Scott’s Trip Report
courtesy of Scott Annandale (scottya@mail.interlog.com), Jan/Feb, 1998

Friday, Jan 30-- We arrived in the morning at Jose Marti Airport. Got through customs and then took a cab ($15 US) from the airport to the Hotel Sevilla in La Habana Vieja. The Sevilla is a beautiful old hotel, but not inexpensive. We walked around Havana for awhile. It’s a fascinating city, and seems to be quite safe. The architecture is full of visual and historical interest, although sadly crumbling in some places. The only real hassles we had were young men wanting to sell cigars, or take you to a paladar or casa particular. At first we would speak to them for a bit but, as there was no end to them, we took to saying ‘no thanks!’ and walking away. I realize that they’re just trying to make a buck, but it did get tiresome after a while.

Sometimes people just wanted to speak to us, without trying to hustle us, and that was great. This was a chance to practice my mangled Spanish. A safety tip though -- if small children come up, talk to you in Spanish, and grab your arm, pull your arm away. Some of them will distract you, while removing some personal effects. I almost lost my watch this way. I was pretty impressed, actually, that they removed it so smoothly. A guy we were with saw what happened and rescued it for me.

We had dinner at a paladar that night called La Perla de Obispo (Obispo no. 307, upstairs, Isabel phone 61-6276). The food was good, tons of it, and I think about $10 US/person. This isn’t really cheap, but probably better than most tourist restaurants. In general, the food was inconsistant. Had some good fruit and coffee, though.

Saturday, Feb 1-- We took a day-trip to Guama (Zapata Peninsula) to see a crocodile farm $40 US each, including lunch. We arranged this through a tour office (Rumbos, I think) in the Hotel Sevilla. If you like crocodiles (we do) it’s a fun trip. Lunch was quite good, and the crocs are numerous. There was a boat ride to an Indian village, plus the usual tourist shop stuff. The tour guide offered to extend the trip (for a bit more money) and take us to the Bay of Pigs. Unfortunately, a couple of people in the group wanted to get back to Havana, so that didn’t happen. In the evening we went to La Palacia de la Salsa, in the Riviera Hotel in Vedado. $20 US to get in. The band was great, although they didn’t go onstage until close to midnight. La Palacia is a big nightclub kind of place. I’d rather go to a smaller club, but didn’t know what the best choices would be.

Sunday, Feb 2-- Went to La Fortelaza de San Carlos de la Cabana. Our Lonely Planet guide suggests going to La Fortelaza first, rather the Castillo el Morro. El Morro gets all the buses from Varadero, whereas La Fortelaza is bigger, with fewer people. It’s very interesting, and you pretty much have the run of the place, plus a good view of Old Havana and the harbour. This was actually 100 years exactly from the day the USS Maine blew up in Havana harbour. Didn’t visit El Morro. We then looked around Old Havana, and went to the market. Lots of handicrafts for sale, as well as old books. Some nice stuff, some tacky stuff. We bought an oil painting that we liked for $20.

Monday Feb 3-- (by the way, this is the monday that Havana would get monsooned and flooded. More on that later.) Picked up our rental car (Havanautos) without a problem. Drove along Malecon to the Autopista, intending to get to Maria la Gorda in the south-west. As we pulled on to the Autopista, at the end of a line of hitchhikers were 2 guys in uniform gesturing. Thinking that they were traffic officials or something, we pulled over. However, they were just hitchiking like the rest. We drove them until Pinar del Rio. Throughout the trip we picked various hitchhikers, without a problem. Some chatted, some not. I really enjoyed trying out my Spanish on those who would endure it. The Cubanos we met were usually friendly, knowledgeable, and often could speak some English -- even in some of the more remote areas. Some Spanish definitely helps.

The Autopista is a good highway, although visually pretty boring. The speed limit is 100, although I think I was driving about 110 most of the time. No potholes or anything, and traffic is fairly light. Many trucks stopping to load riders. Oh, and occasionally cows will cross the road. Our first impression of Pinar del Rio wasn’t great. As we were driving a new-ish car, with ‘Tourista’ plates, we were an obvious target. Kids on bikes follow you (the usual cigar/paladar/casa story) and try to get your business. Apparently there is a good restaurant there; we just wanted to get out. None of this is dangerous or threatening, it just gets tiresome.

After Pinar del Rio, the scenery is much more interesting, and the roads are slower and more winding. There are some potholes, but generally not bad, except for one stretch near the Peninsula de Guanahacabibes. which is like driving on the moon. It’s an interesting drive. On the up-side, we saw a fascinating slice of the Cuban countryside that you wouldn’t experience otherwise. In the town of San Juan y Martinez we somehow ended up in a funeral procession! We knew we had missed a turn when the road ended at the cemetery. Eventually we got back on the right path. Cars, horses, oxcarts, motorcycles etc. all share the road. We even saw a guy with a pig strapped to the back of a bicycle. I wish I could have taken more pictures throughout that part of the trip (I was driving). It was also tiring, and takes much longer than one might think by looking at a map. A quick note on signage. We found that there was always a sign, but often only one, and you have to watch for them. Some of the signs in the country are quite washed out, so you have to keep your eyes open. You won’t get a second chance!

Once we got west of Pinar del Rio, people knew we were probably going to Maria la Gorda. It’s quite fabulous arriving at La Bajada and finally seeing the blue-green water. This is where there is a (friendly) coastguard checkpoint, and they want to see your passport. Then, left to Maria la Gorda (watching for cows). It’s pretty spartan. It was described to us as a scuba camp, and I think that’s accurate. $20 US for a room. Perhaps if we had splurged for the $30 room we might have had hot water. Another thing: if anyone wants bottled water in Maria la Gorda, take it with you. They didn’t have any there. We played pool in the bar, with a table leg for a cue! This was when and where the bad weather hit us. Very high winds, and torrential rain that night. Coconuts flying out of trees, and the blowing sand stinging you etc. Of course, this was nothing compared to Havana at the time, but we didn’t know that, and felt cheated by the weather gods.

Tuesday, Feb 4-- More very windy weather. No diving boats went out, as it would be treacherous. A sailboat washed up on shore. This, of course, was very unusual weather for this time of year (el Niño, supposedly), but not much fun for us. We decided to cut our losses, leave a day early and go to Vinales. We thought about taking a look at the northern part of the peninsula, which is a biosphere reserve, but thought we’d better just start our journey. So, Maria la Gorda: secluded and quiet, great diving and snorkelling (if you can do it--we couldn’t), not much to do otherwise (pretty, though), food okay (buffet $5/15/15), and a lot of driving to get there. If we could have snorkelled and swam, I think it would have been worth the effort. Oh well. We packed up, and drove back towards Pinar del Rio, which was fine this time. A few kids on bikes, but no big deal. Arrived in Vinales just around sunset, and stayed in the La Ermita $51 US.

Wednesday, Feb 5-- Vinales is very pretty. There is a lot of hype about it in tourist brochures, but we still thought it was very scenic and relaxing. We only had one full day, and could have used another. We saw the following:
La Cueva del Indio- touristy, but okay.
El Mural de la Prehistoria- worth a look.
La Cueva Vinales- has bar in it. Don’t go out of your way.
La Cueva Santo Tomas- excellent

We had lunch in a paladar, and had twice as much as we could eat. There were a few things we would have liked to have done, but didn’t have time. Horseback riding, and hikes through the area are offered at the hotels (we stayed the second night at Los Jazmines. Same price/more cottage-y rooms/great view of the valley). The trip to la Cueva Santo Tomas was set up at Los Jazmines ($8 US). You have to drive to small town called el Moncado. However, when you arrive, there are no signs for the cave. As you get into town, there is a roundabout. Turn right, which takes you into a fenced-in yard. There is a tiny sign here. This place is the Cuban speleology centre (or something like that). They outfit you with a helmet and lamp. We climbed up the side of a mogote, and into the cave, which is apparently the 2nd largest cave system in Latin America. It is a wild cave, and definitely worth the trip.

Thursday, Feb 6-- Had to drive back to Havana to return the car, and had a few more hitchhikers along the way. We had no problems until we were almost back at the hotel and part of the street was closed because of the flooding earlier. Some waves were still crashing over the seawall, even though the day was clear and calm. Somehow returned the car, looked around Havana some more. We checked out la Museo de la Revolucion, which is kind of interesting. Havana has so many things to see, we really only scratched the surface. We met a Cuban fellow, chatted, and then met his wife at work. They were friendly, and showed us around a bit more. and we had dinner with them at a not-amazing paladar. That night we stayed in the Hotel Lido ($25 US). Quite a bit rougher than the Sevilla, but fine for a inexpensive hotel. Okay, there was no toilet seat.

Friday, Feb 7-- Taxi to the Airport (a beat up old Lada), and the flight home.

So there you go. All in all, we really enjoyed our trip, despite a few setbacks here and there. Lots of great people, music and things to see. I kind wish we could have visited Soroa, but there was no time. I’d love to go back and see more of Havana, as well as the oriente region.

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