Last weekend Don and I traveled to Havana, Cuba for a five day tour with Road Scholar (formerly known as Elderhostel). There are about a gazillion thoughts traveling through my head. As stray thoughts enter, I'll add them to this post. Subsequent posts (which will be dated the day they happened vs. the day they were written) will be focused on specific activities and lessons we learned. Of course, there will be A LOT of pictures. I have so far called the 2,500 pictures Don and I took down to about 750, with more culling still taking place as I choose the best pictures.
Q&A
A: I'll assume the question is more about as an American how did we gain entrance to a country we have been shut away from and not the specific travel arrangements. The short answer is, with money anything is possible. The longer answer is we went on an organized tour (in our case, Road Scholar), and purchased a $100 visa at the airport we were flying directly to Cuba from (in our case, Miami).
Note: when Road Scholar said to purchase the visa at the airport, I expected it to be complicated. I was picturing an office hidden in a far recess of the vast airport. I was not expecting a kiosk that moved to the proper departure gate. Payment is made via credit or debit card (the last time we used them until we came back to the United States since American credit cards rarely work in Cuba). They did not ask us why we were going, but Road Scholar said to support the local economy or for cultural reasons. Any time I tipped a local for their help, I reminded myself I was helping the local economy.
Q: How did you get there?
A: This time I'll assume the question is the basic logistics. We took an 8 am flight from Newark Airport to Miami. After a three-hour layover we took a one hour flight from the Miami Airport to Havana. After clearing customs, we were greeted at the baggage claim area by Lian, a representative of Road Scholar who stayed with us the whole time. She guided us to the 40 passenger tour bus (which included a bathroom and air conditioning) that would be home for the next five days.
A: Legally Americans are very restricted to where they can stay. Since we were on an organized trip, we stayed where we were told to stay. This time it was the Grand Aston -- a new twin tower hotel on the Malecon (the path that hugs the water).
Q: Jacquie, didn't you already go to Cuba?
A: Yes, I went with Martha, Sharon, and Sandra in November 2015. I blogged about it in a 12-part series starting with THIS ONE. At the time, Ashley was 13. Sharon and Sandra were going to run the Havana Half-Marathon on an athlete's visa. They invited me along as their companion, on a cultural exchange visa. I invited Martha along as an additional companion because Martha is both a runner and lover of visiting foreign countries. She opted for the cultural visa over the athlete visa.
Q: Did you ever think you would go back?
A: No. I went this time because Don did not go with me in 2015 and he wanted to see it for himself. I'm glad I went back since Cuba is once again having historic times, this time negative instead of positive ones.
Q: How many were in your group?
A: Twenty-two people, all Americans, ranging from about our age and up. Many retired, some not. Everyone arrived when they were supposed to. Lots of different backgrounds.
Q: Did you leave Havana?
A: No. This tour was just for Havana. There was an option for a longer trip, but we decided not to. I'm glad we stayed in the city since the countryside is facing a lot of problems with blackouts. Living without wifi is hard enough. Life without electricity would be a challenge -- especially since it was so warm.
Q: What was the weather like?
A: Temperatures between 70 and 90 each day. A little more humid than I am used to in March.
Q: Did you encounter the riots?
A: No, though we were in Cuba during the riots, they took place in Santiago. Yes, it is that bad.
Q: Did you feel safe?
A: Absolutely! The biggest issue was people asking us for money. I never felt threatened. Don felt annoyed. One strange observation about this is while we were asked non-stop for money during the day, we had zero requests at night. We walked around some sketchy neighborhoods and saw people hanging out with friends and family. I said buenos noches as I passed people, and they replied, but never once asked us for money.
Q: How has it changed in the past 8 years?
A: This is really the magic question! As I process the answer, I'll elaborate.
The first big change was the airport. Last time we took a chartered flight on a plane held together with duct tape and prayers (not a good thing when traveling to an atheist country). This time we took a regularly scheduled American Airlines flight. Last time the airport had no food, and only a Duty-Free shop. Now the airport is light and airy with restaurants and shops. Small, though much larger than the Mercer County Airport.
The second was how the currency changed in February 2020 which led to rampant inflation. In 2015 Cuba had two different currencies: the CUC ("kook") and the CUP ("coop"). The CUC was what foreigners used after exchanging money at the airport. The exchange rate was $1 for 1CUC. The CUP was what the locals used. Tourists were not supposed to acquire any of that money (though most did).
When looking into our trip, I read we were being discouraged from exchanging money at the airport because everyone used the US Dollar at a rate two to three times more favorable than the official rate you would get at the airport. Huh?
By the way, the Cuban government did away with the CUC and only the CUP exists. With inflation out of control, the CUP hardly buys anything anymore. Just stick wit dollars and euros. Huh?
I was in such disbelief I had to be told this a few more times before I believed it.
To sum up, instead of exchanging money at the airport we were to pay for everything in from tipping the sand lady at the bathroom to taxis to drinks and meals in US dollars. Euros, Pounds, and Canadian Dollars are also accepted. We learned from a British couple, though, that the Cubans only want bills and not coins, so they exchanged their money into USD because we still have the dollar bill. Their smallest form of currency is a 5 pound note, worth just over $6 USD. That's a lot of toilet paper from the sand lady! Change is often given in Cuban Pesos at a variable rate, often 1:1.
The third surprise was the increase of newer cars and buses, particularly fancy tour buses from China.
Q: How was the food?
A: Delicious, but heavy, and a lot of meat. We avoided uncooked food (i.e., salads) and non-bottled waters to give our stomachs a chance. We mostly survived unscathed. Very little dairy. No pasta. Breakfast at the hotel was the worst meal of the day -- it seemed to be leftovers from the previous dinner, but not what any of us would consider breakfast food. No cereal, yogurt, eggs, pancakes, etc. They did have coffee, tea, juice, and toast. We suspect whatever we left on our family-style platters went to the next table (which means we received whatever the previous diners left on their serving platters).
Q: Did you get to the Hemingway Museum.
A: No, our schedule did not have free time when they were open, though one of our group skipped a lunch to go.
A: Yes, and will blog about it with lots of pictures.
Q: Did you stick with the group the whole time?
A: No. We took walks alone each night, went to Fusterlandia, went to the Buena Vista Social Club Review, and spent Saturday afternoon walking around Old Havana alone.
Q: Is there music everywhere?
A: Yes! From street musicians to small bands at every restaurant, we had a Cuban music soundtrack playing. We did not hear any Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, etc.
A: Yes! When I came I took at look at my 2008 convertible and am ashamed to say it is not nearly as sparkly as the 1950s convertibles we saw in Havana. At the very least the salt water should be causing more damage.
Q: What was the biggest challenge?
A: Living without the internet. We had spotty wifi in the hotel, but not during the day. There are so many times I wanted to bring up a map on my phone, or look something up. As someone pointed out during dinner, it was like the old days when you and a friend had a debate about something, the one who could better argue their answer was right, even if they were wrong.
Q: What was your highlight?
A: The last night at dinner we asked each other this question. The neat thing was, everyone had a different answer. Mine was the tour of the synagogue because it was so different from anything I did the time before, and because thanks to my Jewish friends, I had enough of a base to understand the conversation.
Q: Did you get sick?
A: Most everyone seems to have caught a form of Montezuma's Revenge (including us, though ours was mild). I've only heard of one couple (out of 22 people) who came down with COVID after the trip. We only saw one person wearing a mask, he swears it was a respiratory disease and not COVID. Being a government controlled country, most everyone was vaccinated from COVID.
If you have more questions, add them to the comments, or send me a message off-line and I'll answer.
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