Archiv für den Monat: November 2013

It’s a city…

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The goodbyes in the morning were, as expected, really hard. We left with kisses, hugs and almost tears. But eventually we had to go and got slowly on our way to Santiago de Cuba. For the first part we went up the famous road named La Farola. The pass road was built between 1964 and 1965, in addition to the Highway Carretera Central. With La Farola, Baracoa was for the first time connected by road to the rest of the country. Before it could only be reached by ship or plane. Built from the stones of the „Sierrade Purial“, the … Continue reading →

A stadium without ball games and a river without a bridge

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We took a long walk to Playa Blanca. The way leads along the beach past the side of the disused baseball stadium at the edge of the town. It got built, used and never repaired. But building it literally next to the ocean also doesn’t really help to keep it in a good shape. The bridge over the river was also broken – apparently it gets washed out during big storms and then slowly repaired again, meaning that most of the time there is no bridge. At any rate there was a boat to take us across, though we had … Continue reading →

Being part of Cuban daily life in a small town

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Today we went to Boca de Yumurí at the mouth of Río Yumurí, which is the second river next to Baracoa. But first we had to get gas. I paid with a 50 CUC note which required me showing them my passport, them writing down the serial number of the note and getting my signature. I had seen some weird rumours on the internet about how difficult it is to use 50 CUC notes (it is, after all, more than 2 months wages in a single note) but all-in-all it wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t want to try and use … Continue reading →

First insights of the workings in a communist country

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Tony is the owner of the Casa and the head of the family. There is his wife, his daughter, her husband and their two kids. For Cuban standards the house is huge and probably sets them firmly in the upper middle class (for comparison I count us to be lower middle class in Germany). There are two guest rooms (our upstairs „apartment“ and one downstairs), the sleeping room of the daughter’s family, the sleeping room of Tony and his wife, a large living room, the dining area, a kitchen, bathroom, a little courtyard, and even a small patio out the … Continue reading →

Take two foreign tourists, a bad map, no food or water and the worst road in Cuba…

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We got up relatively early and spent some time with our host, the older woman. She talked about her life and I think she used to be a teacher, but my Spanish is just not good enough. After expectantly waiting for breakfast for 20 minutes we finally pushed forward with what questions we could muster and discovered it was actually in the house next door. It turned out to be worth the wait – coffee, bread, butter, honey, fruits and a huge omelette. There was also someone who spoke English in the Casa – in addition to running a Casa … Continue reading →

Ten hours in cattle class with a bad cold to make it even better – Cuba here we come

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Finally the long planned trip to Cuba is about to start. More or less four months of preparation, speaking to what seemed like 15 travel agencies, reading through about 50 web pages, and still not really feeling well prepared, we booked the trip with „Erlebe Reisen“ – a travel company based in Dettingen/ Erms Germany. They seemed to be the most honest company with the fairest price. For 2300€ we got: The rental car (only the rental, insurance and such is extra to pay in Cuba), all accommodation (including breakfast and even half pension for four days) and the transfers … Continue reading →