Cuba

  Havana, Cuba
Sunday, November 2, 2003

Monday 27th October Playa Giron - Caleta Buena
Decide to spend the day at Caleta Buena, a coral cove eight kms away, which is owned by the Hotel. We can have our prepaid meals there, and just pay for the transport and use of the beach. Taken in bus with group of other tourists. Looks lovely when we arrive. It's a beautiful sunny day, and the bay looks very inviting, with crystal clear blue water surrounded by coral platforms.


There is also a bar (with the same drinks as the hotel), and ranchitas for shade. We spend the day snorkelling, reading, drinking and taking it easy. The snorkelling terrain is interesting, especially as the bay narrows and becomes more like a river surrounded by mangroves, but there is not a lot of fish life. We have lunch which once again is similar to the hotel. The tour group leaves, but we stay on, as we're told the bus goes back at 5pm. We're starting to panic as it is past five, and no sign of our transport, but it turns out we are to go back with the bus that takes all the staff back.
In the afternoon go to the Playa Giron Museum. Black-and-white photographs show the appalling poverty of the local peasantry before the Revolution. Others profile the events preceding the invasion: the Agrarian Reform Law, the literary campaign, and sabotage and other counterrevolutionary activity culminating in the act to which the museum is dedicated - the invasion of 15th April 1961 by 1,297 CIA_trained Cubans. Maps trace the evolution of the 72-hour battle. The main problem with the Bay of Pigs invasion was that U-2 spy planes took photos of Playa Giron beforehand, the and CIA's photo interpreter identified what he claimed was seaweed offshore. Others, who said they knew the area, said they were coral heads, but the CIA wouldn't listen. Nor did the CIA know that Castro knew the area intimately, as he'd recently inspected it, and arranged for a heavy machine gun to be placed there, as he thought it would be a great place for a landing. When the invasion commenced at 1.15am on 17th April, the landing craft came roaring in with the Cuban fighters and supplies. About 140 metres offshore, they hit the coral reefs the CIA had dismissed as seaweed, and the brigade had to wade ashore, and the whole exercise became a fiasco. America didn't support the anti-Castro invaders at this stage, as the Soviet Union had guaranteed to come to Cuba's military aid in the event she was attacked.
Other displays include weapons, and a Sea Fury fighter-aircraft, complete with rockets, which sits on the forecourt outside.
Back at the hotel for another ordinary meal, and entertainment at night
Tuesday 28th October Playa Giron- Vinales
There is no public transport to where we want to go, so try to negotiate a lift with the Netherlands tour group who are going to Pinar del Rio (where we'd be very happy to be dropped off), but no go, so negotiate taxi for US$90, with stops for sightseeing. The coast road hugs the Bay of Pigs, and concrete monuments rise from the bush beside the road, each one standing at the site where a Cuban solider (161 in all) fell defending his country during the three-day battle in April 1961.
Stop at Cueva de Los Peces, a large cenote. The huge cave, 70 metres deep, and formed by a flooded fault, looks good, so we decide to go for a quick snorkel. Quite a few fish, but a bit dark, and quite cold on top. Also go for a snorkel in the bay, as it looks very inviting - coral outcrops on white-sand bottom. Quite pretty, but not a lot of fish. Soon back in the taxi to continue on, through Central Australia (how did it get its name?),


with a defunct sugar mill, and on to the Autopista near Jaguey Grande. Countryside pretty flat and uninteresting. Lots of orange trees used for making juice. Roads are almost empty, but big groups of people at intersections waiting for some (any) form of transport. Pass through outskirts of Havana. Pass turnoff to La Moka and Las Terrazas (possibly 1km away) then the turnoff to Soroa (9kms), but its obvious our driver believes he's fulfilled his obligations regarding sightseeing, and we continue on.
At Pinar del Rio we turn off the autopista, and go 26kms on rough road to Vinales, which is in a valley surrounded by classic limestone karst terrain (limestone plateau formed about 160 million years ago, which is eroded over the eons, leaving hummocks (called mogotes) as high as 1,000 feet). It is supposed to have the most spectacular scenery in Cuba, and our guidebook describes it in VERY glowing terms, and indeed it is very nice, but definitely not as spectacular as Vang Vieng (Laos) or Yangshuo (China).
We can't find the casa particulare we wanted, and the driver's is full, so they ring round and take us to one - US$15 for room, US$7 each for dinner, and US$3 each for breakfast. Find out later that Mojitas we were offered were US$2 each.
Out for a walk around the town (all of the four streets). Home for a good dinner (too much food for us). Walk 7 kms
Wednesday 29th October Vinales
Hire bikes, and ride 6kms out to Cuevas del Indio, named for the Indian remains found inside. Very pleasant riding through narrow, very green valley, surrounded by towering mogotes. Dianne, once again, has lost her hat, so stop at a local shop to buy a new straw number - actually take local pesos, so ends up costing about 20c.
Get inside the cave via a narrow slit, then walk for about a km, then hop into a boat , where you continue up the subterranean river, eventually coming out via another narrow slit. Decide we'll continue on towards the next town, Ancon, 6 kms away. Have a very hot and steep ride, with detours along various roads. Back to room for rest.
Out later to peddle 5kms out to Mural de la Prehistoria, which is a 200 feet high and 300 foot long mural painted onto a long, exposed cliff face. The mural was commissioned by Castro and painted by 25 campesinos in 1961, while the artist directed from below with a megaphone. It has recently been repainted in bright red, yellow and blue, which is pretty kitsch. However the setting is wonderful, in a lovely green valley surrounded by mogotes. There is a big restaurant complex here, with LOTS of tourists, brought in LOTS of tourist buses.
We then head back into town, and up a very steep hill to Hotel Horizontes La Ermita, which has spectacular views down into the valley, and across to the mogotes.


It also has a very appealing pool (we try not to think that we could have stayed here for only a little more than we're paying for a VERY basic room down in the town).Sit in the bar, appreciating the view, while we have a drink and recover from our strenuous bike-riding.
Back home for another good dinner. Sit on our verandah writing our diary and watching the world go by, which is very interesting. Once again, cannot work out who actually lives in the house, as when bedtime comes, other members of the family mysteriously appear from somewhere, including a large motorbike which is housed in the loungeroom overnight. Biking and walking 35kms
Thursday 30th October Vinales - Havana
We want to return to Havana along the coast road, rather than the very boring autopista, so have to go by taxi. Madame organises a private "taxi" for us, for US$60. Can't pick us up at our place, and we have to walk to his (we suspect it's because we have to go past a military post in the street). We're a bit worried about what sort of car it may be (if you see our photos of the average car in the street, you'll know what I mean), but it turns out to be an almost new Peugeot 405. Says his wife is coming too, and she proceeds to get in the driver's seat, and drive, VERY hesitantly, over all the potholes. We know enough to know that there's no way the normal man in the street would have a car like this, so ask about it. They tell us they have the car because her (?) father is an "internationalista" - a teacher in Angola. Seems that by going there, he gets the right to a new car, but unfortunately HE can't get the benefit of it while he's away. Most of the trip is done at 40 KMP. Deal was we could stop for photos, but by the time she organises to stop, we've passed what we wanted to photograph (she's definitely NOT a confident driver!). Don't see much of sea. Quite pleasant hilly, fertile sugarcane landscape after the kaarst landscape finished. Coastal plain with palms, a few restaurants, and pine clad mountains to the South. Small, poor towns. At one, we're stopped by a policeman who's inspecting driver's licenses. Our woman is obviously uneasy, and some money changes hands, but we continue on. Stop for a good sugar-cane juice, made in front of us.
Pass through Mariel, a big port town with a cement plant, which is on a big inlet. This is the site of the Mariel boatlift. In 1980 12 Cubans were given asylum in the Peruvian embassy in Havana. President Carter announced that the US would welcome Cuban political refugees with "open arms". In a fit of pique, Castro removed the embassy guards, and 11,000 Cubans rushed into the embassy. Castro let them, along with dissidents and other disaffected Cubans, including a lot of criminals from the gaols, go.
Many were coerced to leave. In total, about 120,000 left.
The autopist starts here, and we're on the land side of the road, and can't see much of the sea, except at bridges. Sea appears choppy, some beaches. Interesting riverside slums closer to Havana. Some of inlets look OK. Got lost in Havana proper, and our inexperienced driver has problems, taking wrong street, trying to change lanes, and speeding up when it would be much better to go the slow speed she was doing. Find hotel, and hand over money very surreptiously (they're afraid of being caught) in a side street, out of sight of the police. Look at the Casa de Cientificos, a sumptious, but ageing, old colonial mansion, but it's full. We're directed down the street, but get sidetracked by tout, who is quite interesting, and decide to look at his casa particulare. Room looks OK (even if whole building looks like it's about to fall down, with bad concrete cancer, with rusty old reinforcing showing everywhere - photo), but we decide to wait for the better room to be vacated, so leave bags and out to look at town, and retake all our Havana photos, as we lost all the ones we previously took when Murray misread an instruction on the camera (also lost some of our Dubai photos, and all our Abu Dhabi and Paris photos as well).
Walk to Lan Chile airline office at Vedado, the commercial heart of Havana, and the more middle-class section. Confirm flight, redo photos at Hotel National etc etc. Back exhausted. Have a good dinner for US$5 each - room US$25.
Have a TERRIBLE nights sleep. People sleeping in every room, and no soundproofing - snoring from next door, owner's child has asthma, and they're up most of the night tending to it, dogs are barking, we have a toilet next door, and to top it off the air-conditioner only has one speed, so either freeze or boil. Dianne has practically no sleep after 3am. Walking 10 kms
Friday 31st Oct Havana
Decide we want more privacy, and a better night's sleep. Cientificos still full, so go to Hotel Lido - US$36 including breakfast, own bathroom (cold water), air conditioning, and, unexpectedly, cable TV with CNN, HBO and other channels in English. The casa particulares are not good value at all, especially the meals. They are quite expensive by world standards for what you get, however they are a good way of finding out what is actually happening in the country, as you stay with families (in VERY close proximity). There has been a crackdown on illegal rooms lately, though this has not stopped them completely. People had been paying the quite-high taxes for one room, but then letting out lots of rooms. A lot had also been selling meals without a licence. From what we gathered, if you had a licence you had to pay the tax for the room, whether it was let or not, which was pretty harsh.
Day is overcast, and rains a few times during the day. Spend day alternating between walking town, getting new photos, and resting in room with TV. Eat about 3pm, and don't have dinner except for daiquiri (US$6 each) at El Floridita,

one of Ernest Hemingway's haunts, and later some crackers and jam. After drink go to a Casa de la cultura, where they hold regular cultural events. Tonight there is music and dancing, which is supposed to start at 8pm, but doesn't get underway till after 9pm. All towns have these for the local people, but this one has quite a few tourists. We're not over-impressed with the music, but see some sights we'd love to photograph, but not game, especially a HEAVILY overweight woman wearing clingy skin tight orange stretch shorts with a thong underneath. Before we came, we'd heard lots about the "buzz" here, and how good the music scene is , and we were expecting something like the vibrancy of Northern Brazil, which was fantastic, but we've found it all a bit sad, and money oriented.
Back to room for crackers and jam. Dianne puts her mattress on floor to protect her back, as bed is a bit soft. Walk 6 kms
Saturday 1st November Havana
Fairly late start. Walk past the Capitol, where the road is closed off, and there is a large crowd, who are watching ........ what? Turns out to be semitrailers doing speed trials???....... maybe it's a communist thing to recognise the skills of the workers, in this case truck drivers. A big festival is due to start in a few days (they've been erecting grandstands all along the Malecon), and this appears to be part of it. Decide to go to run-down section of town to photograph our first casa. One of the people staying there sees us, and asks if we want to come in. Say no, but he obviously goes upstairs and tells the owner he's seen us, because he's soon back down saying owner wants to see us. Turns out his mobile phone wouldn't work, so wanted to cancel the service, so he'd get his US$60 deposit back, but can't do so without Murray's signature. He organises a "taxi". Thinks he can do it at the office nearby, but they say he has to go all the way back to Miramar. Now about midday, and office closes at 1pm, and lots of streets are closed for the truck race. Have to go back to our hotel first to pick up our passport. Get to office after 12.30pm - two other people waiting, and they say they may not be able to serve us. However they excel themselves, and do. As we've wasted over two hours doing this ("just five minutes" we'd been told) we got them to take us through the tunnel and drop us off on the north side of the harbour channel at (US$3 entry) at the Morro-Cabana Historical Park. The rugged cliff face is dominated by two great fortresses - Castillo de los tres Reyes de Morro and the Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabana. Together they comprise the largest and most powerful defensive complex built by the Spanish in the Americas and are maintained in an excellent state. Morro's construction began in 1589, and took 40 years to complete, and is built in an irregular polygon that follows the countours of the rocky headland, with stone walls 10 feet thick. You enter via a drawbridge, across a deep moat, that leads through a long tunnel to the large wooden gates. Do LOTS of walking round, then walk half a kilometre east to la Cabana, which covers 10 hectares, stretches 700 metres in length, and was built in 1764-74. Pass through a massive drawbridge over a 12-metre deep moat carved from solid rock to get to it. In the moat are five very-long lines of washing hung to dry. Far too many things to be anything other than a commercial operation! (photo). Lots of things to see inside, including the Che Guevara Museum. Have a good lunch at a nice restaurant inside, then do LOTS of walking trying to find a way out, as the way we wanted is now locked. Take lots of photos, including across to Old Havana. Head on walking towards Casablanca. Pass a typical billboard, with a very old poster of Fidel (photo),


then past a collection of missiles that were responsible for the 1962 "Cuban Missile Crisis". We're heading for the 15-metre tall, Carrara marble statue of El Cristo de Casablanca, when a VERY heavy downpour catches us. Dianne shelters in an open-sided phone booth, but we both get pretty wet. Continue on through Casablanca which reads well in the guidebook, but we can't see anything at all interesting. Get ferry back across the harbour for 1 peso, and back to room for rest. Dianne typing up this diary when suddenly EVERYTHING, including the software, disappears from the palm pilot (this entry was typed up much later from written notes). Both extremely SHAT!!! Out quite late (after watching movie) for a walk. To bed about 1.30am Walking 16 kms.