For this month’s travel linkup the theme is all around unexpected journeys and things that you didn’t expect to see/experience. As Cuba is a bit of an unusual one and one of my favourite places I’ve ever been to, I thought I’d focus on this beauty and tell you a little more about it! After longing to go to Havana, Cuba for over ten years (since I was around 11 years old), I finally went and was so worried it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. Like I had full on nervous butterflies just from worrying about that. But in actual fact it very quickly surpassed them and I had the best time ever! So, what things surprised me the most?
Because I’m a control freak visiting Cuba was so important to me, I did every single bit of planning the trip by myself. I managed to persuade my friends Ciara and Jasiminne to come with me, and although I asked them to tell me specific things they wanted to do/see so I could slot them in to the itinerary, both of them were pretty great to travel with and allowed me to just take charge. So, after all that planning and months of research, the things that surprised me the most…
1. The food is really pretty great
Before we went everywhere I read online said the food was awful, but if you know exactly where to go then the food is freaking awesome! On our first night we went to a government run restaurant, where it cost us just 5CUC (around $5) for a huge plate of meat, rice, and veggies. But it was so gross. However every meal after that was insanely good, as we made sure we ate at the Paladars, which are basically restaurants in people’s homes and front rooms that are super popular in
Havana. Our favourite Paladar was
Paladar Los Mercaderes, which serves the most amazing pineapple lobster and mojitos! Also, Havana has their own fast food chain – El Rapido.
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2. Everyone is super friendly
Not that I didn’t think they would be before we arrived, but my Dad freaked me out by telling me it was dangerous for three young women to go gallivanting around Cuba alone (although he says that about every country I go to…). The thing that surprised me was just how friendly everyone was. Not once did I ever feel unsafe, and once you get past the weirdness of being whistled at in the street constantly (this is just how Cubans show their appreciation for women – it’s totally normal and you see it and experience it everywhere you go), it’s easy to walk around with no cares in the world!
We experienced a lot of kindness from Cubans, especially from
the family we stayed with for the first 3 nights, and the waiter from a restaurant who took us out to the coolest nightclub in Havana on our last night with his friends, and then a couple of them drove Jasiminne back to our hotel when she felt ill. Also Ciara is a
salsa dancer, so when we heard music coming from a bar on the street and saw lots of people dancing, she got itchy dancing feet and this guy kindly danced with her, haha!
3. Everything is really cheap
Like, really cheap. I’m talking you can take taxis everywhere and eat and drink everything you want and only spend £300 on that in an entire week. I mean ice-cream (or, helado), from a street seller only cost 5p. FIVE PENCE. And it tasted amazing!
4. Some lucky people are allowed smart phones and internet and fancy cars
When we stayed at our 5* hotel in the Miramar district, we saw a lot of government cars that were BMW’s and Mercedes’. This really surprised us because obviously we only expected to see the old American cars. And when Alejandro (the waiter) took us to the nightclub,
Fabrica de Arte Cubano, we witnessed Cuba’s elite (a night out at the club is the price of a normal Cubans monthly salary). Teenagers and young adults taking photos on their smart phones and connecting to the internet to go on social media. Most people in Cuba aren’t even allowed social media and internet access.
5. The feeling of something being ‘not quite right’ is strong
Everywhere you go you just experience weird little things that remind you you’re in a country filled with oppression and communism. When
we took a ride in an old car the drivers were happy to talk and answer any questions we had…apart from political ones. When we asked something about the politics in Cuba they literally pretended they hadn’t heard us and refused to answer.
Then we wanted a bottle of water one afternoon so casually strolled into a supermarket…except it was a rationed supermarket and we were hastily thrown out. Another time we tried to go into an internet cafe to see what it was, and again, were asked to leave. And the most memorable experience was at the hotel when we made a phone call to our friendly waiter Alejandro, and the woman on the desk tapped into our call to listen in to it. Weird.
We really loved Cuba, Havana especially, and I would love more than anything to go back before it changes. Despite the problems in the country, it really is a special place.
How to link up your ‘unexpected journeys’ post
Just pop your post up over the first week of the month (the 1st – 7th June 2016), and add it to the linkup widget found on the co-host Carolann’s blog! Simple 🙂
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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
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It's a place that I'd be incredibly interested to go to.
Four really took me by surprise – I was expecting an 'all or nothing' approach to the internet (especially when I was struggling like a fool to connect to my social media and blog using the hotel wifi in Cayo Largo Del Sur only to be greeted with 'Posh, Broke, & Bored is on the list of banned sites' WTF) but of course, that's being idealistic – everywhere in the world, money talks!
Speaking of the up and onward, we need to go back to Cuba STAT before the 'Muhricans turn it into OMG SPRING BREAAAAAAK!!!111!!!
x
Posh, Broke, & Bored
What a place – friendly locals can make all of the difference can't they!
"Everywhere you go you just experience weird little things that remind you you're in a country filled with oppression and communism." That sentence really got to me. What an interesting experience. I honestly can't imagine going into a rationed supermarket — it sounds like something out of 1984.
Lovely post. This really makes me want to go!
Thanks Sarah! I think it's so important to make people aware of the political issues as well, I can't stand bloggers who go to countries that have terrible politics and just highlight the good stuff and don't mention the political situation at all!
And YES to the food!!
C x
Thanks! It's such a great country!
C x
It was very strange, but absolutely fascinating, especially seeing how they reacted to us being in there!
C x
Definitely! For me friendly locals make or break a trip 🙂
C x
Haha, that was too funny!
And YES WE DO!
C x
Hi Catherine – I'm visiting next month and can't wait to see it for myself. Interesting to know about Politics and water. If there are any good Paladars that you recommend then I would love to know!?
This is a really great post and it brought so many memories back for me 😊 We also felt incredibly safe in Cuba and the people stopped us in the street to say hello, because we were staying at the hotel where they worked. One day in Trinidad we met a teacher who was happy to talk to us and told us how he got arrested for teaching English privately (as you're not really allowed to have your own business apart from a few limited ones).
Despite the feeling that something's not quite right, Cuba was one of the best countries we visited and we can't wait to go back.
Maya | londondamsel.co.uk