Traveling Time in Cuba

Exiting the plane and onto the jet bridge in Havana will start the Cuban Experience. Everything at this point seems to be older and has less up keep than many of the other places one my travel.

Going through customs was surprisingly not a long process. I showed my Covid QR code that I had to get prior to boarding and then, waited as the immigration agent helped the single person in front of me. I handed my passport and visa form once I got the agent and was asked, “Why are you traveling to Cuba?” my answer was the one option I had to fill out multiple times on multiple forms and websites, “Support for the Cuban People”. A supervisor was called over and given my passport, and I was told to stand over there till someone gets me. Another supervisor or manager shows up with my passport again same question and response. Finally a 3^rd supervisor shows up and the dialog is repeated. I’m handed off to a different agent, stamped in and I’m on my way, not too bad about 15 minutes all in all.

Once outside the airport, I notice there are a lot of old cars, even the Yellow taxis seem to be pretty old. Bridges are not painted and everything just seems to have this very old, look like a movie from the 70s, I have told many people that it was like traveling in Greece in the 80s.

First stop was Fusterlandia, this amazing neighborhood outside of Havana started as small art project by artist José Fuster. He started out doing these tile projects on his house and then his neighbors started asking him to do their house too. Eventually the whole neighborhood became an art project of these amazing mosaics. I also went into the art studio and was able to see some of his paintings and other works.

After check in to the casa particular, it’s off to explore the city and meet some people. Wandering through the Old Havana neighborhood was a stunning contrast of images. There were many very run down and building ready to topple over, next to nice well kept little houses with flowers on the balconies and cute decorations. Everything had bars on the windows and doors. Walking in the neighborhoods, I was approached by multiple people always asking where are you from and what are you looking for, I found everyone quite polite and friendly.

I went to the main Cathedral square and though the church was closed, was able to check out the square and walk around the neighborhood. Next I happened to wander on to the “La Bodeguita del Medio” where they claim to have invented the mojito. This was one of Ernest Hemingway’s hang outs while he was in Cuba. The atmosphere was fun and they had a live group of musicians that played great music. I really thought the flute player was a stand out in the group. The mojitos, well, let’s say they may be the first to make them but I found them very disappointing. I would be hard pressed to remember a worse mojito.

Wandering up to the capitol, I was able to see an amazing sunset in between the buildings around the capital and Shopping districts. I knew the Capitol was modeled after the US capitol but I was surprised when one of the people asking if I wanted a tour, told me it was also made to be exactly 5 meters taller than the US. This is also where classic cars are lined up to go around giving tourists city tours. I walked down to the street eventually heading back towards the Malacon where I saw this cool bust of a women’s face. I waited around the Malecon for classic cars to drive by so I could get shots of the old cars with New Havana and the Malecon in the background.

My first full day in Havana started at 6:30am I was surprised at how many people were out and about. I went to the main Cathedral and wanted to get shots of the square and front of the church and still had to wait for people to get out of the way that early. Walked around the fortress and through many of the neighborhoods again and then up again to the Capitol building along the pedestrian walkway. I got this last shot here and thought this was a very interesting contrast of Havana. The front of the Capitol is all nice an well kept looks amazing, but as I waslked around it, the back of the Capitol had a street just filled with garbage.

After breakfast, I continued down to China town and got a couple shots there and decided to head to the Plaza de Revolution. I treated myself to a Classic car ride in a convertible 57 Ford and had a great conversation with my driver Marti. He was super knowledgeable and spoke English really well. From there I took one of the little 3 wheel taxies to the Hotel National. I wanted to look around and see why the gardens are always mentioned in the what to do. Unfortunately there was construction and the gardens were being redone.

I walked back through to the city to Old Havana again, went to the hotel as I wanted to go up to the castle “El Moro” for sunset pictures. I was able to get a some good shots around the castle then just a short walk to the Fort of San Carlos to watch the Canon Ceremony.

Every night at 9pm they fire the canon at the fort. This tradition started in the 17^th Century and is very ritualized and stylized It’s quite a draw and there were quite a few people there for how remote it was. It was very dark and even at a very high ISO the picture were hard to get.

My third day was the trip out to Vinales, to see some of the country side and also a tobacco farm. I had a driver stop along the road a few times to get some country side shots, and then he took me up to a viewpoint to see the mountains surrounding the valley. We then went into the town of Vinales and again stopped in a few places to get some shots of the town and the mountains.

Next was an obligatory stop at a tobacco farm, where they showed how to roll cigars and showed us the rum they made from apricots. I walked around the farm a bit and then off to see the caves.

The first was the San Miguel Cave. It was a little bit of a smaller one that had a restaurant built into it and was kind of a cool 20 minute walk.

The Cueva del Indio (Indian Cave) was much bigger and the very end had a boat ride through it. No said anything to me and I set up the tripod and shot a few long exposure HDR photos, which I thought was pretty cool. This cave was originally used by indigenous people in the area and during the boat ride the guide would call out several rock formations.

Had lunch with the guide at the great little mom and pop restaurant and then off to our last stop, Murales de la Prehistoria. This huge mural was made as a tourist attraction, but still was a cool little stop. While at lunch, I got this great little portrait of a tobacco farmer taking a break from his work. I bought the guy a beer and thanked him for letting me get the shot.

If I was to do this again I would recommend an overnight in Vinales and getting to do some of the horseback riding and other attractions in the area. I would have really loved to do some Sunrise and Sunset photos here.

We got back to Havana around 8pm and I walked around the city one last time. Got these last couple shots, walking around. The gate with the food in the background is how you order things from many of the bodegas throughout Cuba. You are not allowed in, the clerk passes you what you order through the gates. Many houses were like this one, with people watching their TV’s and gates looking out into the open street.

Heading off to the airport, where once again I was there “for support of the Cuban people”. I could not resist to get this shot of the airplane.

A couple of thoughts:

I would have stayed a little more central in Havana. Walking around Old Havana was great, but I would have liked to maybe have seen more of central Havana as well.

Vinales while possible as a day trip, I think would have made a great overnight trip. It would have given me more time to talk to locals and see more of the town.

Lastly plan to not have internet or phone. I was only able to use the internet at the hostel I stayed at and even then it was very intermittent. I’m very grateful I download Google maps to work off line while I was there.