All is well, Fidel!
All is well, Fidel!
Travel time April 3-20.2012 Daytime temperature 30-32, night 22-23.
Itinerary: Havana 5 days, flight to Cayo Largo 6 nights, flight to Varadero - 6 nights.
The private tour was organized by the Cuban travel agency Havanatur.
I want to thank the travel agency for the efficient work both in Russia when preparing the trip, and on the territory of the Republic of Cuba.
For us, as a married couple, it was a kind of real adventure and, to some extent, a meeting with youth. The fact is that my husband, a sovietiko marinero, visited Cuba several times on a warship in the 70s, but for me, Cuba has always been just a beautiful picture in black and white photographs.
But now the time has come when visiting Cuba has become a reality. True, the transatlantic flight frightened me with its duration and the expected inconvenience. I asked about business class: $ 1000 extra for one ticket (round trip).
Our budget did not pull such amounts, so we flew in economy class. The thirteen hours before Havana passed without notice. We flew along the so-called great circle arc: through the north, Sweden-Iceland-Greenland, then Canada, America. Everything was perfectly visible and it was interesting to look at a map from a school textbook that seemed to come to life. The return flight at night was harder…. .
And here we are in Havana! ! . The first impression: it is dark at the airport, and the city clearly lacks lighting. Tourists are not recommended to walk in the center at night. Although in the evening in the historical part of the city there are policemen at every intersection.
Hotel "Raguel" 4 * (BB) (old Havana).
The decision to take the Junior Suit number was absolutely correct. These rooms in the hotel are located on the top floor with access to a wonderful terrace.
Here we drank our first rum - somehow we could not sleep after the flight and the time shift by 8 hours.
The hotel has 25 rooms in total, the building is from the beginning of the 20th century, renovated and looks very nice. This hotel with Jewish cuisine. Breakfast is edible but tasteless. It didn’t really bother us, because we had lunch or dinner in completely different places in Havana.
We liked the hotel as a whole - beautiful, in the center of old Havana, a good room, but, unfortunately, it was with this hotel (or rather with the hotel management) that the only very unpleasant episode was associated during the entire trip.
Upon arrival at Raguel, we asked to release the mini-bar, which was done by the hotel staff. And so, on the last day of departure, at 5 am, a taxi to the airport is waiting for us, and we are billed for the mini-bar.! ! ! ! The hotel clerk is trying hard to prove that we are scammers and trying to leave without paying the bills. And all this in very bad English. However, the Spanish words that she would call the police were very clear. .
In the end, the bill was paid, but on the receipt they wrote "I paid, but I do not agree. " Frustrated, we flew to Cayo Largo. But we decided not to leave it like that, informed our guide Alexei about what had happened, explained the situation and informed him that we would officially write a complaint to the management of the Habaguanex hotel chain, which owns the Raguel hotel. This story had a happy ending: on the last day at the airport in Havana, when departing from Cuba, we were found by Alexei, who conveyed an apology (and money!! ) from the hotel management……
But back to the first days in Havana.
The sightseeing tour helped us to orient ourselves in the city, all other days we walked on our own, referring to the guidebook.
Could not resist and drove on a private vintage car. In recent years, small businesses have been allowed in Cuba and the first cooperatives, private hairdressers, car repair shops, taxis, guesthouses, and commercial stores have appeared.
In any case, when it was necessary to buy trousers, there was a store where quite decent Italian trousers were purchased for about 50 euros. In state stores, the clothes are cheap and simple. But young people in Havana are dressed fashionably and beautifully - that is, apparently, they find an opportunity to “get” jeans and everything else for themselves .....
In general, on the Cuban calendar, the Russian year is 1986 ...
Were in the department of the state bank: the employees are extremely serious, and the walls are shabby and the chairs are broken. In the bank queue - Cubans change their pesos to cookies (converted Cuban pesos). Recently, it has become possible for Cubans to legally buy foreign currency. All operations, of course, are recorded, but we are not surprised by this. The difference between ordinary pesos (which Cubans get paid) and currency pesos is about 1 to 24.
The city is somewhat similar to St. Petersburg: the same picturesque imperial ruins. .
In the 16th century, Havana was the capital of the Spanish colonies.
The center is old Havana, it is primarily houses in the old Spanish style. Another part of the city was built up by the Americans, while examples of Soviet housing construction can only be seen in the provinces. They say that Soviet specialists in the 70s offered to contribute to the architectural appearance of the Cuban capital, the Cubans politely refused ....
In the center of Havana, some buildings have been restored at the expense of UNESCO, museums have been opened in them, and communal apartments in the rest. Apartments on the first floors are just open spaces behind light bars. The climate allows not to glaze the windows. All modest furniture in plain sight: a sofa. refrigerator and TV. By the way, it seems to be not even colored .....
In general, if without diplomacy, then real socialist poverty. In local stores, we have already safely forgotten an extremely modest range of goods. The basic food necessary for life, Cubans receive free of charge (on cards).
And it seems that everyone lives as best they can, someone just goes out for a walk in the evening, someone is trying to earn hard currency, and some of the Cubans can already afford to visit Intourist restaurants and cafes. And on the streets of Cuba, you can also notice modern cars, although it is clear that the problem with traffic jams is not yet known to Cubans ...
On the rooftops you can see and hear! ! poultry houses. And chicken eggs on the streets were sold from under the floor. We have seen queues many times - for sausage, in an Internet cafe, in a bank, etc. . For foreigners, who are quite a lot in Cuba, local residents are trying to sell everything for euros and dollars: fruits, souvenirs, the Granma newspaper, seafood, entrance / exit to the toilet, songs and dances, and other other joys. Each cafe has its own small singing group. After the performance, they offer to buy CDs with their recordings. Most of the souvenirs exploit the image of Che Guevara.
But with the leader of the Cuban revolution, we found only stamps and also paid attention to the slogan on Revolution Square: “Vas bien Fiedel” - “Everything is fine, Fidel” - this is a quote from the speech of his colleague C. Cienfuegas.
Early in the morning, they suddenly heard cannon shots - two ships from Venezuela entered the bay. Good old tradition: "The guns from the pier are firing, the ship is ordered to land. "
The frigate URO "Mariscal Sucre" and the training vessel "Simon Bolivar" were placed at the berth. A handsome sailboat, a team dressed in a snow-white dress uniform, music, incendiary dances at the side of the ship - a wonderful sight! !
After the concert on the waterfront, the Venezuelan sailors were taken away on buses, possibly for tours or a reception. I wonder if they, like Soviet sailors once, also have nothing in their pockets except a handkerchief? In the seventies, our officers were not supposed to have pocket money at the gathering ......
We postponed visiting museums until the last day, but it was an unfortunate decision, because this day was declared a day off in Cuba in honor of the arrival of the Pope. So we just wandered around the city, sat in a cafe on the street - in general, we led a real idle life of an foreign tourist ....
Before the trip, reading Internet reviews, I could not understand whether it is possible to eat outside the hotel and how much it costs. And even took, just in case, smoked sausage, black bread, chocolates - what if there really is a problem with food? But all this went into gifts, because in reality there are many places in Havana where a guest of the Cuban capital can eat deliciously, of course, if the guest has those same currency pesos.
We mainly leaned on seafood. Lobsters, lobsters and more lobsters…. A seafood lunch for two with wine on the terrace of the AMBOS MUNDAS hotel cost us about $50.
The dinner was good and the view of the bay is amazing, and the thought that Hemingway himself also sat here was very pleasant.
However, there were such moments: they asked for a bill and waited a long time for a check and change, in the end the offended waiter brought change - a whole handful of coins. In addition, without understanding that 23 cookies included a full meal, we mistakenly ordered more soup, and it was also present on the bill, although, of course, we didn’t eat it twice ......
What we lacked on the trip was the knowledge of the Spanish language. Cubans have already forgotten the Russian language (before, Russian was taught even in schools), but they still do not know English. My hopes to remember something from the Spanish semester at the university did not come true, so we communicated in English and Russian, with those who still somehow speak it.
Who speaks Russian today in Cuba: those who studied in the USSR and children of mixed marriages.
So we met a porter who graduated from Moscow State University, a bartender who studied in St. Petersburg at the Polytechnic. Yes, during the times of strong Soviet-Cuban friendship, many Cubans could receive higher education in various fields of knowledge, including the military. It was said that there was even a group of Cubans who studied nuclear physics - they were being trained to service the nuclear power plant being designed. Do they also carry suitcases now??.......
Russian-speaking youth (from mixed marriages) can no longer read and write in Russian, and as a rule they were in Russia in their deep childhood. That is, they saw their Russian grandparents maybe once in a lifetime ..... The main reason is the inability to pay for the flight - 1500 dollars round trip per person. It is possible that the restriction on the free travel of Cubans abroad, which existed for many years, also played a special role.
Russian tourists today occupy the seventh place in the tourist flow, and the first - Canadians, then tourists from Latin America. For 16 days, we noticed only one inscription in Russian - at the entrance to Varadero, on the sign, the greeting “Welcome! »
Unfortunately, we did not have to try to drive around Cuba on our own by car, but we took a taxi from Varadero to Havana for 180 km.
And two flights Havana / Cayo Largo, Cayo Largo / Varadero went smoothly and quickly. In a small airplane, the cockpit is open, all the details of the process are visible and audible, we can probably see this only in the movies now .....
Cayo Largo.
This is a small island with magnificent beaches: one to one picture from the Bounty candy. An island for lovers, honeymoons, etc. , etc. But we didn’t get bored either. There are four hotels and several villas on the island. The seaport from where all sea excursions on catamarans leave.
After the Red Sea, it seemed that you wouldn’t surprise me with anything, but during the excursion on catamarans I was simply struck by huge patterned stars and rapana shimmering with delicate shades - they just lie on the snow-white sand in sky-emerald water, like pearls in royal necklaces .....
We swam at the big reef. There is a subtlety here for snorkelers - you need to dive to the reef - three meters, no less. So it would probably be better to go diving.
Our hotel on the island is Hotel Pelicano, 4 stars.
Very nice hotel, nice standard room on the second floor (as we requested in advance). Great air, sea view, but mosquitoes or mosquitoes flew up to the second floor, and therefore had to close the window at night.
The beach is good. You can wander along the coast, going far beyond the hotel boundaries.
Quite often, people dressed as Adam and Eve walked along the beach, because part of the beach was given to nudists.
It is strange that the idea to get naked, for some reason, mostly comes to people after 40 years, when the body is even initially far from Hollywood, for some reason it is also put on display ....
The hotel has a reef. It is necessary to swim several hundred meters, but it is inanimate and uninteresting for snorkeling. A couple of times we went to Sirena Beach by train. Fine as powder white sand, coconut palms, azure sea, pina colada - a fairy tale!! ! ! ….
The hotel has a show every evening, mostly dance. Very good performance and quality. Incendiary Cuban music accompanied us throughout the holiday. Even upon arrival at the island, in the airport building, while we were waiting for luggage, we were entertained by a small show group: a girl in a red dress with a flower in her hair, and two guys in Hawaiian shirts sang and danced.
Our last stop was Varadero. Five-star hotel Las Americas.
Excellent service, courtesy, smiling staff, cleanliness of the rooms.
Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are irresistible. And fruits - oh papaya! What a delicate harmony of taste.
The main contingent of tourists are Canadians. There are also Russians, but they are not noticeable. Argentines, Brazilians, etc. light up with almost Russian scope and Latin American temperament.
The hotel has a grand show every day. For six days, not a single number and not a single costume was repeated, and there were at least ten dances in the daily program.
Professional artists with brilliant choreographic training, excellently staged and conducted show! ! ! How can one not recall the tortured amateur animation in Egyptian hotels.
It must be admitted that Cuba has a completely different civilizational level (compared to Egypt) and is visible in everything: in culture, first of all. This can be seen in communication and in the arrangement of life, in family relationships, etc.
The very fact that in Cuba you will not meet women in headscarves, and even more so wrapped in a veil, pleased the eye and soul.
Cubans are friendly, open, outwardly very attractive people, with cunning, it is, but how can one live on the island of Cuba without it? ? ?
The famous Dupont Villa and golf courses are located near the hotel. Time flies, and the grass on the golf courses is still perfect. The service industry in Cuba was formed at the beginning of the century, has a long tradition, and even the transfer to social rail did not spoil it much. Las amerikas is owned mostly by Cubans, but also partly by Spaniards. The Cubans allow the creation of foreign companies with a controlling Cuban stake.
We came to the Dupont Villa to watch the sunset and, of course, to drink the famous cocktails. For some reason, it was on the terrace of the villa that some special happy feeling of joy and freedom appeared.
On the other side of the hotel there is a shopping center where we bought all the gifts for the house: rum, Cuban cigarettes - a wide selection, coffee, prices are the same in Havana and Varadero. Paid by card: 1 CUC is equal to 1 dollar.
The post office also worked here, they sent a postcard, gluing additional stamps (exceeding the cost of postal services) on it, we wanted the stamps at the post office to be canceled with a Cuban stamp. …. .
The mall already has a lot of Chinese goods, including replicas of famous brands. Since China is Cuba's largest trading partner and lender, there will probably be more and more of these goods. By the way, even on the plane during the flight from Moscow to Havana, a group of surprisingly silent Chinese in identical black jackets attracted attention.
At the airport, after passing through border control, they lined up in two lines, put on caps with numbers, and went to the bus in formation.
At the entrance to Varadero, it was impossible not to pay attention to oil rigs under the Chinese flag, there is a large contingent of Chinese students at the University of Havana.
We're flying home. Havana airport. Long line to the border control. A stern girl stares at something sternly and for a long time at the computer screen. I was always interested in what information the border guards had. Suddenly, on the opposite wall of the booth, I noticed a clear reflection of the screen. So, what was there: my photo (from a computer camera), passport data, and three whole paragraphs of text.
It is a pity that Spanish was not given to me, otherwise it could have been read. Probably, it says there: they behaved well, they didn’t pester the local population, they didn’t sell vodka, in general, such a normal foreign tourist. Let it come....
And, indeed, time has passed, and already again we are looking at photographs, maps,
Maybe we'll get together again in Cuba???!! ! ! ! Vas bien Fiedel! ! ! !
