Куба Cuba

Cuba, January 12-26.2012. Flight We flew with Aeroflot, because we had already heard about the “super service” of Transaero. Flight direct to Havana. Aircraft A-330, fresh, good, everything is fine. Departure is at about one o'clock in the afternoon, arrival in local time (the difference with Moscow in Cuba is 9 hours down) at 17-20. We flew by business, the surcharge for business was $ 800 per person (round trip). By the way, if you go "head on" and order a business on the Aeroflot website, the ticket will be about 200.000 rubles. There is an operator "Solison", they have good prices for hotels, probably the best, but they have a surcharge for business - 160.000. Why is this happening? Because many operators (such as TEZ-tour, which we flew with) BUY blocks of seats in Aeroflot, and if they don’t sell the ticket, then the money burns out. And "Solison", for example, does not BUY, but RESERVES places, therefore, if they have free ones, they cancel the reservation without fines. Those who flew long-distance business flights do not need to describe the advantages of business. Whoever has not flown - do not huddle, because 13.5 hours in one direction and 11.5 in the other economy will immediately finish you off, and we arrived fresh. In addition, we should not forget that economy passengers and business passengers are different things. On the departure from Havana in duty-free, we saw such a "Tagil" that we were afraid that the plane would land somewhere in the States to drop them off. As for Transaero, (the guys with whom we went on excursions said) there, in general, drunken goblins cursed, thumped and fought all the way, the stewardesses did not have time to separate. Even in business, such shots flew to Transaero that it was a shame for them. And the Boeing that Transaero flies with should have left its own 20 years ago... Well, the last nuance: in the economy of Aeroflot they don’t sell booze on the plane and they don’t allow you to drink your own, but in business they calmly pour everything you ask for . But - it's still better not to overdo it, otherwise it will be difficult to transfer the 3-hour bus transfer to Varadero. Still, the weather, the climate, and the pressure are different... Airport - Currency - Transfer Upon arrival in Cuba, they do not stamp the passport, but put it on the immigration card. At first we thought that this was done in order not to “burn” the aging “daddies” in front of their wives, who fly to Cuba either alone or with silicone blondes. In fact, this is done for tourists, because there is the same theme as Israel and the Emirates: if you come to Cuba, you won’t get to the States with this passport. At the exit I met Tez-tour, we left there quite quickly. There is a caveat: the exchange rate in Cuba is approximately the same everywhere (they still have a scoop! ), so it’s better to change part of the money right away at the airport. Why? Because in the shop at the stop that the bus makes along the way, you can’t even buy water for dollars or euros, but you really wanted to drink....I had to get by with chewing gum))). Tez-tour did not bother to distribute even a bottle of water to the bus... By the way, it is very important! You need to take euros with you, because dollars in Cuba spread rot: when exchanging dollars, they take the so-called fine of about 18%, and the dollar to peso (or CUC, as they call it) exchange rate is approximately 0.87: i. e. , 0 . 87 pesos per dollar, while the euro to the peso is about 1.25 (1.25 pesos per 1 euro). The euro-to-dollar cross turns out to be 1.44, although in the world at that time it was about 1.3. Cool? The bus cuts to Varadero somewhere in 2.5-3 hours, taking into account check-in at all hotels. In principle, there is nothing special to describe. Transfer as a transfer. Only the driver turns on the air conditioner only for the time when he wants to. But even so they were tired, and therefore somehow it was not before. Mosquitoes - medicinesTake with you funds (any and more) from mosquitoes - they are EVERYWHERE in Cuba. Somewhere more, somewhere less, but they are, and it is unrealistic to buy funds there. We took both fumitox in sockets and a spray on the skin, but we were still bitten. Without them, we would have come home like a piece of meat…. And there are almost no medicines in local pharmacies, we took a standard first-aid kit with us, thank God, it was not useful... Tez-tour - Excursions In addition to the above-described "care" about bottles of water on the bus, there are some nuances. Firstly, excursions are really very expensive - from 150 to 250 euros per person. And there are few normal ones (that's why they were only in one place with them: they gathered in 2 places, but more on that below). Therefore, if you want to travel around Cuba, stock up on money! Secondly, the guides (at least the ones we got from Tez-tour) are NONE. What are we talking about? When we went to Cayo Largo, a local girl named Laura didn’t tell us ANYTHING at all, except for the trip program for the day and a warning that you don’t need to drink a lot, otherwise they won’t let you back into the helicopter. In our Russian group, 2 Spaniards somehow got mixed up, with whom she tried all the way, she probably told everything. And she put a bolt on us. GENERALLY. If anyone is reading this from Tez Tour, fire her to hell. Plus, she allowed herself to say that she did not have mutual understanding with the Russians, and along the way, she traveled with Russian groups only because she could somehow explain herself in Russian. Then, we checked out from the hotel ahead of time, because we took a 2-day prostitute to Havana (more on this below), and the tour guide at the hotel (they are on duty there every day) was WARNED about this. He seemed to write everything down and even thanked them for warning, but then, apparently, he didn’t tell anyone about it, because then on the plane the guys told us that they were looking for us at the hotel for a transfer for HALF AN HOUR! ! And then Tez-tour complains that tourists do not warn about early departure. Yes, change the guides, and everything will be fine !! ! In general, with the Tez-tour we only went to the islands of Cayo Largo, and we also wanted to go to Trinidad, but it didn’t grow together. What about Cayo Largo? We took a helicopter tour. The cost is approximately 200 euros per person. At 5-20 in the morning, a bus arrives (strange, but it was not late, although up to 40 minutes late is the norm for them), it takes you to the airport. Passports, registration, waiting room…. The MI-8 helicopter flew its own in a scoop, probably back in the 80s of the 20th century. They flew away only on the 2nd attempt: after the first takeoff, the helicopter was returned to the airport, like a couple of light bulbs lit up. But then, in a roundabout way, they found out that 2 days before that they had an accident, so now they are afraid of everything. Not surprising. 45 minutes of flight - and we are on the islands. Of course, from the photographs there - "Bounty", which we have been looking for for several years around the world. White sand, palm trees, and everything. In general, it is precisely because of this that it is worth flying there. Expensive photo session. First, they take them on a catamaran to the island of iguanas (poor animals overfed with bread), to swim in a couple of places, then to the island of the Siren, where, like, lunch (they didn’t eat it, because - shit, they ordered shrimp for some money) and time 3 hours for sunbathing -bathing. The beach is beautiful, but the sun loungers are mined with a fight (they dragged 200 meters along this white sand, which is like flour, and it’s even hard to walk on it), a little littered with rubbish bulls. The sea is warm, but we were warned about sharks and barracudas (directly - men can bite off something), so we swam like children near the shore. By the way, there you can still swim with dolphins for 90 cookies. We were not impressed at all (they swim in the lagoon near the restaurant, nothing), but then they told us that you can take an INDIVIDUAL excursion (to Varadero) to swim with dolphins specially, about 400 cookies for 4 people, where they are taken out to the open sea, and 2-3 dolphins for each. The people there were delighted. Then - back home. That's all. We can’t tell about Trinidad, because the helicopter still died (they had only 2 of them, one flies to Cayo Largo, the second to Trinidad), and we were told half a day before that the excursion was canceled. The money was returned without problems and quickly. In general, the local airline is called Aerogaviota (Aerogaviota), we called it Aerogovnota, which fully reflects its essence. By the way, you can also fly on excursions by plane, but, to be honest, when we saw the planes at the airport, we were glad that we were flying at least on such a helicopter. There, in reality, aircraft are 50 years old, no less. Screw, killed and ushatannye in the trash. RUSOO Many thanks to the guide named Ruso!!! ! With him we spent 3 cool days in Havana and Viñ ales (Pinar del Rio). We were advised by friends, and not only did we not regret it, but we were very pleased and grateful to him! This is a man who lives in Havana and conducts individual excursions around Cuba. You can travel with it not only to Havana, but also to Trinidad, Cayo Largo, and other places. He can organize both an excursion program (as we chose this time) and a nightlife with Cubans, cigars and discos. Ruso is half Russian, half Cuban, perfectly understands the Russian mentality and humor, knows what we Russians need. He picked us up from the hotel, gave us the most delicious pina colada on the road in a roadside bar, which we tried not only in Cuba, but in general....He settled in a private house, modestly, without show-offs, but very comfortable and clean, with a good attitude from the hostess (Dona Amalia, thanks to her for taking care of us !!! ). With him, we first looked at Havana - a general overview of Havana and old Havana, went to look at the lens of Leonardo da Vinci (which is not shown on bus tours), drank beer at a local brewery (awesome dark is brewed there according to Austrian technology, very similar to a German dunkel ), tried the local kvass, which is called malta, went to Hemingway's favorite bars, where mojitos and daiquiris are considered the best (cocktails are nothing supernatural, but the local flavor of the establishments is a dump of the head). After all the tastings, the historical program was no longer relevant to us, but he gently and unobtrusively drew our attention to all the local sights and told different stories. In the evening of the same day, we looked at the daily shot from a cannon in Havana, there is a whole ceremony. The next day we left with him for Viñ ales, in the west of Cuba towards Pinar del Rio. There is a very beautiful valley with hills the likes of which have not been seen anywhere else, caves of runaway slaves, just beautiful caves with stalactites and stalagmites, awesome views, a river in a cave along which we rode a boat, and an insanely delicious lunch in a private restaurant. In general, he likes to drag around private restaurants where they cook really exclusive things (you won’t find this without him or a local guide), and it’s very tasty! ! We were delighted, although we tried a lot in different countries. In the evening, Ruso organized a trip to the Tropicana for us, this Havana show, the only pre-revolutionary one that Fidel left. It goes 2 hours, and there is something to see. Dancing. Although there are enough of their own nuances (we could see it, because we were sitting next to the stage). On the day of departure, we went with Russo to the souvenir market, he also helped us with the choice of cigars, had lunch opposite the Capitol. Once again we want to thank him for his sincere, caring and responsible attitude towards strangers, unlike all locals (where everyone’s favorite word is “manyana”, i. e. tomorrow)! ! We highly recommend organizing your vacation in Cuba with his participation, preferably by calling him in advance from Russia (it will definitely be cheaper than in the Tez-tour). You can save yourself a lot of money and get a really unforgettable and exclusive experience, which we did not (because we already called him from a hotel in Cuba, losing money for 3 days for 3 people for a hotel). His phone number: +53.289 6.47Hotel According to reviews on the Internet before buying the tour, they deducted that there are only 2 normal hotels in Cuba: Iberostar Varadero and Paradisus Varadero. In general, as in other developing countries, it is impossible to save on hotels in Cuba. Paradisus Varadero was on the "foot", so Iberostar Varadero was chosen. Russian tourists in Cuba are in 2nd place, 1st by a margin is held by Canadians. There was a contingent in the hotel - either "pre-death" (elderly), or couples. Companies, especially young ones, are few. There were quite a lot of Russians, but also mostly couples or families. In general, we can say that we were lucky with the hotel, because on excursions people told us that horror was happening in other hotels: drunken young Canadians thump in black, fight, break windows, there are 20-30 people in line at the bar for a drink, in general, atas. Everything was quiet with us. In general, the hotel is well-made: the lobby, bars, restaurants, disco and shows are in one place, and the “sleeping areas” are in another, so if you want to relax, there will be no problems. First they settled in building 11 (this is away from the sea, and there are rooms with 3 beds), but we had a Junior Suite, so when we contacted the reception, we were moved quickly and without problems to building 17, closer to the sea. There are only junior suites. Still nearby in terms of location are successful buildings 16 and 18. There is no sea view anywhere, because from the buildings to the sea there are palm plantations, except for which nothing is visible from the windows. But it didn't bother me. The rooms are clean, tidy, there are no complaints about the hotel at all. Housekeeping puts different shapes out of towels every day, either swans, or baskets, or some other garbage. At first, the stink was a little tense, but it is everywhere in Cuba, so they sniffed it very quickly. But you don't have to rely on super-nutrition. Somewhere on 3.5 out of 5. Of course, not poison, but monotonous, seafood is VERY small and VERY rare. The complete absence of a children's diet table. But - for breakfast there were fresh juices. In addition to the main restaurants (if you are late), you can eat hamburgers (by the way, very tasty) and fruit in other hotel bars-restaurants. As for a-la-carte, it's better not to even try. We did not go to Japanese, because we were told in advance that there was nothing to do there. Were only in the Mediterranean, but it would be better if they were not there. It's good that we had a bite to eat at the main dinner in advance. I don’t even want to write what they brought us there. The cocktails in the bars are decent, but nothing special. And periodically (especially in the morning) a boy runs along the beach and brings everyone a drink (and cocktails too). Paella was prepared several times on the beach, to taste like in the main restaurant. It’s also nothing special, but the cooking process itself and the spectacle are worth it - interesting! We went to dinner several times outside the hotel. In general, there is not much of him in Cuba, again, the people were shocked that he was in our hotel at all. There were 2 options: either in the lobby on local computers next to the reception for 10 cookies per hour (consider that 1 cookie = 1 dollar), or Wi-Fi around the hotel for 20 cookies per day. At the same time, there is a feeling that 2 Cubans are launching the Internet on a pedal drive: very slow and weak. As one Canadian said - slow and expensive. Of course, you can still look at the mail, sort it out, but if you put the files on the jump, then you can go sunbathe and have lunch for 3 hours. Social networks sometimes start up with a creak, but not always (a lot of pictures). Skype is banned in Cuba at all - they could not decipher the codes. So for workaholics, you shouldn’t count on working... In general, the hotel is at a good and decent level, the staff “rustles”, everyone speaks English tolerably, once again - if there were any complaints, it was only about food.