explore different regions and cultures. We've done most of what Cuba offers and are happy to chill out in Varadero again. It's meant to be the most touristic destination of Cuba, and indeed it is but there is a reason why. Varadero is the most beautiful beach of Cuba accessible by everyone, of course I mean tourists. I actually don't mind the protective police patrol to save tourists from constantly harassing Cubans. We've got enough of that. The last couple of days were wonderful full if sunshine. For few days the weather was so so, the swim was not permitted because of the red flag. I did my run along the ocean and yoga practice every morning by the sunrise. The strong wind and dramatic sky were inviting to run on the beach by the edge of the ocean. Whenever there was a sun I was getting burned, at the end I preferred no sun. The only issue was the storm as the swim wasn't possible because of the huge breaking waves. Never the less we rested, ate every day delicious lobsters prepared by the landlady on calle 47 where we stayed overall 3 weeks, 2 at the beginning of our 8 weeks holiday and one at the end - after 5 weeks of tour around Cuba. We got back to Havana by a cub (25$/120km/1h). We decided to have a bit of comfort at the end of our journey. We ended up in a different location opposed to the one we stayed when we arrived in Cuba. Our accommodation was in the old town by the revolution plaza. It was very central, we walked around few times and after 2 days we exhausted our interest in Havana. I was ready to go back. Either to the sea side or back to the civilised life of London. Traveling is inspiring and enriching but the cultural difference makes you miss the human world full of ethics and privacy. In Cuba you can not have your own intimacy and the corrupcy is infinitive. At the end of our Cuban very challenging experience finally we went to the airport of Havana on 2nd of February 2015. We had to upgrade our visas which expired 2 days ago for another month for 25$ each. We had to pay the air tax fee of 25$ each and after we went through the gates we had to pay 6$ for the painting we were taking with us to the ministry of culture. We ended up on giving the ministry's represantant 3$ - all we've got left. She took it for herself. And this is more or less how the whole communist country of Cuba functions. There is no customer service what so ever, the most important are the greatest relationships between the work colleges. Everything is done behind the counter. It's so much as it's used to be in Poland during the communism. Well the country is not that special nor are the people to recommend it. I would never go back there. After two months of traveling across Cuba, seeing various places and meeting different people I wasn't that impressed. There are some exceptions but not that many that it would be worth of money to travel to Cuba again. Recommended accommodation: Havana - Osmara 15$ per night +53 52585475 Infanta 210 apartamento 5 entre jovellar y san Lazaro Centro, Havana Cuba XxxxxVaradero - Carelina and Victor 20$ per night, 5$ breakfast, 10$ lobster dinner, 00 53 (0) 45611604 47 calle, Varadero, Cuba Playa Larga - Villa Juana 15$ per night XxxxxRestaurant Edel (2$ full breakfast and 5$ full dinner including lobster) Trinidad - 15$ per night (2$ breakfast, 5$ dinner) Pablo Piscs Giron 254 B Entre Dependencia Y Vicente Sullama‎ Trinidad Cuba Xxxxx Playa la Boca - Hostal calzada del sol, 15$ per night, 2.50$ breakfast, 5$ dinner) calle vigia no 2, playa la Boca, Trinidad Cuba Xxxxx Deisy y Humberto, 15$ per night, 2.50$ breakfast, Avelleneda No 260 e/San Esteban y San Martin, Camaguey, Cuba CASA de Liliana 25$ per night all included breakfast and dinner for 2. Guardalavaca, Cuba CASA de david San Carlos Santiago de Cuba Eduardo Pera quinones Eugenia Torres sotomayor Mob 52 998001 0053 22 64 6200 Calle I no 166 E/4ta y avenida de cespedes Rpto. Sueno, Santiago de Cuba Cp 90900 Cuba Guantanamo Yirelsy y Cesar xxxx Mariana Grajales N 9, Altos E/ Calixto Garcia Y Julio A. Mella‎ Baracoa Cuba Maso Xxxx Santa Dimingo Casa particular on top of the mountains opposite to villa Santa Domingo Turquino Varadero xxxxx Calle 47 Havana xxxx Zulueta no 62, 7 piso. Apt 77 E/genio y refugio, habana vieja

CAMMINO DE SANTIAGO - PORTUGAL - SEPTEMBER 2014

After the Edinburgh Fringe 11th Aug we took off to Poland. A couple of weeks traveling around: Krakow, Warsaw, sea side (Sopot, Gdansk), Auschwitz, Beskid's mountains. Eventually ended up in Barcelona for 18 hours, tour the port which I loved by the sunrise, breakfast (cafe con leche y cornetto, fresco jugo de naranja (coffe milk with croissant and fresh orange juice), then resting a bit on the beach. Las Ramblas - Main Street with cafés, restaurants and shops, outdoor markets with fantastic food. We had got some tapas: prawns, calamaries, sardines, polpettes... After running like crazy to collect our rock-sacks at the airport of Barcelona finally we took off to Lisbon. We spent first night in the hostel located in the main square of the city, it was the first and the last night we shared the room with another person as we were too tired to look for another accommodation with a double room. We took the city tour tram which allowed us to explore the old town of Lisbon. We didn't find it particularly engaging so we decided to make our way directly to the sea side - Cascais. This is the main tourists destination for locals. The beaches are very nice and big as most of the Portuguese Coast. The Atlantic Ocean at this particular location was impressively cold. It was such a termical shock after sunbathing, to take a swim in this iceberg. Eventually I've got used to the water's temperature and swam. The state of mind afterwards was calm and clear as after the yogic practice. It's refreshing and energising. We started exploration of Portuguese tapas food and had some mariscos sopa (seafood soup), bacala baked with potatoes and cheese, claims cocked with tomatoes and onion. Also octopus salad was delicious as well as fried calamari and grilled shrimps. We spent that night sleeping under the stars. The humidity was huge up to 85%. We woke up before the sunrise by noise of the tractor which was tiding up the sand. It was quite scary as the driver wouldn't slow down while passing half meter away from us. Luckily we survived. We were supposed to start our Cammino de Compostella from Cascais. So we did, we went on the highway and walked for a couple of miles. Being sweaty and hot we decided to hitchhike. In this way we've managed to reach the Sintra after 40 miles of traveling with locals. Sintra appeared as a beautiful national park with a castle on top of the mountain. We took a bus and reached the destination. The park was wonderful so was a town surrounded by a different historical palaces and sites. Our pilgrimage continued by the local transport. Since then we decided to travel along the Portuguese coast and stay by the most beautiful and hidden beaches. We would arrive to the town and then take a bus or walk away as far as possible from the chaos. Before that we reached Ericeira - the surfers paradise and we stayed at the Erichea's hostel located just in the pick point of the town with a wonderful ocean's view. It was a nice hostel, thought in the morning we hardly could see anything. The fog became our friend since then, it was like being in the big industrial city in a winter surrounded by the smog. Luckily the smog wouldn't last so long. In the morning around 9/10am it would clear up and the sun would come out. For the following night we found a place to camp free by the further beach located in the bay. The wind and waves were much slower and it was cosy and quite. At least we hoped it would be. On the highest heal around 1 km above the sea level there was a discotheque going on for the whole night until the midday of the following day. The humidity level was too hight to be able to sleep under the sky. Eventually we've managed pretty well by hiding under the umbrella. The next destination was Peniche - the peninsula for surfers, famous because of the surf championship. The beaches were long for kilometres, with a wonderful dunes, the wind was so strong. We needed to evacuate from one of the beaches to a quite bay for consecutive 3 nights. The first night we spent at the Peniche hostel with the ocean's view. The hostel was nice 40€ per room, however it was just for a night. We craved for a shower and the comfort of sleeping in a bed again. The best location we found in the little bay of ... Can not remember the name...it was a little beach with the rocks cliff under which we settled in our tend and the sea food restaurant near by where we were pretty often the guests. Getting up early in the morning and jumping in the water was a nice treat. However the water was freezing cold because of the Atlantic Ocean current, the access to the water in our private bay was limited by the alghies. Although it wouldn't stop us from jumping in. The landscape was pretty and the village was very nice, authentic and local. We were having the donuts with Catalan cream every morning. Portugal was a paradise of the sweet pastry. The diversity of pastiseries they've got it's mind blowing. We had got a pleasure of meeting a couple of the middle age Italians who were so nice to us. He - Augusto was a lawyer like my partner. He was so funy to talk to, as he would be very direct and speak up his mind in a fraction of second. He fell in live with his wife when he was defending her in the court. She was involved in some mafia's issues and he saved her from both mafia and the prison. He said that I must have fell in love with A because of his Mediterranean look contrasted with the blue eyes, similar to his wife who fell in love with his Mediterranean look contrasted by green eyes. The next morning while I was practising yoga, A went out to pick up some delicious Portuguese pastry. He's got lost and found the Roman couple who were just about to take the pastry for us and deliver it to our tend in our private bay. They've mentioned that the night before they passed by with cervezas (beers) and called my name 'Asia Asia Asia ...' but nobody came out of the tend. In fact we were already sleeping by 10pm. Our free camping life style was very basic and healthy, therefore we were waking up by sunrise and going to sleep by sunset...They were about to leave that morning so they passed by to say goodbye. They were heading north towards Spain as we were, but taking the other roots. They traveled by a rented car and stayed in the hostels. They were envious of our free camp adventure. In fact we had time of our lives;) They were the ones who have mentioned about going to Cuba before the end of Castrol's regime. So we did 2 months later;) They've been there already a couple of times and still with intention of coming back. Peniche was nice as it was a peninsular surfers paradise surrounded by Atlantic Ocean with huge waves and powerful wind. Because of that the energy along the Portuguese Coast was so amazing and special. The village of Peniche was very authentic and characteristic, the sea food - king prawns (camerones), calamari (calamares) and muscles (mejiones) were cheap (10€) and very common. Mostly we ate tapas, a few bites of delicious, basic and tasty Portuguese food. Portugal is the cheapest EU destination. With 30€ per day one can survive including accommodation and meals. We were lucky to spend our money in traveling and food considering our free accommodation - free camping. After 3 days of sightseeing and swimming we took a local transport and went to Nazare. It was such a touristic and crowded town and the beach. The beach was large and long with huge waves. We put the tend in the prohibited area because of the danger of falling rocks and stones. The beach after being cleared out of the crowd was impressive, we had got an exclusivity for all sunsets and sunrises. The food in local tapas bars was great, always some grilled seafood, calamaris, shrimps or muscles. The attention must be brought to the soup of 2€ value which was the main dish of our daily diet. Because of the storm and the red flag there was an emergency call for all the safe guards forces along the coast. There was even the national TV service with direct news from the coast, the helicopters all over the place and of course me in the water swimming far away from the shore. I've been caught a couple of times by safeguards and worn that I shouldn't be in the water, by the third reminder they called the police and I've been worn even by them. However the police was much more polite than those safeguards with a huge ego. The next destination we visited was Figuera de Foz. Then we went to few more destinations on the Atlantic coast such as Aveiro (Spanish Venice), Porto (the most beautiful European city-harbour in Europe) and Viana Do Castelo. Eventually we crossed the border and ended up in northern Spain. For a few nights we stayed in Baiona with a spectacular castle by the ocean. The view was stunning. There was not allowed a free camping however we found a gorgeous peninsula where we put on our tend. The water was all over and very calm as we were in the bay of Baiona. Every day tapas and nice breakfasts as the Portuguese delicious pastery was followed by the Spanish one. Unfortunately there were no donuts with a catalan cream - our favourite ones from Portugal. Finally we reached our destination - Santiago De Cuba from where we took the plain and came back home to Italy. My parents came to visit us. It was such a nice extension of our holiday;) Then in November after another month I came back to London to get ready for the next trip to Cuba Dec'14-Feb'15. A followed me.