Little Big City

This a short history of three young people out to leave a legacy!

The Crew:
Julia Winkler & Stephany - the two Mangos
Felix Wikler aka. "Thor God of Lighting" (say this in a loud cartoon voice and he will jump out of the next visible phone booth to save the day!)
Simon Lorenz - without him we would probably not have set out to Vinjales, a true traveler!
Emilio - A Cuban, who became OUR Cuban, living in Nurnberg who showed us Cuba with his Scoda and enlightened us of a different side to Cuba.

Our story begins...In Cancun, where I met Julia and Felix. They were raving about an afternoon show with a clown, and Felix had to join the show with the clown...jup I thought, this was proof that our holiday would be entertainment for the whole family. Two for one Coronas later we had caught up and were ready to go!
Recommendation : Hostal Chacmool in the old part of town.

Off to Cuba!
Cubana air is a mistery! After walking up and down the airport several times, we finally found the desk where we picked up our E-Ticket and had to buy our Visas for Cuba. The Visa was about 15 dollars or so I believe. When handing in our luggage we learned that we had to pay for leaving Mexico too, but only if you have been there for longer than 24 hours. (Another 10 dollars or so) burning money left and right I tell you!

General comments to take into consideration when reading: Cuba has a currency just for Tourists. Cuban Convertible Peso (1 CUC = about 1 euro) and one for the locals refers to as Moneda National (10 Pesos = about 20 euro cent) EVERYTHING costs money! Renting a horse, a motor cycle, entering a national park, walking a trail, the list is endless. Cuba is not cheap if you pay in CUCs, however if you find the locals sandwich and pizza stops and pay in moneda national that's the way forward!

Cubana: The Flight & Plane: People don't give enough credit to their mode of transportation... well here goes, I flew in a "YAK 42"! So there (sticking out tongue) IT was what some would refer to as a white submarine with wings. It was from the Russian days when airplanes still had ROUND windows and seats that folded all the way forward to let you get into the row with negative leg room. ;-) But the peanuts and drinks were on the house. Thanks Fidel!

Havana:
Our taxi dropped us of at the Casa, and we received the penthouse suite room over the roofs of Havana. We slept peacefully and waited for the bad weather to fly over. Ask Julia about her Antwich! (Ant-wich...I will leave you with just the visual)
This is where Simon Bolivar ...I mean Simon Lorenz joins us on our journey ...He had already been in Havana some and took us out and about in this beautiful but run down metropolitan city. We saw the museum of Rum, saw the Capitolio, had cheap pizza and a lunch menu that included a free mojito! YES! Walked along the Malecon and watched the spectacular waves crash into the city walls.
Havana had a huge collection of different characters and sites to see but it was also sticky & Stinky.
Casa Tip : Casa Humberto (they have a website)

Side note:
Cuba also has its share of Jineteros - these are people who will try to convince you to stay in a Casa they recommend for example. Only this means you will pay for their commission of about 5 CUC per night, so always go looking for your own place to sleep or your own means of transportation (don't take the first best offer in other words - shop around)

After a few mojitos at night Simon had convinced us to head out to Vinjales with him. Vinjales is famous for its limestone Mogotes, caves, and is popular with backpackers.
One day was spent at Cayo Jutias - see picture.

On our way to Vinjales we had met Emilio who took us around in his rented Scoda. He was able to answer our questions about what it is like to grow up and live in Cuba, and what it is like to see from a Europeans point of view. He was our hook up in many ways ;-D Without Emilio our trip to Cuba would just have been another lonely planet rerun.

Do you see the old 60 truck and the horse with buggy all on one road?

In Vinjales see if you can find the Casa Villa Silvia on Calle : Rafael Trejo No. 9
To do: rent a horse, walk through the valley, see the caves, rent a motor cycle and head to the coast, climbing was also pretty good according to Felix. The Cayo Jutias is a great day trip! The Pelicans alone are worth it!

On the way back we stopped by Soroa and saw/swam in the waterfalls there - also a great stop on the way Havana.

Our last week was spent mostly in Trinidad with Ana Matilde at Hostal Elisa near Plaza Santa Ana. They had a great back patio for us to chill, do our laundry and have a dilicious breakfasts. Their marmalade de Guayava was from out of this world!
In Trinidad you can go to the Parque Topas de Collantes (6.50 cuc) and hike for about 3 hours with a stop and swim in the waterfalls. :-D Felix had a great time climbing up the sides and diving about 15 feet down into the cooling water.
You can also rent horses and ride in the valley...Just be sure to keep an eye out for wild bush fires. Along the way you will probably meet some of the cute locals that will be happy to make you a sugar cane juice. See picture. This sweet man had lost his whole house(shack) in the hurricane last year and yet he had a huge smile on his face and was cheeky like no other.

As a real treat its a great idea to try find some bikes (with locks) and head down to playa Ancon (don't bother going to la Roca) There you will find enough space to be on the beach alone, but also some useful stops along the way, for mojitos at sunset etc. (don't be surprise if the people at the beach ask for one CUC to watch over the bikes - pay them when you leave and you should be ok) The beach will be a great chill day after all that walking and hiking. People on the beach kept refering to Julia and myself as Mangos hahaha...and the air kisses as hellos I will miss too. We had Thor god of lightning to protect us.

If in Trinidad go to the Casa de la Musica by Plaza Major for free music on the steps or Las Quevas for dancing in the cave Disco...entrance is 3 CUC and includes a free drink. If we could put a franchise on Cave discos we could be a rich bunch in no time, this place was legendary. Julia I will forever remember us spinning to the Flashdance theme song in the middle of the queva!

A note about Casas:
Only two people are allowed to stay and eat per room/casa, you may get lucky and have a casa with more than one room though like Casa Humberto in Havana. It will be very hard to find a casa that will feed three or house three in one room. We learned this the hard way in Trinidad. We had to hide under the house to avoid confrontation with the inspector. Cubans can loose their Houses for that kind of thing, and Sign your signature small in the Sign in registration book, they will have to pay a fine if your signature is too big!

I ended up skipping my original departure date and got a hook up from Emilio to fly back cheaply with Condor via Frankfurt where I got on the ICE train to Switzerland. What a trip!
Cuba is huge, so our two weeks were still not long enough, so much can happen in that time that I probably failed to note half of all our legendary moments - but then again, they are our moments and you had to be there!

if you want to see all the pictures the crappy uploads are at