Playa Del Carmen After Cuba

We had organised to leave Maya in the good hands of Leslie who is Garry Dymonds daughter, Garry lives in Mexico City.

While staying at Leslies waiting for our flight I took on a number of small jobs for her that she had been wanting to get done.

These included fitting eight isolating valves to her sinks and basins, properly fixing the two basins to the walls and leveling them, laying floor tiles and fitting a blind in her bedroom, it was nice to help her for the help she gave us, Leslie works big hours too so giving her more free time to do play things was nice. 

On our return to Playa Del Carmen from Cuba Ellen had a very saw tooth so went to the dentist, turns out she has an infection in her jaw bone under a tooth and it needs a small op to be fixed.

Man talk about tribe of sick people, everything seems to come at once which is not a bad thing, the other positive is we are in a great place to have it fixed and hopefully properly .... now we are wanting to get it done and get back on the road again .... itchy feet.

The last few days has been relaxing and loading up all the Cuba reports and photos, quite a full job in itself.

We took in some local sights  .. both of them, cheek out the guy on the bike running knobblies in town.





There was a rack with interesting helmets which were useless but looked cool



We were very impressed that the little girl had floaties on her arms



There is an interesting selection of boats anchored too



Also here in Playa Del Carmen in Martin and his family from Denmark so meeting up with fello ADVers has been great. 

We were treated to a display of local talent, these guys were very good









With Maya’s oil changed and few other minor fixits taken care of we head to Belize for a week before hitting Guatemala for Spanish lessons and to meet the legendary Julio (Guaterider) who has very kindly helped us with shipping stuff for Maya to his address.

Cuba Sum Up

Cuba is far from “green”, I really wanted to remember Cuba for the Cuban Coffee smell but the smell I will remember Cuba for is half burnt oily diesel from mostly worn out engines and bad tuning and maintenance, this one wasn't bad tho.



I have to admit I had visions of Cuba been somewhat cleaner understanding you jump into a time machine 60 years but the state of disrepair of a lot of vehicles is mind boggling and we saw first hand the fatal effects of this.

Understanding though it is a very poor country they are unfortunately severely handbraked by their communist leadership and antiquated ways making Cuba a real horse and cart country literally and to the detriment of the people which is saddening really.

My own opinion (and interestingly enough talking to others behind the scenes) next time they have a revolucion and a good idea the people should really be better off, not stagnated or in a lot of cases gone backwards.

We stayed in a combination of Casa Particulars which are home stays, everything from seriously basic no hot water etc to very nice indeed, across the board the Casa hosts were outstanding to say the least and were happy to help, only two Casas out of 18 we could not get a smile out of the owners and both were the only ones who really tried to change the ball game from what was agreed.

Our favourite was right on the sea edge down on the south coast and undoubtedly the most basic by far but the people were great, friendly and good to us, what more can you want?



Our favourite Casa hostess is in Vinales, she was awesome, bubbly, welcoming and a ray a light.



The grumble, only thing we didn’t really like about Cuba is the “Them and The Us’s”, the tourists get clobbered for prices around 10 x to 25 x the amount of locals, even buying petrol we were declined at two service stations with the guy saying ... it is complicated????WTF ... it seemed simple to us, empty car, paying customers with cash in hand, petrol station with petrol and empty forecourt .... what gives??

Also when buying churos the guy beside us paid $10 Pesos, we got the same as he did and we handed over $20 Pesos and they wouldn’t give us anything back saying that is the price and they just turned away so we were not there anymore .... in New Zealand that would end in a pubscrap!!!! .... we just had to accept it.

Getting money out was a half hour ordeal and quite a mission including handing of passports etc and more paper than you can fit in a wheelbarrow but at least we got cash and at $30 CUC/US per withdrawal you get as much as you can.

Most Cubans were great people but some were very snide and begrudging of us and particularly me being blonde like we owed them something, people everyday just saying “give me money” and being harassed for it took the shine off it a little, there are NO favours done here EVERYTHING means money, CUC or CUP you better have it as even asking for directions will cost you if you are soft and they will jump on you.

I will qualify that by saying if you are known to them or already an amigo (paying customer) they will go out of their way to help a little but 99% of the time they will put their hand out for more even after agreeing the value, across the board not the friendliest mob we have met in all of our international travels (not just this trip) as smiles are few and far between, when you smile at them they frown back .... hmmm.

Time, millions of man hours each day are just wasted, lining up for the bank, lining up for bread, lining up for buses they don't have money but they have time.

The highlight for me at least was seeing so many old cars on the road and of course the Urals, couple of Harleys and MZ stinkies (two strokes) everywhere so I will miss that zing buzz and ring ding ding sound, I would also add on the human side a lot of the Cuban woman with African genes/descent are very beautiful as well, without sounding like a freak-show stalker I was lucky enough to have my photo with a Casa lady (so I got to touch her without being.....odd) , she was very nice to us and made our stay outstanding... just in case you guys wonder what she felt like ....well ... just the same as us whiteyfoos , I will remember her smile.

Our favourite city is Trinidad and the best Pina Colada I had was here in the wakey wakey shakey shakey bar.





Our favourite road was undoubtedly was the south coast road goin 4 wheelin in the rental car.



My worst experience was obvious the Gastroenteritis which didn't really rate on my fun meter ..... me dead in bed.



The lowest Cuban people day was the nice guy who smeared mud all over our car ... can't understand the logic with the man as I was polite to him but he had it in for us.



Our impression of Cuban people is a lot of them live behind window bars in the background, this lady was dancing to music and having a great time with a huge smile which was very nice to see however a lot just mill around looking out to the street with a very distant look on their faces.



For us across the board we found it to be a great place, really enjoyed it and it certainly was and eye opener, we have now ticked that box and ready for the next mission should we choose to accept it ... which we do.

Back to being travelers not tourists....

Cuba - Day 21 - Leaving Cuba

Havanatur was organised to pick us up at 9.30 am so we made sure we had breaky done and dusted and ready to race, 9.45 am no bus????

I went to the Havanatur office, a few frantic phone calls they then said we are picking you up at 10.30 am cos the time changed????? ours said 9.30 ...WTF???

Another hour just wasted, we could have slept in 

The weather had really caved in big time by this stage with water pissing into the hotel everywhere, during our breaky they blocked off half the restaurant and five staff turned up with buckets and brooms etc, they took about 9 - 10 buckets of water off the floor in five minutes. .

The roads were flowing like a river and the foot paths under water so it wasn't a bad time to be inside.

We saved this photo from the rest of "the petrolhead display" above as it fits in this post and was amazing to see, you can't halt progress just whip up a couple brollies and carry on



The view from our van on the way to the airport

Cuba - Day 20 - Habana, Last Day In Cuba

A good nights sleep at the Casa which was nice and quiet we sat down to a breakfast that was very nice indeed.

Our neighbours from Switzerland joined us at the table and we had a great chat to them, turns out we were on the same flight back to Cancun.

Finishing our breaky we walked the other side of old town in search of two famous cocktail bars, Floridita and La Bodeguita Del Medio ... we found both, Hemingway’s idea was NOT for capitalism, the funny thing here in the government own these and the cocktails here are the most expenisve in Cuba and people are lining up to have a Mojitto where Hemingway had one so the non capitalist govt is making a killing while the masses suffer .... go figure.





We only took photos and continued our own tour of interest in the old town taking in the sights and sounds.

A local school class in action



We found this very amusing, an old guy wearing an Alaska T shirt and a national flag on his hat... kind of contradicts itself a bit 



From the front he is a very typical Cuban guy



Buying some cheese and ham from a local shop we sat in a local park and ate lunch with a cold can of Coke .... yes American Coka Cola. .... you can't find it in many places in Cuba.

Wondering back along the waterfront towards our Casa we wanted to get some photos of the open top cars and the the bodgie Buicks with ruffians hangin out of them.

See the line up of oldies, this is a very normal lineup

 

The Buick turned up but looking sensible .... sorry guys.



An assortment of old cars trundled past so we did manage to snap a few.



Gringos  ... loking at Gringos 



Last one, I could post million of photos of these old honeys 



Picking our gear up from the Casa we caught a 56 Chevy Taxi to our final stay in the prebooked hotel, the Taxi is more like a collectivo where they stop and pick up people along the way and drop them off so you don’t have it for yourself, the locals also pay in CUP and we pay CUC so the sam ride cost us 10 x more (Them and the Us’s)

The afternoon was nice and hot so we slacked around at the pool for and hour or so but the pool water was freezing even by Ellen standards or piling in anywhere. 

Having 32 CUC left we had lobster kababs for tea then stopped for finish cocktails across the road from our hotel, after all that we had $2.60 left and the icecream tubs were $1.30 each so we splashed out and bought two ..... now were are officially broke in Cuba and as poor as everyone else.

In the small shopping centre there was a pile of metal elephants that were very well done



I think the one on the right is Manny from Ice Age 



Ellen chatted with some Chinese guys for a while then we set off home to bed for the final time in Cuba.

Cuba - Day 19 - Vinales To Habana

We managed to get a Cubataxi that was organised to pick us up at 10.00am, most Cubans to be honest are very punctual and sure as normal 9.59am the car rocks up.

Said goodbyes and did photos with our warmest casa host in Cuba



We pile in and meet out travel companions for the morning from Mexico Sean and his good lady (that is short for we forgot her name), very interesting chatting to them about their travels etc.

The driver was good keeping up a nice and steady pace ... nothing too life threatening, arriving in Habana we were dropped off at the Casa we had been recommended by Lucy and Sarndra but unfortunately they were full and not having their phone number we could not ring ahead, no worries they ALL have amigos and within 10 minutes of watching “Meeting The Fockers” in spanish we were sorted and taken to a very nice place.

The price was more than we wanted to spend as my medical bill had left us slightly short but he was slightly accommodating so we booked in for tea and breakfast as well which he was pretty happy about as they do well from the meals.

Into Habana old town I had my eye on a painting we spotted three weeks earlier the day we arrived, such was the colour and vibrance on this painting I really wanted it so we negotiated with the lady and a combination of CUC $, CUP $ and smiles we agreed with everything we had in our pocket which was about $29 dollars so I am stoked.... can’t believe I bought some art tho, Fiona you will be impressed I am sure, this is it, cost us $50 bucks to send it home 



... I must be getting old or sensible so I will have to deal with that separately.  

On the way back to the Casa to leave my prize painting in our room we stopped and bought some guayaba (nice fruit) and for a rest.... back out down the waterfront for a look, relax and sit in the sun and watch Habana go by.

This was a local lad who was running then diving off the wall ... dude had balls!!



....not much space between him and a grated belly 



There was major watermain reconstruction happening but very slowly, there was a serious cutting machine to cut through the concrete road, I would love to see it going!!!! see Ellen standing there.





She was also surprised how small the main tools were for such a large machine 8-D



Spotted near the art shop was three Harleys, the white one we had seen in another town days prior 



This car was still sitting in the same place three weeks earlier .... wonder how long it will sit like that



Evening drew in and tea was served for Ellen with me still opting out of a full meal, I helped Ellen finish off.

Off to bed like a couple of old people ready for our last day in Cuba.