Anna Let’s rewind to november 2019! It was time for another adventure. The original plan was to go to Australia this year, but sometimes plans change. So, we decided to go to Cuba instead! I’ve always wanted to go to Cuba. I’ve been obsessed with that country since watching Dirty Dancing 2! So I convinced my boyfriend that we should take a trip there. We mapped out our route, booked our casas particulares in advance and also bought our bus tickets for the Viazul bus, which is a super easy way to travel through Cuba. Mostly tourists use these buses. When we were in Cuba, two currencies were used side by side (CUC and CUP). The latter is for the Cubans and the first one is for the tourists. However, I’ve read that since January 1st 2021 the CUC has been abolished! Which means that when you now exchange dollars/euros or go to an ATM, you will receive CUP. Converting CUC to US dollars was a bit easier though, 1 CUC was 1 dollar. 1 CUC was 24 CUP, which requires a little more calculating on our part.
So, our first stop was Havana! We flew from Amsterdam via Toronto to Havana. It was quite the journey! We ate some fastfood during our layover and I tried on some perfume as I was a bit smelly after all those hours on the plane. When we arrived at the airport, our hostess arranged for us to be picked up. So that was pretty easy and relaxing! We stayed at a super cute casa in Vedado, Havana.
After a good night’s rest, we got up to explore Havana! But first, breakfast. Our casa made a marvelous breakfast which we thoroughly enjoyed.
After breakfast, it was time to head out to explore the city. We walked around, explored old Havana and strolled along the Malecón, which is the famous 7 km long boulevard. Where we got the pleasure of seeing lots of oldtimers. We just took it slow this day, had some food, enjoyed some cocktails and wandered around the city. The next day was a very special day, as it was my birthday! As you all know, I do not want to be at home for my birthday. So, my boyfriend planned an amazing day for us! After getting ready and having another amazing breakfast, we headed into town. Where we bought some internet cards, you need these cards to access the internet. There are multiple internet points across the city, which you can use with your card. So I checked in with friends and family and then our day started! We toured around the city in one of the oldtimers, there are plenty in the city center which you can rent (with driver of course). I really liked driving around the city in such a beautiful car! I chose the purple one as I thought it was super pretty. I was a bit shy at first to ask for pictures with the car but the driver told us “you paid for it, we can do whatever you like!” So we had him take some cute pictures of us.
After a wonderful ride, we went for a dancing lesson! My boyfriend arranged this with our hostess. It was in a bit of a funky part of town but the teacher was a wonderful woman and we got a private lesson! We prepared for Cuba with dancing lessons back home. We took half a year of salsa lessons because we didn’t want to look stiff in Cuba!
When we finished dancing, it was we time for some food and cocktails! So we found this super cute little bar, where we could sit on the balcony and enjoy the view. And we really started to get to know the Cuban food as well. The first night we were a bit hesitant and went to a restaurant where they had pizza (I would not recommend eating pizza in Cuba). But now, we thought it was time to fully immerse ourselves into the Cuban culture. So from this point on, we only ate typical Cuban dishes (even when we didn’t know what it was). And boy, that did not disappoint! We were told before going to Cuba that people do not travel to Cuba for the good food, that it was rather bland and boring. So I was kinda dreading to eat the Cuban food but I fell in love with the Cuban cuisine. It might not be haute cuisine, but that’s not my cup of tea either. The Cuban cuisine was amazing, the flavours were great and the food was exquisite! We did rely a lot on the lonely planet guide and tripadvisor to seek out good restaurants.
Our last day in Havana was spent discovering another part of town. We also went to the Museo de la Revolucion, this museum is located in the former presidential palace. Quite the impressive building! I am a sucker for history so it was really nice to learn more about the history of Cuba.
I really enjoyed our time in Havana, but I must say that the city is a little bit romanticized. I knew there was poverty in Cuba but when you are really there and see past the perfect pictures on the internet, you see a lot of poverty. Now, it was time to head to Viñales with the Viazul!
