Report on Cuba

These are notes based on my visit to Cuba on December 2-9, 2012, on Friendly Planet’s “Colors of Cuba” program. Our group of 18 had five nights in Havana and two in Trinidad. We visited Cienfuegos en route to Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus and the Che Guevara memorial near Santa Clara on the way back. I’m hardly an expert on Cuba, so please take what follows with caution. I’ll leave the color commentary to the guidebooks and focus on what I would have wanted to read before I left for Havana. GOING AND RETURNING Our flights between Miami and Havana were on tickets issued by ABC Charters, which must be affiliated in some way with American Airlines. The check-in desks in Miami adjoined the American counters, and our flights were shown on our tickets and on the airport departure boards as American Airlines flights. The planes and crew were from American. In short, the flights seemed to be American flights in all but name only (but they didn’t qualify for frequent flyer miles). The check-in process probably took longer than the flight time to Havana, and I’m still not sure exactly what happened. A Friendly Planet representative collected our passports and plane tickets which she took to one desk. Then we were called individually to a second desk where we received our passports and boarding passes and asked to identify our luggage. We had been advised that there was a strict 22 lb. weight limit per person on both checked and hand-luggage. But no one paid any attention to our carry-on bags. After that, the airport security and boarding procedures were the same as for any regularly-scheduled flight. In Havana, charter flights such as ours do not arrive and depart at the same terminal building as other international flights. There seem to be four terminal buildings, which meant that the terminal we used wasn’t overly crowded at our departure. All this could be confusing if I had been traveling to and from Cuba on my own. As members of a tour group, however, we had a briefing at our Miami hotel on the evening before departure, and we were accompanied to the airport for our flight home. Friendly Planet had warned us that we would not know our flight schedule until shortly before our trip began, and that charter flight schedules might change with little notice. So we were advised to spend a night in Havana both before and after the trip, which I did. Friendly Planet had arranged a discounted rate at the Crowne Plaza near the airport. As it turned out, this was a good idea because we had to be at the Miami airport before noon to depart, and our return flight didn’t reach Miami until after 4 PM. It would have been hard for me to make connections that reached Miami early enough and then left Miami late enough. So I’d recommend including the costs of these hotel nights and associated meals as just another part of the tour cost. CURRENCY There seemed to be a 3 percent surcharge on exchanging any foreign currency and an additional 10 percent surcharge on exchanging US dollars. This additional surcharge doesn’t apply to euros, pounds or Canadian dollars. If you already have one or more of these other currencies, it would make sense to bring them along and exchange them in Cuba. If not, you can calculate whether the cost of buying euros at home is more or less than the surcharge on exchanging dollars in Cuba. Credit and debit cards issued by US banks cannot be used in Cuba. So whatever currency you prefer to bring, bring enough of it. We were told that the exchange rate in Cuba is constant, whether you exchange at a bank or a hotel. However, I got a slightly better rate for my euros at my hotel in Havana than at a bank in Cienfuegos. So it still pays to check on the rate before you begin an exchange transaction. (I don’t recall seeing any exchange booths or offices on the street, and no one approached me to change money except two people who had been tipped with euro coins and were trying to trade them for a currency they could use.) There are two currencies in Cuba. One is the standard currency, the moneda nacional or CUP, that Cubans use in everyday life. I saw this currency only when our Cuban guide handed some around to satisfy our curiosity. All my transactions were in the second currency, the convertible pesos known as CUC (“kooks”). The official conversion rate is something like 24 or 25 CUP to one CUC. Our guide said that things priced in CUP could also be purchased with CUC, but the reverse is not true. If I somehow had stumbled across thousands of CUPs, I’m not sure just what I would have done with them. One CUC is worth just about one US dollar, and all my transactions were in CUCs. I saw nothing that was priced in euros or US dollars, and no one suggested that I pay them for something in a foreign currency. In addition to CUC banknotes, there are 1, 5, 10 and 25 cent coins and a I peso coin. It’s a good idea to carry around a handful of smaller coins; they’re especially useful to give the expected tips to the folks who keep toilets clean. I’ve found that it’s never a good idea to depend on converting local currency back into dollars (or anything else) at the airport on the way home. Those bank windows somehow often are open for arriving passengers but not for departing passengers. In this case, though, there was an exchange desk at the departure gates in Havana art which could exchange Cuban currency into US dollars. However, the lady had no US coins, so it helps to bring along a few remaining Cuban coins to make the exchange work out correctly. MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC! Cuba left impressions on my eyes and, to a lesser extent, on my taste buds, but it’s most powerful and lasting impact was on my ears. We had musicians playing for us at many of our lunches and dinners, and even at our breakfasts in Havana. At precisely 7:45 in the morning, two women sang for us while playing a keyboard and sax while I was still working on my first cup of coffee! When we arrived at an agricultural compound west of Havana, four musicians played for us while we were enjoying a “welcome” drink. During our stop in Cienfuegos, we were treated to an exhibition of singing and dancing at a local cultural center. After dinner in Trinidad, where there were live musicians, we crossed the central town plaza where musicians were playing for a large crowd, most of whom were seated on a broad bank of steps. When we had our “farewell dinner” in Havana, again we were entertained, and some of my travel companions were induced to show off their dancing skills. Music everywhere! With all this, my most lasting memory will be of an evening spent at a café (I wish I could remember its name!) in old Havana (Habana Vieja) where we enjoyed non-stop singing for 90 minutes by performers who surely would have qualified for Medicare in the US. It transported me back to a long-ago visit to Preservation Hall in New Orleans. CDs make excellent souvenirs and gifts, and often are available for as little as 5 CUC. FOOD AND DRINK The food was OK, and we had been warned not to expect anything more. We had only two dinners at our hotels, and the restaurants to which we were taken were attractive and with good enough service. The food was tasty but surprisingly bland. We even were offered lobster twice and shrimp more often than that. We ate salads of sliced tomatos and cucumbers and none of us, to my knowledge, became ill. We were offered our choice of beverage at meals, and that included beer (Cristal or Bucanero). Wine was extra and expensive because it is imported. I saw some bottles of Cuban wine but was advised to look but not taste. And often at dinners, one or more mojitos was offered at no additional charge. Ah, the mojitos! And when I did buy mojitos myself, they cost only 3 CUC (that is, $3.00). If they are an acquired taste, it’s a taste I acquired easily and quickly. HOTELS AND LOCATION In Havana, we had been scheduled to stay at the Hotel Nacional but stayed at the Hotel Telegrafo instead, both located in Centro Habana. The Nacional is the grand-dame of Havana hotels, buit the Telegrafo (it used to be the headquarters of the Cuban telegraph company) has what seemed to be a better location, right across from the Parque Central and within two short blocks of the Capitolio in one direction and the Museum of the Revolution and the museum of Cuban paintings in the other. It would have been fun to experience staying at the Nacional, but the Telegrafo was perfectly adequate and more centrally located. POLITICS Che is much more visible than Fidel but, even so, political billboards and posters are not nearly as prevalent as they are in many other countries I’ve visited. The contrast was especially striking between Cuba and North Korea, where I had visited several months earlier and where Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jung-Il are ubiquitous. I encountered absolutely no hostility toward us as Americans. In fact, one of our first stops was at a senior citizens center in Havana where we were treated as honored guests and serenaded with songs. We reciprocated with a rather lame but well-intentioned rendition of a few Christmas carols. MUSEUMS The only block of truly free time that we had was on the morning of our departure. Fortunately, two museums, the Museum of the Revolution and the museum of Cuban painting, are located within two blocks of our hotel. The former is housed in what used to be the presidential palace, but the collection was disappointing, consisting mainly of old photos and some military artifacts. Only a part of the museum is open to the public. The new art museum next door was more appealing. I always enjoy visiting art museums which display the works of national artists who had been unknown to me, instead of collections of second- and third-rate paintings by internationally-known masters. Bear in mind that the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes has two parts: the Colleccion de Arte Cubano and the Collecion de Arte Universal. It’s the former that I’m recommending; I didn’t visit the latter. EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE? During our brief time in Cuba, we visited a senior citizens center, an elementary school, several apartments in a housing complex, an agricultural project on the outskirts of Havana, the studios of several artists, including one whose work is strongly influenced by Santeria, and a local food store where the ration system was explained to us. In these instances, we usually listened to a brief presentation and then had ample opportunities to ask questions. We also had a particularly interesting discussion about the state of the Cuban economy and US-Cuban relations with a young professor from the University of Havana. These sessions were worthwhile and I think we learned quite a bit. We were expected to attend all these sessions as part of Friendly Planet’s commitment to comply with the terms of its license to offer the tour, but I don’t think any of us felt that this was an unwelcome imposition. What did not occur, however, was any “exchange”. I don’t recall any of the Cubans with whom we met asking any questions about the United States, probably because they already think they know the answers. THE INFAMOUS EMBARGO Although we read about the embargo prohibiting us from bringing Cuban products back to the U.S., the ban does not extend to what can be called arts and crafts, including paintings, pottery, etc., nor does it apply to books or music. And those exceptions covered everything that most visitors might have wanted to buy (except for caps, t-shirts, and fridge magnets!). Some of my traveling companions did buy some embargoed items. I don’t know if they had any problems when they arrived back in Miami, but I doubt it. When I went through US passport control, I was asked why I had gone to Cuba, and I had been programmed to answer that I was participating in a people-to-people educational exchange program. I also was asked what I had bought in Cuba, and when I replied that I had some CDs but no cigars or rum, I was sent on my way. When I turned in my customs form after claiming my bag, the customs inspector took no interest in me at all. So my conclusion was that there’s no need to violate US government regulations unless you just can’t live without a “Cuba” or “Che” t-shirt. And even then you shouldn’t have any problems unless you’re foolish enough to wear it on the flight home. FLEXIBILITY What we actually saw and did didn’t track either the itinerary that Friendly Planet advertised when I booked the tour or the itinerary that we were sent shortly before departure. We spent the anticipated numbers of days and nights at the expected places and in the expected order. Beyond that, some things were added to the itinerary and others were dropped, all without explanation (except that we had been advised in advance that the Hemingway house was closed). None of us complained, but some explanations would have been welcome and appropriate. WHEN TO GO? Soon! At the moment, and probably for the duration of the Obama administration, the restrictions on US travel to Cuba are looser than they had been. Whether in terms of hotels or restaurants, Cuba has a limited capacity to absorb a great influx of American tourists, which is what I would anticipate if the restrictions are loosened much more. If the floodgates are opened, I’d expect Cuban tours to be offered by American companies with no experience there, and even if new Cuban companies were allowed to spring up to handle the increased inflow, they would have little or no experience either. If and when it becomes possible, American companies probably would hurry to begin building new hotels and restaurants or renovating existing ones (the Sancti Spiritus Sheraton?, Kentucky Fried Pollo?), but that will take time, as will the time required to recruit and train the people to staff them. There probably would be many more B&Bs (casas particulars) opening, but what kind of quality control would there be? So it seems to me that now is a good time to visit Cuba—when it’s easier to go than it had been, and while Cuba remains so very different from any other Caribbean destination.