Viñales

Today I had such a long day! I decided to head to Viñales, a small rural town in western Cuba well known for it's tobacco farms. The town is about 3 hours away from Havana and I am glad I slept through out the ride so it didn't feel like the trip was very long. I will go ahead and touch on the highlights of the trip, I hope it doesn’t come across as rushed but I am super tired and my focus is a bit off.

I had bought a tour of Viñales yesterday and the tour was going to last the whole day. Pick up was set up at 7:30 in the morning from Hotel Inglatera which is located right infront of the central park and is well known, they sell all kinds of tours at this hotel. The tour cost $67 and lunch was included, with all this taken care off I was all set on the day of the tour which is today. Okay so yes, let me get right into the trip highlights before my thought process starts heading to other directions, I told you my focus is off.....

First highlight, we stopped by a small farm where tobacco is grown and cigarettes are made by hand, the farm is family owned and had been passed down generations. We got to learn how the tobacco leaves are grown and harvested then process that goes into using the leaves to make cigarettes. After a few minutes of demonstration we were all (everyone in the tour group) given a chance to smoke and get a taste of the products. I just chose to pose for photos as you can see below.

After that we were taken to another site to see the famous Viñales mural de la Prehistoria. This mural wasn't the work of the original indigenous people of the island as some people might believe, it's actually the 1961 work of Leovigildo Gonzalez Morillo who designed this mural to depict world history from the dinosaurs up until the age of humans. He has since died but every so often the painting of the mural is refreshed to maintain the colors. It was really pretty as you can see in the pictures below….too bad it's actually not a prehistoric work of art that had been done hundreds of years ago, as I once thought before reading up on it.

After taking some photos of the mural we had lunch at a restaurant located right next to it then we headed to some old caves where the indigenous people of the island used to hide from the Spanish, they were trying to escape from being enslaved. These caves were actually pretty nice, nicer than what I was expecting, they had been modernized and developed nicely to make it easier to get around, they were also very well lit. Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures because my camera is cheap and the picture quality wasn't the best inside the caves. This is the best I could do.....

We hang around the caves for a while before being driven to another site to get a good view of the surrounding mountains before heading back to Havana. To be honest with you, this trip was underwhelming, I was glad to have seen the famous pre-historic mural that I had seen numerous times in photos online so that was a big plus but everything else was just…bleh! no regrets however because I got to see what i wanted so all was not lost. Now I better get ready for bed because tomorrow I have a very long day as I head to another city called Trinidad, the ride there takes about 4 to 5 hours so wish me luck! I will probably sleep through most of it anyway so its all good.

Random Thoughts of The Day:

People here smoke a lot! it just stood out to me. I wonder what the rate of lung cancer is.

After I was done with immigration at the airport I had to be scanned for security before leaving the area. The girl who was doing the scanning had on this small tight shiny jacket, really short tight skirt with fishnet stockings and high heels. She looked like she was going to a halloween party with props or something. I actually noticed several girls who work at the airport wearing somewhat the same outfit just with different tops. 

It feels so odd not having access to the internet. You can buy a card that gives you access to the internet though but unfortunately wifi signal is not present everywhere, you have to be at certain hot spots to be able to connect. I just bought a card today but will try it tomorrow when I am at a hot spot to see how it goes. 

There are so many tourists here in Havana, ignore the blogs that tell you to go to Cuba now before it gets overrun by tourists. It already is very touristic.

Havana, Cuba

Hola! I finally made it to Cuba, yay! I got in this morning and everything went very smoothly. I traveled to Cuba via Cancun, Mexico ( I will write more on this later) and at the airport I had to buy a tourist card to enter Cuba (this was at the Cancun, airport). The tourist card was very easy to obtain as they were being sold near the check in counters, the guy selling them was trying to rip me off by quoting $25 for the card, I did not know any better so I gave him $40 expecting $15 back, turns out this worked in my favor since he didn't have $5 on him so he charged me $20. I did look up the cost for the tourist card online and it does cost $20 if you buy it in Mexico, the nerve of that guy! I don't know about other countries but US passport holders have to have this card to enter Cuba so make sure you buy it prior to checking in.

I had read that baggage claim at the Havana airport is a mess and you could easily spend an hour or more waiting to get your luggage and chances of it being lost are high as well. With this in mind I made sure to pack light and travel with only my backpack and a small carry on suitcase. I was feeling quite proud of myself for traveling light till the lady at the check in counter told me that all the luggage on you has to be 10 kilos and below in order to considered carry ons. My luggage (backpack and suitcase) weighed 12 kilos so I had to check in my suitcase. You can imagine my sorrow and panic as I realized that if my suitcase ended up lost I would be so screwed since it pretty much had all my daily essentials. I reluctantly checked in my suitcase but later on saw people boarding the plane with luggage that appeared to weigh more than 10 kilos!! what the hell?!!

The trip to Havana from Cancun lasted about an hour and a few minutes and once we landed, the immigration process was smooth and fast. I was done within 5 minutes. Baggage claim was also smoother than expected and contrary to a lot of what I had read online, I was able to get my suitcase within 15 minutes. That certainly took care of my initial worry about losing my suitcase or having to wait for hours in order to get it. The baggage claim area was well organized from what I observed, I really wonder why I read so many bad reviews but my experience was very pleasant.

With luggage in hand I headed outside the airport to get a taxi. This older guy approached me and offered me a ride at the price that I had been advised is within normal range so I decided to accept his offer. He turned out to be quite a funny man and when I got to my airbnb accommodation he actually parked his car and carried my suitcase to the address I had in hand and even called my airbnb host to make sure he came down to get me, before he left. He was such a sweetie and had this fatherly vibe about him. In the taxi when we were chatting I had mentioned that my birthday was going to be on the 17th so when we got to my airbnb he asked my host to note down his number and call him during my birthday so he could wish me well, he was very serious by the way. It was so cute!

My airbnb host Damian got me oriented with the house where I was going to be staying in and introduced me to his wife Chaveli and his mother who lives with them. I immediately felt like part of the family and within minutes I was chatting away with them like we had known each other for a very long time. They are super cool and I really took a liking to Chaveli the wife, talking to her felt like I was talking to an old friend. They gave me a map and showed me places of interest, they live in Havana Centro which is between Havana Vieja and Havana Nueva. This location is very convenient thus why I chose it, everything was within walking distance so I decided to maximize my day by exploring Havana Vieja to familiarize myself with the streets.

Walking along the streets of Havana Vieja gave me such a deja vu feeling as it reminded me so much of other cities I had been to in South America and the Caribbean, cities like Cartagena in Colombia, Puerto Plata & Santo Domingo in the DR. I think it gets to a point where all plazas in Latin American countries start to look the same and so do the narrow colorful streets. Don't get me wrong, Havana Vieja has it's charm but I wasn't wowed because everything just appeared so familiar. The only difference were the colorful 1950's cars which are used as taxis for tourism and some crumbling buildings that seemed to have stood the test of time. Well, it's only my first day here so my opinion might change within the next several days. In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos I took during my stroll.

After so much walking I decided to stop for lunch at one of the restaurants that had been recommended to me. It's called Los Nardos and is in front of the Capitolio. The food was alright and cheap but the service was HORRIBLE!! I swear I waited for almost an hour to have my order taken, this other couple seated next to me got very annoyed by the ridiculous wait that they decided to leave but I was starving so I decided to tough it out. You would think the wait was long because the restaurant was busy but nope! the waiters just didn't seem that interested in delivering fast service and were busy chatting and idling about. The funny thing is, the food arrived within 10 minutes after ordering.

After lunch I headed back to my room because I was tired and my feet were so sore from all the walking, I had been walking nonstop for 4 hours. Once I got to the house I sat down with my hosts Damian and Chaveli and we ended up talking until very late at night. It was a good and productive day that ended on a high note.

Random Thoughts Of The Day:

People here are very friendly and helpful with directions if you stop them on the streets but customer service in places like restaurants is crap or rather non existent.

I had heard that Cuban men can be very annoying with catcalls on the streets but to be honest with you, I haven't been bothered at all so far which is great because I have enjoyed the peaceful walks on these Havana streets.

Speaking of men, the taxista who gave me a ride from the airport earlier on today was telling me that majority of Cuban men are womanizers, he then said that Cubans resolve all their problems through sex because life is tough here so sometimes to escape this reality you seek something that brings you pleasure and helps you forget. He was laughing as he told me this.

It is very safe here and Damian was telling me that chances of getting mugged are very low. It's not impossible but it's a rare occurrence because the law is very tough on criminals. I never once felt uncomfortable walking around even when I was taking photos with my phone, I have traveled to places where taking out your camera or phone to take photos immediately marks you as a target so it feels refreshing not having to worry about someone grabbing my phone.

I have seen some very attractive men on these Havana streets, dios mio! nothing wrong with appreciating God's marvelous creation plus as I always say, "I am married not blind."

It's amazing the things we take for granted but for the regular Cuban, it's a luxury. Products are not always available in stores and options are very limited. I was talking to Chaveli about hair products and she was telling me how hard it is to get access to good hair products. If you come across a good product; any product not just hair product, buy as much of it as possible because it's not a guarantee it will be on the shelf the next day.

There are Cubans who bring products from the US and sell them (not legally of course because Cubans are prohibited from importing goods for business purposes). The stuff they bring doesn't last long as everyone scrambles to buy them quick.

That Time Of The Year

Yup! it's that time of the year again when I set off to a country I have never been to before for my birthday. I am excited and a bit nervous because of the bureaucratic complications associated with visiting this country. After a lot of hesitation I finally decided it's now or never so here I am preparing for my trip.

I will have limited access to the internet so unfortunately I will not be able to blog daily; however, I will keep daily journals and when I have access to the net I will transfer them to the blog. Wish me luck ya'll and if none of you (well, however reads this blog) hasn't guessed yet where I will be spending my 38th birthday, the song below should be a big hint. Till further notice, enjoy............

The Garden District

Today was our last full day in New Orleans and we decided to check out the Garden District which is a neighborhood famed by its oak tree lined streets, historic houses, cute stores and abundant restaurants. When we got to the neighborhood we saw a lot of walking tours but we decided to do our own exploring using a map and following recommendations that we had got from some locals.

The Garden District was once made up of several plantations which were later sold to rich Americans that wanted to live away from the French Quarters. Traditionally each block in the neighborhood had two houses surrounded by a large garden and hence the name "Garden District" but as the area became more urban the lots got sub divided and houses were build on them creating a mix of different architectural styles.

We walked through the streets of the neighborhood admiring some of the colorful houses and appreciating the history of the place, before moving on. I took a few pictures so you can get a glimpse of some of the sites within the Garden District.

That's it folks, I have to end this update here because I am so tired and my mind is solely focused on sleep right now. It's been a good trip and I am glad we were able to check out a lot of the tourist attractions within such a short period of time. The good thing about New Orleans is that a lot of the tourist attractions are very close to each other so that makes it easy to visit them all, we definitely  took advantage of that. I hope you have been enjoying these updates, check back in when March rolls around because my birthday trip is going to be exciting and I can't wait!

Sites & Sounds of NOLA

Today was a very good and productive day, we started out at Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans. Frenchmen Street is popular with the locals and has very reasonably priced restaurants and bars with live music. If you don't want to deal with boisterous crowds then Frenchmen Street is the place to be for a more laid back feel. During the day it was practically empty but it was still cool walking along the street checking out some of the cute colorful buildings.

After strolling along Frenchmen Street we decided to check out the famous Cafe du Monde located in the French Quarters. Cafe du Monde is a very popular coffee shop in New Orleans that attracts a lot of tourists. You can not come to New Orleans and not check it out, it has various branches but we decided to go to the original coffee shop. As you can imagine, the line was very long but luckily it was moving very fast and we managed to get a table without having to wait too long.

The menu was very basic with no frills and was plastered on the napkin holder. We ordered hot chocolate and beignet which is a square fried dough covered with powdered sugar, I thought the powdered sugar was an overkill and pretty messy but hey! it's all about new experiences right? 

After enjoying the tasty treats at Cafe du Monde we decided to burn off the calories by walking around the various lively streets within the French Quarter. We came across street performances, cute hidden alleys and a bunch of cute little shops selling souvenirs.

Our next stop was Canal Street which is the major starting point for every street that runs the length of the French Quarter and is very lively with lots of shops, hotels and restaurants.

It had been several hours since we had started our site seeing and we were very hungry so we decided to grab dinner at another highly recommended restaurant serving local cuisine. We ended up at Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar in the French Quarter. We were expecting long lines but we were fortunate to get a table pretty fast and our order did not take long to arrive which made me happy as you can clearly see below because I was starving!

We were done with dinner at around 6 pm and by then the streets around the French Quarter especially Bourbon Street, were already full of revelers and noisy from all the different music playing at the various clubs and bars. 

After strolling the length of Bourbon Street we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel but before doing that, we had to make a quick stop at Frenchmen Street to see how the ambience was like at night as compared to during the day. It was certainly livelier with the sounds of smooth jazz being played by live bands in some of the bars and restaurants. It definitely was more chill than Bourbon Street which in itself isn't a bad thing depending on what you are looking for.

That's it people! it was a very long day full of fun and and excitement. I am glad we were able to walk from one tourist site to another as they were very close to each other, lots of calories were burned and more will be burned tomorrow as we plan yet another full day jam packed with adventures so watch out for another update.