Cuba (1 Viewer)

[7 - No tomorrow]

Never drove there but I imagine it would be fine. The roads are good. I think you may be expected to pick up hitchikers if you are driving. You see a lot of people standing by the side of the road waiting for lifts .....

It's actively encouraged to pick up hitchhikers.
There's an ad that runs on state television that shows a guy rushing to the hospital in his car and ignoring a hitchhiker.
When he gets to the hospital his relative is in bad shit and we're told the hitchhiker was the doctor that could have saved her.
You get the message.

 

[dirtyvicar]

So I am off to Cuba with my beloved over Easter. Mmm, maybe I should work out how visas and suchlike work.

We are not going to Varadero. Any recommendations on places to go? I see upthread someone saying they liked Trinidad, didn't like Santiago de Cuba. Did anyone go to Bayamo or the Espiritu Sancti place?

 

[hugh]

So I am off to Cuba with my beloved over Easter. Mmm, maybe I should work out how visas and suchlike work.

We are not going to Varadero. Any recommendations on places to go? I see upthread someone saying they liked Trinidad, didn't like Santiago de Cuba. Did anyone go to Bayamo or the Espiritu Sancti place?

Are you following me around?

 

[dirtyvicar]

Well I do have your face tattooed on my chest.

 

[Con]

So I am off to Cuba with my beloved over Easter. Mmm, maybe I should work out how visas and suchlike work.

We are not going to Varadero. Any recommendations on places to go? I see upthread someone saying they liked Trinidad, didn't like Santiago de Cuba. Did anyone go to Bayamo or the Espiritu Sancti place?

Myself and the missus were there last june. Went to trinidad, amazing looking town but arriving there and getting off the bus is liking something out of the living dead. Waves of people trying to force their way onto the bus and get you to go to their casa. If you're prepared to put up with almost constant badgering by people trying to get you to stay in their house or eat then its worth going there. I don't want to put you off going there as it is a really unique looking place to visit, just be prepared. Theres a beautiful little beach town just outside trinidad called la boca which is really worth seeing if your gonna be in that part of the country. Its not touristy at all, which makes a nice change.

We spent a few days in vinales in the pinar del rio province in the west. Really nice laid back small town. Theres some really nice cycling tours you can do around there. It was probably my favourite part of our trip.
We spent a couple of really boring days in Santa Clara. Theres not much there, Che Guevaras mausoleum is there but it was closed when we were there so there was absolutely nothing to do and apart from the central square the town isn't really worth seeing.

Are you flying into havana or santiago de cuba? Looks like you plan on seeing alot of the eastern side of the country. Havana is amazing. Its an incredible looking city. We spent the guts of a week there, I'd love to go back. The old part of the city is great for wandering through. Can't recommend it enough.

 

[dirtyvicar]

We're flying into Havana. Our original idea was stay there for a couple of days, then fly to the eastern end and travel back overland, but now I am not so sure about going to Santiago de Cuba, as have also heard it is Jinitero-Central. Reading about Havana makes it sound great, yet the guidebooks do a lot of saying "get out of Havana and see the real Cuba".

We hadn't really thought about going west, but maybe now we will.

thanks for the advice.

 

[hugh]

We're flying into Havana. Our original idea was stay there for a couple of days, then fly to the eastern end and travel back overland, but now I am not so sure about going to Santiago de Cuba, as have also heard it is Jinitero-Central. Reading about Havana makes it sound great, yet the guidebooks do a lot of saying "get out of Havana and see the real Cuba".

We hadn't really thought about going west, but maybe now we will.

thanks for the advice.

Havana is great, I don't see how it could be construed to be anything other than "the real Cuba", whatever that means anyway. It is more expensive though. I stayed in Vinales too and thought it was really nice. Also spent a few days in Santiago de Cuba ... I liked it. Has a more tropical feel than the other side of the island. Flying around Cuba is a bit of a pain though I think ....

 

[dirtyvicar]

mmm, someone else said that the domestic terminal in Havana is BRILLIANT.

where is Vinales again?

 

[dirtyvicar]

oh wait, found it.

 

[dirtyvicar]

oh yeah, you know the whole "cuban food is shite" thing - is it the kind of shite that tastes bland and unappetising, or is it the kind of shite that gives you food poisoning?

 

[hugh]

oh yeah, you know the whole "cuban food is shite" thing - is it the kind of shite that tastes bland and unappetising, or is it the kind of shite that gives you food poisoning?

It's a bit bland ..... never had a problem with getting sick. The food is just a bit boring. Better, as you probably know, in the family run casas than the state restaurants or hotels though.

The airline service in Cuba is pretty efficient and cheap .... but ....... and your mileage may well vary on this ... I just think it's well dodgy. We had to get a flight from Baracoa (I think?) to Santiago De Cuba. It was really cheap but took place in a little 10 seater bi-plane that was probably given to them by the Russians back in 1960 or something. Sure, it was quite a thrill at the time, but these things do go down now and again. It's not something I'd be in a big hurry to do again. On the other hand, the flight from Santiago to Havana was perfectly normal.

By the way, I should state that is was a little over 10 years ago when I was there (I went twice though) so things may have changed ...

 

[dirtyvicar]

I think I read somewhere that they still use Russian jets for internal flights. But yeah,

 

[dirtyvicar]

I went to Cuba. It is brilliant. But I did not take any internal flights.

 

[dirtyvicar]

And I recognise your avatar, Hugh. Mmmm, avatars. maybe I should have one.