Cuba is only 45 minutes by plane from Miami, but such a different culture. I was excited to join the Galapagos Travels approved Cuban humanitarian mission. In order to fullfill the mission, each participant brought about $50 over-the-counter pharmaceuticals for the St. Vincent de Paul old age home for women.
Once in Cuba, we met some of the nursing nuns at the home and learned that they help everyone, not just Christians. Bringing the pharmaceuticals did not seem like a big deal to us, but it meant the world to them.
We were to fly from NYC to Miami, to meet our group then fly to Cuba the next morning. However Superstorm Sandy, hit NY a few days before and the NYC airports. When on morning before our Miami flight, the airports were still closed, we were faced with a decision: wait to see if LaGuardia airport opens on the next day or rent a car and start driving. We decided to be safe, rent a car and drive. Unfortunately there were no cars for rent in Manhattan, but the Rent-A-Car offices at the airport were open and had cars. We drove and arrived in Miami the next evening.
The process when we landed in Havana was chaotic and took two hours from landing. But finally we were on our way.
The Countryside:
We drove to Las Terrazas, an old coffee plantation. The coffee used to be planted in terraces, hence the name Las Terrazas. The view from the terraces was lovely especially with the sun shining on the red bark Mastic trees. You can see one of these trees to the right of Jerry.
We stopped at a local school in Las Terrazas and enjoyed the murals they painted on the school buildings.
Vinales Cigar factory
What is Cuba without cigars? We saw an active cigar factory in Vinales. We were not allowed to bring our cameras or bags into the factory. The cigar production is 100% by hand from planting to reaping, curing and rolling. The first step at the factory, is to select the leaves. Three women were selecting them. These were passed on to the next set of workers, who hand-roll the leaves, put the binder leaf on, put them in a press to tighten them and then finish the rolling with the wrapper leaf. The cigars get checked for size and density. Very few get rejected. They are packed, and the label is put on them. It was very interesting to watch how fast they work. They have a quota that they have to meet each day. If they exceed the quota, they can roll the excess into the next day and take time off or get paid extra. Some of the workers tried to get us to give them a tip but our guide said to not do so.
Indian caves:
We began by walking in the cave full of interesting formations. When we got to an underground stream, we took a boat to look at more cave formations.
We saw formations in the shape of a “sea horse” “tobacco leaves” “a crocodile” “Columbus’ three ships” “an Indian head” and more. At the other end of the cave, a guy giving people a chance to ride a water buffalo. I skipped that privilege.
Nearby, at the foot of a mountain, there is a fabulous mural. The mural depicts life on the Island starting from snails, dinosaurs, to men. The painting begun in 1960, took 4 years to complete. The Cuban painter, Glez, who had been a student of Diego Rivera was commissioned to design it and it was painted with the help of 18 painters. It is enormous and very beautiful. We had a great view of it from our lunch spot.
Tobacco Farm visit:
The tobacco seeds are tiny and they are sown in a small area. Then they are transplanted them into the field, one by one. The new seedlings, we saw were only about 6 inches tall.
After the tobacco is dried, it is fermented. This farmer uses water, honey, guava and rum. The mixture is boiled and then the tobacco leaves are covered tight for 15 months. Then they are ready for the cigar factory. We learned that the vein of the leaf has 60% of the nicotine. Each farmer has to meet a quota. If he exceeds the quota, he can sell the rest of the tobacco for extra money and for his own use.
We sat around the kitchen table while farmer, Gerardo, rolled the cigars and our guide explained everything that he was doing. The kitchen is separate from the house because they cook on open fires. This region only receive electricity a short time before our visit.
Havana
Havana is a delight. It is a walkable city and the Old Town, especially Plaza Vieja is particularly interesting.
Old Havana became a UNESCO site in 1982, which brought in money to fix up the old beautiful houses in Plaza Vieja. Some date from the Colonial period, 16th C, and some are Art Nouveau inspired, from the early 1900s. To the right are 2 buildings, restored and unrestored.
There is an awesome Chocolate Museum. I am a hot chocolate expert and my drink definitely passed all tests.
Hemingway’s House
Hemingway lived in Havana for 20 years. His house, is now a museum.
It is a simple house. Each room has lots of books as well as the many trophies for the animals that he shot. You can’t actually go into the house, but you can look through the windows and doors. This protects the house and allows all the books to be visible.
There is a pool and his fishing boat nearby. Shortly before the revolution, Hemingway, who had liver cancer, left Cuba to go to the US to get medical help. He never returned because he committed suicide.
Old Cars:
Havana would be the place to make a 1950’s movie. The cars are all from that period. They are kept running beautifully. On our walk we saw an old locomotive parking lot. In the States, that would be a scrap metal lot, not here. They are all being restored.
Cienfuegos:
We took a day trip to Cienfuegos. We walked along their park like Prado, which was lined with craft stores. We stopped to admire the Palacio de Valle, which was built early in the 20th century as a private home.
We also visited the beautiful opera house, built at the end of the 19th century. It looks like the European opera houses.
Our main treat was the private a cappella choir concert. They sang selections from the Classics, American folk songs and Cuban music. They did an arrangement of Shenandoah that was the best I ever heard.
But a day is never complete without adventures. Bathrooms in struggling countries are usually a challenge. At the museum, there were no toilet seats but that was not a big deal. There were also no doors on the stalls inside the bathroom. Therefore we passed open stalls and just had to ignore those sitting on the toilet.
Fuster:
We visited the wonderful mosaic artist, Fuster’s house. For the last 18 years he had been having fun putting mosaics on just about all surfaces in his house and all over his neighborhood. The mosaics reminded me of Gaudi Park in Barcelona. We had lunch at his house under these wonderful designs.
Ballet night:
This is one for the books!! When we saw that there was a ballet performance during our Havana stay, I checked with the hotel concierge. He said that he had tickets for that evening. Others from the tour heard that we had tickets for the ballet, and also got tickets from the concierge. By the way, each ticket was $30.
When we arrived at the opera house, our guide, who did not have a ticket, showed us the general area of our seats. It is hard to really describe the ensuing chaos but I will try. About 15 of us were in the first balcony and the rest in the back of the orchestra. The balcony was divided into boxes with three rows of 2 seats in a box. There was one usher and for some reason she couldn’t figure out where we were supposed to sit. We trooped down one aisle and then another aisle. Then she told some of us to go into a box but there were 8 of us and only 6 seats. I saw 2 seats in the second row of the box to the left and commandeered them. It was now about 8:30, (starting time), therefore I felt safe about being able to stay in the seats. However, people kept coming into the box and standing behind us, then leaving. Two people in the box to our left were kicked out of the seats. Even after the ballet started, people kept re-sorting themselves into seats. There were probably half a dozen people who came in and out of our box. The guy in the next box was taking pictures with a large camera, which was a bit distracting and I could only see 2/3 of the stage. But other than that ….
The program was made up of many short pieces by different ballet companies including the American Ballet Theatre. Some of the dancing was wonderful and some of it not so much. I believe that the concierge gave us phony tickets because: 1. No one could seat us properly and 2. how did the concierge come up with 23 tickets to a sold-out event? But since it seems to be squatters’ rights in most cases, it didn’t seem to matter.
Final Comments
- Just a 45-minute flight and a whole world away.
- On a humanitarian visit, you can do a great deal of good.
- I did not get hassled in the street by vendors. A taxi driver might ask you if you want a taxi, but if you say no, he will say “have a nice holiday”. They don’t ask “where are you from?” in order to sell you something, but because they are really curious. If you say, U.S. or N.Y., they are very welcoming.
- The music in most of the restaurants and on the street was fantastic.
- Cuba is a poor country. Even at our 4* hotel, the lights would flicker, the breakfast hot plate broke, two of the three elevators didn’t work (but not always the same two).
- Beautiful Havana and the 1950s cars are well worth visiting.
Nili's Adventure 
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