Cuba Libre: High-end hotels and money in Havana

by Brenda Yun on

So the Melia Habana Resort. We were not aware such luxurious resorts were available for just $50 a night! Had I not come with Lora there would be no chance to stay in such a place. Regardless, we pretty much decided to stay in Havana for the entire week.

We arrived at 1 p.m. and were already pretty spent from such early wake-up time, so Lora and I spent the day tanning and resting the immense pool. At around 5:30 p.m. a synchronized swimming team came by to practice in the pool. We took that as our cue to prep for dinner, which we had in the hotel’s Italian restaurant. There are a network restaurants in the basement, all situated around the waterfalls and pleasant, lagoon-like courtyard. There’s also a cigar room, which we intended to try out at some point during our stay.

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Lora and I collectively paid an extra $10 per night for a view of the ocean and were quite pleased with it. Our “twin” beds were actually double beds. We had a little patio, along with couches in our tiny lounge space. Our marble bathroom even had a badet (that weird toilet you use to wipe your butt). I was eager to see what kinds of television programs were available on TV, and was quite surprised to discover half of our 40 channels were American. I got excited when I flipped past a Spanish-dubbed episode of “Alias.” (I also watched “Alias” in Spanish when I was in Villa de Leyva, Colombia – go Sydney Bristow!). About ten channels are in English. There are also French and Chinese stations. I paused briefly when I saw an advertisement of some sort that depicted the Cuban flag in chains and locked by the United States flag. Interesting…

I do not want to be misleading, however. The Melia Habana is one of the nicest hotels in the city, and we were fortunate to score a great package deal. If you are not vacationing in Cuba and do not plan your trip through a travel agent, you will likely find yourself in a casa particular, which I will describe in a later post. For a general differentiation between hotels and casas particulares, please read the “Where to stay” section of my Travel Guide to Cuba.

Now, a word on changing money in Cuba. I was warned that there are two currencies here in Cuba and that one is practically useless to tourists. This is indeed true: tourists use “convertibles” (or CUC); locals use “pesos” (or Nationales). I was SHOCKED to find that the conversion from convertible to Western currencies QUITE steep here (not in our favor, either) – particularly at the Melia hotel in which we stayed, where I’ve exchanged $400 Canadian dollars for $280 convertibles. When I researched it online before my departure, it seemed the convertible was roughly equal to the U.S. dollar, but upon arrival, one will find the conversion is very askew! One convertible is 80 U.S. cents – and 70 Canadian cents here at the Melia. I was much better off (as I had suspected) spending my Canadian money first before my U.S. dollars, as the Cuba-Canada money conversion is far more favorable.

I have a feeling the Melia hotel (or the Cuban government) is raking in a significant amount for exchange transactions. Exchanging money is an unfortunate but necessary for most travelers. Whether they do it at the bank, via an ATM, or through a hotel, the conversion is the same. This is a very frightening thought, and I still don’t fully understand how Cuba runs on a dual currency, but the reality is that Cuba is finding a way to reap the benefits of being under-commercialized and anti-capitalist. Exchanging money with a vendor or independent changer on the street is pretty much unheard of (because it is extremely illegal) and also not reliable for tourists. On the bright side, at least they accept U.S. dollars, as Cuba could (as it should if it were fully adhering to the embargo) not allow the exchange of U.S. currency at all.

I brought a total of $1000 U.S. dollars to Cuba, and basically resolved to spend $40 convertibles (about U.S.$48) a day while traveling with Lora, Peter, and Frank, and $80 (U.S.$96) when I’m on my own. As I said before, this means Cuba is NOT a cheap travel destination by any means! I had been so used to traveling in developing countries for less than $50 a day, and while that had been my initial goal, I spent roughly on average U.S.$25 per day for bus transport and U.S.$25 for accommodations at casas particulares each night, which already comes to $50 a day. Add food and other expenses, and it is easy to find yourself over budget and out of cash.

For a complete listing of my Cuba Libre posts, please click HERE.

Cuba Libre: First impressions of Cuba

by Brenda Yun on

I am usually so unprepared when it comes to my travels, and this trip was no different. I assumed Varadero was a municipality of Habana. Instead, it’s a city in a whole other region of Cuba and a 2 hour drive from the city of Habana. Luckily, our package through the travel agency booked transport, and we boarded the white Gaviota van #23 (a modern Toyota with A/C) headed for Habana. Our driver was Rolando, and he immediately took a liking to me. Before we even boarded the van, I made small talk with him and he was happy to learn that I was Chinese. He said in his very Cubano Spanish, “China, you sit in the front with me so you can translate for the other passengers.” I felt honored.

Rolando continued to call me “China” for the rest of the ride to Habana: “China, tell them what I just told you about how this city used to be under the sea;” “China, do you understand what I just said” (sometimes I really didn’t and would say, “Como?” or “Otra vez”). He told me he used to date a Cuban-Korean woman, and that when he was young he worked in a Chinese bodega for a man named Santiago Wong.

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We took a pit stop at a bar, where I had my first taste of piña colada with Cuban rum and cinnamon on top (yum!) and danced to very loud Cubano reggaeton music (I love reggaeton, which I listened to with fervor during my travels in Colombia last year). I asked Rolando for some tips on where to go in Habana and what to eat. He mentioned the major sites like the Capitolio, La Floridita, and el Museo de la Revolución and said that food was not particularly special, but the Cuba Libres (rum and cola) and Mojitos (minty cocktail with rum, lime juice and sugar) were fantastic. I liked this idea! I didn’t have to eat, I could just drink my way through Habana.

Along the way, I got a good glimpse of the smaller towns between Varadero and Habana. We “summitted” to the highest point (just 500 meters) in Cuba at the border between the Matanzas and Habana regions. We got a good look at shiny but old, pre-Revolution Fords. Gorgeously voluptuous automobiles, if I (someone who doesn’t know or care whatsoever about cars) say so myself! As we made our way into Habana, we passed the Olympic stadium for the Pan-American games that were held in 1978, the main promenade called the Malecón (about a quarter of the buildings along the Malecón were just crumbled facades), the Hotel Nacional de Habana that is situated on a hill with a huge Cuban flag flying in front, and the Vedado, the modern part of Habana (with lots of nightlife in the form of cinemas and bars). The modern part of the city appeared only partially this way, and I was quite embarrassed when I asked Rolando if we were driving through “Habana Vieja,” to which he curtly replied, “Actually, this is the most modern part of Habana! The old part is that way.” As he pointed out his driver’s side window, I decided I wouldn’t ask any more stupid questions.

We passed several signs that celebrated the 50 years of the Revolution and “Viva Cuba Libre” was painted on building windows and walls. Soon after, we arrived at our destination: the Melia Habana. On the way, we had dropped off other passengers (all of them, Canadian) at other monstrous but unkempt hotels like Tropicoco and Hotel Kohly, but Melia Habana is in a class of its own – in a good way. Rolando bade us farewell and we walked through the shiny glass doors eager to see the lobby. It was spotless, with a trickling fountain in the front entrance, a big bar with comfy red chairs to our left, a tasteful knockoff of the Venus di Milo statue, and the concierge to our left. We were very excited that this would be our new home for the week!

For a complete listing of my Cuba Libre posts, please click HERE.

Cuba Libre: Preparing for a trip to Cuba

by Brenda Yun on

The biggest step when planning any trip is buying the ticket there. When it came to Cuba, the purchase was intensified by all of the concerns I mentioned in my post yesterday. The timing couldn’t have been better, though, as Lora is currently living and working in Toronto, so she contacted a travel agent who scored an amazing package deal for us that included roundtrip airfare and seven nights’ accommodation at a resort in Havana for less than $800. An added bonus: two of Lora’s friends, Peter and Frank, would be joining us for the first week!

But traveling to Cuba requires proper planning and preparation. Since I prefer to be a spontaneous type of traveler, I left it almost completely up to my travel mates to guide me through the pre-trip phase. Since our accommodations were already arranged (you must have accommodation planned before arrival), we had just three major things to think about: money, clothes, and clearing customs.
Money:
I hate to break it to my fellow budget travelers, but Cuba is no longer cheap. I made it in Myanmar on $10 a day, but in Cuba you really spend about $50 per day. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if Americans could actually use their ATM cards abroad, but Cuban businesses still do not accept American bank or credit cards. In other words, Americans must budget carefully for the trip in advance and bring cash to exchange in Cuba upon arrival. Even budget travelers should plan on bringing at least $100 per day – preferably in Canadian cash, or bring U.S. traveler’s checks, which are now accepted at most Cuban banks at a more favorable rate. Carrying around that much cash with you is a scary thought, but it is absolutely necessary to go down there with enough money to last your entire trip.

Clothes:
Check the weather forecast before you pack and then choose your clothes based on the weather. Cuba is never cold, so you’ll need just one long-sleeve shirt or sweater and one pair of pants or jeans. Cubans dress quite casually, but they don’t have money to buy fancy clothes. Therefore, you should really consider bringing clothes that you will no longer wear after your trip. Lora, Peter, and Frank all stuffed their bags with expendable clothes and left them for maids, caretakers, and other Cubans they met along the way. It’s one easy way to give back to the Cuban people who desperately need luxuries we don’t have.

Even toiletries like Kleenex, soap, and shampoo cost the same in Cuba as they do in the States, and most Cubans cannot afford them. So, if you have extra room in your luggage, bring some of these, too. My travel mates gave away nearly all of their belongings by the end of their trip that they had plenty of room for Cuban souvenirs and gifts.

Clearing customs:
This concerns only Americans who are hoping to procure a tourist visa upon arrival in Cuba. Getting in and out of Cuba has to happen through another country in Latin America or Canada. Most Americans travel through Cancun (in Mexico) or Toronto (in Canada), but there are many other non-U.S. cities that service Havana (see my Travel guide to Cuba for airline information). On the plane, they give you the arrival and departure card on which you fill out both sides (one they keep, the other serves as both your visa and your departure card – so don’t lose it; your hotels will also need to input your visa information, so keep it with your passport).

Let me just tell you my experience entering through customs at the Varadero airport (2 hours from Havana): My customs agent was a woman my age with a neatly braided ponytail. She began speaking to me in English, but I wanted to practice/show off my Spanish, so I proceeded to converse with her in my best, formal Espanol. She took a picture of me, which was stored in the Cuban customs database. She looked over my passport and arrival card and asked me many questions. I answered all of the questions honestly. She even asked if I got permission to come here and I told her “No.” Soon after that she left her little stall and asked the neighboring agent a question, came back and stamped something (I couldn’t see what). Before she let me leave, she made sure to tell me my Spanish was quite good. I felt pretty good about that, and then she let me go. As I waited at the baggage claim, I flipped through my passport, but there was no Cuban stamp. Then I noticed that she had stamped my departure card, as I had been told they do. Lora, who went after me, hadn’t filled out BOTH sides of the arrival/departure card and therefore had to fill it out fully first and then go to the back of the line. In the end, her stamp landed on the departure card as well.

This is apparently the practice for all visitors no matter their nationality. Cuban customs agents stamp the departure card upon arrival and retrieve it when you depart. They stamp your departure on your boarding pass, which the airlines take before you board the plane.

So there you have it! I made it to Cuba – and you can too with the proper planning. Our first stop: Havana, which will be discussed in the next few Cuba Libre posts.

For a complete listing of my Cuba Libre posts, please click HERE.

Travel guide to Cuba

by Brenda Yun on

Cuba is a timeless place in more ways than one. Time has basically stood still for fifty years, and there is little anyone can do about it except Castro – and I’m not talking about Fidel, I’m talking about his brother Raúl. Since Fidel took the reigns fifty years ago, the “Revolution” still lives on in Cuba in the form of propaganda strewn across the country roadside and city walls. Aged cars are pieced back together, people live on pennies, and tourists stay in small B&B-like homes, but Cuba remains largely untouched by capitalism.

Something really special is brewing across the Straits of Florida: CHANGE – maybe not in Obama’s form of the word, but change is upon Cuba in the coming years, and if you can (if you’re allowed to travel there) you really should journey through the time machine to Castro country while you can and see a nation unlike any other you will ever see and may never see again.

Getting in:
Obama may have lifted travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans, but that doesn’t means it’s yet easy – or legal – to get to Cuba. Nearly all citizens, the majority of which are from Canada, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain, can get in upon arrival and out quite easily. Because of the existing trade embargo, American tourists are technically not able travel to Cuba unless they get prior permission the the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Visas are granted to all visitors upon arrival. No matter your citizenship, Cuban customs agents stamp the arrival/departure card instead of the passport when you arrive and your boarding pass when you depart. There is no evidence on your passport for anyone that you have traveled to Cuba.

The most frequent airline carriers traveling to Cuba are Air Canada, Cubana, AeroCaribbean, and Mexicana. Therefore, best departure points are in Canada, Central America, and Mexico. Round trip airfare should cost no more than $500. There are some very good travel package deals available through certain travel agencies that include roundtrip airfare and 7-14 nights in a 4- or 5- star hotel/resort for just $150-300 more.

When to go:
The devastating Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and (to a lesser degree) Paloma indicate that the rainy season between August and October are not ideal month to travel to Cuba. However, I would strongly encourage all interested in seeing Cuba to go now – whenever that may be – because Cuba will likely change significantly socially, politically, and economically soon.

Where to stay:
Tourists basically have three choices when it comes to accommodation in Cuba: luxury resorts, mediocre hotels offered through Islazul, and B&B-like “casas particulares.”

Vacationers and business travelers prefer high-end hotels such as the Spanish-owned Sol Melia hotel chain. Expect to pay upwards of $200 per night.

Middle-of-the-road hotels are listed on Cuba’s Islazul website. Some are finer than others, which can be real decrepit places. Expect to pay between $40-100 per night.

Independent and budget travelers who don’t travel in packs (larger than four) can stay in a casa particular. These are private homes hosted by Cuban families who pay a hefty tax house foreigners in two rooms maximum. There are two online networks that list hundreds of casas in every part of Cuba: CasaParticularCuba.org and CasaParticular.info. Expect to pay between $20-40 per night.

Where to eat:
Similar to the hotel situation in Cuba, dining in Cuba is best experience by word of mouth. There are plenty of high-end restaurants that, in Havana can cost up to $40-50 a meal.

Ask around for the best “paladar” in town, and you will go on a little treasure hunt through residential neighborhoods to find a small “restaurant” inside a home or apartment. Owners of these paladares pay a hefty tax (notice a trend here?) to serve a maximum of 12 diners at a time. The best known paladar in Havana, La Guarida, was featured in the Cuban film “Fresa y Chocolate” and, like most paladares, offers a really authentic atmosphere for dining on the third floor of an apartment in central Havana.

Cuban cuisine is much like other parts of Central America. Most meals come with a side of salad, rice (the “gallo pinto” one speckled with beans is called “Morros y Cristianos” – “Moors and Christians!”) or plantains, and a main dish of meat or seafood.

Where to go:
… stay tuned to my future Cuba Libre posts to read about Havana, Trinidad, Santiago de Cuba, Baracoa, and Varadero!

For a complete listing of my Cuba Libre posts, please click HERE.

Cuba Libre: The U.S.-Cuba trade embargo

by Brenda Yun on

It was five years ago exactly that Cuba became for me a possible travel destination. My colleague Lora suggested we spend our spring break there and I thought it was a pretty novel idea. I had been to Vietnam the year before during spring break, and learned far more by going there than schooling or Miss Saigon could ever teach me.

At the time, I knew next to nothing about Cuba. Even if you mentioned the Bay of Pigs, which I had studied over ten years ago in high school, I would only be able to relate it to Kennedy and Castro, but I couldn’t remember the outcome of this event nor the repercussions it had on U.S. – Cuban relations. What better way to learn about a nation than get there, live, and breathe it. I’m a firm believer in experiencing a place and its history and culture by going there, not by reading about it. I knew then that Cuba for me would become a reality.
So it was that the plan to travel to Cuba had been hatched, yet it was only last month that I finally followed through and traveled to Castro country. But traveling to Cuba involves far more preparation, planning, and forethought than an ordinary trip. That’s because of one, in my opinion very antiquated, thing: the embargo. The U.S. – Cuba trade embargo is one of the strangest things I’ve ever heard of. While citizens from other countries, namely Canada, Spain, Germany, and Italy, enjoy vacationing in Cuba, Americans can’t. Well, technically, they can travel there, but once they’re in Cuba, the embargo dictates that Americans cannot spend money there. The reason: the U.S. does not condone the Cuban socialist/communist regime led by Fidel and now upheld by his brother Raúl.

If Americans are caught spending money in Cuba, they could pay a hefty fine (upwards of $10,000) or be put in jail. For 50 years now, Americans have ignored the embargo and traveled to Cuba anyways. Reports say that over 200,000 Americans travel to Cuba every year, and this number continues to increase. One of Cuba’s most important industries is tourism, so they continue to grant Americans travel visas upon arrival (how they do this I will explain in a later post). While some Americans paid the price when caught, most returned home undetected by traveling through Mexico or Canada. That is until the Bush administration (in the last decade), when cases of fines or imprisonment increased exponentially.

Now that Obama is in office, there is much talk about easing travel restrictions to Cuba. Already, a bill has been passed to allow Cuban-Americans to return to their homeland once a year, but American tourists still have to wait, and word is that it may still be a long time before the embargo is completely lifted.

There is also, of course, the “legal” way to travel to Cuba. To do that, you must get a “license” (not a visa) through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Americans who successfully procure a license to travel to Cuba do so by getting a letter of permission by their employer or school. Therefore, licenses are given to those who are traveling to Cuba for educational or business purposes.

Adding to the difficulty of traveling to Cuba is safety and money. Those who travel sans license cannot be covered by travel insurance. This is, thankfully, not too much of an issue as Cuba has one of the best health programs in the world, so if something did befall you, you could still receive care, but you would have to pay the fees in cash. Still, you can’t be too much of a hedonist and go leaping out of planes or breaking bones.

Cuba is a very safe place to travel – even at night, but if your American passport gets stolen or lost, there’s also no embassy to go running to. If you are in such a pinch, however, the much-guarded U.S. Special Interests building in Havana is your only saving grace, but it is not an acting embassy and will therefore look unfavorably at your carelessness – especially if you’re there “illegally” as a tourist.

Money is a whole other issue too. Up until last year, the U.S. dollar was a useless currency in Cuba, but it is now accepted at an unfavorable exchange rate. In addition, U.S.-issued bank and credit cards continue to be rejected by Cuban banks and businesses. Because you shouldn’t be spending loads of money in Cuba, it’s also not a good idea to buy tons of goods (like cigars) either.

… The embargo, safety, and money matters aside, Lora and I decided to go for it. While it still remains a risk to travel Cuba, I for one wanted to experience a place that is largely untouched by America. There are very few places in the world that has so publicly dismissed America’s capitalistic way of life. Based on accounts from people who’d been there recently, I heard that traveling to Cuba is a most unique cultural experience yet also eye-opening socially and politically. Having been to socio-politically different countries such as China and Myanmar, I felt ready for whatever came my way, but having just returned from my two-week trip to Cuba, I can safely say that nothing could prepare me for such an intense culture shock. Cuba, for certain, is one of the most special places I have been to, and I hope this week’s Cuba Libre posts can express why.

For a complete listing of my Cuba Libre posts, please click HERE.