Cuba

Sep 26

A lot of my traveling experiences have come from random decisions. Cuba was the most random decision of them all. This is the quickest I’ve ever planned a trip abroad. Many people thought I was a little crazy for going. Those same people wanted to know everything about what it was like in Cuba. Out of all the places I’ve been to, people (Americans) seem the most intrigued by Cuba. Probably because we weren’t allowed in for a while. While I write this blog post, we aren’t allowed anywhere (the year is currently 2020…) so I was able to sneak in and out of Cuba during the short time it was legal. Here’s how it happened.

In front of the MarAzul Hotel at Santa Maria del Mar

As most good stories begin… I was drinking on a boat. I was with my good friend and travel buddy, Amber, and she was telling me all about how she had this long weekend trip planned to Cuba. She planned to go solo and had been brushing up on her Spanish. She had everything planned and was excited for her upcoming adventure. A few beers and some Jell-O shots later, I guess I agreed to go on the trip with her.

I don’t remember much of the rest of that day. What I do know is that I went to work Monday morning and Amber sent me a text saying, “If you were serious about going to Cuba with me, here is my itinerary.” My foggy brain started piecing together everything and that’s when I realized that I committed to joining Amber and making her solo journey a duo trip. I started to send her an apology text stating that I wasn’t in the right state of mind and that’s not something I can do right now.

But I was in a work meeting. And the meeting was boring. And I had access to the Internet. So before I sent that text, I opened up my laptop and started searching the price for a round-trip from Florida to Cuba. It was about $200 round-trip… not bad!!!

So instead of texting Amber telling her I couldn’t go to Cuba, I texted her saying prices weren’t that bad and I asked her how much everything else would cost. She told me she was already going anyway and everything was already paid for so if I could arrange the travel then I didn’t need to worry about anything else as far as accommodations. Sold!

That afternoon I booked my flights and I had less than 2 weeks until I was dancing under the Havana stars. I downloaded DuoLingo and got a refresher on my high school Spanish (which wasn’t much), I put in a request at work for a Friday and Monday off so I could have a 4-day weekend (approved), and I gave myself a mini-history lesson on Cuba via Wikipedia.

And then I was off! I flew two very short flights from Tampa to Miami and then Miami to Havana. I was set to meet Amber in Havana… somehow. We were flying separate and she got there a few hours before. We didn’t really have a plan but somehow we connected. I was in line to exchange money outside the Havana airport when I heard someone shouting my name. Amber found me and she was with our cab driver. We knew this guy because he was the cousin of someone’s friend’s cousin or something like that. I’m not really sure of the connection. But he agreed to drive us and show us around during a few days in Cuba.

We got in his taxi (the most popular way to get around) and he told us how becoming a taxi driver is the job in Cuba that most people strive towards. He told us there are doctors in Cuba that drive taxis on the side to earn extra money. All of the taxis were cars from the 1950’s. I knew Cuba would have the old-school cars. I didn’t know ALL of the cars would be old-school. I did search for the seatbelt immediately upon entering the car (out of good habit) and couldn’t find it. I asked where my seatbelt was and the driver and his friend laughed at me and told me there were none but assured me I would be safe. I’m alive to write this blog post so I guess they weren’t wrong.

Havana

Downtown Havana is approximately a half hour drive from the airport. Once we got downtown, we checked into our Airbnb. I enjoyed our Airbnb and felt extremely safe the entire time. I would recommend this route if you ever decide to go to Cuba. We stayed with a family in their home located very close to the extremely popular (and pricey) hotel in Havana called the Hotel Nacional de Cuba. My tip for choosing an Airbnb is to find one nearby a popular hotel and resort. That way, you know you are most likely in a safe and convenient location. Sometimes you may even be able to walk around to the outdoor amenities of fancy resorts without paying the price of staying there. Sometimes!

In our Airbnb we had one room and one bathroom. The windows were open permanently and we could hear the lively streets of Havana at all hours of the night. Not a lot of sleeping happens in this city. When in Rome, do as the Romans do… So we didn’t sleep much either. An amenity that our Airbnb provided was a home-cooked meal for about $5. We never took advantage of this because we were only in our Airbnb for outfit changes and power naps but the home-cooked food smelled delicious!

Our first adventure was a bite to eat and a stop at the liquor store. We lived off of ham and cheese sandwiches and mojitos for most of the trip. We stopped at a lot of quick hole-in-the-wall joints and most of them tasted equally delicious, especially for the low prices we paid. You can get a sit-down meal and alcoholic drink for less than $10 almost anywhere you go. We went to the store and learned from our Airbnb host that everyone living in Cuba is given tickets with allotted times telling them when they can go to the store. This is part of the Cuban government’s system to ration food. They are also limited on how many staple items they can buy per shopping trip. This includes toilet paper.

Before my trip to Cuba, people who had visited prior to me advised me to pack toilet paper. I remember thinking to myself, “I’m not that picky about my toilet paper. I don’t need it to be fancy. I’m sure whatever they use in Cuba will be fine.” I’m also not a light packer so the idea of packing two rolls of toilet paper over a pair of cute shoes didn’t resonate with me. However, I regretted that. Because they don’t have toilet paper in Cuba! Well, they do. But it is extremely limited. It is so limited that it’s not provided in most restaurants or public venues. They charge you an extra dollar. So I found myself hanging onto napkins and placing them in my purse all to save a little money. Those extra dollars were better spent on mojitos than on TP, in my opinion. So if and when you go to Cuba, pack that extra roll of toilet paper in your suitcase!

Fabrica de Arte

After dinner and showers, we got ready for our first adventure out. We headed over to Fabrica de Arte. This is a must-see if you go to Havana. It is an art museum and nightclub all mixed into one. It is a very popular spot for both tourists and locals and there is a long line outside the club to get in. Be careful when you are waiting in line. Locals will come around asking if you would like to get ahead of the line. They will ask you for a few bucks and then lead you towards the front. Once you get there, they will ask you for more money and then run away if you refuse to give it to them. And there are no secret ways to cut the line. I just saw people getting scammed left and right and those people lost their original spots in line. It took us about a half hour until we entered the art nightclub and it was worth it.

When you walk in, you’ll see something that looks like a normal club entrance. They have a bar immediately upon entrance so we stopped there first and got a drink. As you start to look and walk around, you’ll notice that this club is split into different rooms. It almost turns into a maze and we had so much fun exploring. Each room is a little different and unique in its own ways. The rooms come in all different sizes. Some have only art displays. Some have only music and dancing. Some rooms are a mix of both. Some rooms have their own DJ playing. Most rooms have a bar or an area to purchase drinks. They also have a huge dance room that is filled shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the world singing and dancing. The lighting is also different depending on which room or hallway you’re in. At one point, we ended up outside still dancing and looking at the stars.

This is a unique experience that will keep you entertained all night long. It has something for everyone - art, music, dancing, quiet outdoor areas, reading material, drinks, and shopping. It’s definitely worth the wait and the cover charge!

Music and dancing inside an art museum at Fabrico de Arte

Ernest Hemingway Bars

(La Bodequita del Medio y El Floridita)

After our first night out, we woke up and went somewhere local for breakfast. The Cuban coffee comes with most breakfast meals and its flavor lives up to its expectation. We explored mostly on foot during the first half of our day. If you’re exploring Havana, you have a few different ways to get around. Taxis are the most popular and easiest way. You can also easily walk to most places. The most exciting way, in my opinion, is to take a Coco Taxi. These are tiny, coconut shaped mini-cars that can fit 2-3 people. I enjoyed the breeze from the open air as we took our coco taxi along the popular highway, Avenida de Maceo, which runs right along the coast. As long as you stay within Havana city limits, all travel is pretty cheap. I’d say you can get around the city in less than $10-15, depending on where you’re going.

We started our day by walking towards La Bodeguita to begin. Upon arrival, we sat where Ernest Hemingway used to sit during his visits to Cuba. We drank the mojitos and talked with the locals. Out of nowhere, a band started playing behind us in this tiny bar. It felt equivalent to the size of a standard American “dive bar” with an open entrance that connects to the main street. I learned quickly that it is extremely common for a small band to start playing music out of nowhere, no matter the size or location of the bar. Also, people will start dancing. Cuba is all about music and dancing!

We explored a little bit more and did some street shopping. This bar is located along Empedrado Drive. If you’ve traveled to a major city abroad then I’m sure you can imagine what this one is like… bars, shops, and restaurants along a main drag that is sprinkled with endless souvenir displays.

We also made sure to check out the other Ernest Hemingway favorite, El Floridita. This Hemingway bar is a bit fancier and larger in size. It was also much more crowded. Both bars are within walking distance from one another with lots of bars and restaurants in between. This area is one big party and a great way to spend an afternoon.

A band playing behind us at La Bodeguita

From here, we explored a popular fort called La Cabana. You can see it in my photos. We only made it inside one fort but a few others that we saw from a distance and were on our list of things to do are Castillo De Los Tres Reyes Del Morrow and Castillo de San Salvador.

We walked a little over a mile from this area back to our Airbnb and enjoyed the coastal views to our right and city views to our left. It is surreal to look out towards the waters of Havana and know that the United States of America is so close-by but feels so extremely far away. We went back to the Airbnb to nap, shower, and prep for our evening out to the open air bar on the water, 1830.

1830

This evening, we attended a live music and dance show at Jardines del 1830. Although you can find many of these in Cuba, this place in particular is unique because of its location right along the water. You can walk around and grab drinks at different bars along the walkway. You can see the ocean and the stars. It’s part fort, part nightclub. And the on-stage entertainment is spectacular! There is dinner but it sends at 10:00pm so make sure you plan accordingly. The live music and dancing doesn’t start until after dinner. Also, I would only recommend going to this place on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. From what I hear, not much is happening during the weekdays but it really comes to life on the weekends!

Coco Taxis are a fun way to get around Havana!

Dancing under the stars to live music at 1830

Beaches of Cuba

My friend Amber and I were both living in Sarasota, Florida at the time of our Cuba trip. If you’re not familiar with Sarasota, it is located right along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida and is home to USA’s #1 beach, Siesta Key. Since we were already spoiled by a beautiful beach in our backyard, we didn’t make it a priority to check out the Cuban beaches. If we had a longer time in Cuba (like maybe a week) then we most likely would’ve ventured out to the popular Veradero beaches and possibly stayed at a resort there for a night or two. It’s only about 2 hours from Havana but with our limited time we decided to check out a beach closer. We also considered Cayo Coco and Playa Paraiso Beach. However, we chose Santa Maria Del Mar mainly for its convent location, which is less than a half hour and a cheap taxi ride away from Downtown Havana.

Santa Maria del Mar

As I mentioned, we got to this beach from Havana by taxi. We went in the early afternoon. We knew that this beach is located right in front of the MarAzul Hotel, a fancy premier hotel in Cuba. Maybe it was fancy inside but the outside looked similar to an abandoned building. They were strict on their bathroom policy and refused to let anyone into the lobby who wasn’t a paying guest. Good thing we were right by the ocean.

We ate at the beach and I would recommend not choosing this option. It’s cheap and convenient and you have your choice of various meat sandwiches. However, you can see the flies taking off and landing on the meats while they cook the meat on an open air grille. Use your best judgement. Or just have a liquid lunch. If you get the rum drink in a coconut, I must warn you that the “rum drink” is straight rum inside of a coconut. The hollowed out coconut does not do much to cover up the strong flavor of the rum. You will feel great after you drink the coconut rum drink but I can’t say that it's very tasty.

We planned to stay all afternoon but a rainstorm came through after we got about 2 hours (and 2 coconut rum drinks) in on the beach. The majority of the beach goers did not drive there so a big group of us huddled under the canopy in front of the MarAzul hotel while we watched the caribbean downpour. It lasted about a half-hour and during this half-hour, we made friends!

We met lots of people and all of us shared what we had left in our coolers and bags to drink. We befriended a rich man and his friend who was a girl (not his girlfriend) and another guy who was a solo traveler. We all agreed to share a taxi since we were all staying in Havana. During the taxi ride, we made plans to do dinner and dancing. A few hours later, we met at a fancy restaurant where the rich man paid for everything and there were no flies on the meat and there was complimentary toilet paper in the bathrooms! Afterwards, we made our way to Casa de la Musica de Miramar.

Casa de la Musica de Miramar

I think I’m starting to sound like a broken record when I tell you that we went to yet another nightclub in Havana that had… live music and dancing! Apparently, in this old downtown mansion, this is where the “best of the best” go to perform. We were still were with our rich friend and he offered to buy the group “table service”. I’ve gotten table service before in American bars. When this happens, I’m usually sitting up on a second or third floor somewhere in a big, comfy couch with ropes blocking off the area. The bottles come in fancy glasses with multiple mixers like orange juice, cranberry juice, seltzer, etc. to choose from and there’s different pieces of fruit to garnish the drinks.

But this isn’t the same. Our exclusive “table service” consisted of a small round table with 4 metal chairs in the second row of the venue. We got a bucket of ice with a bottle of rum in the middle and individual cans of Coca-cola and other sodas. No fancy couches, no fruit garnishes, no velvet red ropes. But because of this nice, rich man we met on the beach that afternoon… no payment for us two American girls. We drank and sang and danced our night away and when the nice, rich man and his friend who is a girl wanted to continue partying past 3am, we politely declined and made our way back to our Airbnb.

With our new friend outside the Casa de la Musica de Miramar

Coppelia Ice Cream

We woke up a little groggy the next morning. This was the beginning of our last full day in Cuba and after 3 days/nights of partying, dancing, and sight-seeing, we decided to take it easy. We went to the eastern edge of Old Havana and ate a really nice lunch near the cruise ship terminals close to Plaza de San Francisco de Asis. We did some souvenir shopping, took photos with the old cars, purchased the many requested orders of Cuban cigars for our friends back home. We finally decided to check out the seemingly popular ice cream shop in downtown Havana.

The first day that we arrived in Cuba, we noticed a very huge line wrapped around a park in the city. Amber actually did a little bit of research (more than my Wikipedia cram-session) prior to our trip and had read about this popular ice cream place called Coppelia Ice Cream. The ice cream was supposedly really delicious but the line was outrageously long anytime we walked past. I love a good ice cream cone but I don’t know if any ice cream is worth waiting for over an hour.

But we had done all we wanted to do and had some time to kill so we decided to check out the ice cream place. Sure enough, the line was wrapped around the park. We started to get in line when police officers (park security guards) approached us and asked if we were there for the ice cream. We told them yes and they told us to follow them. We were in a public, well-populated area in the middle of the daytime so we went along with it and followed them. They took us into an entrance into this park and guided us to a line of about 5-6 people. We asked them if this was the Coppelia Ice Cream and they said yes.

So we waited less than 5 minutes and I ordered 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. We sat down on picnic tables and ate our very delicious, but very average, ice cream. After that, we started making our way out of the park and pondered over the different possibilities of why there was another extremely long line going into the same park. Amber used her Spanish-speaking skills and started talking to the guard. Essentially, she asked if we ate the really delicious ice cream and he said yes. She asked what the other line was for and he told her it was also for the ice cream. The only difference is that if you wait in the long line, the ice cream only costs one dollar. If you go to the line that we went to, you’ll pay $2.50. So when we got into the long line, the guards spotted us and knew that we were from out of town. He knew Americans would be willing to spend an extra buck fifty on ice cream and he placed us in that line. All the locals were waiting over an hour to save a little more than a dollar. What is life like in Cuba? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Crowds of people wait in the park for Coppelia Ice Cream

A popular nightclub for live music and dancing, the Casa de la Musica

The yard and playground at an Havana elementary school

We wrapped up the day by walking around to areas of Havana we hadn’t yet been. We saw a bar/restaurant that had live music and dancing. It looked like fun so we tried to get in. We were quickly denied. This was a “locals only” joint. We attempted another place and had a similar experience. I felt safe in Cuba for the majority of the trip but after getting denied a second time in a lesser-known area of the city, I knew we were pushing our limits. I made eye contact with a local outside of the venue who saw us attempt to enter. This local glared at me with a frown and shook her head. An international signal for, “You are not welcome here, little blonde American girl.” I turn told Amber we’ve seen enough bars. So we walked along the Avenida de Maceo and grabbed a bottle of wine and 2 plastic cups from a convenience store. We sat and watched the sunset and talked about what we would do when we got back to America. We were only gone for a long weekend but it felt like much longer since we were able to squeeze in so much in such little time. Plus, we didn’t sleep a lot. We ate one more ham and cheese sandwich at a nearby restaurant and did some dancing. Then went back to pack and get ready for our trip home.

Dance parties will happen anytime, anywhere in Cuba

Mojitos ready to serve at Hemingway’s La Bodeguita

Jose Marti Int'l Airport

I’ve been to lots of airports all over the world. Havana is the worst. I’ve flown lots of airlines in my life. Spirit is the worst. So the combination of flying Spirit Airlines out of the Havana Airport was not a great combo.

Although we were going to the same destination, Amber and I had separate flights on the way home. We arrived at least 2 hours before Amber’s Delta flight to Miami and at least 4 hours before my Spirit flight to Miami. We checked out bags and we were all set to go when Amber started picking up on some of the Spanish being said over the loud-speaker. (Also, I don’t necessarily think that all airports should repeat everything in English… But in my travel experience, all other airports repeat everything in English. Therefore, I wasn’t prepared for an airport that didn’t translate everything into English for me.)

All Amber was hearing from the loudspeaker was something along the lines of that Spirit was cancelling all flights from Cuba to the USA starting… today! So we panicked. We went to one of the few gates open at the airport and asked what my options were. They said to just wait and see. Amber asked if I could join on her Delta flight. They told us that I would need to go back out and purchase a ticket. We assumed they meant back out to the front of the airport and then go through the check-in and security process again, which I had time to do. That’s not what they meant, though. You cannot purchase plane tickets at the airport. If I wanted to go on Amber’s Delta flight, I would need to take a taxi and ride the half-hour back into the city of Havana to the airport’s office and purchase a ticket there. That I did not have time for.

And so as Amber’s flight was boarding, she gave me a hug and wished me good luck and suggested I stay put next to these two guys who looked American and were on the same flight as me. And Amber was off on her hour-long flight back to the homeland. I smiled at the two guys and introduced myself. I asked them if they knew what was going on. They said that they were told our flight was cancelled and another one would be on its way sometime today. I assumed they were American based off of their outfits and NFL hats until I heard their accents. I asked if they spoke Spanish and they laughed and told me they were both from Madrid. They became my best friends that day.

And we slowly added to our group of friends as we found more people who were also stuck in the Havana Airport that day. I wasn’t too concerned because my connecting flight from Miami to Tampa wasn’t until 9:45pm. It was either sit in this airport or that airport all day. I didn’t think there was any way I would miss that late of a flight. I was wrong…

So instead of flying back to Florida that day, I drank dollar beers with my two Madrid friends while the rest of our new crew chose to share a bottle of rum from the airport. As they all got drunk, I got hungry. The airport ran out of food. It wasn’t that big of a deal since the only food they had were ham and cheese sandwiches made on a George Foreman-like grill. I had my fair share of jamon y queso this weekend. I spent a good chunk of the time getting to know my new friends. Flash-forward to a few years later (2018) and one of my Madrid friends ends up living in Dublin at the same time I was traveling to Ireland. If you read my Ireland blog, you can read about my adventures there. I never thought I’d stay in a downtown Dublin apartment with someone I met in Havana, Cuba. But I did!

After hours and hours of sitting and waiting in the airport, Spirit finally provided an airplane for us. I still don’t know what the delay was about since there were no tv monitors or information booths at this airport. All I know is that our flight was cancelled and they didn’t give us a new flight until about 8:30pm. That got me to the Miami Airport and through customs right around 9:50pm… Just 5 minutes after my connecting flight departed to Tampa.

Fortunately, I have friends all over the place - including Miami. Spirit did offer us a 20% off at a cheap hotel for the night to make-up for all the trouble. I declined the coupon and slept on my friend’s couch since there were no more flights headed out to Tampa (or anywhere) that evening. At least I was back in the USA… something I wasn’t sure would happen earlier in the day. I woke up early and made my way back to the airport and back home.

A “locals only” hangout that we were not allowed into

Mojitos at a popular bar in downtown Havana

Conclusion

I loved my long weekend in Cuba and I don’t think I needed much more than 3-4 days. I enjoyed my time in Cuba and I felt genuinely safe. I felt like the locals enjoyed and appreciated having foreigners, especially Americans, come and visit. I loved their passion for live music and dancing. I enjoyed riding in the old cars. I found it very interesting to see buildings upon buildings in a major downtown city that haven’t been renovated in over half of a century.

Would I recommend Cuba? Of course! Would I go back to Cuba? Probably not. For me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’m happy I took (last-minute) advantage of but this is not on my list of destinations that I would make a return visit. It was an experience like no other and that’s what I take out of it. As far as Caribbean islands that I would return back to… Check out my other blog posts! (Coming soon…!)

CubaHavanaFabrica de ArteLa BodeguitaEl FloriditaErnest HemingwayCasa de MusicaTravel

Melanie Lutz