Going to Cuba
- Thread starter Lockstep
- Start date
Dear all,
The first days in a complete different place and culture are always a bit challenging, but also the most exciting. Having survived this first period however, Cuba is starting to make a lot more sense and turns out to be a incredible place indeed.
Before coming to Cuba, I read in one of my tourist guides that Cuba was supposed to be a very photogenic place. I assumed this referred to the beautiful nature, architecture, etc but, although these aspects too do not disappoint, I now realize it means something else. Cuba really is extremely photogenic, but mainly because cuban life and culture is so very visible wherever you go. Different from the way it is in europe, where ´culture´ is largely hidden within the living rooms and the ´local´ places a tourist is unlikely to encounter, cuba exists mainly out on the street. Its way of life is outrageously clear, without being subtle in anyway and armed with eyes and camera, its wonderful to walk around on the streets and squares here, talking to people, experiencing ´cubania´ - cubanness.
Because of the same reason, perhaps, Cuba turns out to be much like the way I expected it too be. All of its stereotypes are true, about the men, the women, the lifestyle, the food, the cars, the communism, etc. On the one hand, this removes the element of surprise a bit, but on the other hand, the result remains magnificent!
Unfortunately, visiting Cuba, especially Havana, turns out to be quite expensive. Some parts of it at least. Venturing into ´cuban´ havana, the gettos and the residential areas, its quite possible to pay for such things as food at the cuban national prices. As such a typical lunch here consists of a pizza-like substance that effectively costs 25 dollarcents or less. A dinner can, in these parts, be found for about a dollar, although paying 3-4 dollars instead is usually worth it, as that at least gets you some better quality, incl. salad and fruit. As in the regular tourist circuit and its restaurant such a meal will cost 10-15, this saves a lot of money. In all, the food is not as hopeless as I had expected, although not very imaginative.
Many other things, unfortunately, cant be gotten this cheap. Museums, hotels, internet venues, music venues and other things tend to maintain two different prices: one for locals, and one for foreigners. Foreigners can expect to pay a lot more, sometimes more than 25 times as much! Also, getting money with a creditcard or paying with it is subject to an incredible 12% fee, which adds to the costs quite significantly.
But, its all worth it. Havana has a lot to offer, from what Ive seen of it, and I expect so does the rest of Cuba. Music and dance are everywhere. Literally at every street corner theres salsa, son, rumba or reggaeton music streaming out, with people dancing to it spontaneously or simply enjoying it. In the night, theres dozens of wonderful music and dance venues that regularly feature very famous artists. So far, I´ve seen Oscar Valdes, a very impressive cuban jazz musician, and his band, and ´Los Van Van´, which is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, salsa band of cuba and of the world as a whole. The salsa people on this list will probably have some music of theirs on their computer on cds. They were truly awesome, but theyre so popular that during the concert there isnt actually any space left to dance!
Ive also taken a couple of private lessons from a 400 pound salsa profesor, so that I now feel quite comfortable dancing the cuban form of salsa, and hope to put it into practice a bit more quite soon! Still, i doubt i will ever dance like the cubans, who are truly incredible doing it. It really seems to be genetic: spending some time with a cuban family I saw one of their kids, a 2.5 year old who was dancing to ´reggaeton´ and it already looked a whole lot better than the average european would manage!
The student within me, meanwhile, is having a great time. The revolution is everywhere: in the names of the streets, to big billboards with revolucionary quotes, to museums, statues and television broadcasts. Ive managed to pick up a pile of revolutionary books that would cause an instantaneous heart attack to a US immigration officer, and makes for interesting reading. At the moment, Im reading ´El Diario del Che en Bolivia´, Che Guevaras diary during his time in Bolivia, which is like a true guerilla version of robinson crusoe. Next up are some publications written by castro. To me, as political science student, truly very interesting.
One of the things that is different from the way I had imagined it is the hustle and hassle on the street. I had been warned that on every corner you´d be pursued by ´jineteras´ (the cuban slightly more nuanced version of a prositute´ and ´jineteros´ (the male equivalent and aiming mainly at selling rooms, rum, cigars, taxi rides, or getting your money in other way). So far, Ive not been bothered much. In any case, they are quite easy to recognize: travelling in pairs and inevitably starting with the question: where are you from? Quite easy to avoid therefore, too. Ive also felt quite safe, not having been agressively bothered a single time, even in the poorest and most getto-like parts of Havana.
I will be in Havana until coming Friday. Below is my planned route for the next weeks:
17-2: Heading west towards ´Pinar del Rio´. Ive been told that this place suffers a bit more from the above ´jineteros´, due to it being farther away from the influence of the government, which is trying to get rid of the practice. Hopefully it wont be that bad. This is more of an intermediate station, not very worth seeing in itself, but quite in the middle of the province and a good base for some day trips
20-2: Heading to the Viñales valley, that is supposed to contain the most impressive nature of Cuba, so I hope to entertain myself there for a couple of days with walking trips, horseback riding, etc and in general relaxing a bit after the last two weeks in the big cities.
25-2: Heading further west to ´Maria la Gorda´, supposedly one of the best diving spots in the country. I signed up for an official ´ACUC´ diving course of four days, which Im really looking forward to.
1-3: Back to Pinar del Rio
2-3: Back to Havana, to renew my visa for another 30 days.
After that, I plan to be heading east, to Trinidad, and then further on to Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Baracoa, before heading back to Havana crossing through many of the more central towns.
I´ll be very impressed with those people that managed to read all of this! Either way, Ill soon be in touch again, although outside of Havana it may all be a bit more difficult!
Greetings, hugs and kisses to all!
Thomas
The first days in a complete different place and culture are always a bit challenging, but also the most exciting. Having survived this first period however, Cuba is starting to make a lot more sense and turns out to be a incredible place indeed.
Before coming to Cuba, I read in one of my tourist guides that Cuba was supposed to be a very photogenic place. I assumed this referred to the beautiful nature, architecture, etc but, although these aspects too do not disappoint, I now realize it means something else. Cuba really is extremely photogenic, but mainly because cuban life and culture is so very visible wherever you go. Different from the way it is in europe, where ´culture´ is largely hidden within the living rooms and the ´local´ places a tourist is unlikely to encounter, cuba exists mainly out on the street. Its way of life is outrageously clear, without being subtle in anyway and armed with eyes and camera, its wonderful to walk around on the streets and squares here, talking to people, experiencing ´cubania´ - cubanness.
Because of the same reason, perhaps, Cuba turns out to be much like the way I expected it too be. All of its stereotypes are true, about the men, the women, the lifestyle, the food, the cars, the communism, etc. On the one hand, this removes the element of surprise a bit, but on the other hand, the result remains magnificent!
Unfortunately, visiting Cuba, especially Havana, turns out to be quite expensive. Some parts of it at least. Venturing into ´cuban´ havana, the gettos and the residential areas, its quite possible to pay for such things as food at the cuban national prices. As such a typical lunch here consists of a pizza-like substance that effectively costs 25 dollarcents or less. A dinner can, in these parts, be found for about a dollar, although paying 3-4 dollars instead is usually worth it, as that at least gets you some better quality, incl. salad and fruit. As in the regular tourist circuit and its restaurant such a meal will cost 10-15, this saves a lot of money. In all, the food is not as hopeless as I had expected, although not very imaginative.
Many other things, unfortunately, cant be gotten this cheap. Museums, hotels, internet venues, music venues and other things tend to maintain two different prices: one for locals, and one for foreigners. Foreigners can expect to pay a lot more, sometimes more than 25 times as much! Also, getting money with a creditcard or paying with it is subject to an incredible 12% fee, which adds to the costs quite significantly.
But, its all worth it. Havana has a lot to offer, from what Ive seen of it, and I expect so does the rest of Cuba. Music and dance are everywhere. Literally at every street corner theres salsa, son, rumba or reggaeton music streaming out, with people dancing to it spontaneously or simply enjoying it. In the night, theres dozens of wonderful music and dance venues that regularly feature very famous artists. So far, I´ve seen Oscar Valdes, a very impressive cuban jazz musician, and his band, and ´Los Van Van´, which is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, salsa band of cuba and of the world as a whole. The salsa people on this list will probably have some music of theirs on their computer on cds. They were truly awesome, but theyre so popular that during the concert there isnt actually any space left to dance!
Ive also taken a couple of private lessons from a 400 pound salsa profesor, so that I now feel quite comfortable dancing the cuban form of salsa, and hope to put it into practice a bit more quite soon! Still, i doubt i will ever dance like the cubans, who are truly incredible doing it. It really seems to be genetic: spending some time with a cuban family I saw one of their kids, a 2.5 year old who was dancing to ´reggaeton´ and it already looked a whole lot better than the average european would manage!
The student within me, meanwhile, is having a great time. The revolution is everywhere: in the names of the streets, to big billboards with revolucionary quotes, to museums, statues and television broadcasts. Ive managed to pick up a pile of revolutionary books that would cause an instantaneous heart attack to a US immigration officer, and makes for interesting reading. At the moment, Im reading ´El Diario del Che en Bolivia´, Che Guevaras diary during his time in Bolivia, which is like a true guerilla version of robinson crusoe. Next up are some publications written by castro. To me, as political science student, truly very interesting.
One of the things that is different from the way I had imagined it is the hustle and hassle on the street. I had been warned that on every corner you´d be pursued by ´jineteras´ (the cuban slightly more nuanced version of a prositute´ and ´jineteros´ (the male equivalent and aiming mainly at selling rooms, rum, cigars, taxi rides, or getting your money in other way). So far, Ive not been bothered much. In any case, they are quite easy to recognize: travelling in pairs and inevitably starting with the question: where are you from? Quite easy to avoid therefore, too. Ive also felt quite safe, not having been agressively bothered a single time, even in the poorest and most getto-like parts of Havana.
I will be in Havana until coming Friday. Below is my planned route for the next weeks:
17-2: Heading west towards ´Pinar del Rio´. Ive been told that this place suffers a bit more from the above ´jineteros´, due to it being farther away from the influence of the government, which is trying to get rid of the practice. Hopefully it wont be that bad. This is more of an intermediate station, not very worth seeing in itself, but quite in the middle of the province and a good base for some day trips
20-2: Heading to the Viñales valley, that is supposed to contain the most impressive nature of Cuba, so I hope to entertain myself there for a couple of days with walking trips, horseback riding, etc and in general relaxing a bit after the last two weeks in the big cities.
25-2: Heading further west to ´Maria la Gorda´, supposedly one of the best diving spots in the country. I signed up for an official ´ACUC´ diving course of four days, which Im really looking forward to.
1-3: Back to Pinar del Rio
2-3: Back to Havana, to renew my visa for another 30 days.
After that, I plan to be heading east, to Trinidad, and then further on to Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Baracoa, before heading back to Havana crossing through many of the more central towns.
I´ll be very impressed with those people that managed to read all of this! Either way, Ill soon be in touch again, although outside of Havana it may all be a bit more difficult!
Greetings, hugs and kisses to all!
Thomas
salsera_alemana
Member
Thomas,
This was a real interesting report from Cuba. You don't bore me, keep it coming...
Very interesting to hear about all the changes in Cuba since I was there (1992 and 93). Then, there were no casas particulares, no food anywhere to buy except in hotel restaurants. Great you already found salsa and music and met nice people. When I was there, you had to know Cubans to find good dance places. We did and had a ball!
I am surprised to hear that you don't have a problem with the beggers and jineteros/-as in the streets. I would have imagined it to be a real industry now with the mass of tourists traveling to Cuba. When I was there, they were everywhere although tourism was still very moderate, most tourists stayed in Varadero, you did not see too many in Havana.
I am looking forward to hear more from you...
This was a real interesting report from Cuba. You don't bore me, keep it coming...
Very interesting to hear about all the changes in Cuba since I was there (1992 and 93). Then, there were no casas particulares, no food anywhere to buy except in hotel restaurants. Great you already found salsa and music and met nice people. When I was there, you had to know Cubans to find good dance places. We did and had a ball!
I am surprised to hear that you don't have a problem with the beggers and jineteros/-as in the streets. I would have imagined it to be a real industry now with the mass of tourists traveling to Cuba. When I was there, they were everywhere although tourism was still very moderate, most tourists stayed in Varadero, you did not see too many in Havana.
I am looking forward to hear more from you...
hey,
before posting my next big report, let me just respond to your reply, alemana.
at this moment, it appears that the government is cracking down on the cubans once more, about which you can read a bit more in the next report below. There is a lot of fear of the secret police right now, and cubans appear to be truly terrified.
For this reason, also, some cubans expect that the casas particulares wont be allowed much longer, as the government fears this allows tourists to see too much of the real cuba, which is true.
I even had the impression, in a few of the salsa places, that the girls even have fear of dancing with you, because they fear that the police might think theyre a jinetera - and will get picked up or questioned by them. Havana and other cities appear to be cracking down on tourist harassment a lot, lately.
Understanding more of the ´real´ cuba, hidden from the average tourists, it very much reminds me of the stories from eastern europe, right before the collapse of it all.
I very much wonder what it will be like in 5 years. This, certainly, is not a stable situation.
Hope you´ll enjoy reading the next mail!
Thomas
before posting my next big report, let me just respond to your reply, alemana.
at this moment, it appears that the government is cracking down on the cubans once more, about which you can read a bit more in the next report below. There is a lot of fear of the secret police right now, and cubans appear to be truly terrified.
For this reason, also, some cubans expect that the casas particulares wont be allowed much longer, as the government fears this allows tourists to see too much of the real cuba, which is true.
I even had the impression, in a few of the salsa places, that the girls even have fear of dancing with you, because they fear that the police might think theyre a jinetera - and will get picked up or questioned by them. Havana and other cities appear to be cracking down on tourist harassment a lot, lately.
Understanding more of the ´real´ cuba, hidden from the average tourists, it very much reminds me of the stories from eastern europe, right before the collapse of it all.
I very much wonder what it will be like in 5 years. This, certainly, is not a stable situation.
Hope you´ll enjoy reading the next mail!
Thomas
Going Backstage in Cuba
Dear all,
I hope you have had a week that has been as enjoyable and interesting as mine! Many new experiences to share, so I don´t know how lengthy this email is going to be, but we´ll see!
I´ve been in Havana until last Friday spending my time as a communist during the day (reading about the revolution, visiting musea, talking to cubans) and as a capitalist by night (visiting the famous and ridiculously expensive Tropicana show, enjoying some good ice cream, etc).
Although I don´t have any very specific events to share from the remaining time in Havana, I´ve mainly been shocked to find some of the hidden truths that are quite effectively hidden from tourists. It takes a bit of time before you get to find out about these issues, as Cubans are absolutely terrified of the local (secret) police and will not talk about the oppression of the regime very quickly.
The amount of fear is truly incredible. Apparently, cubans keep a close eye on each other, not out of dislike of one another, but in a way to protect themselves from the police. I´ve heard many stories of cubans being taken to prison under the guise of small offenses, but for the real reason of having opposed the regime. As the phone lines and internet use of cubans are both screened and monitored, the censorship and governmental control is very real indeed.
To the tourist, all of this is quite invisible. The stories of excellent education and health facilities appear to be true on first sight, but for the cubans themselves, the quality of these has been gradually eroding over the past years. The schools dont have teachers or books and the hospitals desperately need physicians that have all left the country, as well as basic things such as soap and bedsheets. Similarly, support for the revolution and for communism appears to be widespread, with banners announcing that ´the revolution lives on in this neighbourhood or in this house´. These signs, however, appear to be intended more as symbols designed to keep away the police, rather than a genuine expression of the political ideas of whomever put them up.
Consequently, Cuba appears to be largely constructed like the aquarium I visited: the cubans and cuba itself are dressed up nicely in order and perform wonderful tricks to put up a good show for the tourists and government leaders, much like the delfins in the aquarium. But, go behind stage and you´ll find the cages, the abuse as well as hunger and fear.
Anyway, I´ve now left Havana and withdrawn to the much quieter and more relaxed countryside in the province of Pinar del Rio.
I can´t begin to describe the beauty of the countryside of Cuba. It is everything that you would imagine of a caribbean country and completely unspoiled resulting in breathtaking images and scenes and having caused me to slightly over-use my camera in the last couple of days.
Yesterday, I decided to explore the countryside from the capital of Pinar del Rio, which I am using as my base for a couple of days. I ended up walking for some 2.5 hours, completely amazed by the things I saw. If I hadn´t known better, and wouldnt have noticed the occasional bus passing by, I´d have estimated the year to be around 1500. Farmers ploughing the land with oxes, collecting the tobacco leaves from their plantations, chopping wood to construct small cabins in which to store their harvest: it´s not a scene that one would be likely to encounter in, say, the Netherlands.
Ultimately, I ended up meeting a cowboy-like figure, ´Miguel´, with whom I did my first horseriding in Cuba. For some three hours, we explored a number of plantations on horseback, which was quite a unique experience and one that I hope to repeat. Although for the first hour I was still in negotiation with my horse Palomo about who was to be in control, (I think) I managed to establish my authority in the end in exchange for giving him plenty of time to eat seemingly endless amounts of grass.
As afterwards I had to walk back to the city for another 2.5 hours, I decided to plan a much needed day of complete relaxation today. In this town, it is fortunately not so difficult as I am not bothered much by the jineteros (see previous email), despite the fact that in this town the harassment of tourists was supposed to be much larger. Perhaps it helps that I´m getting a suntan at incredible speed, so that instead of asking ´where are you from´, the hustlers have begun to ask for the time instead. This seems to be the common way of establishing whether you are a tourist or (on the basis of your accent) a resident or long-time visitor.
For the same reason, taking pictures in this town is something of a hit-and-run business: the moment you draw out your camera you are likely to be immediately identified as a tourist that is expected to have an neverending demand for black market ron or cigars. As such, taking a picture is best done while hiding as much as possible and getting away as fast as possible afterwards!
Tomorrow, I´ll go by taxi to the nearby Vinales valley for 5 nights, which promises to be filled with even more splendid nature than I´ve encountered so far. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes will be waiting for me there, so I hope the repellant I´ve brought will be effective.
After that, I´ll be going diving for a couple of days.
Either way, I continue to have a great time and Cuba is turning out to be hiding more than meets the eye. Fortunately, speaking spanish, I´m able to discover more than the average american or italian tourist here. For some rather magic reason, my spanish is improving with great leaps (with the exclusion of my accent). While 3 months in spain does not seem to have made a large difference, I now find myself racing through spanish books like moses through the red sea, and using words and phrases of which I have no clue where I even picked them up. Something of a mystery, really.
Once again, let me express my sincerest admiration for all those who (once again) have made it to this point in the email. Also, thanks a lot for the emails that some of you have been sending, I very much enjoyed received and reading them.
Take care all!
As usual, hugs, greetings and kisses,
Thomas
Dear all,
I hope you have had a week that has been as enjoyable and interesting as mine! Many new experiences to share, so I don´t know how lengthy this email is going to be, but we´ll see!
I´ve been in Havana until last Friday spending my time as a communist during the day (reading about the revolution, visiting musea, talking to cubans) and as a capitalist by night (visiting the famous and ridiculously expensive Tropicana show, enjoying some good ice cream, etc).
Although I don´t have any very specific events to share from the remaining time in Havana, I´ve mainly been shocked to find some of the hidden truths that are quite effectively hidden from tourists. It takes a bit of time before you get to find out about these issues, as Cubans are absolutely terrified of the local (secret) police and will not talk about the oppression of the regime very quickly.
The amount of fear is truly incredible. Apparently, cubans keep a close eye on each other, not out of dislike of one another, but in a way to protect themselves from the police. I´ve heard many stories of cubans being taken to prison under the guise of small offenses, but for the real reason of having opposed the regime. As the phone lines and internet use of cubans are both screened and monitored, the censorship and governmental control is very real indeed.
To the tourist, all of this is quite invisible. The stories of excellent education and health facilities appear to be true on first sight, but for the cubans themselves, the quality of these has been gradually eroding over the past years. The schools dont have teachers or books and the hospitals desperately need physicians that have all left the country, as well as basic things such as soap and bedsheets. Similarly, support for the revolution and for communism appears to be widespread, with banners announcing that ´the revolution lives on in this neighbourhood or in this house´. These signs, however, appear to be intended more as symbols designed to keep away the police, rather than a genuine expression of the political ideas of whomever put them up.
Consequently, Cuba appears to be largely constructed like the aquarium I visited: the cubans and cuba itself are dressed up nicely in order and perform wonderful tricks to put up a good show for the tourists and government leaders, much like the delfins in the aquarium. But, go behind stage and you´ll find the cages, the abuse as well as hunger and fear.
Anyway, I´ve now left Havana and withdrawn to the much quieter and more relaxed countryside in the province of Pinar del Rio.
I can´t begin to describe the beauty of the countryside of Cuba. It is everything that you would imagine of a caribbean country and completely unspoiled resulting in breathtaking images and scenes and having caused me to slightly over-use my camera in the last couple of days.
Yesterday, I decided to explore the countryside from the capital of Pinar del Rio, which I am using as my base for a couple of days. I ended up walking for some 2.5 hours, completely amazed by the things I saw. If I hadn´t known better, and wouldnt have noticed the occasional bus passing by, I´d have estimated the year to be around 1500. Farmers ploughing the land with oxes, collecting the tobacco leaves from their plantations, chopping wood to construct small cabins in which to store their harvest: it´s not a scene that one would be likely to encounter in, say, the Netherlands.
Ultimately, I ended up meeting a cowboy-like figure, ´Miguel´, with whom I did my first horseriding in Cuba. For some three hours, we explored a number of plantations on horseback, which was quite a unique experience and one that I hope to repeat. Although for the first hour I was still in negotiation with my horse Palomo about who was to be in control, (I think) I managed to establish my authority in the end in exchange for giving him plenty of time to eat seemingly endless amounts of grass.
As afterwards I had to walk back to the city for another 2.5 hours, I decided to plan a much needed day of complete relaxation today. In this town, it is fortunately not so difficult as I am not bothered much by the jineteros (see previous email), despite the fact that in this town the harassment of tourists was supposed to be much larger. Perhaps it helps that I´m getting a suntan at incredible speed, so that instead of asking ´where are you from´, the hustlers have begun to ask for the time instead. This seems to be the common way of establishing whether you are a tourist or (on the basis of your accent) a resident or long-time visitor.
For the same reason, taking pictures in this town is something of a hit-and-run business: the moment you draw out your camera you are likely to be immediately identified as a tourist that is expected to have an neverending demand for black market ron or cigars. As such, taking a picture is best done while hiding as much as possible and getting away as fast as possible afterwards!
Tomorrow, I´ll go by taxi to the nearby Vinales valley for 5 nights, which promises to be filled with even more splendid nature than I´ve encountered so far. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes will be waiting for me there, so I hope the repellant I´ve brought will be effective.
After that, I´ll be going diving for a couple of days.
Either way, I continue to have a great time and Cuba is turning out to be hiding more than meets the eye. Fortunately, speaking spanish, I´m able to discover more than the average american or italian tourist here. For some rather magic reason, my spanish is improving with great leaps (with the exclusion of my accent). While 3 months in spain does not seem to have made a large difference, I now find myself racing through spanish books like moses through the red sea, and using words and phrases of which I have no clue where I even picked them up. Something of a mystery, really.
Once again, let me express my sincerest admiration for all those who (once again) have made it to this point in the email. Also, thanks a lot for the emails that some of you have been sending, I very much enjoyed received and reading them.
Take care all!
As usual, hugs, greetings and kisses,
Thomas
Playing around in Cuba´s Backyard
Dear all,
I have made it back to Havana, where I am now spending two nights in an attempt to struggle my way through the governmental offices, counters and desk clerks in an attempt to get my visa renewed. Hopefully, I´ll eventually get it arranged, but it seems to have been made a lot harder than it ought to be!
Anyway, I appear to have survived the western province of Pinar del Rio relatively intact. I had a lot of different and enjoyable experiences, despite an exploding bottle of sun lotion that messed up some of my clothes, a broken toe-nail and the fact that i accidentally left behind my only sweater (which will make certain people on this list very happy since they claim it is hideous).
As you may remember, after my visit to the capital city of the province I set out for the valley of Vinales. This area is widely claimed to be one of the most beautiful sights of all of Cuba and, indeed, it is. The landscape is incredibly difficult to describe. Out of a otherwise flat landscape, all of a sudden there appear forest-covered clumps of mountains, that seem strangely out of place, as if they were unintendedly left-behind while passing through the region on some million year journey.
In combination, the scenery reminded me incredibly of that of Jurassic Park, for those of you that have seen the movies. With a bit of imagination, I could hear the jurassic birds circling the mountain tops, while on the lower planes I could see the raptors roaming the grounds in search of prey, always careful to stay away from the domain of the T-rex, deeper inside. In the morning mist, mixed with the sounds of the waking of the everything alive in the valley, the sounds appeared positively prehisotirc.
In this garden of Cuba, I spent my time like a true Cuban guerrilla...exploring the mountains on horseback (I´m becoming a true horsemaster!), struggling up their slopes and ending up in a completely unspoiled cave that could only be explored by means of some handheld torches and a lot of wading through its inside waters. The kind of nature encountered on such trips is truly stunning and unlike anything one is likely to encounter virtually anywhere in Europe. Endless miles of ancient trees, an incredible variety of wildlife and most of all, a complete absence of tourists.
Unfortunately, the guides that were absolutely essential to do this kind of exploration appeared to be quite limited in the number of routes they offered, so that after the fifth day in Vinales I felt quite eager to move on to the western most edge of Cuba: a brilliant diving location by the name of Maria la Gorda (which translates as Fat Maria, but don´t ask me why). Think of the most perfect beach you can possibly imagine, including green-blue crystal clear waters, endless stretches of clean white sand, covered with palm trees and the occasional bar serving true cuban cocktails, and you are likely to have a picture in your mind that does not even come close to what Maria la Gorda is like.
Planning to engage in complete relaxation and extreme beach tourism, in addition to a quick diving course to obtain my diving certificate, I was strangely surprised to find myself spending many hours studying the theory of diving. Physics, physiology, ecology...a lot of hard work in other words! However, as the book clearly deailted everything that can go wrong while diving, such as having your lungs explode inside your body or having your blood start to boil, I felt quite motivated to pay careful attention to what it had to say and as such managed to pass the exam.
Diving itself is a truly unique, wonderful and extremely addictive activity. First of all, there is the simple wonder of being able to live and breathe underwater, while enjoying the sensation of being engaged in true exploration. Second, the weightlessness under water and one´s ability to float over the many wonders of this hidden world is probably the most peaceful and magical thing I have ever done. When diving it seemed to me that God has given man wings after all, but simply left them underwater, to be found and marvelled at. And third, of course, there is the obvious magnificence of the colors, the fish and the activity of sea-life in general that together form a world entirely different from the one we are so familiar with. On my last dive of the course we ventured out to explore the sea-bed at a point where from one meter to the next it plunges into the dark blue to form a enormous wall of more than 2,000 meters in depth.
While in awe of the sight before me and the marine life swarming around, a sentence from a book I read last week suddenly came to mind. In H.G. Well´s ´The First Men on the Moon´, the ´king´ of the Moon asks to one of the visiting men at one point: ¨Why have you come here to the Moon if you still haven´t explored so much of your own planet?¨ The scale of the underwater world certainly puts this question in the proper perspective.
Either way, I was as proud of receiving my diving certificate as a kid that has survived the first few meters on his bike without falling.
This last week, to me, has been somewhat of a holiday-within-a-holiday. In these places of excessive beauty and tranquility, communism and politics appear a long distance away. Similarly, the life is much more relaxed, which is perhaps also the reason that Cubans tend to joke about their countrymen in this region as being the ´dumb people´ (like the Dutch joke about the Belgians). Personally, I found it very enjoyable.
On the other hand, being back in Havana for two days has its advantaged. For instance, the average meal on the countryside was pretty good. When one looks at an individual meal consisting of fried chicken with onion, potato crisps, rice with black beans, a salad of tomato with cabbage and cucumber, and some fruit juice in addition to a plate of pineapple, some red local fruit the name of which i tend to forget and banana, it all appears very tasty. Unfortunately, *every single meal* offered at the private homes of the cubans that I have enjoyed in the last week consists of *exactly* the above arrangements. After a while, even such an otherwise good meal becomes sickening.
Hopefully, if the local bureaucracy allows me to get the formalities of my visa sorted out, this Saturday I will be heading to Trinidad. From there, I plan to go to Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Baracoa and then back to Havana through Holguin, Ciego de Avila, Santa Clara, Matanzas and Varadero. Hopefully, if time and money allow, I´ll also be able to squeeze in some diving spots here an there!
Internet probably shouldn´t be a problem, as most of the cities above have at least one reasonably functioning internet point, so no reason to worry about a shortage of reading material from Cuba!
Meanwhile...
love, hugs and kisses to all and strength to those who need it! starting to miss you all, but Cuba is a good distraction!
Dear all,
I have made it back to Havana, where I am now spending two nights in an attempt to struggle my way through the governmental offices, counters and desk clerks in an attempt to get my visa renewed. Hopefully, I´ll eventually get it arranged, but it seems to have been made a lot harder than it ought to be!
Anyway, I appear to have survived the western province of Pinar del Rio relatively intact. I had a lot of different and enjoyable experiences, despite an exploding bottle of sun lotion that messed up some of my clothes, a broken toe-nail and the fact that i accidentally left behind my only sweater (which will make certain people on this list very happy since they claim it is hideous).
As you may remember, after my visit to the capital city of the province I set out for the valley of Vinales. This area is widely claimed to be one of the most beautiful sights of all of Cuba and, indeed, it is. The landscape is incredibly difficult to describe. Out of a otherwise flat landscape, all of a sudden there appear forest-covered clumps of mountains, that seem strangely out of place, as if they were unintendedly left-behind while passing through the region on some million year journey.
In combination, the scenery reminded me incredibly of that of Jurassic Park, for those of you that have seen the movies. With a bit of imagination, I could hear the jurassic birds circling the mountain tops, while on the lower planes I could see the raptors roaming the grounds in search of prey, always careful to stay away from the domain of the T-rex, deeper inside. In the morning mist, mixed with the sounds of the waking of the everything alive in the valley, the sounds appeared positively prehisotirc.
In this garden of Cuba, I spent my time like a true Cuban guerrilla...exploring the mountains on horseback (I´m becoming a true horsemaster!), struggling up their slopes and ending up in a completely unspoiled cave that could only be explored by means of some handheld torches and a lot of wading through its inside waters. The kind of nature encountered on such trips is truly stunning and unlike anything one is likely to encounter virtually anywhere in Europe. Endless miles of ancient trees, an incredible variety of wildlife and most of all, a complete absence of tourists.
Unfortunately, the guides that were absolutely essential to do this kind of exploration appeared to be quite limited in the number of routes they offered, so that after the fifth day in Vinales I felt quite eager to move on to the western most edge of Cuba: a brilliant diving location by the name of Maria la Gorda (which translates as Fat Maria, but don´t ask me why). Think of the most perfect beach you can possibly imagine, including green-blue crystal clear waters, endless stretches of clean white sand, covered with palm trees and the occasional bar serving true cuban cocktails, and you are likely to have a picture in your mind that does not even come close to what Maria la Gorda is like.
Planning to engage in complete relaxation and extreme beach tourism, in addition to a quick diving course to obtain my diving certificate, I was strangely surprised to find myself spending many hours studying the theory of diving. Physics, physiology, ecology...a lot of hard work in other words! However, as the book clearly deailted everything that can go wrong while diving, such as having your lungs explode inside your body or having your blood start to boil, I felt quite motivated to pay careful attention to what it had to say and as such managed to pass the exam.
Diving itself is a truly unique, wonderful and extremely addictive activity. First of all, there is the simple wonder of being able to live and breathe underwater, while enjoying the sensation of being engaged in true exploration. Second, the weightlessness under water and one´s ability to float over the many wonders of this hidden world is probably the most peaceful and magical thing I have ever done. When diving it seemed to me that God has given man wings after all, but simply left them underwater, to be found and marvelled at. And third, of course, there is the obvious magnificence of the colors, the fish and the activity of sea-life in general that together form a world entirely different from the one we are so familiar with. On my last dive of the course we ventured out to explore the sea-bed at a point where from one meter to the next it plunges into the dark blue to form a enormous wall of more than 2,000 meters in depth.
While in awe of the sight before me and the marine life swarming around, a sentence from a book I read last week suddenly came to mind. In H.G. Well´s ´The First Men on the Moon´, the ´king´ of the Moon asks to one of the visiting men at one point: ¨Why have you come here to the Moon if you still haven´t explored so much of your own planet?¨ The scale of the underwater world certainly puts this question in the proper perspective.
Either way, I was as proud of receiving my diving certificate as a kid that has survived the first few meters on his bike without falling.
This last week, to me, has been somewhat of a holiday-within-a-holiday. In these places of excessive beauty and tranquility, communism and politics appear a long distance away. Similarly, the life is much more relaxed, which is perhaps also the reason that Cubans tend to joke about their countrymen in this region as being the ´dumb people´ (like the Dutch joke about the Belgians). Personally, I found it very enjoyable.
On the other hand, being back in Havana for two days has its advantaged. For instance, the average meal on the countryside was pretty good. When one looks at an individual meal consisting of fried chicken with onion, potato crisps, rice with black beans, a salad of tomato with cabbage and cucumber, and some fruit juice in addition to a plate of pineapple, some red local fruit the name of which i tend to forget and banana, it all appears very tasty. Unfortunately, *every single meal* offered at the private homes of the cubans that I have enjoyed in the last week consists of *exactly* the above arrangements. After a while, even such an otherwise good meal becomes sickening.
Hopefully, if the local bureaucracy allows me to get the formalities of my visa sorted out, this Saturday I will be heading to Trinidad. From there, I plan to go to Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Baracoa and then back to Havana through Holguin, Ciego de Avila, Santa Clara, Matanzas and Varadero. Hopefully, if time and money allow, I´ll also be able to squeeze in some diving spots here an there!
Internet probably shouldn´t be a problem, as most of the cities above have at least one reasonably functioning internet point, so no reason to worry about a shortage of reading material from Cuba!
Meanwhile...
love, hugs and kisses to all and strength to those who need it! starting to miss you all, but Cuba is a good distraction!
Pacion
New Member
Los Van Van who? I thought the most popular band was Buena Vista 
:lol:
Wow Lockstep! What can I say? In reading your posts, I felt like if I was there with you. As I "lasted the course" and read to the end of the most recent posts, do I get to go when you are going next?
Thank you for sharing and looking forward to salivating, I mean hearing even more.
:lol: Wow Lockstep! What can I say? In reading your posts, I felt like if I was there with you. As I "lasted the course" and read to the end of the most recent posts, do I get to go when you are going next?
Thank you for sharing and looking forward to salivating, I mean hearing even more.
salsera_alemana
Member
Hey Lockstep,
Really enjoyed reading your last two posts! Thanks for letting us participate in your journey through Cuba! Like Pacion, I feel like being there with you. I have been to Viñales and Pinar del Río, have seen men on their donkeys or horses in the countryside with their milk containers hanging on both sides of the animal, an old mint green car from the 50s parked under a pana tree etc. That part of the country is very, very picturesque. Great you get to do so many things off the tourist tracks! That is the right way to really see a country.
I hope you got your visa extended and are enjoying the eastern part of the country now.
We are looking forward to your next posting!
Really enjoyed reading your last two posts! Thanks for letting us participate in your journey through Cuba! Like Pacion, I feel like being there with you. I have been to Viñales and Pinar del Río, have seen men on their donkeys or horses in the countryside with their milk containers hanging on both sides of the animal, an old mint green car from the 50s parked under a pana tree etc. That part of the country is very, very picturesque. Great you get to do so many things off the tourist tracks! That is the right way to really see a country.
I hope you got your visa extended and are enjoying the eastern part of the country now.
We are looking forward to your next posting!
below is my last email from last week which i messed up while posting. ill post the one from this one (written here in the dominican republic) in a bit!
Dear all,
>
>after having travelled some 1200 kilometers the last week, I have
>now managed to find the time and the location to write another email
>to you all from Santiago de Cuba.
>
>Since my last email, I have travelled east from Havana, down to the
>wonderfully pictoresque city of Trinidad, passing on to the fairly
>uninteresting but strategically located Camaguey. After this, I
>spent some time in the extremely untouristy city of Bayamo, to
>explore the mountain region of Cuba. After all this, I now find
>myself in the second city of Cuba: Santiago de Cuba.
>
>Each of these cities, you will find out by looking on a map, are
>situated very comfortably along a pretty straight line, so that it
>is relatively easy to see all of Cuba in a single trip. There is,
>after all, only two ways to go: From Havana to Santiago, or the
>other way around. As such, I keep running in to tourists that I met
>all the way in Havana or further west. Everyone uses roughly the
>same buses, and is attracted to the same locations, without any of
>these become excessively crowded or devoid of Cuban culture. When
>one says, over here, ´maybe Ill see you in Santiago´, its unlikely
>to be disguised form of saying that you`ll never see each other
>again.
>
>In Trinidad, ive also met several dutchmen. Strange, as during the
>rest of my trip I did not meet many. I also realized once again how
>small this world really is: One of the Dutchmen I met turned out to
>be the father of a girl I know reasonably well at University College
>(Karlynne, for those of you that are from UCU). He also disproved
>the common saying that Dutchmen are cheap bastards, as he generously
>donated a 512 MB memory card to me, as my own was getting full.
>
>Especially in these eastern provinces, a camera´s picture card fills
>up pretty quickly. This is where Cuba remains much more traditional
>than in, say, Havana. The shortages result in endless series of
>ancient Chevrolets and other classic cars, while the fuel shortages
>produce interesting scenes of cubans attempting to clutter as many
>people as possible in a single truck or any other device that has
>wheels. The amount of music that one can find out on the streets is
>similarly increasing, especially now that I´ve reached Santiago de
>Cuba.
>
>Santiago is widely seen as the most traditional of cities and from
>the little I have seen this appears to be true. Unfortunately I
>arrived pretty late by bus, yesterday night, so that I had little
>energy to appreciate the nightscene that is supposed to be
>spectacular. The city itself, as I have discovered during the day,
>has several stunning sights, but is easily covered in a day or so.
>I´m looking forward to venturing into one of the many salsa places
>tonight and enjoy the music. Fortunately, the city is also much
>safer than some had warned me, so that one can relax and appreciate
>everything it has to offer.
>
>I will not bore you with great details of Camaguey and Bayamo. These
>cities are mainly stopoff points on the way between the major cities
>and I have only used them to explore some beaches and nature around
>them. The only noteworthy comment to make about these cities is that
>prostitution and sex tourism seems to be more visible in these areas
>in the darker corners of the streets or wherever the police is
>absent. It somewhat spoils the image of otherwise not-so-ugly towns.
>
>In these less touristy towns, where cubans appear to be endeavouring
>to keep tourists out, it is also a bit more difficult to get into
>the buses, clubs or shows, but Ive found out that a dollar in the
>right hands can usually get you in, despite the stares that you are
>likely to earn once inside.
>
>I am now also travelling together with a dutch companion. She is a
>school teacher who appears to have the same interests as I do and to
>be heading in the same direction. As sharing rooms and taxis saves a
>lot of money, I can now manage to give my wallet a very welcome
>break.
>
>The next week, I´ll go explore one of the last sites of interest in
>Cuba in this region: Baracoa, mainly filled with nature. After this,
>I plan to drop by a couple of places on my way back to Havana, but
>as I appear to have some 4 or 5 days left over I may decide to drop
>by for a short while in the Dominican Republic or the Bahamas,
>depending on ticket prices.
>
>Either way, I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with all
>of you in person and to see all of my pictures appear on paper. Some
>of them I believe to be very promising indeed!
>
>Greetings, hugs and kisses!
>
>Thomas
Dear all,
>
>after having travelled some 1200 kilometers the last week, I have
>now managed to find the time and the location to write another email
>to you all from Santiago de Cuba.
>
>Since my last email, I have travelled east from Havana, down to the
>wonderfully pictoresque city of Trinidad, passing on to the fairly
>uninteresting but strategically located Camaguey. After this, I
>spent some time in the extremely untouristy city of Bayamo, to
>explore the mountain region of Cuba. After all this, I now find
>myself in the second city of Cuba: Santiago de Cuba.
>
>Each of these cities, you will find out by looking on a map, are
>situated very comfortably along a pretty straight line, so that it
>is relatively easy to see all of Cuba in a single trip. There is,
>after all, only two ways to go: From Havana to Santiago, or the
>other way around. As such, I keep running in to tourists that I met
>all the way in Havana or further west. Everyone uses roughly the
>same buses, and is attracted to the same locations, without any of
>these become excessively crowded or devoid of Cuban culture. When
>one says, over here, ´maybe Ill see you in Santiago´, its unlikely
>to be disguised form of saying that you`ll never see each other
>again.
>
>In Trinidad, ive also met several dutchmen. Strange, as during the
>rest of my trip I did not meet many. I also realized once again how
>small this world really is: One of the Dutchmen I met turned out to
>be the father of a girl I know reasonably well at University College
>(Karlynne, for those of you that are from UCU). He also disproved
>the common saying that Dutchmen are cheap bastards, as he generously
>donated a 512 MB memory card to me, as my own was getting full.
>
>Especially in these eastern provinces, a camera´s picture card fills
>up pretty quickly. This is where Cuba remains much more traditional
>than in, say, Havana. The shortages result in endless series of
>ancient Chevrolets and other classic cars, while the fuel shortages
>produce interesting scenes of cubans attempting to clutter as many
>people as possible in a single truck or any other device that has
>wheels. The amount of music that one can find out on the streets is
>similarly increasing, especially now that I´ve reached Santiago de
>Cuba.
>
>Santiago is widely seen as the most traditional of cities and from
>the little I have seen this appears to be true. Unfortunately I
>arrived pretty late by bus, yesterday night, so that I had little
>energy to appreciate the nightscene that is supposed to be
>spectacular. The city itself, as I have discovered during the day,
>has several stunning sights, but is easily covered in a day or so.
>I´m looking forward to venturing into one of the many salsa places
>tonight and enjoy the music. Fortunately, the city is also much
>safer than some had warned me, so that one can relax and appreciate
>everything it has to offer.
>
>I will not bore you with great details of Camaguey and Bayamo. These
>cities are mainly stopoff points on the way between the major cities
>and I have only used them to explore some beaches and nature around
>them. The only noteworthy comment to make about these cities is that
>prostitution and sex tourism seems to be more visible in these areas
>in the darker corners of the streets or wherever the police is
>absent. It somewhat spoils the image of otherwise not-so-ugly towns.
>
>In these less touristy towns, where cubans appear to be endeavouring
>to keep tourists out, it is also a bit more difficult to get into
>the buses, clubs or shows, but Ive found out that a dollar in the
>right hands can usually get you in, despite the stares that you are
>likely to earn once inside.
>
>I am now also travelling together with a dutch companion. She is a
>school teacher who appears to have the same interests as I do and to
>be heading in the same direction. As sharing rooms and taxis saves a
>lot of money, I can now manage to give my wallet a very welcome
>break.
>
>The next week, I´ll go explore one of the last sites of interest in
>Cuba in this region: Baracoa, mainly filled with nature. After this,
>I plan to drop by a couple of places on my way back to Havana, but
>as I appear to have some 4 or 5 days left over I may decide to drop
>by for a short while in the Dominican Republic or the Bahamas,
>depending on ticket prices.
>
>Either way, I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with all
>of you in person and to see all of my pictures appear on paper. Some
>of them I believe to be very promising indeed!
>
>Greetings, hugs and kisses!
>
>Thomas
Dear all,
given the abundance of one-legged men in Cuba, the colonial era houses, the ´anything goes´ attitude of Cubans and their continuous hunt for the treasure of their capitalist victims, you may not be so surprised in that I have begun to think of Cuba as a giant pirate ship. Like pirates, the cubans are close comrades and appear to enjoy their relative isolation. On the downside, as the ship steers such a lonely course through the ocean, it lacks some basic commodities so that the menu is relatively limited. Also, the occasional outsider that is taken on board for a trip or two will feel relatively safe, under the strict protection of the captain that will not accept any insubordination or disorder among his crew. Yet, it remains difficult to truly become a part of these tough sailors of the carribean sea on this ship that is called Cuba.
now, after 39 days in Cuba, I too began to feel a sense of longing towards some of the continental commodities. Even I tire of chicken with rice and beans after so many weeks. I also felt that by now I had seen the main sights in Cuba and that, while I could have spent the remainder of my trip visiting some more obscure regions or spending some extra days in the big cities, I would get more value for money by doing someting completely different.
So, I decided to run off the pirates´ walking board, jump into the ocean, and swim to the nearest hospitable island: the Dominican Republic where I now find myself marooned for a week.
Truly, the dominican republic might as well have been an unknown and undiscovered island as I stumbled onto its shores with hardly any information whatsoever. In fact, after buying a plane ticket for some 300 dollars to its capital, my knowledge of the country limited itself to knowing the name of my destination: Santo Domingo, the oldest true city of the colonial world. To illustrate my lack of preparation, I did not even know whether this capital was in the north or the south of the country (it´s in the south).
I was therefore not entirely sure what to expect, but when I took a look around and found myself surrounded by five star hotels, signs of pepsi and coca cola and, most welcome, the pizza hut and kentucky fried chicken, a small sigh of relief did escape me. While one often hears the cliche that one would kill for this or that, let me tell you that at the sight of a chicken burger with french fries in front of me, my body seemed to resort to a primal state obsessed with devouring these things in as short a time as possible.
The dominican republic, clearly, is what all cubans fear that cuba could become if capitalism and american money would ever be allowed in. Jaguars and other similar cars feature on the streets here, and one would be hardpressed to distinguish the commercial center from a similar street in any of the western nations, ignoring the obviously different ethnic mix for the moment. While a very welcome change from the shortages in Cuba, it would truly be terrible if Cuba would ever turn into a neo-colony of the US megachains, as Santo Domingo appears to be.
Strangely however, getting any kind of tourist information is difficult to the point of impossible. Up to this point, I have not managed to encounter any tourist guide, although I have been searching yesterday and today for it, and have asked many people about a possible location where to buy it. So far, the only available information appears to be coming from the people on the street. However, this is only efficient for specific questions and doesnt help much if one wants to figure out where to go next or what to do now. Even specific questions appear difficult to answer, in fact, as my attempts to find out whether I could attend a ´bachata´ concert anywhere was answered with many shrugs and scratching-of-the-head, while the bachata music itself blasts out of taxis and restaurants at every corner of the street.
The dominicans themselves, I must note, are a lot more accessible than the average cuban on the street, for the simple reason that starting a conversation with them does not mean that in the end you will have to try to get rid of them again, as they do appear to be after your money in any way whatsoever. In fact, they appear to be generous and very welcoming people that are quite comfortable around us tourists and do not regard you as an alien being.
Nevertheless, this attitude did get me into another curious and unwelcome situation that reminded me that despite appearances, this certainly isn´t europe. After meeting a dominican at the cuban airport, I was glad to have found someone that could tell me some of the basic need-to-knows. I was wonderfully surprised to find out that I didn´t end up paying for the taxi ride into the city, as would have happened in Cuba. I also greatly appreciated the fact that he and his sister decided to take the time to show me dominican life in the night, and picked me up by car. Yet, when our first destination turned out to be his house where he had a ladyfriend who doubtfully reached 15 years and did not seem to have any say in the matter and whom I would be very welcome to ´get to know´ as a friends´ favour without even having to pay for it, the cultural difference became pretty obvious. Although ´it wouldnt be any problem if you want the girl´, I did not feel very inclined to follow his suggestion and took a taxi ride home, forsaking the well-meaning intentions of this dominican.
Following all this, I´m a bit at a loss about where to go now. Given the extensive amount of travelling the last week, I wouldn´t mind too much to just hang around a bit in one place and relax a bit, but Santo Domingo might not be the ideal place for it. If I can find any information whatsoever therefore, I might find myself a ride to a more quiet location and pass some days there. or I might decide not to bother at all and just take it easy here.
Next friday, then, I will be catching my flight back to Santiago and enter its nightlife for one more night there. On my last night there (returning from gorgeous Baracoa, with amazing nature and incredible friendly, small-scale and welcoming), I managed to catch a concert of a famous guitarist from Buena Vista Social Club, Ochoa, and generally had a great night. Off-circuit Santiago, however, appears to a bit less hospitable and unwelcoming for foreigners, given the amount of jineteros, jineteras, pickpockets, paid dancers, and other elements.
Ill then have 3 more days to make my 16 hour way back to Havana, although I intend to pass through the cities of Cienfuegos and Santa Clara on my way over there, which I have not visited yet. Then, on Tuesday the 28th, I´ll leave Cuba, and arrive in the Netherlands the 29th.
See you all soon!
Thomas
given the abundance of one-legged men in Cuba, the colonial era houses, the ´anything goes´ attitude of Cubans and their continuous hunt for the treasure of their capitalist victims, you may not be so surprised in that I have begun to think of Cuba as a giant pirate ship. Like pirates, the cubans are close comrades and appear to enjoy their relative isolation. On the downside, as the ship steers such a lonely course through the ocean, it lacks some basic commodities so that the menu is relatively limited. Also, the occasional outsider that is taken on board for a trip or two will feel relatively safe, under the strict protection of the captain that will not accept any insubordination or disorder among his crew. Yet, it remains difficult to truly become a part of these tough sailors of the carribean sea on this ship that is called Cuba.
now, after 39 days in Cuba, I too began to feel a sense of longing towards some of the continental commodities. Even I tire of chicken with rice and beans after so many weeks. I also felt that by now I had seen the main sights in Cuba and that, while I could have spent the remainder of my trip visiting some more obscure regions or spending some extra days in the big cities, I would get more value for money by doing someting completely different.
So, I decided to run off the pirates´ walking board, jump into the ocean, and swim to the nearest hospitable island: the Dominican Republic where I now find myself marooned for a week.
Truly, the dominican republic might as well have been an unknown and undiscovered island as I stumbled onto its shores with hardly any information whatsoever. In fact, after buying a plane ticket for some 300 dollars to its capital, my knowledge of the country limited itself to knowing the name of my destination: Santo Domingo, the oldest true city of the colonial world. To illustrate my lack of preparation, I did not even know whether this capital was in the north or the south of the country (it´s in the south).
I was therefore not entirely sure what to expect, but when I took a look around and found myself surrounded by five star hotels, signs of pepsi and coca cola and, most welcome, the pizza hut and kentucky fried chicken, a small sigh of relief did escape me. While one often hears the cliche that one would kill for this or that, let me tell you that at the sight of a chicken burger with french fries in front of me, my body seemed to resort to a primal state obsessed with devouring these things in as short a time as possible.
The dominican republic, clearly, is what all cubans fear that cuba could become if capitalism and american money would ever be allowed in. Jaguars and other similar cars feature on the streets here, and one would be hardpressed to distinguish the commercial center from a similar street in any of the western nations, ignoring the obviously different ethnic mix for the moment. While a very welcome change from the shortages in Cuba, it would truly be terrible if Cuba would ever turn into a neo-colony of the US megachains, as Santo Domingo appears to be.
Strangely however, getting any kind of tourist information is difficult to the point of impossible. Up to this point, I have not managed to encounter any tourist guide, although I have been searching yesterday and today for it, and have asked many people about a possible location where to buy it. So far, the only available information appears to be coming from the people on the street. However, this is only efficient for specific questions and doesnt help much if one wants to figure out where to go next or what to do now. Even specific questions appear difficult to answer, in fact, as my attempts to find out whether I could attend a ´bachata´ concert anywhere was answered with many shrugs and scratching-of-the-head, while the bachata music itself blasts out of taxis and restaurants at every corner of the street.
The dominicans themselves, I must note, are a lot more accessible than the average cuban on the street, for the simple reason that starting a conversation with them does not mean that in the end you will have to try to get rid of them again, as they do appear to be after your money in any way whatsoever. In fact, they appear to be generous and very welcoming people that are quite comfortable around us tourists and do not regard you as an alien being.
Nevertheless, this attitude did get me into another curious and unwelcome situation that reminded me that despite appearances, this certainly isn´t europe. After meeting a dominican at the cuban airport, I was glad to have found someone that could tell me some of the basic need-to-knows. I was wonderfully surprised to find out that I didn´t end up paying for the taxi ride into the city, as would have happened in Cuba. I also greatly appreciated the fact that he and his sister decided to take the time to show me dominican life in the night, and picked me up by car. Yet, when our first destination turned out to be his house where he had a ladyfriend who doubtfully reached 15 years and did not seem to have any say in the matter and whom I would be very welcome to ´get to know´ as a friends´ favour without even having to pay for it, the cultural difference became pretty obvious. Although ´it wouldnt be any problem if you want the girl´, I did not feel very inclined to follow his suggestion and took a taxi ride home, forsaking the well-meaning intentions of this dominican.
Following all this, I´m a bit at a loss about where to go now. Given the extensive amount of travelling the last week, I wouldn´t mind too much to just hang around a bit in one place and relax a bit, but Santo Domingo might not be the ideal place for it. If I can find any information whatsoever therefore, I might find myself a ride to a more quiet location and pass some days there. or I might decide not to bother at all and just take it easy here.
Next friday, then, I will be catching my flight back to Santiago and enter its nightlife for one more night there. On my last night there (returning from gorgeous Baracoa, with amazing nature and incredible friendly, small-scale and welcoming), I managed to catch a concert of a famous guitarist from Buena Vista Social Club, Ochoa, and generally had a great night. Off-circuit Santiago, however, appears to a bit less hospitable and unwelcoming for foreigners, given the amount of jineteros, jineteras, pickpockets, paid dancers, and other elements.
Ill then have 3 more days to make my 16 hour way back to Havana, although I intend to pass through the cities of Cienfuegos and Santa Clara on my way over there, which I have not visited yet. Then, on Tuesday the 28th, I´ll leave Cuba, and arrive in the Netherlands the 29th.
See you all soon!
Thomas
salsera_alemana
Member
Hey Lockstep,
Thanks - as always - for your two last travel reports. Very interesting! I have not been to the Dom. Rep., otherwise I would give you some suggestions of what to see there. Strange that you cannot even buy a guide in a bookstore. Since you have Internet access, check out the Net for some advice and tips. There should be plenty of information.
What you say about Santiago de Cuba goes in line with my experience. Me and my girlfriend spent about 3-4 days there and at the end we were looking forward to go back to Havana. Santiago is an interesting place, we hired a taxi for a whole day (in 92 there was no public transportation because of the "periodo especial") to go into the Sierra Maestra to La Plata, from where Che Guevara and Fidel organized the Cuban revolution. But we had even more - and more persistent - guys constantly at our heels than in Havana. We said that in Havana they were like mosquitos, but in Santiago they were like zancudos (blood sucking insects).
I wish you luck with you discovering the Dominican Republic.
I am looking forward to your next travel report.
Thanks - as always - for your two last travel reports. Very interesting! I have not been to the Dom. Rep., otherwise I would give you some suggestions of what to see there. Strange that you cannot even buy a guide in a bookstore. Since you have Internet access, check out the Net for some advice and tips. There should be plenty of information.
What you say about Santiago de Cuba goes in line with my experience. Me and my girlfriend spent about 3-4 days there and at the end we were looking forward to go back to Havana. Santiago is an interesting place, we hired a taxi for a whole day (in 92 there was no public transportation because of the "periodo especial") to go into the Sierra Maestra to La Plata, from where Che Guevara and Fidel organized the Cuban revolution. But we had even more - and more persistent - guys constantly at our heels than in Havana. We said that in Havana they were like mosquitos, but in Santiago they were like zancudos (blood sucking insects).
I wish you luck with you discovering the Dominican Republic.
I am looking forward to your next travel report.
About Drugs, Brothels and Fraud
Dear all,
well, I´m back in Cuba - and thank god for it! Although I certainly have some issues with Cuban and as I have told you some of its problems inevitably get on one´s nerves after some time, compared to the Dominican Republic it is a little paradise on Earth.
The second day, after my little unfortunate adventure with my first dominican ´friend´ that I mentioned in the previous email, I decided to give the dominicans another chance. After all, the guy had been generally nice, although his views and mine about how to enjoy ourselves differed somewhat. Either way, as ´la Dominicana´ is way too dangerous in many parts to wander about on your own, having a dominican guide is something of a must if one intends to get out of the tourist areas.
Either way, during my second night I wandered over to a hotel to ask directions to a particular bar that I heard played decent music and had a nice ambience. There, I met what certainly appeared to be a common receptionist: well-dressed, speaking 4 languages and carrying the card of the hotel. As such, when he told me he´d finish work in 5 minutes and would walk with me, I was not very suspicious and welcomed the offer.
That night, he showed me around a bit and, very different from what would have happened in Cuba, we were splitting the costs and he might even have paid more than I did that night. For this reason, when he invited me along to the beach resort he was planning to go to the next two days during his mini-holidays, I gladly accepted, eager for any opportunity to save money by being able to share a room.
Yet, when the next day we went to the bank, after having checked into the hotel (even skipping several because he thought they were too expensive), for one reason or another the machine could not read his card, and as it was sunday, we would have to wait for the next day to get his money. Consequently, I paid for the room and the meals that day but asked for his official ID as his safeguard.
Next day, when I had already paid for the second night of the hotel, we went to the bank by bus. At one busstop, my ´friend´ went to the bathroom, and never came back. Naturally, when I checked back at the hotel, they had never heard of him, despite the fact that I met him there, and his ID turned out to be false. Probably, he was simply a fraud that might have worked in another hotel but used the other one as a cover and a hunting ground for tourists. In total, it cost me a bit of money, but mainly the last bit of confidence I had in any Caribbean figure. Of course throughout the episode I was a bit paranoid, which is why I asked for his ID, but I never imagined the fraud would be this professionally prepared and simply hoped that at least one decent and spontaneous person could be found in the capital.
Besides from this experience, however, there is also little else in the Republic that compensated for it. The entire country seems to thrive on sex tourism, with the beaches full of white-haired white men agressively hunting for the dominican women, even harassing those that are clearly not in the business. Similarly, the nightlife, or at least that part of it where a tourist can safely visit, is filled with prostitutes that are certainly gifted in selling their goods, making good use of the caribbean inherent dancing skill, especially with respect to the latest hype: the reggaeton music style.
A funny story in relation to this concerns my return to the capital of Santo Domingo. I returned to the hotel where I had stayed before, which intended to charge me nearly 50% as much because this time I had not reserved by the internet. I didn´t buy this explanation and went searching for a cheaper hotel. In the end, I discovered one at the reasonable price of 10 dollars per night. Soon, I discovered the reason behind this low price: the rooms around me tended to be filled for only one hour at a time or so, being used by the prositutes and their local customers.
As such, all in the dominican seems to revolve around the flesh trade. The hotels come supplied with condoms and have a special rate in order to ´spend some time´ or to have a girl ´sleep over´. It must be said that it is not just the sex tourists who stimulate this, as the dominican males themselves seem pretty willing to make good use of the leftovers of the night, buying the girls at discounted rates. I once read some statistics about the amount of times the average person considers or thinks about sex. Whatever the number was, the dominicans certainly pull up the average!
Beside this, of course, the dominican republic has the usual share of old buildings and such, but, flooded with tourists, they are not tremendously appealing. Furthermore, as I already mentioned in the last email, any and all tourist infrastructure is lacking, so that the tourists are mainly confined to all-inclusive beach hotels. Backpacking, independent travelling or even small excursions is extremely difficult.
I was therefore happy to return to Cuba, although this was not without difficulties. Having already been to Cuba before, I was of course subjected to extensive interviews by 4 different officials about my reasons for coming to Cuba, the people I knew there, etc. Worst, however, was the problems I had due to having bought a painting in la Dominicana. Apparently, the immigrations officials decided it was necessary to have the painting tested to see whether the paint contained any drugs. And, while the chemist was working away, they of course did not let the opportunity pass to completely review the entire contents of my bag...which arrived safely in Cuba with the exception of missing water bottle that I either lost, or that some luggage handler exchanged for the ´guide to christianity´ that appeared in my backpag. Apparently, this form of preaching is fairly common at the airports as the customs officials took little notice of it. Either way, I´ll make sure to seal my bag before going to the Netherlands.
Now, ´home´ in Cuba, I was immediately welcomed by a citywide power cut that prevented me from taking my much-desired shower. Also, the usually impresive menu of the biggest hotel stereotypically could only supply fried chicken with rice. Ah well, it´s a small price to pay for being out of the dominican republic again.
Tonight, I will torment myself by venturing onto the night bus from Santiago to Trinidad, some 10 hours in total. From there, I´ll take a connecting bus (if in time) to Cienfuegos, where I will pass some hours before visiting my last stopoff point, Santa Clara, where Che Guevara is buried. The next day, I´ll go to Havana, in order to wait for my flight, Tuesday the 28th.
Although I had a great time, I´m now looking forward to coming home, and sharing my experiences with you all! See you all very soon and take care!
Thomas
Dear all,
well, I´m back in Cuba - and thank god for it! Although I certainly have some issues with Cuban and as I have told you some of its problems inevitably get on one´s nerves after some time, compared to the Dominican Republic it is a little paradise on Earth.
The second day, after my little unfortunate adventure with my first dominican ´friend´ that I mentioned in the previous email, I decided to give the dominicans another chance. After all, the guy had been generally nice, although his views and mine about how to enjoy ourselves differed somewhat. Either way, as ´la Dominicana´ is way too dangerous in many parts to wander about on your own, having a dominican guide is something of a must if one intends to get out of the tourist areas.
Either way, during my second night I wandered over to a hotel to ask directions to a particular bar that I heard played decent music and had a nice ambience. There, I met what certainly appeared to be a common receptionist: well-dressed, speaking 4 languages and carrying the card of the hotel. As such, when he told me he´d finish work in 5 minutes and would walk with me, I was not very suspicious and welcomed the offer.
That night, he showed me around a bit and, very different from what would have happened in Cuba, we were splitting the costs and he might even have paid more than I did that night. For this reason, when he invited me along to the beach resort he was planning to go to the next two days during his mini-holidays, I gladly accepted, eager for any opportunity to save money by being able to share a room.
Yet, when the next day we went to the bank, after having checked into the hotel (even skipping several because he thought they were too expensive), for one reason or another the machine could not read his card, and as it was sunday, we would have to wait for the next day to get his money. Consequently, I paid for the room and the meals that day but asked for his official ID as his safeguard.
Next day, when I had already paid for the second night of the hotel, we went to the bank by bus. At one busstop, my ´friend´ went to the bathroom, and never came back. Naturally, when I checked back at the hotel, they had never heard of him, despite the fact that I met him there, and his ID turned out to be false. Probably, he was simply a fraud that might have worked in another hotel but used the other one as a cover and a hunting ground for tourists. In total, it cost me a bit of money, but mainly the last bit of confidence I had in any Caribbean figure. Of course throughout the episode I was a bit paranoid, which is why I asked for his ID, but I never imagined the fraud would be this professionally prepared and simply hoped that at least one decent and spontaneous person could be found in the capital.
Besides from this experience, however, there is also little else in the Republic that compensated for it. The entire country seems to thrive on sex tourism, with the beaches full of white-haired white men agressively hunting for the dominican women, even harassing those that are clearly not in the business. Similarly, the nightlife, or at least that part of it where a tourist can safely visit, is filled with prostitutes that are certainly gifted in selling their goods, making good use of the caribbean inherent dancing skill, especially with respect to the latest hype: the reggaeton music style.
A funny story in relation to this concerns my return to the capital of Santo Domingo. I returned to the hotel where I had stayed before, which intended to charge me nearly 50% as much because this time I had not reserved by the internet. I didn´t buy this explanation and went searching for a cheaper hotel. In the end, I discovered one at the reasonable price of 10 dollars per night. Soon, I discovered the reason behind this low price: the rooms around me tended to be filled for only one hour at a time or so, being used by the prositutes and their local customers.
As such, all in the dominican seems to revolve around the flesh trade. The hotels come supplied with condoms and have a special rate in order to ´spend some time´ or to have a girl ´sleep over´. It must be said that it is not just the sex tourists who stimulate this, as the dominican males themselves seem pretty willing to make good use of the leftovers of the night, buying the girls at discounted rates. I once read some statistics about the amount of times the average person considers or thinks about sex. Whatever the number was, the dominicans certainly pull up the average!
Beside this, of course, the dominican republic has the usual share of old buildings and such, but, flooded with tourists, they are not tremendously appealing. Furthermore, as I already mentioned in the last email, any and all tourist infrastructure is lacking, so that the tourists are mainly confined to all-inclusive beach hotels. Backpacking, independent travelling or even small excursions is extremely difficult.
I was therefore happy to return to Cuba, although this was not without difficulties. Having already been to Cuba before, I was of course subjected to extensive interviews by 4 different officials about my reasons for coming to Cuba, the people I knew there, etc. Worst, however, was the problems I had due to having bought a painting in la Dominicana. Apparently, the immigrations officials decided it was necessary to have the painting tested to see whether the paint contained any drugs. And, while the chemist was working away, they of course did not let the opportunity pass to completely review the entire contents of my bag...which arrived safely in Cuba with the exception of missing water bottle that I either lost, or that some luggage handler exchanged for the ´guide to christianity´ that appeared in my backpag. Apparently, this form of preaching is fairly common at the airports as the customs officials took little notice of it. Either way, I´ll make sure to seal my bag before going to the Netherlands.
Now, ´home´ in Cuba, I was immediately welcomed by a citywide power cut that prevented me from taking my much-desired shower. Also, the usually impresive menu of the biggest hotel stereotypically could only supply fried chicken with rice. Ah well, it´s a small price to pay for being out of the dominican republic again.
Tonight, I will torment myself by venturing onto the night bus from Santiago to Trinidad, some 10 hours in total. From there, I´ll take a connecting bus (if in time) to Cienfuegos, where I will pass some hours before visiting my last stopoff point, Santa Clara, where Che Guevara is buried. The next day, I´ll go to Havana, in order to wait for my flight, Tuesday the 28th.
Although I had a great time, I´m now looking forward to coming home, and sharing my experiences with you all! See you all very soon and take care!
Thomas
africana
New Member
lockstep you're really a great writer! excellent narration I was there with you. Yep there's not much to romanticize in those places..
But I noticed you didn't report much about dancing experiences, did you learn anything?? When I went we stayed just ne week, but it was crammed full of dance training, percussion lessons, and dance outings
But I noticed you didn't report much about dancing experiences, did you learn anything?? When I went we stayed just ne week, but it was crammed full of dance training, percussion lessons, and dance outings