I am Cuba

I AM CUBA

Like kids waiting for Christmas, January 11th 2016, the date of our departure, was the day we were all waiting for. My Father and I have been researching and planning the Hannas family trip to Cuba for almost a year. It's the first time our entire family (my parents and two older brothers) have travelled together on a real family vacation since touring California in a brown van (with Elvis playing on 8-track) in 1980! 

We flew from Vancouver to Mexico City (6 hrs) and then to Havana (3 hrs) on AeroMexico for five days at the beach in Varadero and then to Havana for five days. After leaving Havana at the end of the trip, we stayed overnight in Mexico City in the posh Centro Historico district at the Fiesta Mexicana Reforma. We had a half day of sights, shopping, and lunch before flying home to Vancouver. Comped breakfast that morning in the hotel's white linen executive lounge made us feel like Royalty. My shopping in Mexico included the usual; Day of the Dead skulls and a bottles of anejo Mezcal. Beautiful.

It was an intense trip. It wasn't relaxing but it was extremely interesting. The weather was terrible the whole time. In Havana I counted fifteen minutes of actual sunshine. It was either raining, overcast, windy or a combination of those with the odd day that had scattered clouds. It was cold too. The temperature ranged from the low to mid twenties with pleasant humidity. Because the weather was so crappy, I think it forced us to do more. Walk more. Shop more. Repeat. Repeat.

The food was a mixed bag. At the same restaurant, the first dish would be terrible and the second would be incredible. If you love eggs, ham, and cheese you won't after two weeks in Cuba! But, the local meat stews were fantastic. We had Cuban lobsters twice. Both times they were overcooked but very tasty. The Cuban coffee is good but not great. The cigars and rum are considered the best in the world. Cuban cigars are no longer a buck a smoke like they were just a few years ago. Cohiba's are considered by many to be one of the best cigars in the world. I bought and smoked one, the smallest real cigar I could find of that brand, and it was $15 USD! It was mild but with a very strong nicotine effect. Depending on the size and brand, a decent cigar like Romeo and Juliet was about $7 USD each.  Although my favourite rums are Jamaican (but that's just me!) Cuba's Santiago de Cuba brand is my next choice. I much preferred it over Havana Club which is also excellent. Bacardi is oddly nonexistent.

In both spots we stayed in Casa Particulars. They are family ran bed-and-breakfast businesses which are much cheaper and a lot more interesting than a generic all inclusive resort. You'll be surrounded by a warm Cuban family with home cooked food instead of being surrounded by lumpy white complaining tourists sun burning on the beach with their toxic smell of sweat and coconut sunscreen as they eat club sandwiches with the crusts removed. Gross! Casa Papo's House in Varadero and Casa 1935 in Havana are both highly recommended. You can find them easily online and you can book by e-mail or phone. No credit cards are accepted. You'll pay cash with Cuban CUCs, the tourist's money at par with the US dollar, when you check out.

My brother Kurt bought a nice set of bongos and he had them thoughtfully engraved with his friend's name on them. They are fragile so he brought them through Cuban customs as carry on when we were leaving the country. They seized them. No reasonable explanation was given. I guess bongos are a threat to national security? A weapon of mass destruction? They let him keep his maracas though. The logic escapes me too? Moronic and blindly rule abiding customs officials make for good Nazis I say. 

We were gone for less than two weeks but if felt like several months. No email. No cel phones. No news. Perfect! I kept on wondering which famous celebrity had died while I was gone? If something catastrophic had happened I'm sure I'd hear some tourist going on about it. Upon return I had eighteen e-mails, thirty FaceBook updates, and four messages. Not bad. Manageable. To my great disappointment upon my return it seemed like only a few days had passed in the real world. Was Cuba all a dream one of my brothers had asked? Or was Cuba real and life in Vancouver is still a dream? Okay. Back to reality. Whatever that is?