Touching down in Cuba you got a sense right away that things were different here… the relic terminal posed few problems and we were greeted at the entrance by our prearranged friendly taxi driver who of course was driving an old 1950’s car. After nearly choking to death on the diesel fumes we made it to our casa (house) which was a cool old apartment with everything we needed.
Breakfast consisted of freshly made donuts for 8cents and bananas which were the cheapest yet at 25 for a dollar! Walking the streets of old Havana was great fun the cars and buildings are fantastic if a little strange as they are all so grand but there are so few people. We visited the revolution plaza complete with huge faces of Che and Castro as well as an old sugar barons house which has been turned into a museum. Lunch was a 25 cent pizza and a much needed cold juice before we continued our walk towards the sea. Although the streets in Havana were much cleaner than in neighbouring Central America the waterfront was not. The crystal clear waters were spoilt by rubbish including tar which had clearly just been dumped over the edge.
Continuing on with the local street food theme we were out wandering the streets when a persistent local sold us a plate of the usual rice and beans accompanied with either pork or chicken, avocado and banana. Also included was a cold drink, home baked cupcake and cigar and an inflated tourist tax and it still only came to $4!
Unfortunately the diesel smoke or some other more sinister bug took nick down and he spent the next 2 days more or less in bed with a fever which is very unlike him! We did manage to get out for an ice cream which are excellent and dirt cheap in Cuba but didn't make it to the local botanical gardens though not through lack of trying… Every time we went they said it had just closed and come back in the morning..
Nick managed to drag his sorry arse out of bed and we took an early morning taxi to the bus station only to find out our ridiculously overpriced bus wasn't going for another 3 hours therefore turning the already long 6 hours bus trip into a very big day. Milking tourists for all they are worth, the bus stopped for an hour at an elaborate buffet restaurant before continuing on the journey down the huge four lane highway in each direction without a single other vehicle in sight.
Finally making it to Trinidad bus terminal we were greeted with the most desperate and aggressive touts yet trying to sell accommodation. Pushing our way through the hordes and walking off we were approached by a quietly spoken, friendly lady who offered us a room for a tenner so we took it. We were more or less forced to buy dinner from our casa but it was a reasonable price and turned out to be pretty damn tasty. The old colonial streets were in parts very run down making it particularly hard to ride our hired bikes over but we managed to dodge the potholes and countless horse poo and find our way to the beach for a welcome swim. The uphill slog on the way home was a hot affair but the lobster for dinner replaced the burnt calories.
The two of us have been together for nearly six years and in that time Nick has never been convinced to get on a horse, whether or not it was because he was still suffering from his mystery bug or it was just the very pushy nature of our casa host I'm not sure. What did happen though was we saddled a couple of old nags and headed out into the countryside. Never having ridden a mule before Nick was not particularly comfortable with being on a horse but did manage to hang on and only complained about having a sore bum after the SIX HOUR tour had ended! We did plod up to a nice waterfall where we had a refreshing swim though bypassed the optional pressured lunch.
The return leg from Trinidad to Havana was undertaken in a 1962 v8 Ford station wagon shared taxi which was considerably smooth and comfortable given its age. Being back in Havana we hit the streets to see the port area which we had missed on our previous visit and stocked up on cheap Cuban rum for our trip to London. We certainly did just that, in total we got 7 bottles of aged Cuban rum for less than $30 (we opted to avoid the local fill your own litre bottle for 80c).
So with bags stuffed full of rum and our stomachs filled with the worst tasting hamburger ever we headed out to the airport early only to be greeted with a 2hour line for checkin which extended out the door. After one final unexpected tax, a broken bag escalator and a passenger who lost their passport we departed almost on time.
Cuba was certainly a buzzy country that is well worth visiting and we are richer (not literally) due to the experience.
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