Cuban Blog Day #23 Spend All Your Money

I was taking a taxi to the airport at noon, so I woke early and enjoyed my last few hours in Havana.  I needed to find a post office to mail the rest of my postcards. I wanted them to be postmarked from Cubaand not Mexico. Finding a place to mail them was surprisingly harder than I expected. I asked a man with a family where one was, and they ended up running around Havana with me, going in and out of various buildings looking for a place that would mail out my postcards.

We never found one and I thanked them for their help and continued on. I finally found a post office on a corner. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t actually make it home because the guy there was a little shady and took my cards rather secret like. I paid him for the stamps which I watched him put on and hoped they’d make it back.

I went to the plaza and people watched for a bit. I had been noticing all sorts of street dogs with collars on them, though appearing to have no owner about. I inquired about the dogs in one of the museums, and the lady there told me that they take care of them. Various businesses take it upon themselves to care for the many stray dogs all about. They put collars on them so they are marked and feed them. She told me the museum had five dogs. They were all sunning themselves just outside the museum doors. I though it was such a great and kind thing to do.

I went to the Chocolate Café one last time, roamed about different businesses trying to get more Che coins to take back as souvenirs and gifts. I got a lot of strange looks doing this, but I didn’t care. I ended up with 8 coins. I bought a small bought of three year Havana Club to see if I could get it back with me.

I headed back to the casa, packed up and waited for the taxi.  It is always bittersweet to leave a place. I enjoyed my time in Cubaimmensely, yet at the same time I was ready to be done traveling and be home in my own bed with my cats.

At the airport, I had my bags Saran wrapped. It was advice I’d gotten before I left. A friend told me, especially coming back from Cubainto Mexico, to have it done so that items do not get stolen out of it. It was $8 CUC, which I thought was excessive, but I had several CUC leftover which I wasn’t sure I’d be able to exchange in Mexico anyway, so I decided to be safe.

I waited in a super long line to check in, and then another to pay airport tax, $25 CUC, and then another to go through some sort of customs. I wasn’t quite sure what it was as I’ve never had to do that when leaving a country, only when entering.  They took my visa, which I was quite sad about because I had hoped I’d have that to keep in lieu of an actual passport stamp.  The lady nearly stamped my passport, but I noticed in time to tell her not to, and instead she stamped my boarding pass, now, the only proof I had that I had been. I then had to pay tax on my art, $3 CUC for each piece. If I had known this, I would have tried to fit it all into my suitcase.

I was glad to have arrived three hours early to the airport. After waiting in all the lines, I barely had time to take a book out to read before the announcement to board. It was a short flight back to Cancun, and I slept most of the way.

In Cancun, I tried to exchange my remaining CUC. I had thought that surely they would take the CUC, but not the peso national. They wouldn't take either, so I was stuck with about $30 US worth of CUC. (Anybody headed to Cubasoon?)

I waited for a bus to take me into town and ended up staying in the same hostel I did when I first arrived. They even remembered me.  I stayed in my room and enjoyed having the internet for the first time in nearly a month.

Traveling Tip #26 Spend all your money-  It is always difficult to know exactly how much money to exchange when traveling.  You do not want to exchange too much and then have to exchange back, thus losing lots in the back and forth.  I ended up sticking at or under my budget the whole way, exchanging about $500 US per week.  What through me off, was knowing about the $25 CUC tax I would have to pay at the airport and not having anything less than $100 Canadian bill to exchange. I’d used up all my $50s in an effort to lighten my money belt some.  I also really thought there’d be no problem exchanging CUC for Mexican pesos once I was there. After all, what do Cubans do when they come to Mexico? So, if you’re coming to Cuba, unless you’re planning to return, spend all your CUC in Cuba.  

Cuban Blog Day #23 Spend All Your Money

I was taking a taxi to the airport at noon, so I woke early and enjoyed my last few hours in Havana.  I needed to find a post office to mail the rest of my postcards. I wanted them to be postmarked from Cuba and not Mexico. Finding a place to mail them was surprisingly harder than I expected. I asked a man with a family where one was, and they ended up running around Havana with me, going in and out of various buildings looking for a place that would mail out my postcards.

We never found one and I thanked them for their help and continued on. I finally found a post office on a corner. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t actually make it home because the guy there was a little shady and took my cards rather secret like. I paid him for the stamps which I watched him put on and hoped they’d make it back.

I went to the plaza and people watched for a bit. I had been noticing all sorts of street dogs with collars on them, though appearing to have no owner about. I inquired about the dogs in one of the museums, and the lady there told me that they take care of them. Various businesses take it upon themselves to care for the many stray dogs all about. They put collars on them so they are marked and feed them. She told me the museum had five dogs. They were all sunning themselves just outside the museum doors. I though it was such a great and kind thing to do.

I went to the Chocolate Café one last time, roamed about different businesses trying to get more Che coins to take back as souvenirs and gifts. I got a lot of strange looks doing this, but I didn’t care. I ended up with 8 coins. I bought a small bought of three year Havana Club to see if I could get it back with me.

I headed back to the casa, packed up and waited for the taxi.  It is always bittersweet to leave a place. I enjoyed my time in Cuba immensely, yet at the same time I was ready to be done traveling and be home in my own bed with my cats.

At the airport, I had my bags Saran wrapped. It was advice I’d gotten before I left. A friend told me, especially coming back from Cuba into Mexico, to have it done so that items do not get stolen out of it. It was $8 CUC, which I thought was excessive, but I had several CUC leftover which I wasn’t sure I’d be able to exchange in Mexico anyway, so I decided to be safe.

I waited in a super long line to check in, and then another to pay airport tax, $25 CUC, and then another to go through some sort of customs. I wasn’t quite sure what it was as I’ve never had to do that when leaving a country, only when entering.  They took my visa, which I was quite sad about because I had hoped I’d have that to keep in lieu of an actual passport stamp.  The lady nearly stamped my passport, but I noticed in time to tell her not to, and instead she stamped my boarding pass, now, the only proof I had that I had been. I then had to pay tax on my art, $3 CUC for each piece. If I had known this, I would have tried to fit it all into my suitcase.

I was glad to have arrived three hours early to the airport. After waiting in all the lines, I barely had time to take a book out to read before the announcement to board. It was a short flight back to Cancun, and I slept most of the way.

In Cancun, I tried to exchange my remaining CUC. I had thought that surely they would take the CUC, but not the peso national. They wouldn't take either, so I was stuck with about $30 US worth of CUC. (Anybody headed to Cuba soon?)

I waited for a bus to take me into town and ended up staying in the same hostel I did when I first arrived. They even remembered me.  I stayed in my room and enjoyed having the internet for the first time in nearly a month.

Traveling Tip #26 Spend all your money-  It is always difficult to know exactly how much money to exchange when traveling.  You do not want to exchange too much and then have to exchange back, thus losing lots in the back and forth.  I ended up sticking at or under my budget the whole way, exchanging about $500 US per week.  What through me off, was knowing about the $25 CUC tax I would have to pay at the airport and not having anything less than $100 Canadian bill to exchange. I’d used up all my $50s in an effort to lighten my money belt some.  I also really thought there’d be no problem exchanging CUC for Mexican pesos once I was there. After all, what do Cubans do when they come to Mexico? So, if you’re coming to Cuba, unless you’re planning to return, spend all your CUC in Cuba.  

Cuban Blog Day #22 Oh Hemingway

 I woke early to enjoy my last full day in Cuba.  I walked down Obispo Street, famous in HavanaVieja for its shops and cafes. I was a bit early for all the shops to be open, but it was good people watching.

I walked to the main square and rode up an elevator to the top floor of the eclectic 20^th century Gómez Vilabuilding. This building has a periscope called Camera Obscura that gives a live view of the entire city.  It is one of only 74 in the world and the only one in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was really quite impressive. I had no idea such a thing existed.  It was a big circle display and could be zoomed into and out of so that you could see clothes on a line blowing in the wind or the flapping of a bird’s wings. It was a great way to get a full view of the city.

I stayed up top and took lots of pictures. I also wrote a bit, enjoying the peacefulness and calm being above the crowd brought.

Once down, I roamed the square, walked through the tiny, free playing card museum and a few churches and historical buildings. I had no set plan for my last day, and it was nice to just go where the sidewalk took me.

I stopped for lunch at a café on Obisbo Street and people watched.  I read a bit more of my Ernest Hemingway short stories.  I had brought with me to Cuba The Sun Also Rises and a collections of short stories by the great writer. I was using this trip and Hemingway as inspiration for my own writing. 

After lunch, I walked to Ambos Mundos, the hotel made famous by Hemingway who wrote two of his novels there, including his Pulitzer Prize winning, The Old Man and The Sea.  I paid the $2 CUC to take a private tour of room 511 where Hemingway stayed when he visited. Several of his fishing rods were displayed around the room, along with a few photos of Hemingway and Castro after a fishing tournament.  Most people believe that Hemingway and Castro had a strong friendship. This is made evident by all the photos of the two. But, upon closer inspection one will notice that both men are in the same attire in every picture. The two, in fact only met briefly during the fishing contest, which Castro is noted as winning.  

His typewriter was in the center of the small room, encased in glass.  I got particular joy out of seeing this and imagining him typing away on it.  A copy of his Pulitzer Prize award was framed on the wall along with several articles announcing his win.  Special attention was paid to the fact that the novel was written in Cuba.

It was a corner room with views of both HavanaVieja plaza, as well as the harbor where he’d often fish.  It was a typical hotel room which just happened to host a great and tormented writer every so often.

On the same floor as his room there is a rooftop bar and restaurant which offered more great views of the city. I stayed above and took more pictures. I made my way down and towards the artisanal market I had been to the day before. This time I was armed with money and ready to haggle. I ran into the Germans there and we walked around for a bit together, but I had business to take care of.  I bought art, and magnets, and postcards, and a Havana Club Guayabera shirt and so much more to take home as gifts and memorabilia. It was so much fun shopping and bargaining in the giant market.

I went back to the casaand drank a few Cuba Libres on my balcony.  Music was playing loudly from somewhere on the street below. I noticed people above and across from me looking out of their windows or out from their balconies. They were looking down to the street below where a man was dancing to the music. He was in the middle of the street, not minding the cars that wanted to pass him every so often, doing a mix between break dancing and I don’t know what.  More and more people came to their windows to watch the man below.  The guys across and one storey up from me invited me to come over and share a drink with them.  I cheers’ed them from across the way. We all watched, enjoying the free entertainment.  Soon a woman approached and instead of simply passing by the man, she joined him.  It was so quintessential Cuba-The loud salsa music, the crazy man dancing on the narrow street below, the neighbors all out viewing the spectacle. 

I enjoyed dinner with the Germans one last time. They were leaving very early the next morning and so headed back for an early night of packing.  I stayed out, with one more place I needed to go to call my travels in Cubacomplete. La Floridita. The bar made famous by Hemingway. He’d walk to this bar in the evenings from Ambos Mundos after a long day of writing and wet his whistle with a daiquiri or five.

My plan was simply to have one daiquiri and call it a night. I had heard that the place was more of a tourist trap than anything, with over priced drinks and very little atmosphere, but I couldn’t not go to one of the great’s old stomping grounds. There is just something about being in the same place, seeing the same things, drinking the same cocktail, perhaps even sitting in the same barstool as someone you admire that spurs inspiration.

Sure enough, as I walked in I could see the place was full of mostly tourists. I sat at the bar and next to me was another Americahere on a legal, expensive tour, somehow having gotten away from his group. Tsk, Tsk. I ordered my daiquiri in Spanish and chatted with the man for a bit, till he left, probably worried about curfew.

Once he left, the three men next to him scooted over. They asked if I was Cuban, wondering why I ordered my drink in Spanish. I’m certain they were just looking for a way to slide over and talk to me.  I was in Cuba, didn’t everybody order their drinks in Spanish? The three men were from the Canary Islands, and they doted on me the rest of the evening. I more than made up for the drinks I had to buy the hustlers the day before.  I had a photo shot with the Hemingway statue at the end of the bar, I tried every kind of daiquiri they made there, I danced salsa with each of them. Even the bartenders seemed in on it, letting me behind the bar to make a few drinks myself.

It was absolutely the perfect last day in Havana-from the periscope, to the Hemingway hotel, to the dancing in the street, to the daiquiris, I saw it all.

Traveling tip # 25 Let them buy you drinks- There are few benefits of being a solo traveler as great as this. It keeps your budget down and lets you meet great people.

Cuban Blog Day #22 Oh Hemingway

 I woke early to enjoy my last full day in Cuba.  I walked down Obispo Street, famous in Havana Vieja for its shops and cafes. I was a bit early for all the shops to be open, but it was good people watching.

I walked to the main square and rode up an elevator to the top floor of the eclectic 20^th century Gómez Vila building. This building has a periscope called Camera Obscura that gives a live view of the entire city.  It is one of only 74 in the world and the only one in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was really quite impressive. I had no idea such a thing existed.  It was a big circle display and could be zoomed into and out of so that you could see clothes on a line blowing in the wind or the flapping of a bird’s wings. It was a great way to get a full view of the city.

I stayed up top and took lots of pictures. I also wrote a bit, enjoying the peacefulness and calm being above the crowd brought.

Once down, I roamed the square, walked through the tiny, free playing card museum and a few churches and historical buildings. I had no set plan for my last day, and it was nice to just go where the sidewalk took me.

I stopped for lunch at a café on Obisbo Street and people watched.  I read a bit more of my Ernest Hemingway short stories.  I had brought with me to Cuba The Sun Also Rises and a collections of short stories by the great writer. I was using this trip and Hemingway as inspiration for my own writing. 

After lunch, I walked to Ambos Mundos, the hotel made famous by Hemingway who wrote two of his novels there, including his Pulitzer Prize winning, The Old Man and The Sea.  I paid the $2 CUC to take a private tour of room 511 where Hemingway stayed when he visited. Several of his fishing rods were displayed around the room, along with a few photos of Hemingway and Castro after a fishing tournament.  Most people believe that Hemingway and Castro had a strong friendship. This is made evident by all the photos of the two. But, upon closer inspection one will notice that both men are in the same attire in every picture. The two, in fact only met briefly during the fishing contest, which Castro is noted as winning.  

His typewriter was in the center of the small room, encased in glass.  I got particular joy out of seeing this and imagining him typing away on it.  A copy of his Pulitzer Prize award was framed on the wall along with several articles announcing his win.  Special attention was paid to the fact that the novel was written in Cuba.

It was a corner room with views of both Havana Vieja plaza, as well as the harbor where he’d often fish.  It was a typical hotel room which just happened to host a great and tormented writer every so often.

On the same floor as his room there is a rooftop bar and restaurant which offered more great views of the city. I stayed above and took more pictures. I made my way down and towards the artisanal market I had been to the day before. This time I was armed with money and ready to haggle. I ran into the Germans there and we walked around for a bit together, but I had business to take care of.  I bought art, and magnets, and postcards, and a Havana Club Guayabera shirt and so much more to take home as gifts and memorabilia. It was so much fun shopping and bargaining in the giant market.

I went back to the casa and drank a few Cuba Libres on my balcony.  Music was playing loudly from somewhere on the street below. I noticed people above and across from me looking out of their windows or out from their balconies. They were looking down to the street below where a man was dancing to the music. He was in the middle of the street, not minding the cars that wanted to pass him every so often, doing a mix between break dancing and I don’t know what.  More and more people came to their windows to watch the man below.  The guys across and one storey up from me invited me to come over and share a drink with them.  I cheers’ed them from across the way. We all watched, enjoying the free entertainment.  Soon a woman approached and instead of simply passing by the man, she joined him.  It was so quintessential Cuba- The loud salsa music, the crazy man dancing on the narrow street below, the neighbors all out viewing the spectacle. 

I enjoyed dinner with the Germans one last time. They were leaving very early the next morning and so headed back for an early night of packing.  I stayed out, with one more place I needed to go to call my travels in Cuba complete. La Floridita. The bar made famous by Hemingway. He’d walk to this bar in the evenings from Ambos Mundos after a long day of writing and wet his whistle with a daiquiri or five.

My plan was simply to have one daiquiri and call it a night. I had heard that the place was more of a tourist trap than anything, with over priced drinks and very little atmosphere, but I couldn’t not go to one of the great’s old stomping grounds. There is just something about being in the same place, seeing the same things, drinking the same cocktail, perhaps even sitting in the same barstool as someone you admire that spurs inspiration.

Sure enough, as I walked in I could see the place was full of mostly tourists. I sat at the bar and next to me was another America here on a legal, expensive tour, somehow having gotten away from his group. Tsk, Tsk. I ordered my daiquiri in Spanish and chatted with the man for a bit, till he left, probably worried about curfew.

Once he left, the three men next to him scooted over. They asked if I was Cuban, wondering why I ordered my drink in Spanish. I’m certain they were just looking for a way to slide over and talk to me.  I was in Cuba, didn’t everybody order their drinks in Spanish? The three men were from the Canary Islands, and they doted on me the rest of the evening. I more than made up for the drinks I had to buy the hustlers the day before.  I had a photo shot with the Hemingway statue at the end of the bar, I tried every kind of daiquiri they made there, I danced salsa with each of them. Even the bartenders seemed in on it, letting me behind the bar to make a few drinks myself.

It was absolutely the perfect last day in Havana- from the periscope, to the Hemingway hotel, to the dancing in the street, to the daiquiris, I saw it all.

Traveling tip # 25 Let them buy you drinks- There are few benefits of being a solo traveler as great as this. It keeps your budget down and lets you meet great people.