I’ve wanted to go to Cuba for a while now and I’m glad that I fitted it into my travel plans. Although I wasn’t able to go to all of the popular destinations on the island (Trinidad, Vinajes, Santa Marta), I had a great few days in the capital.
It is true that being in Havana is like stepping back in time. You walk around, either on the street or the broken and patchy sidewalks, trying to dodge cars from the last century as well as numerous motorbikes with sidecars, tuk-tuks, cyclists and of course, horse and carts.
You’re walking these broken streets which are walled by derelict buildings, most which look crumbling, but you can tell by the people coming and going, by the clothes lines hanging over balconies or by the person sitting on the doorstep, that these houses are actually home to not one, but several families.
I visited Havana in early December and although I was coming from Mexico, I was unaware as how hot it would be. Every day the Sun would beat down on this island, truly giving it the Carribean feel. People walked around in summer dresses, or t-shirt and shorts combos, all wearing sunglasses. You could really feel the difference when stepping into the shade.
That being said, every day that I was there for half an hour the city stopped. Purely and simply because the Heavens opened and the city was pelted with torrential rain. So much rain feel in this short amount of time that the drainage system wasn’t enough and for the rest of the day there would be streams of water running into small pools. If you’ve ever been in a tropical storm, you know that all you can do in it is seek shelter – which is exactly what you saw when Cubans and foreigners alike took to hide in the covered walkways or doorways which many buildings had.
However Cuba did surprise me.
I was expecting 1950s cars and the people to speak a good amount of English, but I wasn’t expecting old box cars from 1980s and 1990s, which are just as popular as those from the 50s. I also was unaware that most of these cars didn’t have seatbelts and were Frankenstein machines, fixed and remade because the owners have no choice.
Like their cars, many parts of Cubans’ day to day lives are the solutions or the children of deprivation. Do Cubans want to drive cars which pump out massive black clouds of smoke, or endanger their families lives by not having seatbelts or airbags? Of course not. But buying a new car is impossible due to the cost and the practicalities of owning a brand new, highly computerised machine. Not so easy to fix up as the classic cars.
The flip side of this is that there is a massive economy of people to fix these cars or the Soviet washing machines. Bringing in a more consumerist mindset that we have in the West, of using something and then throwing it out would create a massive drop in employment.
I say employment and not a rise in unemployment because many Cubans work several jobs to make ends meet. The owner of my casa particular for example, his main source of income is from renting out two of the rooms in his already small, but lovely, home to tourists, but he also has one tiny room set up where he can use his electronic knowledge to fix things for his family and his community. He wanted to study as a Vet, but he knew that to support himself, his family and his future family, something more practical was the better choice.
What to take away from this is from everyehere that i have travelled and interacted with the local community, I have never found more hardworking and versatile people than the Cubans.
Moving onto more laid back themes, I did have a great time in Havana.
Having booked four nights in my casa, I spent my days relaxing and reading, walking the same streets in Old Havana and enjoying the time away from the real world.
Cuba does have internet and WiFi available in many of their public parks and in your casa, but you generally have to pay $1/2 an hour and I enjoyed being offline for the most part of my trip.
My days usually followed the same pattern of waking up in my cosy double-bedded room, getting changed, then going downstairs and greeting the family whose home I was sharing. The mum of the family would then prepare me a grand fest of a breakfast with an omelette, bread, fresh fruit, juice and a sandwich roll which I usually took and ate for dinner. I would then head off and wander through the streets with the idea of visiting one of the few points of interest in the city and then I would chill and watch the day go by.
The main POI in Old Havana are the Revolution Museum, the Havana Club Rum Museum, a few markets and churches. Most have an entry fee of less than $10 and the souvenirs available to buy are very cheap (some places offering 8 for $5).
Yes, I had some rum from the Havana Club. Yes, I did consider buying a $5.55 bottle of rum and just drinking it on the Malecon. Yes, I did stop myself from being a wreck on the streets of Havana.
One thing I have to note, Havana is cheap if you want it to be.
It’s the same as many cities across the world but a bit more exaggerated. In most cities, the difference between eating in a tourist restaurant to a local one is x2. In Havana, it’s more like x20. This mostly comes about from the two currencies in use, which I’ll speak about later, but my lunch everyday cost me $0.60 – 1.50 whereas the same dish in a tourist restaurant would cost $6 – 15.
I ate like the Cubans ate, which means that I went to these little window peso shops, dotted around the city, and I had a basic cheese pizza everyday. A friend I had met in Mexico told me If you can call them pizzas, but I really enjoyed the taste and simple flavours going on. These cost 15 CUP = 0.60 CUC = $0.60.
Having looked in the menus of many restaurants but never really going in, I did see that a similar (probably higher quality) pizza could cost you 10 CUC = $10.
Money.
Many people get confused when they come to Cuba because it’s one of the only countries (if not the only country) with two official currencies in use.
You have the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC, pronounced kook) and the Cuban Peso (CUP, pronounced coop), where 25 CUP = 1 CUC and 1 CUC = 1 USD ($). The historical differences between these are that the CUC was seen as the tourist currency and the CUP more of a local currency. However, that’s not fully true of modern times, and my casa owner told me that CUP is seen as monopoly money.
To make matters worse, Cubans usually say peso for CUC. Also, the $ is used for both currencies so be sure to check which one a menu states – usually though you can tell because of the establishment.
Furthermore, it is quite common to see both expressed on a sign and the official currency exchange of 25 CUP = 1 CUC isn’t always the case, some restaurants charge 24 or 23, because to exchange these CUP for CUC, these are the exchange rates they will find.
But, this dual currency system does lead to possible mix ups and I did overhear a flustered Liverpudlian girl shouting at a (clearly understanding but playing dumb) Cuban man who had just sold her a few churros for 25 CUC (=$25) instead of 25 CUP (=$1). So do watch out.
The easiest way to protect yourself of wacky exchange rates and mix ups like this is to exchange some of your CUC for CUP in the money exchanges within the city. You’re 100% allowed to own CUP and you’re 100% allowed to pay in CUP if you’d like to. I personally had 5 CUC worth of CUP in my pocket and went through it easy enough.
Communism.
The last thing I’ve got to comment on is my experience in this communist country. Firstly, from what I saw in Havana, Cuba isn’t a communist country.
It is socialist. Like a lot. With free health care and higher education, and a push on equality and I’m sure some restrictions politically. But it sure isn’t communist anymore.
Sure, some completely different jobs are paid the same salary but a lot of people have the capitalist mindset. They are all trying to sell something just to make some more money.
They’re not delusional about their leaders and they’re not chanting for world domination. They’re lovely, friendly, down-to-earth people who have strong socialist morals and fairness.
I really did enjoy Havana and I totally recommend it for a short break or many a two week long adventure into a psuedo-communist mixset.
Quick Details
Location: Havana, Cuba
Days: 4.5
Nights: 4
Hostel: Casa Mayumy, £12.42 a night plus 4 CUC breakfast. Amazing little casa.
Transport to/from: Flight from Cancun to Havana, then my casa’s owner collected me and dropped me off for 25 CUC each way
Transport around: Walking
Capitol Building
Nomadic Apples 
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