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Cuba

Well Cuba is kind of a long story... but the short introduction could be:

Diving. I brought my underwater housing which is big, heavy and a bit clumsy to have in your backpack, but the results and the uw-pictures are so great. Cuba is a lovely place for diving. The best places are Punta Gorda, Bay of pigs (which I didn't visit) and Isla de Juventud. At Punta Francés at Isla de Juventud the visibility was 40 m and we saw huge schools of bat fish, moray eels, eagle rays, nurse sharks, baracudas, corals and much more. The diving is controlled and run by the government and might seem a bit expensive (55 dollars for a day including equipment and 2 dives), but when you get on the boat you might be able to cut a deal with the dive masters :-) I dived at Trinidad in the eastern part of Cuba too and here the water is still clear and great, but not the extreme 40 m - more like 20 m. Here I had two dives from the beach and enjoyed many of the coral caves, swimthroughs and coral walls. Not as many fish as at Isla de Juventud, but still well worth the dives.

The people. Well actually I didn't go to Cuba primarily for the diving, eventhough that would make a lot of sense. I liked to get close to the people and travel / live like they do. Cuba is poor, but the people still friendly and open. They like the visitors and you can always find some Cuban to talk with. Some of them like to finish the conversation asking a little bit of money though. I guess you cannot blame them, when the average salary is 12 dollars a month (in Cuban pesos). The peso-stores have not much to offer and a lot of the things is 2nd hand. Even the dollar shops have a limited selection of goods. Tourists almost only pay in dollars, but when you get out into the country side, you can buy for Cuban pesos at street markets and food stalls. The food in restaurants (99% government owned) is not worth much and I can only recommend finding a private home to eat in - called "paladares" and the private homes (casa particulares) are also the best and cheapest place to stay. Normally very friendly and good standard. Prices for a double room differs from 10 to 25 dollars.

Cigars, sugar, rum and the music. Today Cuba's main source of income is tourism - more than 1,8 million tourists come every year and initially Fidel didn't like the tourists to come, but money and especially dollars talk - in Cuba too. But apart from tourism Cuba is known for the high quality of their cigars, rum and music. I can understand why. It's prohibited to visit the sugar and rum factories and nobody knows the reason. Most Cubans stopped questioning government regulations/decisions decades ago. However, you're welcome at the tobacco cigar factories - eventhough you're not allowed to take pictures inside (my tip is to come late in the afternoon and alone! See the pictures below:)

Most Cubans are very aware of the strict rules and regulations, but it's not in their hearts. They accept it, but normally you can talk about the most stupid things, when there's no officials around. I found that in Cuba you always seem to find a solution - eventhough at first things might seem impossible. Don't give up! For instance the pictures I have from the factory was with the help from my very very helpful guide and naturally she liked a tip (but didn't ask for it). I was so happy that I could shoot the pictures and left the factory with no money left in my pockets. Instead I had a lot of fresh hand-rolled cigars and great pictures.

Almost every day or evening we heard Cuban music and enjoyed the cultural life. Salsa, rumba and casino dances - I just love it.

Travelling around Cuba can be a bit annoying some times, because the buses are filled 200%. People some times wait all night for a seat in the busses. But actually a lot of places doesn't have busses anymore. The busses are broken or it's too expensive to buy gasoline for them. Today many "bus services" is done with trucks and people are jammed so much together, that transporting animals that way in the western world would be considered mistreat.
Cuba has a new good quality bus company called Viazul, but it's too expensive for most Cubans (you pay in dollars) and mostly focus on tourists. Unfortunately Viazul only goes to the big cities and if you like to go to Bay of pigs for instance you need to book an expensive tour or take a taxi. Many of the ferries are old and brakes down all the time. The air planes... well it's an experience and it's not every day you get the opportunity to fly around in a piece of history. Domestic flights are often old Russian Antonov airplanes. The British foregin ministry warns people about flying with Cubana. We flew twice and it was fun. The plane seemed old, but okay.

I went to a lot of places in Cuba. Pinar del Rio was the city most to the west and Santiago de Cuba the one most to the east. All nice places and apart from Havana and the above mentioned places, I also like to recommend Viñales, Trinidad, Cienfuegos and certainly Isla de Juventud.

All pictures are shot by me during my trip in November 2003.

Joachim