#SHE LANDED IN CUBA!

Man oh man where do I begin!

I’d be lying if I said I was not worried about making it to Cuba.  I prepared myself for the worse, possibly being told, I was not eligible to visit and receive a visa, however, that was not the case.  The sense of relief fell over me, roughly 50%.  I still had to make it through the visit!

“Spanglish” is not a language for Cuba, which I thought would be possible for me, if I decided to go solo.  Thank God for my friend Guildia being there.  We quickly learned that we could not speak broken Spanish to the people of Cuba.  I was also told by my friend from high school, Milly (who has family in Cuba), that “Spanglish” will not work in Cuba.  She was 100% correct.  I later learned, even if it did, it came at a price.

Our ride from the airport was very interesting.  We obtained an eager driver whose brother seemed to be the boss of all the drivers of this particular “taxi company”, and assigned us to him.

As we merged onto the highway, we instantly noticed the vintage cars, that still work considering how old they are! Funny enough, all I kept repeating was “do you know how much these cars would go for in the USA?!” 

Trying to snap pictures of the vintage cars whizzing by became a task within itself but it was nice to see first hand. We had smiles on our faces, that slowly disappeared.

Our taxi driver's car began to do a little jolting and slowing down.  This car was breaking down, in 80+ degree weather, on the side of the highway, where cars and huge extra long buses kept whizzing on by.  He gets out, does a few tinkering things to the engine,

and we are on our way, only for it to break down again within 5 minutes.  All we could do is laugh at the fact that Farah, put into the universe before we got in the car, “watch this car break down on the way”.

It did, 3 times!  Thanks Farah!  Excited is not the word to explain how happy we were to have made it to our Airbnb.

I opted for an Airbnb this time, because cost wise, it was the most effective, for such a short stay.  The 4 hotels that Americans are allowed to stay in, are very overpriced as well as, they are not necessarily "supporting the Cuban people".  You support the Cuban people more, in the private sector, by staying in an Airbnb.

Our Airbnb was within a building that on the outside, looked a little run down as well as, the design seemed a little confusing.

The staircase and hallway were tight and narrow. The elevator said it could fit 5 people, but with the 3 of us, it really can only fit 3 people.  This building was petite.

  We arrived to the 7th floor and our apartment was nice!

The view from the windows were awesome as well as the breeze that came straight in from the ocean 3 blocks over.

No need for us to use air conditioning.  It is a comfy and quaint 2 bedroom apartment, with beds that left plenty of room for us to sleep comfortably.  I am very big on cleanliness and this apartment, delivered that perfectly! Praise!

Just a note:  WiFi is not free in Cuba.  Everyone has to pay so although most Airbnb’s may say wifi is included, it is sorta, but at an extra fee.  Depending on where you are, pricing ranges from 1 to 2CUC per hour.  There is also the option to buy wifi cards outside which seemed to be linked to specific connections and are available for use in designated areas, near the bigger hotels or restaurants, who have the bandwidth to to support the phones and computers being used, for those who cannot afford the hook up within their homes.  Once we finally sat down in our apartment, we waited for the WiFi to be set up for about 30 minutes.  Once connected, we immediately notified who we could, that we made it safely and were stepping out to seek food, before we disconnect.

Our host gave us many tips and information before he left.  One of them was that we should not let anyone lead us to a restaurant for food because it is a hustle.  Basically, these people say they know a great spot to eat, escort you there, and then shake hands with the owners.  We were informed that the cost is passed onto the customer in the pricing of the food.  This restaurant we ended up at, had great ambiance, and even some people online said the food was great, but, I have to sternly, disagree.

La Familia is a restaurant that is hosted atop a casa particular in Old Havana.  The food was overly priced and had no flavor at all!  We salted and oiled our food like crazy.  I had pictures of the food but deleted them. The only selling point of the restaurant was that they include a Mojito with your meal. 

The Mojito was the best part of the meal.  We ate it because we were starving and just no time to continue the search.  We also learned that at these particular restaurants, they suddenly do not have majority of what is listed on the menu.  The menu may have a list of 30 different options, but you are left to select the basic 4! UGH! We saw our escort return, with another group of people and high five the manager. I wanted to trip him down those steps for this terrible meal!  They had a little performance going on which they should’ve just kept that hidden as well.  Our waitress was a little rude.  A huge thumbs down.

We take our time walking back to the apartment and take in more night time sights of Old Havana. It was lit up just beautifully!  Lost those pictures, deleting by accident. UGH!  But it is definitely a site to see, IN PERSON!

Once back at the apartment, because I did not sleep the night before, I turned myself into bed because I just couldn’t go anymore. I’m getting old and I cherish my sleep! It's 10pm 😂!

If your interested in visiting any other parts of the world, and want to get booked (payment plan options available), along with further information, e-mail me at ChristinaCtravels@gmail.com

An independent travel agent for TropicalTravel.net - We don't only book to the Caribbean
Facebook
Instagram