Cuba

With a few days to spare over Easter Isabel and I decided to take a trip to Cuba.

We had 2 days and 2 nights, not much time, so any delays were not welcome. However, this is the country of siestas and Mañana so there was no surprise with the 3 hour delay on the flight, an hour and 10 mins to get through customs and then an hour wait with the transfer, waiting for people that never showed!

We finally got to the hotel at about 10, after sampling the extremely dodgy lounge bar entertainment we decided to head out to the heart of Havana.

We had been warned about a few things, don’t drink the water, don’t display items of value and don’t take unlicensed cabs. One foot out of the hotel and we meet a cab driver.

Drive: Where you want go
Me: do you have a license
Driver: No
Me: nowhere with you.
Concierge: you won’t get a cab this late, this is my friend I vouch for him
Me: ok
Driver: my car is over here.

Now, after a flight on Cubana Airlines, pre Second World War II plane with a 5 ft door, no seat belt signs and smoke coming out of the floor, I had expected a slightly questionable standard of safety. However, nothing could have prepared us for this, the pictures say it all.........




The ´limo´ Old Rusian car

Sara and Isabel possing with the Limo!


This particular model has a unique interior

This photo not only reflects the door, or lack off, but the air conditioning - no widows!

I don’t think I need to say much more about the ´limo´ other than this was only slightly below the general standard of transportation!

Juan persuaded us that Casa de la Musica was the best place to go so late in the evening. Live bands and lots of Salsa and Cuban men. This really was a great night, mojitos, dancing. It was off the beaten track so we asked him to come and pick us up later, which he did. So, on the grounds of his reliability we asked him if he would show us Havana the next day, in his ´limo´!!

This was truly a great move, we were chauffer driven around Havana, we saw everything that was on the postcards and a little more.

Being in Cuba really was like stepping back in time. The majority of the city is extremely run down, but still inhabited. There were parts that had been restored, the buildings are amazing and so I hope that they get round to doing up the rest. I didn´t know what to expect from the local cuisine but it seemed to be anything from ´colour blue´ to ´gordon blue´, to sumarise it was everything with cheese and ham. Enjoy the photos….

Sara, Isabel and Lewis

The band in the bar that we managed to pass a few hours in, they had the best mojitos:0)

The People here were so friendly. Everyone is happy, there are bands playing Salsa everywhere and people just dance in the street. We sat in a bar to listen to the music and sampled the mojitos. There we met Lewis, 24, Cuban and very proud. He learnt English and everything he knows from the television, he really was quite amazing. He chooses not to work because it is so corrupt that he is better off not working. Everyone can to go to University and Study but bar staff are earning more than teachers and doctors so there is very little incentive. He would like to be a tour guide but you need a degree and he doesn´t see the point.

He talked to us very openly about Cuba and what he would like to see happen. He is counting on Obama being the next president, there are plans to make changes between the USA and Cuba and with this he hopes there will be more opportunities. He would not leave Cuba but he would take a few vacations. First to Venice, then Paris to climb the Eiffel Tower, then Egypt to see the pyramids and then he would like to see snow.

The sea crashing over the main road around Havana. The ocean is very beautiful around Cuba
Building in need of a face lift, like many buildings in Havana
Defence wall around the waters edge

Guns on the defence wall, all still live and kicking!
Shot from the Limo, central Havana

Road Sign

Cathedral
Entrance to the Plaza del Cathedral
A restored building. The buildings are amazing, i hope they restore more but the focus does seem to be around the tourist areas, at the moment
Plaza del la Cathedral. There were lots of people ready to pose for a peso, they don´t want USD they would rather have a Euro if you have no Cuban Peso.

Havana has 4 Cathedrals, we only found 2.

Where Ernest Hemingway hung out....
La Place de la Revolucion where Fidel gave many speaches

Cuban Flag at the Place de la Revolucion

Sara with the Che Guevara headquarters in the backround

View of Havana

We went to a botanical garden. It is common for people to come here to perfom ritual killing of animals. We were told that the ´religion´ is practiced by 90% of Cubans but we later doubted this. It is of African decent and involves killing a chicken, dipping your left toe in the blood and then offering it, by throwing it in the water.

The chikens remains and a bottle of rum, which i am sure did not get thrown in the river!
Isabel with the master of ceremonies. They were sacrificing for luck in life. He told us that life is hard some days, no food, clean water, they pray for their brothers.


Residential street

There were lots of cas like this, they were great, it really was a step back in time
The Main Cathedral up close
Another residential street, there were people living here. There are lots of really run down houses like this with people living in them. We were very lucky and got invited up to a family home. I heard a song playing as we walked down the street, i wanted to know what it was so the lady took us up to her house. There stood three young men dancing away. We got the name of the song, and got on our way but not before noticing that their toilet was a bucket. There was no runing water in the house.

Isobel with a policeman. This all got very complicated, they weren´t to happy about it but we got there in the end.
The only thing we place of interest we knew of before we got to Cuba was the Coppelia Ice Cream Parlour. It is very famous in Cuba. We walked 3.5kms to get there so it needed to be good. There were two areas, one for Cubans and one for Tourists, it was worth the walk.

Would i go back? If i could avoid flying with Cubana Airlines then yes i would go back. I think that there is so much more to see outside of Havana.

Hasta Luego amigos

xx

The Yucatán

I am not sure it is possible to put into words how amazing this weekend trip to the Yucatán was. A combination of a very well organized trip, great people, excellent tour guides, good weather, great Mexican food and two totally amazing archeological sites of Mayan history.

I was left feeling happy and content on a level that I haven’t felt for a long time. I certainly won’t do it justice in the text so I hope the pictures help you to capture the moment.

From Playa Del Carmen it is a 4 hour drive up to Chichen Itza. We slept most of the way, possibly something to do with the party the night before. Spanish drinking games with a shot of tequila as a forfeit, I was on a loosing start!

‘ The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools.
Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the Classic period, A.D. 200-900.

Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centers. It started to decline around A.D. 900 when - for reasons which are still largely a mystery - the southern Maya abandoned their cities. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some peripheral centers continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.’

Our Guide was of Maya Decent and very passionate about sharing his history. We learnt some very bizarre facts about the Mayan people. Families of high status had heads shaped like melons and were often cross eyed. When babies were born they would put their heads into a device to make it melon shaped. They put a bean on their nose to encourage them to cross their eyes, this was a sign of intelligence as it encouraged them to use both sides of the brain. Hmmm……
They also played a ball game. The court was rectangular with two rings high on each side. You had to pass the ball with your body, you could not use your hands or feet. Only the captain could score goals, take a look at the photo and you will see that getting a large rubber ball through the ring without using hands or feet, not an easy task. The first to score a goal was the winner and the loosing captain was sacrificed. No extra time, just off with his head.

This photo shows the ring that the captain had to shoot the ball through. Games could last for weeks and even months.

Chichen Itza - The famous Mayan pyramids of Chichen-Itza are over 1500 years old and are located only 75 miles from Merida. The name Chichen-Itza is a Mayan word: CHI (mouth) CHEN (well) and ITZA (of the Itza tribe).

Here are a few pictures of this incredible site.

Sara, Judith and Tega infront of the main temple at Chichen Itza

Side view of the temple, snake heads at the bottom.

Tega, Alice, Betina, Oscar, Sara, Roberto, Karine and Judith

This was called the Nunery but it was actually the school

After 4 hours in the sun we retired to a hacienda for some very traditional Mexican Food, meat and beans! I have had beans for breakfast lunch and dinner, it is only a matter of time…….

Hacienda Jardin De Las Especias
Oscar with his happy plate full of meat and beans

Conchita Pibil - my dinner, it was amazing although i suspect it was deepfried, with beans!

We stayed at a hotel in Merida, a very vibrant city with live bands on the street and a sea of people dancing Salsa. It is an amazing place and very much based around family life.

The streets of Merida at night, they close the road and eveyone dances, we did partake and it was great fun.

Uxmal - Maya chronicles say that Uxmal was founded about 500 by Hun Uitzil Chac Tutul Xiu. For generations Uxmal was ruled over by the Xiu family, was the most powerful site in western Yucatan, and for a while in alliance with Chichen Iza dominated all of the northern Maya area.

Uxmal is a smaller and quieter site to Chichen Itza. It is an amazing feeling when you are standing on the top of a pyramid surrounded by history from 500AD. The energy in this place was amazing.

Uxmal, main temple from the back

Uxmal, main temple from the front

Sara with the head of Chac, the rain god. The hooknose can be up or down and this is to pray for or thank for rain.

Three Chacs

Judith, Alice, Sara, Karine, Tega, Betina, Roberto on the North wall of the temple.

We are about the climb the temple in the distance

View from the top of the temple, the most amazing feeling looking down over archeological ruins from 500AD

Uxmal, main temple

We retired to another hacienda to watch the sun go down, from a hammock. My new friends from the Spanish School are all great. Many of them are in a similar situation to me, need a change, need to experience something new, deciding what the next step in life is. We seem to understand each other without even talking about it, the focus is very much on the great things in life.

Relaxing, watching the sunset.

It may seem strange to say but if I could put this weekend in a jar and keep it forever I would. It was a combination of many things, having time to enjoy the wonderful things in life is probably a major factor in this.
Adios Amigos
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