TravelStream™ news feed for member jessica_cdn on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jessica_cdn en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 26 May 2008 15:57:23 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210535580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210535580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210535580/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 15:57:23 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Havana, Cuba

For those of you who have read my other blogs, you know that I'm pretty good at running into random people that I know all over the world. My favourite has been in Greece when I was walking through the market and ran into two girls that I was going to school with. Anyway, it never ceases to amuse me when that happens....

Ross and I slept a good long time and woke up early enough to get a good breakfast in at the hotel. We tried to go suntanning but noticed at the last minute that the pools are in shadow until about 11am - when we would have to leave for the airport, so we hung around and drank espresso before heading to the airport. By the way, the trip to the airport is now costing about 25 CUC, and most guidebooks say it should cost 15-20....not sure if we were just getting bad deals or if the price has gone up...

Anyway, once in the airport all was well...and we were sitting by the gate reading when I looked up and saw our landlady standing in line. I couldn't really believe my eyes so I had to ask Ross, and indeed it was her! Pretty funny to run into people you know at the airport in Havana!

It was a long travel day back to Kingston, but we have a fantastic week to look forward to, since we're getting married on Saturday!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1211830860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1211830860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1211830860/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 15:53:21 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Havana, Cuba

In the price of our room we had a buffet breakfast included, so we checked that out pretty early. As you can likely imagine, it was the biggest damn breakfast buffet I've ever seen. Anything you want to order, cereal, pastries, fruit, juices, coffee (terrible!), yogourt and many other unidentifiable things. It was a good breakfast but again, nothing compared to what people had been feeding us in their homes. Further, our stomachs were still a little iffy in the mornings so we took it easy on the buffet. To make up for the terrible-ness of the coffee, we treated ourselves to a couple of espressos on the outside patio - and noticed that it was already pretty darn warm.....

We started our sight-seeing for the day by heading to the US Special Interest office, which functions as the US's connection with the Cuban government in-lieu of an embassy. A few years ago the office put up an electronic ticker that displayed anti-Cuban propaganda. In order to counter the propaganda of the US office, the Cuban government erected 138 black flags with a white star on them (one for every victim of the imperial agressor) that is a) a stunning piece of art and b) completely obscurs the ticker in the US SIO. FANTASTIC! We took a LOT of photos, much to the amusement of the Cuban guards in the area. Oh yeah, Fidel also built an anti-imperialist plaza opposite the flags to further reinforce the point. I think they have rock concerts there. haha. Strangely, we were the only tourists. Go figure.

We grabbed a cab and went over to the plaza de la revolution and saw the iconic picture of Che, which is actually quite good in person despite the fact that it has been perverted onto every possible bit of merchandise. It was extremely hot in the concrete square, so while Ross explored, I stayed in the shade and chatted with some Cubans. The main topics of conversation included a) it's very hot, every for Habaneros, so try not to die b) put on more sunscreen because you're SO WHITE c) Cubans like Canada because of Trudeau and refusing to participate in the embargo. It was a pretty fun conversation all told. However, we didn't manage to get into the memorial to Jose Marti because it was closed for a bit.

We went over to the Capitol because Leigh and Kara had mentioned that it was a really good tour, but there were no tour guides available, so we went for lunch at the Cafe Inglaterra (mediocre). Then it was back to the Capitol, where again, no guides were available that spoke english. (I was NOT going to spend more time translating...my brain was really starting to hurt, and we woudln't have gotten much out of it.) It was getting late (and SOOOO hot - over 40, + humidity) so we went back to the hotel and lounged by the pool. We had dinner in the hotel and went to bed early with some sickly tummies.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210361400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210361400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210361400/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 15:38:06 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Havana, Cuba

When we arrived in Havana after our 15 hour bus trip, our stomachs were still a bit uneasy, which contributed to our decision to stay at the Nacionale for the last two days of our honeymoon (pre-wedding). We knew that we were getting married in about a week and were hoping to have our digestive difficulties resolved by then!

The Nacionale is a very interesting hotel. It's quite luxurious, particularly in the common spaces, but the rooms are a bit drab (but huge!). Clearly it's been well-maintained but it hasn't really been updated in a while, aside from the plumbing. It has two pools, several dining areas, okay food and good espresso. I think the food was a bit mediocre compared to the fantastic food that we'd been eating in the casas particular - they sure know how to do a lot of things with a few basic ingredients!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and by the bars, drinking espresso and then switching to wine before dinner. We decided to go to a paladar called the Huron Azul close to the hotel for dinner. Were we ever glad we did! It was by far the best food we had the entire time we were in Cuba. It was a first-class meal. The paladar doesn't look like much from the outside (on Humboldt street), but once you go inside, it's the coziest, most decorative restaurant I've ever been in. We decided to get a bottle of wine with dinner, and really enjoy ourselves. We started with a HUGE fruit bowl, followed by bread and strawberry butter. We had potato fritters as an appetizers (SO good). Ross had pasta carbonara ('cause he hadn't quite had enough pork...) and I had swordfish. (First time ever!) It was absolutely amazing - like something you'd get in a four-star restaurant back home. For desert we had flan and chocolate mousse, again fantastic. The whole meal cost us 70 CUC, so definitely not cheap, but considering how much food we had and the 22 CUC bottle of wine, not really that bad. However, do watch for overcharging as we caught a couple of mistakes on our bill.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210263780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210263780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210263780/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 12:43:09 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Ross and I both slept very well, but woke up with pretty upset bellies. (Our sleep was aided by the '60s era Russian airconditioner.)We did manage to eat breakfast in our courtyard where we had the usual fare of eggs, fruit, and bread, but also accompanied by some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life. Delicious! After breakfast we had to lay down for a while to regain our strength.

On our way out we chatted with the other two guests - two anthropologists travelling with their two young children from the states. They explained the situation with the airlines - Cuba received a few airbuses from Venezuela recently so domestic air travel is nowhere near as sketchy as it once was. A nice option considering we had to get to Havana tomorrow.

We decided to take care of our administration first so went to Cubatour to check bus times. It turned out that the bus that we wanted at about 5pm was full and the only other options were a 3pm bus and a 10pm bus. It was a bit frustrating, but we opted for the 10pm bus that would arrive in Havana at noon. We thought about flying, but the prices were a bit high, especially considering that while at Cubatour we'd also booked ourselves into the Hotel Nacionale for the last two nights of our stay.

After getting our travel plans sorted, we went to the Bacardi museum. It's not a museum about rum, it's the family's private collection that they left when they fled Cuba after the revolution. It's quite the mis-matched collection, but facinating.

After lunch we went looking for another bakery that could not be found. Damn you, Roughguide! We really wanted some delicious sweets for our trip. We did find a good corner store and got some water, juice and cola, although we had to fend off the advances of a guy who was trying to 'help' us buy the things we needed (even though it wasn't exactly hard) and then kept pointing to the open sores on his face and tried to get us to buy him medicine. I was pretty unimpressed.

We headed back to our casa - Maruchi had kindly offered for us to keep using the room and shower (she made it clear that if someone came, we'd still be welcome to shower before our bus trip). She also made us dinner - we'd asked for something simple, so she made us a delicious chicken soup with rice - perfect for a bus ride. We read and relaxed for awhile, then it was time to catch the bus. Everything went smoothly and the bus left on time - Ross and I both took a gravol and I slept for the first nine hours straight!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210192800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210192800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210192800/tpod.html Mon, 19 May 2008 16:59:08 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

We had a rough night, and Ross has definitely got some sort of stomach bug. We ate a delicious breakfast though and both of us started to feel a bit better. We got packed up and headed for the new casa (back to Maruchi's place from last night.) However, as we were paying our bill, our landlady tried to charge us only 3 CUC per person for dinner - completely outrageous! She made us a three-course meal at 10pm! We made sure to tip her very well on the way out - talk about hospitable!

We headed back to Maruchi's place. It's completely fantastic. There are two main sitting areas for the guests - one is more of an eating area, and the other has rocking chairs set up. There's a fountain, a bird, a cat, a dog, goldfish, and a turtle, and dozens of plants. It's cool and shaded and a lovely place to hang out. Our room was perfect as well - a big queen sized bed with a brass frame and an antique wardrobe and dressing table, plus a single bed. It had a big, clean and well-appointed private bathroom and an airconditioner (vintage 70's Soviet one at that, with all the writing in cyrillic!). All that for 25CUC and 3CUC per person for breakfast.

After some language difficulties we managed to get our clothes cleaned and headed out to explore Santiago. It was increadibly hot - at least 40, then the humidity on top of that! We headed over to Cubatur to figure out when/if the train was running, but they didn't know anything, so we opted for coffee at the Hotel Granda right in the main square. It had the best patio in the city and was very popular with tourists, but had great espresso!

We decided to go to the source for information on the train, so cabbed over to the train station. After some serious language trouble (or maybe cultural?) we figured out that the train was only running during the day on Wednesday, andthat was the only special service for the week. It was pretty weird and I had a hard time believing that to be the case. We took our cab over to the Hotel Santiago de Cuba where we knew there was internet and good pizza.

At the hotel, we got online for a bit, then had pizza at their pizza parlour called pizza Nova - it was fantastic, and not an ounce of fish on it. (I've eaten a lot of fish...) We decided to walk back towards the central square - it seemed to be about 1.5 km away...

Somehow we managed to get right lost. At one point (after walking about 40 minutes) we stated asking people how to get back to the central square, and they just looked at us like we were crazy! Also, I'm pretty sure that there were cabs following us waiting for us to crack and get in - the heat was soooo intense! Lesson learned: don't wander the streets of Santiago de Cuba in the midday sun. HOT! (As Ross would say, only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun....)

We finally found our casa and after lying in a heat and dehydration-enduced stupor recovered our faculties for some reading and writing in the lovely courtyard. We also noticed that our clean clothes were drying in the mango tree in the courtyard - very cute.

In the evening, we ate a delicious dinner at our casa (fish and soup and cake!) and then went out to listen to some music and have a drink. Nice evening in general, although it came to a quick end because neither of us were feeling super great, and the heat had pretty much wiped us out.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210111860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210111860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210111860/tpod.html Mon, 19 May 2008 16:33:03 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Of course, the morning of our first cross-country, 12-hour bus trip, Ross and I wake up feeling less than 100%. I seemed to be worst off with some lingering gastro-intestinal distress, but I was soon proven quite wrong - Ross was quite sick, and would get worse throughout the course of our trip. I rebounded quickly enough and we got to the bus with time to spare. The price to Santiago de Cuba was 33CUC each. Kara & Leigh showed up a few minutes later - they decided to go to Cienfuegos on the same bus as us. I tell ya, they just couldn't get enough! :)

Three hours into the trip we stopped at the best bus stop I've ever seen in Latin America - it was called the Oasis, and it had great trees and lawns and quite seriously some of the cleanest bathrooms I've seen in Cuba. They had both toilet paper and soap! They had food too that was pretty darn good!

Kara and Leigh got off about six hours into the journey, and things went downhill pretty quickly. Ross really started to feel unwell, and the bus started stopping ALL the time. The highlight was when one of the bus drivers (the one who had driven earlier in the day) decided that he needed something to drink...namely, a six-pack of beer and a couple of big bottles of rum. The bus drivers and a few of the passengers had a bit of a party at the front of the bus. I gotta say, it's a bit disconcerting to hear beer bottles opening on a bus. Anyway, later on, this same bus driver picked up his girlfriend/wife, but she was unhappy about something, and they proceeded to have a domestic in the seats behind us. Truly lovely.

The washrooms also went downhill pretty rapidly. At one stop, there was neither running water nor toilet paper (let alone soap!) and when I approached one of the sinks to see if it was working, cockroaches scurried out from the area. Needless to say, I didn't get much closer to see if the water was running.

In the last few hours of the trip, we must have stopped twenty times at different stops so our bus driver could a) drop off his girlfriend b) get more to drink c) use the washroom. It was madness!!

We finally arrived in Santiago about forty minutes late, and outside there was a real scrum. As soon as we opened the door taxi drivers and casa owners were in our faces trying to get us to go with them. We managed to keep our wits about us and we found an official driver who took us to Casa Maruchi. We got to the casa, but unfortunately it was full. However, Maruchi had us come in and gave us juice while she sent her son to check and see if a casa down the street was available. It was, and the lady came back (with her hair in curlers!) and took us to her place. We were starting to feel hungry, so we asked if there was a restaurant nearby. She said that she would cook for us, which was fantastic! She made blackbean soup and rice, and fried plantains and then chicken and potatoes. (I'd decided not to tell her that I didn't eat meat since she was cooking for us at 10pm.) Unfortunately, Ross started to feel REALLY bad at this point and had to go lie down. We barely touched the food, so I had to explain to her that we weren't feeling very well. It was delicious though!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210797600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210797600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1210797600/tpod.html Wed, 14 May 2008 18:11:20 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Trinidad, Cuba

This morning we met up with Leigh & Kara around 9:30 at our usual coffee shop and enjoyed a nice espresso. We had to haggle quite a bit for a reasonably priced taxi for our day trip, but we got one for 22 CUC. We went to a former sugar plantation at the Manaca-Iznaga estate. That part of our trip wasn't super great - there was a huge tower with a good view (there was no way I was going up!), and the grounds were kindof nice, but generally a bit of a waste of time. However, we went to another hacienda down the road that was better - it's a converted restaurant now but the grounds were nicer, there were fewer tourists and the people who worked there were really friendly. On the way back to Trinidad we stopped at the Mirador de la Lome del Puerto with a great view of the valley and the peninsula which was totally worth the stop. That took us half the day, and then we headed back to Trinidad.

We ate lunch at one of the only good state restaurants in Trinidad, the Trinidad Colonial. The food was quite good and the prices were okay (15 CUC for two people). I'm definitely getting tired of eating fish though!

We parted ways for a quick siesta and then met up again to head to the beach. The beach was increadible. It was white sand, and the water was about 27degrees. It was super fun watching Ross get into the warm water for the first time - he's used to the west coast where it's a little bit cooler. haha. We lucked out in that it was cloudy so we didn't end up frying ourselves at all. There were some people, but it was very calm - not a lot of children or people running about, and no loud music. The only thing that was a bit disturbing was that on our way back into town, they were spraying for some sort of insect and all the spray got into our cab....a little creepy.

After getting cleaned up we headed out for dinner. We tried to go to the Paladar Estela, but it was closed - they were apparently having some sort of water problems....but we met the owner and she took us to another paladar. I asked her if it was a legal one and she said yes, but we had our doubts. It was called El Torrador, wasn't marked at all, and would have been impossible to find. It was a bit expensive but good. (In hindsight, we paid extra for a tropical wasting disease...). 10CUC per person included bread with whipped cream cheese, delicious yucca, salad, a harty serving of fish and fried plantain and rice and a beer. The only sketchy thing was when one of the cooks came into the backyard / eating area, pulled the lid of a big oil barrel back, filled a pot for rice with water and walked back in. We were a little worried by that....

After dinner it was back to the hostel to pack for Santiago!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209671580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209671580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209671580/tpod.html Wed, 14 May 2008 16:34:59 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Havana, Cuba

We discovered something important today - the airport at 6a.m is a very civilized place. No lines, no crazy people, no waiting. Very reasonable. At all other times it's a terrible place to be.

Our day started (or rather, continued) at the early hour of 1a.m. in Kingston after a short nap. We took the bus to Toronto, and I managed to sleep most of the way, and didn't wake up to Ross glaring at me. He managed to sleep a bit too! Although he did stare at me until I woke up, since I was using his coat as a pillow and it had gotten a bit cold on the bus....

Pearson was actually reasonable - we got checked in and through security in about ten minutes. We grabbed a bite to eat, then waited for our flight to board. Everything was timely and efficient. The only thing of note on the whole flight was a few men who were pretty sketchy. They seemed to be in 'business' in Cuba - accoutants, loan agents etc. with some pretty obvious Brooklyn accents...among others.

When we arrived in Cuba, it was pretty obvious what we were stepping into. I was returning to a land of pay toilets, no toilet paper in the toilet, and we were both visiting, for the first time, a country with security before entering the country and lots and lots of working dogs.

Our casa particular, Chez Nous, was lovely. Our room was on the roof, and while it had a crazy staircase (not unlike one I stayed at in Greece), it had a/c, a private and modern bath, and a private terrace. A really lovely place. They provided towels, and the rate was reasonable (30 CUC per night, and 5 CUC for breakfast.)

We spent most of the afternoon wandering around old Havana. It was gorgeous! Warm, sunny, with a light breeze. We sat on a patio, listened to live music (a song about Che was a repetitive favourite) and drank espresso until we recovered a bit from the flight. We took lots of photos, and our only disapointment of the day was dinner. We found it very expensive, and it wasn't very good - and I also managed to accidentally order two entrees, neither of which I did much justice to. We headed back to the casa and crashed around 10 after a really long 36 hours of being awake.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209508200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209508200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1209508200/tpod.html Wed, 14 May 2008 16:31:25 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Kingston, Ontario, Canada

We're leaving tomorrow...well, Thursday morning at 2 a.m. to be precise. It seems very little has changed from our state of planning since the last time I blogged - just more time has passed! The only thing that has changed is that we have a hotel booked for the first and second night in Havana. We're staying at a casa called Chez Nous - it's in the rough guide, and the price we were quoted was 30CUC per night. I think it works out to about 27 dollars (Cdn) or so, but I'll figure that out a bit more closely tomorrow! Oh wait, we're running out of time, so I should probably do that now. haha.

Anyway, Ross is currently finishing his last shift, and I'm finishing the last bit of trip purchases. We opted to get him a travel towel because he didn't have one, and we weren't sure if the Casas would all be providing them. Another unknown. Other than that, we didn't have to buy much for this trip - we have most of the stuff from my previous trips, plus Ross has a good couple of packs. We've decided to bring our two 40-45L packs - it's what I did most of my central & south America travels with, and it worked fine. We might have a bit more space than we need, but that should be okay, especially since we won't be humping them around THAT much. (Hopefully)

Our plans have changed a little - still a couple of days in Havana to start, but then we'll likely be heading down to Trinidad and spending some time at the beach, then a couple of days in Santiago, then back to Havana - hopefully with time for one more beach day in there. When I say beach day, I really mean beach hours because we're both so pale we'll burn so badly - not something I really want the week before the wedding! haha.

Anyway, I'll try to keep this updated as we go, but will definitely not be uploading photos yet - that'll have to wait until we get back. :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1206384840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1206384840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessica_cdn/9/1206384840/tpod.html Wed, 14 May 2008 16:30:11 -0400 Cuba 2008

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Kingston, Ontario, Canada

With a lot of changes coming up in our lives, we've decided to take a pre-wedding vacation to help the transition between end of work, wedding, move and start of new work. Basically, we have a ton of stuff planned for the next month. We both finish work on the last day of April, then we leave for Cuba on the first of May via bus from Toronto. We'll spend 11 days there, then come back, get married, move, and I'll start a new job. Extremely busy! I'm a little panicked at the moment as we haven't really planned this trip too much - guess I'll have to get started booking places to stay - at the very least for when we first arrive, since we'll be arriving on a national holiday and might have a tough time finding a hotel. Generally I like to have my first night planned anyway because it makes life a LOT simpler. At the moment, we're thinking of spending a couple of days in Havana, then making our way to Santiago, and then back to Havana - hopefully spending a couple of days at the beach somewhere in there. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them here as comments!
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