April Sun in Cuba

We flew into Havana on the eve of Easter for 11 days cruising around Cuba with Sarah and Victoria from NZ. I was primed for all the stereotypes - faded buildings, vintage American cars, mojitos and old men playing son music on the streets (admittedly for me at least, all the research I had done was to watch a cigar-making DVD and rent out Buena Vista Social Club again).

However beyond the faded buildings and colonial Spanish architecture lurks an uneasy double economy - the Cuban convertible peso (official tourist currency) v moneta nationale (national currency) - at a ratio of 25:1. Federico, the host of our casa particulare (guesthouse) in Havana used to be a lawyer - the reason he now rents out rooms in his house is that he earns more from us for one night's board than he earned in one month as a lawyer. While this issue was to dog us all the way around the island, we did manage to obtain some local currency and tried to use it where we could. Shaun also decided to practice acting like a local whenever possible.

After 3 days in Havana we hired one of the smallest cars available and set out for a long road trip around the western half of Cuba. Almost every 5km on the roads are amazing graphic art billboards extolling the virtues of the revolution. We all took photos of so many - these are some of the more successful examples of the 'hang out the window on a driveby' photo series.

One of the highlights of the week on the road was Vinales, tobacco growing central and home of Esther and Domingo - the hosts of our casa, mean chefs and the makers of the best mojitos in Cuba (the secret is apparently a drop or two of Angostura bitters). I have now developed a taste for bean soup - and creole sauce added liberally to either pork, chicken or lobster as a main course. Quite happy, however, never to see another guava again.

I was sure there would be some fantastic propaganda waiting for us at the Bay of Pigs. While there was only one museum and not much else on the invasion, there was, however, amazing snorkelling with beautiful tropical fish in only 1 foot of water just off the beach.

Another surprise was the Zapata nature reserve nearby - where we did a walk with a local guide spotting native and migratory birds, watched crabs scuttle across the road in the morning on their way back to the beach and stalked the season's last remaining flamingoes from the safety of our car... Having worked up an appetite, we also visited the government-run crocodile farm - surprisingly, having held the farm's pet crocodile for photos I was still able to stomach the prospect of crocodile for dinner that night (with the obligatory creole sauce - see below).

Our turnaround point was Trinidad - a UNESCO preserved Spanish colonial city dating back to the days of the sugar plantations in the late 1700s. After the pot-hole studded drive in over the mountains, the city appears out of nowhere. The houses are right on the street and from that level there appear to be hardly any trees, just houses, cobblestones and sky. We stayed in a beautiful old colonial casa with huge high studs and an airy courtyard and got some lessons in Cuban rhythm from a very patient local salsa teacher ...

Diverting off the airport runway-like autopista (motorway) on the long drive back to Havana, we made an overnight pilgrimage to Che Guevara's tomb in Santa Clara -which features the obligatory communist parade square-style architecture. There was also time for a quick diversion to check whether the beaches at Varadero - home of package tourism - were better than the ones we'd been stopping at along the way. Conclusion: there are beaches which are just as nice in other parts of Cuba (see first photo below) - but Varadero is a nice spot to play dominoes in the sun.

Back in Havana for one final afternoon we decided to spend the last of our convertible pesos on a cruise in a 1956 Chevy along the Malecon, with some cheesy poses at the Hotel Nacionale before getting on the plane. Hasta luego Cuba!

M