Annnnnnnd we’re back, folks!
Our trip to the island that cannot be named started with a beautiful Toronto morning. We practiced our story in the cab to the airport (We’re here for a People-to-People tour, honestly, Mr. Border Agent!) and nervously lined up to get our tickets at the Westjet counter.
However, all our nerves proved unnecessary: our passports scanned, our boarding passes issued and no camouflaged border agent jumped out of the shadows yelling, “halt!”. In fact, when we boarded the plane and were wished a good vacation by the flight attendant, it seemed almost too easy…
Goodbye Toronto!
A quick 3-hour flight and we were walking off the plank… I mean jet bridge, at Varadero international airport.
Holaaaaaa Cuba!
Before going through customs, we had a 30 minute scrabble to get signed up for traveller’s health insurance, as it’s required for all visitors: American insurance is not accepted and Cuban visitors do not seem to believe in the queuing system!
Insurance in hand, we squared our shoulders and headed to the border, where we faced…nothing. Seriously. It was all smiles and “Welcome to Cuba” – we were asked more questions getting into Canada! Needless to say, we were both happy to have gotten in without any cavity searches or interrogations, but after all our plotting and scheming it felt almost anticlimactic!
After grabbing our luggage and linking up with our driver, we had just about left the airport when we realized we’d forgotten a critical step: changing our money! (This was particularly important because we needed to have cash for everything we needed for the next 10 days, since U.S. credit cards would not work.)The international terminals have the best rates, we’d been warned, and it’s impossible to pay for things without Cuban Convertible Pesos (called CUC or “kook” for short), so we had to scramble to explain to our non-English speaking driver what we needed. Then, money in hand, we settled in for the 4.5 hour drive from Varaero to Trinidad.
Neither of us has ever had so many bills at one time, so of course we took bandito photos!
Several oohs, ahhhs, and naps later, we pulled up to a brightly colored building – we’d arrived at our Casa Particular (called Casas for short, they’re basically B&Bs run out of larger homes and are AWESOME!). This Casa was run by a cute older couple named Jesus and Ismerelda, as well as their family, including their son Alejandro and his friend Cesar, and they definitely made us feel like family (more on that later).
Welcome to Trinidad – Cuba’s oldest city!
Once settled, our first order of business was a walking tour of the UNESCO recognized historic city center with Anya, a born and bred Trinidadian. During the tour, Anya did a great job of mixing facts with juicy scandal, keeping us hooked and ensuring we learned a ton about the 501 year old city, such as:
- Unlike other Cuban cities, it never had a problem with pirates because it’s not right on the water (and the rich Trinidadians were in cahoots!)
- Traditional architecture is to have one big single story with huge doors and windows. These mansions were so large that most houses have since been converted into smaller single family homes, but you can tell how large they used to be thanks to the building color and continuous roofs!
- Because they relied on air circulation to keep cool, families all wanted to be on the corners to ensure the best cross breezes. So city streets were often built from the corners in, often resulting in one narrow little house in the very middle. (Also, the rich families often used their positions on the it’s planning committee to ensure they got the best corners for themselves!)
- You can tell where you are in the 3 zones or rings of Trinidad by looking at the streets: the old city is all cobblestone with river rock. The second run is all flatter semi-paved and the newest zone is asphalt.
As we ended the tour, a storm threatened, so we took Anya’s advice to eat in at Jesus’ and have a night in. But when we got back to the Casa, it turned out Jesus didn’t have anything ready for guests as no one else had ordered up a meal that day! Unconcerned, he walked us over to a small restaurant around the block (which is now completely separate but aparently used to be the back side of the mansion his house was made of! Considering Jesus’ Casa is 6+ rooms already, think how huge the old mansion used to be!).
Quaint, colorful and completely empty! The food was great though – much to our relief!
We had just settled into a delectable dinner of roast pork with a sour orange marinade and garlic shrimp when the storm hit, knocking out the power! Our hostess quickly lit a few candles on the stove (“for romance”, she said!) and and we were back in business.
After dinner, we took Jesus up on his offer of a welcome mojito on one of the three (3!) terraces and enjoyed watching the storm crash through the surrounding mountains.
The amazing rocking chairs, mojitos and terrace of Jesus’ Casa. We spent SO much time here!
Not a bad way to spend our first day on the island!
– J & G