Cuba is one of the truly special travel destinations; warm climate, culture, politics and of course the feeling of being in the 50s. But what about Christmas?

Christmas

Due to the embargo Cuba stands out from the rest of the Caribbean countries, but recent news indicates that Cuban US relations might improve vastly. To experience the old Cuba there was only one option; book a flight as soon as possible.

With work and studies ongoing finding time for travel was not easy, and 2016 approached quickly. Therefore we decided to try something new entirely, Christmas in Cuba.

Do they cerebra Christmas in Cuba? Short answer: nope. Christmas was previously prohibited in Cuba, but has been legalised with time; however, there were no imminent signs of Christmas on the Caribbean island. Some had Santa hats, but 30 degrees and sun does not go hand in hand with warm hats. On the other hand, this means that most shops (the few that exist), museums and restaurants keep open on Christmas Eve, enabling full use of the day as a tourist. 25th, however, is a holiday and most museums and some other places are closed on this day. If you wish to celebrate Christmas in Cuba, we recommend either renting a casa particular and meet locals who can tell you what is happening in the area, or find a big and more expensive hotel with higher priorities on western traditions.

But why do this? A trip to Cuba is after all a trip to experience something different. The beaches in Key West are beautiful, so is the jungle in Puerto Rico. If this is what you’re looking for, Cuba is only one of many places to go. Therefore we recommend to do like we did, and not focus too much on Christmas. Instead, spend the time getting to know the Cuban culture, take a ride in an old American car or a Lada and experience the hospitality of the Cubans.

Special Cuba

Apart from old cars, exactly what makes Cuba special? The political system influence Cuba heavily, for better and worse. The safety might not be immediately observable, but at the same time it might also be the biggest difference from other tourist destinations. The capital, Havana, has roughly 2.8 million inhabitants. Any city this size elsewhere is affected by pickpocketing, people living on the streets, areas to avoid and focus on visible security like police, metal detectors in public buildings and so on. Havana, on the other hand, is surprisingly peaceful. In the 7 days we spent there, only one person was observed living on the street and asking for money. Even though Cuba is not famous for having a high GDP, everyone seems to have an acceptable minimum standard of living. We walked by a bus and an old man stopped to have a chat. This was really nice, but after some time I remembered that this is a classic trick for pickpocketing. In panic I checked for my wallet, phone and camera, all safely stored in my pockets; the man was simply nice and interested in meeting tourists. This is something you rarely see in any other capitals. In the evening we could walk around in dark alleys without worrying about dangers. It should be noted that there are certain areas to avoid in Havana at night, but Havana is generally very safe for being a city of this size. You should, however, be aware that scams are not unheard of, especially from people trying to sell cheap sigars.

Further on we realised that any government driven service lacks efficiency. It took around one and a half hour from out airplane landed until we got our luggage. Based on the list of arriving airplanes, three were present when we landed. Even though we though this was quite slow, we later learned that we could have spent a lot more time on a bad day. Further on, there is a long line at the airport to exchange money, and the banks downtown are no better. Expect to spend 30-60 minutes in line and remember to bring passport or other ID, otherwise you might be denied service.

First night in Cuba we experienced another side of the communism: Lack of commercial competition and demand-driven development. In absolutely all other countries we have visited there is a kiosk with food available when you arrive and are hungry. McDonalds, Subway, Spar, you name it. In Cuba we found no such places and started to get really hungry after a while. We found some places selling pizzas, but the looks of the places gave us second thoughts and the prices were way higher than expected; 12 dollars for a small pizza. In the end we got so hungry that we just had to get some food and decided to go for one of these overpriced pizzas. 12 dollars were paid with a 50 peso bill (same as 50 USD), and the pizza lady looked strangely at us, as if the had never seen a 50 peso bill before. The bill was carried over to the neighbours  to check if they could give change, then to return with some other money. In the end we got our change: 49.50. This seems strange, until we realised that the price as listed in Cuban Pesos (CUP, local money) instead of Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC, tourist money). One tourist peso is around 25 local pesos; in other words we paid around 50 cents for our dinner.

Cuba is filled with these kind of experiences. Even though the pictures often show only old cars and sigars, Cuba is so much more, and a part of the trip is to experience these differences, especially the ones you are not prepared for.

Out itinerary

Since very few (if any commercial) flights go through the US we had to find another way to get from Norway to Cuba. In the end we ended up flying through Toronto, and since Stavanger is not the center of the world we also had to touch down in London for some hours. Total travel time: 56 hours. Instead of making this into more than two days of waiting we decided to spend some time in each place and experience London at Christmas and Toronto for the first time. This was a very nice way og seeing a bit more of the world without having to spend too much, as we’ve previously mentioned in how to make time for travel.

In Cuba we initially had no specific plan of where to go, except from the arrival city of Havana, but by the end of the trip we had also visited Viñales and Varadero.

Havana is the capital and largest city. Many of the typical attractions are found here, such as the images of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro on the building walls by Plaza de la Revolución, the Bacardi building, Capitolo, Malecon and of course the classic American cars. Havana is a perfect place to start a Cuban vacation, because there are so many impressions to experience and different cultures to understand. But Cuba is also so much more than Havana, and other places have to be explored.

Viñales was our next stop. This area is located within one of Cuba’s many national parks and is very different from Havana. We took a cab, a Chevrolet Bel Air from the 50’s, which turned out to be a rather special experience. Speed limits seems non-existent in Cuba and we drove at sigar-and-jesus-statue mph; the speedometer was replaced by a half smoked sigar and a Jesus statue long time ago. The only things Cuban’s seems to slow down for are police officers and railway crossings. And when it comes to police, it is fully accepted to slam the breaks right in front of them and floor the throttle right after you have passed then, as long as your speed is low when passing by.

In Viñales we located a casa particular by the help of the taxi driver (who didn’t speak a word English) for 30 dollars per night. This was a very special experience and is highly recommended. We went on a guided tour to see how they make sigars and saw a part of the beautiful nature in Cuba.

From Viñales we went back to Havana, to shortly after move on to Varadero. Varadero is a typical touristic area with white beaches and large hotels. We scuba dived outside the main beach and saw many beautiful fish. This was a nice experience, but in no way comparable to the rest of Cuba. A place like this can be experienced in the rest of the Caribbean and southern US as well, much more accessible than Cuba. We therefore found Varadero a bit “unnecessary” when you first visit a place as special as Cuba.

Varadero was only a day trip for us and the plan was to take the bus back to Havana. The bus was of course sold out and we found no taxies. The hotels were also full, with the exception of those being very expensive. What to do? In the end we found a man in a  Lada mentioning Santa Clara, a city in quite the opposite direction of Havana. We replied him Havana and the man said something that we in the end interpreted as 60 dollars. After some poor attempts at Spanish heavily supported by body language we offered 50 pesos and soon found ourselves inside the Lada on our way to what we hoped was Havana. After 30 minutes the driver picked up a girl who happened to speak a little bit English. Thanks to her we confirmed that we had agreed on 50 pesos to take us to Havana.

Back in Havana we had two days of sightseeing before we had to depart on our journey back to Norway.

Good to know

Even though some of the experience is to be surprised by everything that is different, some things are good to be aware of in advance. Here is our top 10 list of things to be aware of:

1. Currency: Cuba have two currencies, Cuban Peso (CUP) and Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). The first one is the local currency and the latter one for the tourist. Still, the local currency can be used by tourists, but it is not common. It’s good to be aware of, because some things can be paid in local currency cheaper than tourist currency (if you can pass as a local) and the 3 pesos coin and bill have a picture of Che Guevara which are good souvenirs. Be aware of the change you get, as 1 CUP is only worth 1/25th of a CUC, which has the same value as 1 USD.
2. Access to cash: It is not possible to exchange pesos in advance and therefore has to be done when arriving in Cuba. As mentioned above, lines can be very long both at the airport and in the cities. Also, the exchange fee on USD is 10 % on top of the already 3 % imposed. Bringing pounds, euros or other major currencies is therefore a must. Bringing credit cards is also a good idea, but be aware that any banks having a US relation will not work. There are ATMs in both the airports and cities, but bring cash as a backup. In the airport it could also be a good idea to go to the departures area, as the lines to exchange money here is usually way shorter than in the arrivals area. The banks in Cuba are called CADECA and should be the only place you exchange money.
3. Transportation: It is almost as cheap (and way more efficient) to take a taxi in Cuba as it is to take the bus. We shared a taxi from Havana to Viñales and paid 15 USD per person: for a distance of 180 km in a taxi! From Varadero to Havana we paid 50 dollars and got the taxi to ourselves taking us 120 km in the evening.
4. Language: The language spoken in Cuba is Spanish. Some also speak a bit English in the main tourist areas, but basic knowledge of Spanish is a huge advantage. As a minimum you should bring a small dictionary; an app on your phone takes care of this.
5. Visa: Cuba requires a visa for many countries. In our case this can be acquired for around 450 NOK in Norway. The process requires a form to be filled and sent to the embassy and expected processing time is 4 weeks. We took the change of outsourcing this to a visa company that only charged 470 NOK for the service, including the visa fee. Be aware that travel insurance is required and you might have to show proof of valid insurance which should not be a problem as everyone should have a proper travel insurance anyway.
6. Internet: Internet does exist in Cuba, but it is very limited. Some hotels have it, and you can buy access for a certain time at these “hotspot” places. In any case you should print all documents in advance, complete all online research and download offline maps and so on before departing for Cuba. The app Triposo is an amazing tool with offline maps, list of attractions and is even free.
7. Cigars: “Everyone” will try to sell you sigars in Cuba for a price lower than everyone else. Do not take any risks by accepting these offers as the are often scams. Instead by the cigars in official places or where they buy the cigars.
8. Flight tickets: Due to the relationship to the US few search engines shows flights to Cuba. Skyscanner worked well for us and we event found trips that were substantially cheaper than other trips offered by searching directly on the airline webpages.
9. Accommodation: As with flight tickets, hotel search engines are also limited in Cuba. We also experienced that even if someone offers free cancellation until departure we were asked shortly after booking to confirm the stay by the hotel. Anyway, we highly recommend trying a casa particular, also known as home stay, where you live in a family’s house for a unique experience for a good price. You get a private bedroom and bathroom, and often your own kitchen and living room as well.
10. Cuban time: Most things in Cuba has a certain “mañana” style. The typical efficiency you find in European capitals is not present here and you have to be prepared to not plan everything in advance. Just remember that some of the experience by travelling is to experience other cultures that takes you away from the routine life!