Cuba

Cuba is interesting and infuriating. Being in Cuba necessarily involves giving way to a simpler existence. But the apparent simplicity is in fact just the result of existing in a socialist state under a planned economy. The economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee and nickel. And apart from rum and pineapples, not much else is easy to come by.

Cuba imports nearly all of its food and of that, about 80% is rationed for the population. There are no supermarkets, milk is virtually non-existent, at every restaurant at least half of the menu isn’t available on any given day and much of the food that is available consists almost entirely of rice, pork and black beans. Toilet paper and soap are scarce and virtually anything else you might like to obtain is impossible to get. And it is incredibly difficult to get internet. It must be one of the few places left in the world where modern consumerism is yet to burgeon. The idea that this country would have no advertising or product diversification and not a single Starbucks, McDonald’s or H&M was appealing to me. I had imagined that without the infiltration of capitalist influence, there would be, in its place, an overwhelmingly vibrant culture and national authenticity. There is the rum and salsa, of course, but it seemed to be missing everything else, and I was disappointed. But perhaps my expectations were too high. Or perhaps I had conjured in my imagination a false image of a place that doesn’t exist. Or maybe it was an image of a country that has ceased to exist.

Before Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959, Cuba was one of the most advanced and successful countries in Latin America, albeit under a corrupt dictatorship. Stimulated by the profitable export of sugar to the US, the economy was strong and Havana was described as a “glittering and dynamic city”. Shadows of its glamorous past can still be seen in the grandiose architecture of some of the abandoned buildings and homes around the city. But post-revolution Cuba depended on Moscow for subsidies worth billions annually, so when the Soviet collapsed in 1991, the country faced a severe economic downturn. The loss of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression, from which it has not recovered. Cuba took limited free market-oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services, but one it did take was the reopening of Cuba to tourism.

Cuba’s capital, Havana, is an interesting city, and certain parts of it are beautiful. It naturally has a feeling of stepping back in time, no doubt aided by the colonial architecture and iconic vintage cars. A must-do in Havana is taking a tour around the city in one of the classic vintage cars. Many are beautifully maintained and painted in bright colours. We rode in a blue, roofless Ford Fairlane, circa 1950.

The other highlight for me was exploring the streets of Old Havana taking photos. It’s an area of such contrast: the streets endlessly morph from dilapidated buildings that are barely more than a pile of rubble to beautifully restored colonial buildings in freshly painted pastels.

I liked Old Havana, but other than that, I wasn’t particularly taken by the city. I am not sure exactly what I had expected, but it wasn’t quite the vibrant place I had hoped for. I think the real Cuba — the one I was imagining — lies outside of its capital.

After meeting up with Dad and Sue in Havana on my first night in Cuba, the three of us took a 4 hour bus ride the next morning to Viñales, a small town in the west of Cuba. The town serves as a gateway to the Sierra de los Organos mountains and the Viñales valley. The valley is characterised by tall, steep-sided limestone hills covered in lush greenery surrounding either side of a wide, flat valley filled with banana plants, tobacco and sugar cane.

On the bus ride to Viñales, Sue sat next to a guy from London called Greg. He was travelling alone and so we adopted him for a couple of days in Viñales. When we arrived in town we all had lunch together (including a couple of mojitos) and planned a visit for the next day to the large cave system known as Gran Caverna St Thomas. With plans sorted for the next day, we left to find our accomodation. In Cuba, and especially outside of Havana, hotels are rare. Most accommodation for tourists is by way of a homestay called a casa particular. The homes reminded me of my Nanna’s house —with floral print couches, lace tablecloths, vases of fake flowers, ugly paintings on the walls and a TV and telephone handset from the 90s.

We were fortunate to arrive in Viñales on a Saturday afternoon because every Saturday night the main street is closed off to vehicles for a sort of street party. The restaurants put tables in the street, locals play live music and perform and everyone meets to salsa in the streets. We chose a restaurant for dinner, deciding on this one over many others simply because they were offering $1 mojitos. The others were asking $1.80… After dinner and a few rounds of mojitos we took to the streets to dance. In between dances we’d grab another mojito from one of the street stalls selling drinks. It was a scene of the most genuine joy. Random locals would take your hand to dance, which was fun, but for me, it was watching the local couples salsa that had me truly mesmerised. I have never in my life seen dancing so good. This was Cuba! This is what I was hoping for. But unfortunately, for the rest of my time in Cuba, I never experienced anything so authentic as that evening.

The next morning we met up with Greg in the main plaza and took a taxi to the Gran Caverna St Thomas. It is the second largest cave system in the Americas with 46km of winding tunnels and caverns sitting inside the mountainside. We took a guided tour, which started by hiking straight up the hillside to reach the entrance, and then walked through the caves for about 90 minutes, admiring the stalagmites and stalactites, underground pools and interesting rock formations. The following day we walked from town to Hotel Jazmines — a bright pink hotel at the top of one side of the valley. We arrived just in time to watch the sun setting spectacularly over the valley.

On our last day in Viñales, we went on a horse riding tour along a mud trail through the valley floor. The guided ride took us through fields of tobacco and plantations of banana, coffee and sugar cane. It was peaceful, slowly wandering through the valley, listening to the sounds of bamboo creaking in the breeze. We made two stops along the way — the first was at a family run tobacco farm where we saw how a traditional cuban cigar is made. The entire process is by hand and the rolling of each cigar takes 20 minutes.

The family is required to give 90% of their product to the Government, but they keep the best 10% of the product for themselves. We had a puff of a cigar and then got back on the horses.

The second stop we made was at a farm that produces coffee, rum and honey. We tasted each and I bought some honey — it came in a reused 600mL plastic water bottle. I later gave what was left of the honey to the taxi driver who took me to the airport in Havana (preempting rejection by US customs of my oddly packaged goods). He was delighted.

After 4 days in Viñales we took the bus back to Havana where we spent another two nights before taking an 8 hour bus ride south to the town of Trinidad, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The centre of the town has bumpy cobblestoned streets lined with exquisite colonial buildings painted in bright colours and palm trees dotted around the squares providing shade from the intense heat.

After exploring the town on the first morning, we sat in a pretty plaza to enjoy a mojito. The plaza was surrounded by brightly coloured buildings with pink bougainvillea spilling from the balconies above. In many of the plazas and restaurants in Cuba there are often musicians playing music as well. It creates a fun atmosphere, but you always need a few CUC on you to donate. In Cuba there are two currencies — the CUP for the locals and the CUC for the tourists. The CUC is pegged against the US dollar and is worth about 25 times as much as the CUP. While Cubans are paid in CUP, nearly all consumer goods are priced in CUC. The second currency was introduced in 1994 to bolster the economy, and although it has enabled Cuba to access foreign currency, it has created serious divisions in society by placing anyone who works for the state at a serious disadvantage compared to those who can charge for services in CUC (which are primarily tourist facing enterprises). Many tourists consider Cuba to be cheap, but when you consider the state of the economy it isn’t really that inexpensive. The average wage is the equivalent of about 25CUC per month, so even a 5CUC meal for dinner is alarmingly out of reach for the majority of the population who are employed by the State and earning CUP. Although education in Cuba is free, the younger generation are choosing to work in tourism because they can earn more being a waitress than a doctor.

The following day we took a taxi out to the beach called Playa Ancon. It is considered one of the nicest beaches on the south coast of Cuba. While we didn’t find the beach particularly special, we enjoyed some mojitos and dinner at a beach bar while watching the sun go down.

While in Trinidad we also went to a mojito making class that we found through Airbnb Experiences. We learnt about the history of the mojito, which was originally used to help treat scurvy with the citrus from the lime. Later, the drink was made popular when Americans visiting Cuba during prohibition took it back to the bars of the US. Ever since it has been on the menu in bars all over the world. Our host said that in Cuba often the only thing that keeps people going is the rum.

While we were in Trinidad we also had a bit of a photo competition. Sue would choose a topic, Dad and I would take photos, and at the end of the day submit our favourite 5 to Sue to judge. It was a fun way to push our creativity, and also as a result, I have far more photos from Cuba than any other country I visited this year.

The final location of our Cuban experience was at Playa Girón. It is a beach town on the south coast of Cuba, known for its beautiful coastline and scuba diving in the famous Bay of Pigs. The highlight was spending a day at Caleta Buena, a beautiful part of the coast with a crystal clear bay. We spent the day there to celebrate my 30th, enjoying the sea-side sun lounges, buffet lunch and all you can drink cocktails. We ploughed through the mojitos and had the occasional swim to cool off.

The next day I left Dad and Sue in Playa Girón and took a bus to Havana. For my final night in Cuba I decided to treat myself for my birthday to a night at Hotel Nacional. It is an iconic site in Havana: sitting grandly on top of a small hill a few metres back from the sea, offering sweeping views across the Havana Harbour. After two weeks of cold showers and lumpy beds, it felt like absolute luxury to stand under a hot shower and sleep in premium hotel linens. But that is not Cuba. If you came to Cuba and stayed in a nice hotel in Havana, you would miss the undertone of an entire country.

Cuba is one of the few socialist states left in the world, adhering to socialist principles based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Every Cuban household has a ration book entitling it to a monthly supply of food and other staples, which are provided at nominal cost. However, it was frequently stated to us that while it is enough to prevent a person from starving, it is not enough to live off. But overt poverty is rare. It is nothing like India, for example, where starvation and homelessness are achingly apparent on the streets. From 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own homes and as a result there is virtually no homelessness. 85% of Cubans own their homes and pay no property taxes or mortgage interest.

However, many locals repeated the same sentiment to us: socialism sounds good in theory, but the practical result is a population struggling to get what they need and want in a planned economy controlled by a Communist Government. After all, it is an authoritarian regime. But it is slowly changing. I think it will be interesting to see how Cuba changes over the next decade as it faces tourism and the world wide web.