Cuba

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Experiencing Cuba is like dancing on an artist’s paint palette. The vibrant streets and the soulful demeanor of the locals is something to fall in love with. As soulful as it is, Cuba is just as soul-crushing. Pharmacies are empty, residents are given bread that is already molding and poverty is rising. Even doctors have to double and food delivery workers because they cannot make enough money. The people of this communist country are struggling and it is heartbreaking. We still had an incredible trip but also took time to make friends with locals, who told us their experiences.

We stayed in two areas, Havana (suburban) and Old Havana (city), and we did two tours. We used a free day in Havana as a Varadero beach day and our free day in Old Havana to explore the vibrant city. Havana Day Tour with Cuba Outings gave us the best breakdown of the city and set us up to explore by ourselves a different day. We also did the Viñales Nature Day Tour with Vintage Car Tours. We went to tobacco farms, explored caves by boat and went horseback riding. (We had a very long drive in this car with no air condition and hubby was really struggling. They cannot simply import new items when things break, due to their government. They get by with makeshift adjustments.)

At the time that I am writing this – United State tourism in Cuba is not allowed. If asked the only acceptable answer in visiting Cuba is “supporting the Cuban people.” That means you shop, eat and dine local instead of giving your money to government owned restaurants/businesses. Government businesses are easy to tell – they are the usually the fancier and have more money to than the local mom & pop shops. It is hard to only dine local (more below).

A Candid Cost Calculation:

Accommodation – The first half of our stay was in a more suburban part of Havana at the El Candil Boutique Hotel. It is a renovated house turned hotel and is privately owned. The room was small but we knew that we’d spend most of our time exploring.

In Old Havana, we rented this very cool AirBnB in Old Havana, which has more of a city feel. The AirBnB had a rooftop and it was my favorite stay of the trip. 

Food – We indeed tried to support smaller mom & pop restaurants but it feels impossible to do that 100% of the trip. In Havana, we really enjoyed Paladar Vistamar. It has an ocean view, a huge inground pool and it is probably the fanciest privately owned place in the suburbs. Café de la Esquina was also walking distance from our Havana hotel and it also privately owned. El Floridita in Old Havana, government owned, is touted as Earnest Hemingway’s favorite bar. They are famous for serving great frozen daiquiris. The funny thing is, my favorite salsa dancing place in Hollywood is also called “El Floridita” and they serve legit Cuban food. The food in the El Floridita in actual Cuba is just sandwiches (barely a Cubano).

*Hubby got very sick eating local pizza with homemade cheese. We couldn’t walk to get medicine because of the empty shelves in most pharmacies. All I had was the small amount of medicine that I travel with. I’d advise against anything cheese, which is the locals just trying to get creative without much import/export support.

Transportation – Walking is the best option in Old Havana. When we were in the more suburban part of Havana, we either walked or relied on taxis. Make sure to talk about/negotiate the price before you get inside. When we took a taxi to the beach, the cab driver waited with us for hours and also took us back. This apparently was standard but didn’t cost that much money.

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