By: Dumneazu

Korean New Jersey – The Kim chi belt

Don’t like Korean food? Then go away right now. In this part of Jersey, you eventually come to like Korean food. This blog is about Kim Chi food.

Recently a friend of our quit Budapest and moved to the sunny coast of Dalmatia in Croatia. She sends us sms messages every few hours revealing what she has found in the local markets of Korcula, Split, or Rovinj… tuna, octopus, fresh sardines.

This kind of news is harmful to those of us who still live in Budapest, where the only “seafood” is carp or frozen fillet of hake. So, Princess Oooh-La-La, consider this post a gentle version of revenge… welcome to New Jersey, an outlying province of the Republic of Korea! My family is lucky (although they don’t seem to recognize it) to be living in a part of New Jersey which hosts the largest Korean community in the New York area – neighboring Palisades Park and Leonia are nearly 40% Korean, complete with an idiotic white bread Mayor trying to enforce English language sign laws that would make a small-minded nationalist Transylvanian mayor (I’m talking ’bout you, Gheorghe Funar) seem insane. But the Koreans don’t care. They have revitalized a series of dumpy old towns into vibrant Kim chi suburbs.

Don’t like Korean food? Then go away right now. In this part of Jersey, you eventually come to like Korean food. We started our journey into the depths of garlicy cabbage pickles at the Fort Lee institution we discovered last trip: So Kong Dong Soft Tofu Restaurant. As Anthony Bourdain said before pigging out here “Soft and Tofu are two words that usually mean I don’t want to eat it.” Put away your preconceptions: this place rates almost as high as Katz’s Deli in my list of must eat in New York Foods. Almost everything on the menu is $9.00. The kalbi ribs are $15, but you must have them, so no complaining, they are said to be the best in the NY area -and there is a lot of competition in this area for tender marinated grilled kalbi ribs.

The plan is to order your soft tofu soup and wait while the staff cover your table in Kim chi and banchan - little dishes of hot pickled delights to accompany the rice. The rice is spooned into metal bowls: Koreans do not pick up their rice bowls like Chinese and Japanese. Tea is then poured into the hot stoneware rice serving bowl to make a special soupy tea-rice for those who like a bit of the burned rice as a hot beverage.

Kim chi is an acquired taste for non-Koreans, and I highly advise you to acquire it. We have actually tried to make this at home in Budapest with varying success. And now the star of the show arrives: a cast iron bowl of bubbling hot tofu soup – I chose seafood and beef – into which you break an egg and then wait while the egg cooks.

I looked around the packed house and a lot of the tables were filled with local Chinese people, not Koreans. So… this is what Chinese folk eat when they want to go out for something exotic and Asian. A classic aha! moment! Stuffed and satiated, we went out into the foot deep snow that had been dumped on New York the night before. Problem was, we no longer had Kim chi in front of us. That was easily fixed by hopping into one of the many Han Ah Rheum supermarkets serving the local Korean community. These are huge Kim chi retailers, and you wonder how could anybody eat that much spicy fermented radish? But they can and do. A lot of non-Koreans help out – once you are hooked on fermented spicy cabbage and squid pickles, there is no turning back. The seafood at these markets is mind-boggling: fresh (as in alive) and cheap as you can find.

These sea squirts were floating around waiting to be bought and consumed by adventurous eaters: this is about as out there as human seafood consumption can get. Described as “tasting slightly of urine” even the Japanese consider eating sea squirts something of a frat-boy challenge, definitely not for everyone.

Outside in the parking lot there was a wood fired iron stove cooking up yellow fleshed Asian sweet potatoes, a winter delicacy in Korea and Japan. Speaking of Japan, we also hit the Mitsuwa Japanese Shopping Mall on the way into New York city for a quick fix of fresh Santoka Ramen noodle soup.

This was Aron’s first experience of real, fresh ramen soup, not the instant packaged soup that has taken over the world. He like. He like very much. He also liked the accompanying bowl of rice topped with salmon roe. It is great to have a teen aged kid who says “fish eggs on rice? Yeah, Papa, I’ll have some!” Last night we downed a dozen raw clams on the half shell from the Korean market. Maybe I will get him started on sea squirt sashimi before he heads back to Budapest.

All this with a soy sauce hardboiled egg for $10.Like I said… we were not the first to discover that some of New York’s best eating is across the Hudson river in New Jersey. Anthony Bourdain is from Leonia… just down the street from where I am typing this. He trod these same pathways in an episode of No Reservations a few years ago.

http://horinca.blogspot.com/2009/12/korean-new-jersey-kimchi-belt.html

By: Zdenko Kahlina

 During my recent visit to a friend who lives in Mississauga (Ontario), I wanted to explore the area local cyclists are using for their training rides. I asked my friend (an excellent cyclist) for advice and he suggested I should go towards hamlet of Belfountain and beautiful surrounding Caledon hills, just north of the city.

I took his advice and that’s exactly what I did. Since I didn’t bring my bike with me  to Toronto this time, I explored the area with the car.

If you start from Kipling as this map suggest, this route will be about 122 km long. There are very few variety stores on certain stretches of this route – so when going with the bike, stock up on food and fluids BEFORE leaving the city. Be sure to pace yourself and take breaks when needed – you do not have to wait till the designated break to stop and take a rest.

Small hamlet on the Heritage road

On my way out of Mississauga I took Heritage road north/west, all the way to Mayfield Road. As I was driving and approaching Halton Hills on Heritage road, suddenly on my right  appeared a beautiful wooden structure of the Ukrainian Catholic St. Alias Church. It was early in the morning, but the Archpriest Fr. Roman Galadza just happen to arrive at the church while I was there and politely offered me a tour of the church.

The parish church of St. Elias

The parish church of St. Elias 

The parish church of St. Elias the Prophet rises high on the Peel Plain above the Credit River Valley. Though this building was built in 1995, the parish community was started in 1976.

A wooden structure of heavy timbers (Douglas Fir), it is sheathed in Western red cedar. It has been constructed according to an architectural style known as “Boyko”, derived from western Ukraine. The 3 sections (altar, sanctuary, and narthex) are each topped with a dome or cupola.

According to Byzantine liturgical typology, the dome is an image of the heavens.

The narthex is the world fallen after the sin of Adam, the Sanctuary is the world redeemed following the Passion and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, and the Altar is the World to Come, an image of the New Jerusalem. The cupolas on the church of St. Elias are in the 17th century Cossack style.

After this unexpected but nice experience, I continued my journey north towards Terra Cotta. There I turned to Mississauga Road, and pretty soon I was in the Caledon hills surrounded by big trees.

This long ride takes you though an incredible variety of terrain – through the beautiful Caledon Hills, past the unearthly dunes of the Badlands, through the breathtaking Forks of The Credit Provincial Park and up an actual switchback hill to the goodies of the quaint Belfountain General Store.

At the General Store cyclist (and bikers) usually stop for a break. There are sandwiches, cookies and ice cream available for those who need more energy, before they head back to the city.

Belfountain General Store

Belfountain Conservation Area is situated on the Niagara Escarpment in the valley of the West Credit River at the junction of County Roads 1 (Mississauga Road) and 11 (Forks of the Credit Road), just west of Highway 10 and approximately 15 kilometres south of Orangeville. It’s also about 30 kilometres northwest of Brampton, and 82 kilometres northwest of Toronto. 

The first settlers arrived here before 1850, and in 1852, the village was called “Tubtown”. This was a reference to a local blacksmith, Archibald McNaughton, who used large octagonal iron tubs to cool hot metal. The tubs sat outside his shop, which occupied a prominent place in the village, next to the town gas pump.

Belfountain General Store

Belfountain Bed & Breakfast

Fortunately, this name did not last long. A post office was opened at Belfountain (some sources cite it as “Bellfountain”) by Thomas J. Bush in 1853. By the 1870′s the village had a population of about 300 and the local business establishments included a tannery, grist mill, sawmill, one hotel and two general stores.

The picturesque location of Belfountain draws visitors from far and wide, particularly in the autumn when the changing leaves clothe the surrounding hills in brilliant colours. The origin of the name appears unclear, although it may have come from the French “belle fontaine”, or “beautiful fountain” – a reference to the clear waters of the Credit river.

There is plenty to see and do at Belfountain. A nature trail spans the river gorge using a suspension bridge and then winds along the steep sides of the Escarpment requiring steady feet and approximately 30 minutes to walk. A short distance downstream is the juncture of the West and main Credit Rivers, the scenic “Forks of the Credit” area. These can be reached by a rugged hike down into the valley along the Trimble Trail that will take you out of the Conservation Area. The Trimble Trail is not a loop and you will have to retrace your steps to return to the Conservation Area.

On this particular day at the beginning of July, it was really a beautiful summer day, with temperatures in the thirties. Following twisty Forks of the Credit Road I descended from the old town into the valley where the road followed West Credit river.

At the top of the hill you can take a turn and visit Forks of the Credit Provincial Park

Switchbacks on the descent from the Belfountain into the valley

Take a look at this short video of the climb to the Belfountain, by Wes Hodgson: http://vimeo.com/6240853

The cold, spring-fed waters of the West Credit River provide ideal habitat and ample angling opportunities for brook and brown trout and other fish. Freshwater springs flow from the steep valley walls that enclose this tranquil oasis. Heavily treed woodlands of cedar, oak, maple and birch are alive with wildlife – songbirds, rabbits, flying squirrels, ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. Walkways, a beautiful fountain, gardens, historic stonework including a cave and a grinding stone from a gristmill that once stood beside the river add interest to this beautiful site.

I stepped on to the suspension bridge that spans tumbling waterfalls and take in the view of the river gorge below. You can walk along cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment and watch freshwater springs flowing down limestone cliffs. As you explore, listen for the staccato beat of the ruffed grouse and look for the quick flash of the white-tailed deer. An historic fountain, cave and grinding stone from a gristmill that once stood beside the river also add interest to this beautiful site.

Road thru the valley

Closed Ice cream parlor in the valley

The Credit River is 90 kilometers long, and is home to a wide range of wildlife. Some species are permanent or seasonal residents while others are sighted occasionally. For cyclists and bikers, this is a wonderful drive thru the valley, as the road goes over the small hills. Few kilometers later and I was on McLaughlin Road heading back south towards Brampton.

Beautiful scenery around Inglewood area

Local farm and surrounding hills

Caledon Hills cycling shop

 As I was approaching city and very dense populated areas, memories of this beautiful place that I just left behind were still with me. That’s when I decided to put together small blog so many others who will read this, might one day decide to visit “Forks of the Credit” conservation area in Brampton suburbs. 

Region of Peel, Caledon

At the end, I was so jealous on my friend who can often ride these roads and enjoy the beautiful scenery around Belfountain Conservation area. Next time I should definitely bring my bike with me and do this tour on the bike.

By: Zdenko Kahlina
Welcome to the Unionville (Markham, Ontario)

While I was in Toronto on a business trip few weeks ago, one day I had few extra hours to do my own thing and was thinking what should I do?

I had only couple of hours for that, so I couldn’t go anywhere far away from Markham. All I had was a tourist map/guide of Toronto, where I quickly spotted an area near by, marked as “Historic Unionville”.

Unionville’s Welcome Sign

From Richmond Hill on Highway 7, Unionville is only about 5 minutes drive. I made a left turn into the old town and immediately felt like being on another planet. I was away from the hectic traffic and all the craziness of the big city like Toronto.

Big tourist attraction: Main Street in Unionville

Unionville is a very pretty area, close to Markham, with a nice mix of boutiques, a few antique stores and number of restaurants, all on their Main street. I heard that Unionville is especially lovely in the fall, when the leaves are changing.

Typical Unionville house

Unionville Trading post

Unionville – which is a very pleasant and very walkable little area – finds itself in the middle of the suburbs, where things are further apart than they seem. It’s 3 km (35 minutes at typical walking speed) from Centennial GO station to where the Unionville shopping strip starts (Main Street Unionville & Station Lane), and most of that walk is along Highway 7.

Main Street Unionville

Boutique shops on the Main Street

Off of the Main Street

Unionville is a suburban community in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It is located 33 km northeast of downtown Toronto and 4 km east of southern Richmond Hill. Unionville is comprised by the neighborhoods alongside Major MacKenzie Dr. as the Northern limit, Highway 407 as the Southern limit, the neighborhoods alongside McCowan Rd. as the Eastern limit, and the neighborhoods alongside Woodbine Ave. as the Western limit. Main Street, which was Kennedy Road in the mid to late 20th century, runs through Unionville while the new Kennedy runs 300 m to the east.

Restaurants are lined up on the Main Street

Patio seating on the Main Street

Fire hall turned into restaurant

Stylish Country Inn restaurant

The population of Unionville is presently about 30,000. Unionville is said to be one of the most affluent areas in the Greater Toronto Area with an average household income of $127,900. Rouge River runs north of the central part of Unionville and to the southeast. The highway (Highway 404) is to the west, the nearest interchange with the 407 ETR is 2 km south on Kennedy Rd. The population lives in almost all parts of Unionville except for the south central industrialized area. The railway line which links the area to Toronto via GO Train Service once ran as far as Lindsay, a town near Peterborough.

Beautiful church in Unionville

One of the colorful stores on the Main Street

Tourism is a major part of Unionville’s economy. The historic village or downtown section of Unionville is typical of a small town that developed over a century or so starting in the early 1840s (when Ira White erected his Union Mills) through the middle to late 20th century. The historic Main Street Unionville attracts thousands of visitors each year – as of 2006 it boasted 9 restaurants, including 3 pubs. Main Street (originally the laneway from the village’s first grist mill) also has a number of “century homes” dating back to the 1800s. Each year, thousands visit Unionville during the Unionville Festival.

Main Street Unionville

Shoe store in Unionville

The old Planning Mill in Unionville

The main street has been used as a stand-in for fictional Connecticut town Stars Hollow during the first season of The WB’s (now The CW) Gilmore Girls television show, as well as other television and movie backdrops.

Most of the historic buildings in Unionville are included in List of historic buildings in Markham, Ontario.

Toogood Pond, Unionville

Unionville Millennium bandstand

Beautiful pictures:

http://www.evonnedarren.com/blog/main-street-unionville-toronto-maui-hawaii-lifestyle-photographer/

By: Zdenko Kahlina
Welcome to the 2010 version of the DR Exercise!
This was a business trip with the purpose of participating in “Disaster Recovery Exercise” for the company. The objective of the DR Exercise is to confirm that we can recover the identified WCB systems and to confirm that we have accurate and complete documentation for executing the recovery.

 Sheraton Parkway hotel in Richmond Hills

We arrived in Toronto at the beginning of G20 Summit and were warned not to go anywhere near downtown. Walking was likely the best way to get around during G20 weekend, so long as we didn’t walk anywhere near the secured or protest zones.

G20 Summit was in Toronto

 It was probably best not to be anywhere from King to Lake Shore and Spadina to Yonge unless you absolutely have to: that’s the “Traffic Zone,” where even pedestrians were subject to police checkpoints. And if you do get past, don’t even think about getting over that ten-foot fence that’s protecting the “Security Zone.” Fortunately, we didn’t have to go near downtown, as we were stationed in Richmond Hill and Markham.

IBM building on Steels Avenue in Markham

WCB team: Marlon, Kevin, Meng, Mike, Rod, David and Sunny. Zdenko took the picture.

As usual, our “hot site” for recovery of our computer systems was in Markham (Ontario), where we used IBM’s facilities. For this exercise we have set up primary and secondary objectives and hoped to accomplish as much as possible.

Town of Richmond Hill has population of close to 200,000

There was a lot of parking space available everywhere.

Our DR team was staying in Sheraton Parkway hotel on the north side of GTA Toronto in an area called Richmond Hill. To get there we had to use the Hwy 404/Hwy 401 combo to get there, and therein lies your traffic woes. During crush hour, it can take up to 1.5 hours to drive a 20 minute distance.

People drive expensive cars… but no pickup tracks!

The Sheraton Parkway was a definitely good choice for this business trip. From the time we arrived we were treated with warmth and the staff was very friendly. We arrived at the Sheraton on June 26th (my birthday!) at around 3:30 pm. We received the rooms that we requested, and the rooms were beautiful. I especially loved the beds, the most comfortable I have ever slept on (in a hotel).

On our first night we just took it easy, and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Our choice was Italian grill Fazooli’s with a great selection of Italian pasta and seafood on the menu.

Fazooli’s grill: very good food!

 Markham is actually one of Canada’s oldest communities. Unfortunately, it was a lot more quaint when it was farmland than now when it has been condo-ized and development-ized to the hilt. Which means it is a desirable bedroom commute from Toronto proper, and now is one of Toronto’s two “high tech” corridors.

 The Hilton Suites Toronto Conference Centre & Spa hotel in Markham

Main Street in Unionville, definitely worth a visit

 Town of Markham does house the Varley Art Gallery in the deliberately picturesque Unionville, and many of Canada’s Group of 7 lived near there in the old town of Richmond Hill. But it is now a lotta square box Costco-type shopping malls and condos, and unless you have family up there, or work there, it’s not necessarily an interesting destination!

Square box building in Richmond Hill

Another Square box building in Markham on Hwy 7.

Huge apartment building in Markham

Our work was in Markham, so I was commuting between Richmond Hill and Markham every day, which is about 10 minute drive one way. Markham is an unremarkable suburb with all that entails — mediocre chain restaurants. It’s home to a large and wealthy Chinese community, and reputedly some of the best Chinese restaurants in North America. The Times Square Mall close to Sheraton hotel is a good place to start.

Times Square Mall: Chinese Mall in Richmond Hill

Another Italian restaurant in Markham

The area around our hotel (East Beaver Creek and HIGHWAY 7) has a variety of restaurants and bars…. I can tell you that there is a really cool restaurant in the food court at Pacific Mall (Steeles & Kennedy Road) near Markham, called “Fill your bowl” where the chef makes noodles for his soups by hand, the old fashioned way. It’s really a trip to see him twist and whack the dough on the counter. Food is really good too. A soup and a glass of soy milk will run you about $6! 

Mainframe team did a great job: Rod, Sunny and Zdenko

For the duration of this exercise, David our DR coordinator, provided refreshments, meals etc. which was a nice company gesture. Work shifts were scheduled to last approximately 12 hours and the whole exercise lasted total of 96 hours.

IBM Facilities for DR Exercise

IBM provided hardware

Over the four packed days, we were testing the emergency preparedness of the WCB to recover from a disaster to the data centre in Edmonton. We have declared an emergency at WCB in Edmonton and now it was time for our team of experts here in Markham to show their strengths.

At the end, the exercise was a total success. Although we did not complete it in the three days we’d hoped, I think we did very well considering these type of exercises never go without unexpected problems. We all did a great job, and returned back to Edmonton satisfied.

From: Travel Adventures
In the North, nothing is straightforward
One of the conditions for visiting North Korea is that you are not allowed to go anywhere without the guides which are appointed by the State.
Not only the itinerary is completely planned beforehand, any visit or trip needs to be completely endorsed beforehand and going anywhere without guide is simply denied. However, this seems to depend on your guides, and probably also on the time of your visit, since it seems that some others have indeed been allowed to walk a little bit around.

Nevertheless, we tried on several occasions to get the permission for an innocent stroll around the city, but this was never granted. The motivation was that the guides were afraid that we would take unwanted pictures, and they told us of an incident in which a Korean woman had contact the police, who quickly identified the responsible guides. Since we did not want to create a scandal and did not want our guides to get into trouble, we decided to stick to this severe limitation to our freedom. The eventual compromise was a guided walk along the vast and almost empty stretches of asphalt avenues in the capital. How much were we longing to just some walking around, talking to the population on the street, and, indeed, taking pictures whenever we wanted! Even the apparently most innocent shots were not approved by the guides, while the stares of the people we saw were certainly not hostile at all, just very curious. Obviously, the guides preferred us to take nice pictures of one of the monumental statues instead.

The pictures you can see on this page were the ones we took more or less unnoticed. In this country of contradictions, the nervousness about our walking about the city for fear of contact with the local public struck us as an especially obvious and lamentful example. After all, in all its publications, monuments, and all other channels the government tries to make it very clear to the very same visitors to the country that these people are the happiest, proudest, most friendly and social people of the world. One can wonder, then, what could be wrong with communicating with these people?

Capital: Pyongyang

Population: 23mln

Religions: Traditionally Buddhist and Confucianism, officially atheist

Languages: Korean

Climate: Moderate with four distinct seasons. The hottest time is July to August, which is also the rainy season; coldest is from December to January, winters in the far north can be very severe. Spring and autumn are mild and mainly dry.

Currency: North Korean won (KPW)

Train Journey

OK, so North Korea is the most closed country in the world. The next logical question for those interested in visiting the country is: how to get there? On the map of Pyongyang, for the convenience of the visitor, all possible connections from the outside world are listed. There are 4 trains a week from Beijing, and two international flights.

One of the exits blocked by luggage

Where for most destinations in the world the options are getting almost endless, the traveler to North Korea does not have to ponder for a long time how to reach his destination. We opted for the train from Beijing. Upon entering the compartment which actually accommodated two other persons, we discovered that it was empty. However, we also came across a large amount of beer under the seats, and a piece of luggage in the compartment. Strangely enough, the compartment remained empty the whole night. This was especially puzzling, because all the other compartments were stuffed with people and loads of luggage. Actually, since the passenger compartments apparently were not enough, luggage was also stored in two of the three toilets, as well as in three of the four exits of the carriage. Obviously, our peace would not last until Pyongyang.

While in the railway station of Dandong, the border with North Korea, two persons entered the train, sweating, suffering, and looking desperate. They were trying to push an enormous package through the aisle, struggling with what appeared to be an impressive weight. When they finally arrived in front of the door to our compartment, they stopped and smiled. The package had arrived at its temporary place. With a superhuman effort, moaning and trembling, the two men managed to park the package on one of the top beds.

We had watched this spectacle with our eyes wide open. When we returned to the aisle, a second package, at least the size of the first, had mysteriously entered the aisle, leaving us little to guess as to where its destination was concerned. To make a long story short, after we had left the compartment on the North Korean side of the border, it had been reorganized completely. By now, it contained two more packages of enormous size and weight, some boxes with fruit, a smaller box with a dirty dog which before meeting his owners had been white one day, and a complete family of three. The son was positively mentally retarded, enjoyed playing with sharp objects, throwing them through the compartment, cleaning a watermelon with a knife and then using the same instrument to help put on his shoes, and demonstratively putting used chewing gum under our seat. His sister had fun in throwing the dog around, either through the air or just by kicking the poor animal inside where she thought it belonged.

Since our time in North Korea was limited, we decided to occupy one of the few windows which could be opened, to look outside at the countryside and the villages. After all, this was the mysterious, closed country which we had wanted to see so desperately. Already at the border station we found out the function of the beer bottles: they were offloaded and disappeared in a car which was driven by someone clearly sanctioned by the heavily guarded soldiers whose task was to prevent interference of train passengers with the outside world, and vice versa.

This very first station also provided us with the very first sight of a face which would be etched in our heads for the next days: that of late President Kim Il Sung. During the many hours it took the train to reach the capital, we saw a lot of different crops in the fields, poor people working the land, very old and obsolete tractors, almost no traffic, and every entrance to a village marked by a huge arch with a slogan.

Although we unfortunately could not read them, we could guess their meaning. They were all praise to the country’s superior system, persuaded the people to work harder to serve their country and its dead President, and basically reminded people that there was no escape from this paradise.

Instead of leaving at the first station in the country, our friends in the compartment accompanied us to Pyongyang. With a 3-hour delay, we arrived in the evening. In an attempt to escape the crowd and the struggle to offload the incredible amount of luggage, we also unintentionally escaped our guides who had been waiting for us. With slightly worried faces, they found us at the hands of a female official with whom no sane person would like to argue. Our visit to North Korea had really started now.

Panmunjom (North)

For days now, the guides have been talking about the South Koreans. Sometimes as their brother folk who have been robbed by the imperialist Americans. Sometimes as their enemies, allies of the hostile world. Finally, we get to visit the border post. After driving for hours on a nearly completely deserted highway from Pyongyang, we end up in Kaesong where we stay overnight. The next morning, without much ado, we continue to the border. We get one last briefing with a model of the area (again, unfriendly words about “the other side” are used). From here, we enter the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

We then proceed to the hall where the armistice was signed. The South Koreans refused to sign, because they did not agree. Technically, the two countries are still at war. Here again, there are rooms with exhibits about the infamous Americans and their “puppet allies” who imposed themselves on the defenseless North Koreans. A short drive from here, and we arrive at the real border. But before we reach that, we stop at a gigantic white stone with a Korean inscription. We are told that the base is 9,4 meters, and the top 7,7. Obviously, this is a symbolic link to the day that the sculpted words were written. The author … who else than the Great Leader? One day before dying, he left this message for his people: Korea should be reunited. It seems in contradiction with his efforts to be independent and self sufficient.

Then we continue to the United Nations-blue buildings which are built exactly on the across the borderline. Before we can enter, the North Korean guides take position, and the South Koreans have to stay behind their line. Inside, a table. One side of it is North Korean, the other South Korean. Crossing this border is impossible – for fun you can walk around the table. The absurdity of the situation becomes clear. Probably the most vivid reminder of a Cold War…

Visited: Kuly 2000 

Manyongdae

Of course, with such an important President, his roots are very important, as is his childhood. So, the Koreans changed history once again and invented Kim’s birthplace: Manyongdae, a lovely hill near the capital and the river. It was well understood that to become a real Hero of the People, the background of the President should be as humble as possible.

So, replicas of very modest dimensions of his native house and childhood surroundings were placed in the Manyongdae Park. Some items were placed in them, but since we are talking about God here, it is not allowed to enter the houses. Pictures of the grandfathers of the Late President can be seen in one of them. Also, a picture of Kim’s son has been added.

The guides cannot stop talking about the fact that the poor President did not see his parents alive after allegedly winning the guerilla war against the Japanese, only his grandparents. Every story they tell you is even more sad than the previous one. Anyway, according to modern North Korean history, this is the place where Kim Il Sung grew up, played as a child, pondered over the future of the country as a 13-year old revolutionary in the 1920s, and laid the basis of his endless wisdom which would lead the country to such prosperity.

The most incredible story they told us, though, was the Story of the Jar. When standing in front of one of the houses, there are three big jars on display, and the third is completely distorted and seemingly unusable. In these surroundings, where everything related to the Late President, the Great Leader and the Genius of the 20th Century, the innocent visitor frowns upon seeing this jar which appears to be misplaced. However, the explanation is very obvious. The Mother of the Great Leader was extremely poor, and she did not have the money to buy a new jar when she needed one. Since she was also very practical, she bought a misformed jar, which obviously cost less money. Hence the importance of the Distorted Jar in the life of the Late President. His background is as poor as any North Korean could be. His brilliance made him President. Kim Il Sung, the personification of the American Dream.

http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/asia/northkorea.shtml

Five rules for traveling to North Korea

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) on Jan 25th 2010 at 2:00PM

I’m told that travel to North Korea is quite safe, as long as you follow the rules (and don’t do anything stupid). You have to realize that, politics aside, you’re entering a country that just does things differently. Of course, the consequences that come with straying can be severe. The trip will be scripted, but you know that going in. Follow the bouncing ball, and you’ll be just fine.

This year, we’ll get a sense of how widely North Korea is willing to open its doors to the line of westerners waiting to enter. In 2009, the window for Arirang-related trips was extended, and there are some indications that this year will bring further liberalization to travel rules for Americans. There’s nothing but opportunity, it seems, for travelers interested in seeing the most remote country on the planet.

Again, travel to North Korea is safe, I’m told, as long as you stick to an established tour group, preferably one that specializes in excursions for westerners. Nonetheless, it’s still a good idea to be hyper-conscious of your environment. Here are five ways to make sure you don’t extend the “Ugly American” stereotype to Pyongyang.

1. Stay on the beaten path
Every travel writer in the world seems intent on delivering super-local, “insidery” insights, encouraging you to really blend. In North Korea, that’s the worst advice you could possibly receive. Want to see something strange? The beaten path will give you plenty.

2. Bring cigarettes
Fuck the Surgeon General! Everything I’ve read suggests that North Korean cigarettes suck. Use packs of Marlboros as tips, and you’ll be treated very well throughout your vacation. Pick up a few cartons at home, preferably in a state that doesn’t tax the hell out of them.

3. Be careful with your camera
There is no shortage of rules about what you can photograph (and how). When in doubt, ask your tour guide. First, you don’t want to run afoul of the regs. More important, though, is that you don’t want to ruin someone else’s day … which could end in a damaged career or worse. This is especially the case if you want to take pictures of North Korean people (which is almost always forbidden).

4. Don’t go political
Be open to having a good time. The official guides are actually quite personable and seem to realize, if subconsciously, that they are in the service industry. Your North Korean tour guides will probably be more accommodating than the flight attendants you encountered en route from the United States. Interact with your guide as guides — not as politicians. These people aren’t setting North Korean policy any more than you’re setting U.S. policy.

5. Interview the tour company
The people taking you into North Korea will make a difference. Stick with a reputable company that has a track record of running tours for westerners. Before you make a purchase, talk to the people who run the company. Get comfortable with them. Don’t be afraid to ask even the strangest questions. The right tour company will not only be open to them, it will answer you from a position of expertise and experience.

 Photos by Kernbeisser
In the North, nothing is straightforward 
Imagine the world’s least known and least understood country. Imagine a place where everybody lives under the direct control and guidance of the government, a place where every individual is supposed to work for the gains of the collective.

This description could perhaps be summarized as “Stalinist communism,” but mind you, in North Korea, nothing is quite so straightforward.

When asked about North Korea, most people would use words such as “axis of evil,” “weapons of mass destruction,” “dictatorship,” “starvation,” “secretive” and sometimes even worse. Yet when pushed further, very few people could say any more than these words.

The truth is, most of us don’t really know much about North Korea. We don’t know how they live. We don’t know their daily lives. At least I certainly didn’t, so me and my camera were soon on a 1970s Russian-made plane heading for Pyongyang.

This photo-story does not have a political agenda, except to break the taboo deriving from the axis of evil concept. The photographs aim to capture snapshots from the ordinary lives of the people of North Korea. I would hope that this photographs provide a brief insight into this closed and alien world. 

Railway station

Underground railway station

Building in the city

Typical farms

Typical houses Life in the suburbs

Traffic in the city

Comon scene in Korea

Trouble on the road

Farmers house

City square

There is no traffic jams

Common way of traveling

Bicycle transportation

Beautiful country side

In the city… familiar scene, like Zagreb (Croatia)

Made in North Korea

Renovations Korean style

More photos… it’s one of few survived famous Buddhist temple of Korea.

It’s Ryongtongsa Buddhist temple at Kaesong (Capital of Koryo dynasty).

Budist prayers…

How Bad is Life in North Korea?

The difficulty is that North Korea(GDP per capita in 2007 : $1,114) became super poor country since the communist occupation began so that it is now more close to China($2,483) than Korea($20,015).

Current South Korean government offered a plan to bring the North Korean GDP per capita up to $3000 if they opens doors to the South and the world. However, it seems that they’d rather keep the country closed than doing so because all they actually want is to make sure the Kim Jung Ill’s throne is safe from hands of justices and help, which will eventually awaken North Korean people. AND, they get along with China which actually never care about North Korean people suffering from hunger or their economy(as the Kim Jung Ill does) but to keep it (N.Korea “province”) a stupid waste land as a buffer zone between China and S.Korea, Japan. (and the U.S. and U.N.).

When a country forbids foreigners to freely wander around and talk to people, smart money says that something monstrous is going on. North Korea is probably now the world’s clearest example. It’s hard to confirm that the alleged horrors are going on, but the fact that we aren’t allowed to confirm them is a damning confirmation.

But now the North Korean government has accidentally tipped its hand. As the Los Angeles Times reports, it is now earning a lot of hard currency by letting trusted citizens work abroad.

The North Korean government keeps most of the earnings… Experts estimate that there are 10,000 to 15,000 North Koreans working abroad in behalf of their government in jobs ranging from nursing to construction work. North Korea has sent workers to Russia, Libya, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and Angola, Chech Republic, etc. defectors say. Almost the entire monthly salary of each of the worker, is deposited directly into an account controlled by the North Korean government, which gives the workers only a fraction of the money.

The key to this story is that despite everything, working abroad is considered a good deal. It’s one of the few ways to save some money to help their families back home. And only the “most loyal” North Koreans qualify, with their families left behind as hostages.

By far the largest number of North Koreans working outside their country are in Russia, where they do mostly logging and construction in military-style camps run by the North Korean government. When the camps were set up in the early 1970s, the workers were North Korean prisoners. But as the North Korean economy disintegrated in the late 1980s, doing hard labor in Siberia came to be seen as a reward because at least it meant getting adequate food.

Life In North Korea

By: Mojca Žirovnik

It’s totally true that if – in our lives – we did some things Italians do regularly, our life would be better.

 I was watching a movie today, an Italian one of recent production, titled: “Italians!” And the movie ended saying: “La vita e troppo breve per non essere Italiano (Life is too short not to be Italian)”!

And I understood that as an invitation to all viewers of this movie to “loosen up”, “follow your heart”, “go with the flow” … Perhaps I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

It’s totally true that if – in our lives – we did some things that Italians do regularly, our life would be better. Such as?

American woman in Italy, 1951. Do you think things have changed?

Take your time for a morning coffee (instead of a takeaway), have a dinner with your family once a day, where you know that what you’re going to eat is so healthy that you do not have to worry at all about the calories (a dish of pasta with tomato sauce is less heavier than a ham sandwich with mayo).  And after that – feel free to have an amazing “gelato”!

Parking in Italy

Park “all over the place”, and don’t worry if your car gets scratched (from time to time), it’s all about steel, anyway. Offer yourself a pair of amazing (Italian) shoes, preferably with a high heel (I’ve read in a magazine that an average Italian woman spends 500 euro per year on shoes.) And the only types of shoes worth splashing out on are stilettos.

Leaving your “Vespa” on the sidewalk is normal.

For male readers … Never stop wooing! As a woman, married to an Italian, I can tell you that I never turn down an invitation to a nice, little place, tucked away, with checked table cloths, pasta alle vongole and some hearty red wine. It’s a chance for both of us to reflect, to talk and – spend some time together. And the world is full of very good Italian restaurants.

Eating outside on the plaza is very common in Italy.

Never say “no” to an Italian pizza…

Sometimes, however, it’s difficult for all of us to let go. We’re trapped into the pace of everyday life with no emergency exit. And if we want to take action to have a higher quality of life – perhaps we have to learn how to do it. As simple as that.

Guess what? Now I’m going to Florence to a street shop to buy a T-shirt saying “Life is too short NOT to be Italian!” And if I find one, I’ll send it over to you.

Enjoy this day!

Mojca is my Slovenian friend who lives in Florence. She has her own blog site:

http://www.mojcazirovnik.com

By: Zdenko Kahlina  

Varadero – outside of all inclusive resorts

After traveling throughout the Cuba for 14 days in rented car Vera and I returned to the place where our journey began. It seems like we are leaving old Cuba behind and returning to “real” world, with lots of Canadian tourist around and English language spoken everywhere.  

In Varadero you will find lots of hotels, restaurants and nightclubs, along with its main attraction, 20 km of exquisite beach that seems to go on forever. Visitors can sample Cuban food and cocktails, learn to dance Cuban-style, delight in the music and shop for souvenirs and arts and crafts in open-air markets or the growing number of shops. Water sports are available for almost every taste.   

Town of Varadero – the beach  

One restaurant in the town of Varadero  

Immediately after arriving in Varadero we started looking for a hotel. We knew we couldn’t afford room in the big hotels, so we started searching for the small and not so expensive hotels. Driving slowly down the main street in Varadero, we spotted several small hotels, so we decided to stop at the rustically looking house that was hotel “Don Mares.  

Hotel Dos Mares  

Hotel Dos Mares is a simple and small hotel in the centre of Varadero. The rooms are very small, but clean and they have air-conditioning. The bathroom has a toilet and a shower. Small, but okay. Breakfast was bad. Of course if you go to Cuba, do not go if you are a fussy eater.  

Tourists are everywhere in Varadero  

 The hotel has a very nice location in the middle of Varadero.  The beautiful beach is only 150m from the hotel. Because Dos Mares is one of the few hotels in the city centre, there are not many tourists on the beach. You will be in the middle of Cuban people (especially on the weekend). If you want to go to Varadero, but you don’t want to stay at a (horrible) all inclusive hotel, Dos Mares is a perfect choice! 

The beach was gorgeous. Because we were visiting during their winter (March), the ocean was not that calm. It was also windy so we just lay on the sand for some last tanning, before we returned to Edmonton’s cold weather.  

Restaurant on the beach with the live band playing Salsa… 

This area of Varadero is quite nice because when walking around, we ran into the locals, men always saying nice things to us… just so Latin (so un-north American) this part made our trip even more wonderful.   In the evening we had a dinner in the restaurant Antiquedades.  

The restaurant, “Antiquities” is located on the main strip in the downtown core of Varadero, alongside the wall surrounding the Parque Josene, on the corner of Calle 56. It is situated within a villa and has a main dining area and rooms for private reservations.  

The decor is a true step back in time filled with wonderful treasures from the past. The meal is a fixed price menu with many choices to please anyone’s palate. One has to remember that you are in a 3rd world country and as such filet mignon etc. is not the same in Cuba as you may get at home, but good and tasteful nonetheless. The staff in the restaurant was pleasant and eager to please.  

I would strongly recommend this place to anyone looking for a fine dinning experience while on vacation in Cuba. Put on those clothes that you never wear to the hotel dinning room and head over to Antiquedades for a wonderful experience that you will not soon forget. 

Hicacos Peninsula:   

The peninsula is in Matanzas Province, in western Cuba. It is separated from the mainland by a manmade navigation canal which links the Straits of Florida and the Bay of Cárdenas. Hicacos Point Natural Park is on the peninsula’s northeastern tip.  

VARADERO  

Varadero began to be developed as a summer vacation resort in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until the last ten years that its network of hotels and other facilities was given an unprecedented boost. Its tourist offer was diversified and upgraded at the same time.   

One of the four stars hotel resort in Varadero – Cuatro Palmas  

Its main attraction has always been its marvelous beach, but this isn’t all it has to offer. You can explore its caves and escarpments, a necklace of virgin cays that are easy to get to and the carefully preserved natural landscape at the northeastern end of the peninsula. In addition, Cárdenas, the nearby city of Matanzas, the Zapata Peninsula and the San Miguel de los Baños Spa offer cultural, historic and natural attractions.  

Varadero’s Plaza América Conference Center has all the facilities needed for conference and incentive tourism. Varadero is a free port and has exceptionally good conditions for scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, yachting and other water sports. 

How to Get Here:
Varadero’s Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport receives direct flights not only from other parts of North and Central America and the Caribbean but also from Europe, South America and Africa.  

A scenic highway links Varadero with Havana, 83 miles (134 km) away, and the Central Highway and National Throughway connect it with other regions.  

If you prefer to come by boat, you can choose among three marinas: the Chapelín, Gaviota and Puertosol Dársena de Varadero.  

Hotels:
In late 1999, Varadero had a total of 11,245 hotel rooms, in 42 hotels (5 of them five-star, with 1640 rooms; 21, four-star; 8, three-star; and 8, two-star). Only one hotel, with 42 rooms, is for health tourism. The 41 others, with 11,203 rooms, are for beach tourism. 

Other attractions in Varadero:   

The growing number of options now available to visitors in Varadero will fill your free time-both during the day and at night-with pleasure.  

Restaurant “Casa del Al Capone”  

Apparently Al Capone used to stay in this villa  

Hicacos Point Natural Park:
This natural park, located on the northeastern tip of the peninsula, was declared an ecological preserve in 1974. Its 312 hectares contain many specimens of Varadero’s flora and fauna. It has the largest, best preserved woods and coastal ecosystem in the area. See the legendary “El Patriarca” (The Patriarch) cactus, Ambrosio’s Cave, Mangón Lake and the ruins of the La Calavera (Skull) Salt Works.  

Ambrosio’s Cave:
This is one of the 15 archaeological sites on the peninsula which contain testimony of Indian customs. It is 820 feet (250 m)long and has five interconnecting galleries. The cave contains 72 rupestrian drawings-one of the largest collection of Indian pictographs in the Caribbean islands. During the colonial period, runaway slaves used to take refuge in the cave.  

Mangón Lake:
This is the main lake on the peninsula and is the home of 31 species of birds (19 of them migratory) and 24 varieties of reptiles.  

Museum of Municipal History:
This museum is housed in one of the first frame houses built in Varadero. It is in the bungalow style typical of the southern part of the United States, and its roof is of tiles made in the area. This is one of the most beautiful and best-cared-for of the many houses of this style that were built here. Its exhibits depict the history of the Hicacos Peninsula.  

Art Gallery:
The gallery has exhibits of paintings, sculpture, engravings, silk-screen prints, fabrics, photos, and originals and reproductions by important Matanzas artists. It also puts on shows of works by contemporary Cuban painters, such as Mendive, Flora Fong, Fabelo and Zaida del Río. 

Josone Park:
The park covers nine hectares of grounds, most of which have been left in their natural state. There are four restaurants-Antigüedades, Retiro, Dante and La Campana-specializing in international, Italian and Cuban cuisine, with cocktails, meat, fish and shellfish; an establishment selling sugarcane juice (which is extracted from the sugarcane while you watch); and a bar, La Gruta, on the shores of a lake. 

You can explore the park on foot, by bicycle, in a horse-drawn carriage or by boat. It has a swimming pool and a party room for children (with dance, music, painting, drama and singing classes; performances by clowns; and productions put on by children). For all these reasons, Josone Park is called “a green paradise inside the blue one.”  

Xanadú Mansion:
Once the residence of millionaire Irénée Du Pont de Nemours, it is now the Casa Club. It was built between 1928 and 1930. Quietly elegant and luxurious, its rooms are decorated with precious wood and Italian marble. The Mirador (Lookout) Bar is on the top floor.  

Bellamar Cave:
This cave, a mile and a quarter from the city of Matanzas, was discovered in February 1861 in an area of marly limestone marine terraces. It is nearly two miles (3,1 km) long, and tourists are shown nearly half of it, (1500 m) including many of its 17 galleries, six halls and a corridor. The constant dripping of the water that seeps from its inner walls ensures 100-percent relative humidity. The temperature in the cave ranges between 77º and 80.6º F. (between 25° and 27° C.).  

Cárdenas:
This is a typical Cuban seaside town. It has some old forts that were used in its defense in the past. Buildings in various 19th- and early-20th-century architectural styles line its clean, straight streets. Some of them are now museums and cultural centers serving the community.
Cárdenas, just eight miles (13 km) south of Varadero, is also known as “the flag city,” because it was where the Cuban flag was first raised. Its traditions include the use of horse-drawn carriages for public transportation.  

Matanzas:
Cubans call this “the city of bridges,” because they are one of its distinguishing characteristics, and, ever since the first half of the 19th century, “the Athens of Cuba,” because of its active cultural life. Many of its buildings are in 17th- and 18th-century European styles. It is just 55 miles (90 km) from Havana and less than 20 miles (30 km) from Varadero.  

Rumba Palace:
Carishow, the company in charge of artistic productions, invites you to see the biggest, most original discotheque in Varadero. Modern lighting and sound equipment. Live shows by Cuban salsa orchestras. 

Our Overall Impressions about Cuba

Overall impressions of Cuba are varied and compelling. The skyscapes and landscapes are stunning with wonderful trees. The cities are crumbling with some restoration work in progress and no graffiti.  The whole country is in a kind of time warp, untouched by many of the changes of the last 40 years. There are a lot of people standing around and few of them are fat.   

The people are friendly and multiracial. Boys are playing baseball in the streets everywhere. Cuba is one of the few countries where baseball is a passion. The climate is very mild so it is common to see men go shirtless, but no pierced ears and few tattoos. The country loves music. Horses are used for transportation. The Chinese supply all the bicycles. Both the people and the government want to have US dollars. Tourists (2,000,000 this year) are the number one source of national income, ahead of sugar cane. Canada is first in tourism followed by Italy, France, England and Germany.   

Statues of Jose Martí and photos of Che Guevara are common, but not Castro. TV is his medium. There are power outages. There is a serious housing shortage, so young couples have to live with their parents. Every night they put the mattress down in the living room and may be interrupted during intimacy when some family member wanders in.  

Vera and Zdenko at the end of their Cuban trip in Varadero  

Food 

I won’t go into details but the food in general was not all that great. We did not starve and let’s face it, this is Cuba where people have limited access to food and I think we as tourists should not be too spoiled. Many times I have seen tons and tons of food thrown into the garbage, because consumers from richer countries don’t give a darn and eat with their eyes. Selfish and just plain terrible.  

Cuban seafood meal  

We did have nice stuff, for example delicious papaya, pineapple and guava fruit. Ice cream was very good too. Coffee was very good. The paella was amazing among other specialties served sporadically. In most tourist places the staff also was very friendly. We tipped almost everyone and in return we had very good service. But in the end, I returned home after two weeks and realized that I lost 3 lb!!  

My girlz in front of a restaurant in Varadero 

Castro 

No one knows what will happen in Cuba after Castro dies. He will be 84 this year. Castro has been in power for over 50 years and is a dictator with 9 lives. Imagine, in a country that is nominally Roman Catholic, to eliminate Christmas as a holiday! Castro restored Christmas a couple of years ago. He has zigzagged as necessary to remain in power. He used the Russians to his own ends. He has outwitted every American President he has faced. Clearly he is a nationalist and a socialist. His burning nationalism is the fuel that has kept him in power. He is not a typical dictator who loots the country for his own gain.  

The secret of his staying power is that he is a “patriotic” dictator with a strong secret police force. So in spite of the clear economic disaster that his socialistic economics have brought to Cuba, he remains in power. In fact, 70% of Cubans have been born since he came to power. Since he is such a hard-core revolutionary devoting his whole life to changing history, my guess is that there is a high probability that he will die on a historic date. Some potential death dates for him which would have political significance because of their 60th anniversaries are: July 26, 2013, the attack on the Moncada barracks; early December 2016, the voyage of the ship Granma which re-launched the revolution and January 1, 2019, the success of the revolution. 

Written by: Zdenko Kahlina

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Central Cuba – Off the beaten track in Cuba

The leg from the port town of Cienfuegos to Playa Giron, leads through a swamp area and along sugar plantations. The recurring sound of horses makes this leg of the trip cozy. It is a journey amid abundant vegetation very near to the coast, small villages and scare cities.

Cienfuegos – Bay of Pigs 135 km 

We drove our rental further north-west from Cienfuegos and headed to what the Cubans call “Playa Giron” and what we call “Bay of Pigs”. The road is generally good, with some pothole sections as we got closer to Playa Giron. Today this area remains as it was in 1961, a remote, lightly-inhabited, swampy area on the south side of the island just 3 hours by car from Havana or about 2 hours away from Cienfuegos.

We stopped the car directly in front of the museum to the Cuban victory, which contains photos of each of the 156 Cuban soldiers who were killed during the 3 day battle. This failed invasion by 1,300 US government-supported soldiers had many long term impacts, but to appreciate them we need a quick history refresher or lesson.

Museo Playa Giron

The Museo Playa Giron, is a small building exhibiting anti-aircraft weapons, portions of a downed plane, and lots of photos, propaganda in nature, but nonetheless real: dead women and children killed in the initial aerial bombardment, Fidel commanding his troops via headset, crying families and processions mourning Cuba’s dead, Fidel back in Havana – stronger and more popular than ever – standing before a massive crowd.

After Castro came to power in 1959, he nationalized all US businesses and farm holdings in Cuba. In early 1961, he publicly declared he was a communist. The CIA had planned an invasion using Cuban freedom fighters. At the last moment, President Kennedy did not supply the promised US air cover, guaranteeing failure. Castro personally led the defeat of the invasion. Much has been made of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, how Kennedy failed to order in U.S. troops as back-up, but the simple fact was that the whole operation was both poorly conceived and executed.

Despite contrary opinion in the states, it was only after the Bay of Pigs invasion that Castro proclaimed himself a Marxist-Leninist and the revolution to be socialist.

Hotel at the Playa Giron

The beach at the Playa Giron

Today, the beach at Playa Giron is home to a modest tourist hotel and is quite a wonderful place to swim. On the 49th anniversary of the invasion, we waded from the clear blue sea onto the sandy shore and stood near a pregnant Cuban woman who was watching her two young children splashing in the water.

An empty restaurant by the road, before Playa Large

From Playa Giron, we headed up to the Bay of Pigs which was virtually deserted. The road follows the ocean shore, and in the next 30 km or so, before Playa Large, we stopped at few different beautiful beaches. They were all beautiful wild beaches which had a truly timeless feel. It is beautiful to watch the waves smash against the sea wall against the backdrop of the slowly setting sun.

Beautiful beach before Playa Large

Life is slow in this part of the world and there’s virtually no food to be found in the middle of the day. We booked our overnight stay at hotel “Villa Horizontes”, just before Playa large, which was built by the beautiful sandy beach. When you’re staying only one night, you don’t get to choose your room. We got a room in a newly built bungallow, that didn’t have apeal, but it was nice and clean from the inside, and we felt very safe.

Villa Horizontes – bungallows

Hotel Villa Horizontes – they even had a small pool

Hotel Villa Horizontes beach – very nice…

Hotel Villa Horizontes beach

There was a bunker on almost every beach – reminder of the invasion.

Diving centre in Playa Large

Next day, taking the only road out of Playa Large heading to the Central Australia, we stopped at Guamá, which is the name of an original Taino village, as those belonging to the Cuban ancient inhabitants when the Spanish came to colonize the Isle.

Guamá is a very special touristic center. It is the reproduction of a Taino village on the water. Beautiful indigenous style cabins are built on pivots in the water. Hanging bridges link the residences to the central point where there are a quay of yachts and boats, a restaurant and a balcony.

Hanging bridges

Only Eighteen kilometres down the Carretera de la Ciénaga from the autopista, Boca de Guamá is a heavily visited roadside stop. Most people make straight for its headline attraction, the crocodile farm, but there is also a pottery workshop and, a short boat ride away, a replica Taíno village.

Bus-loads of day-trippers spend an hour or two at this most touristy of the peninsula’s attractions, to eat at one of the restaurants, make the brief tour of the complex and purchase mementoes from the ample supply of souvenir shops. Though it can seem rather fake, this efficiently run attraction does make a refreshing change from the half-hearted and underfunded museums and galleries that are all too often the norm in Cuba.

Criadero de Cocodrilos farm 

Boca, as it’s referred to locally, is most famous for the Criadero de Cocodrilos (daily 9am–5pm; $5CUC), a crocodile-breeding farm that forms the centrepiece of the complex. The setting is pleasant enough, with a short path leading from the car park, over a pond, to the small swamp where the beasts are fenced in.

The crocodiles themselves are more or less left alone and you may even have trouble spotting one on the short circuit around the swamp. However, if you keep your eyes peeled you should be able to catch the sinister glare of one or two gliding through the water.

Established shortly after the 1959 revolution, the farm was set up as a conservation project in the interests of saving the then-endangered Cuban crocodile (cocodrilo rhombifer) and American crocodile (cocodrilo acutus) from extinction. Since then, these ideals seem to have become a little blurred: before arriving at the edge of the swamp, you are invited to first witness a mock capture of an exhausted-looking baby crocodile and then to eat one. At the Croco Bar crocodile meat – a delicacy rare enough for the government to pass laws declaring only tourists may eat it – is served in whole and half portions for $10CUC and $5CUC respectively, although chicken and fish also feature on the short menu.

From here it was less than two hours of driving back to Varadero, where we started our Cuban journey 13 days ago.

To be continued with the blog about Varadero, which will be my last blog about Cuba…

By: Zdenko Kahlina
Central Cuba – Off the beaten track in Cuba

After breakfast we left Trinidad for the Cienfuegos and Península de Zapata. There we were expecting an extensive swamp region that is inhabited by crocodiles and flamingos, also declared a National Park. We also wanted to see well known Bahia de los Cochinos, the famous Bay of Pigs.

Road between Trinidad and Cienfuegos goes near by the ocean

Province of Cienfuegos: Central – south part of Cuba

Road between Trinidad and Cienfuegos is in good shape

Road from Trinidad to Cienfuegos mostly goes thru the coastal area and it’s only about 90 km between the two cities. Skirting approximately 50 km of coast you can get to Cienfuegos, in a journey where very dens vegetation, valleys, plantations of sugar and small towns are found. It was a very pleasant drive and the road was in good shape. We got stopped at the military check point, but it was just a routine check-stop. The two policemen’s that approached the car were very polite and just asked to see our passports.

Small village by the road; we were tempted to stop and go for a swim.

As we neared Cienfuegos after two hour drive, rice fields began to appear amid the sugarcane and above them the Royal palm, Cuba’s national tree, beautifying the skyline. The most favored of the country’s 89 species of palms it is heaven-sent to farmers who feed its fruit to their pigs and use its trunk and branches for building their homes.

Cienfuegos 

Cienfuegos city comes as a sophisticated surprise. The city of Cienfuegos lies on Cienfuegos bay, at the entrance to the Caribbean Sea. Over a long period of time it was used by pirates as a strategically favorable place for attacking Spanish ships. In the mid 18th century the Spanish built a fortress there, and only then did they manage to gain control over the area.

Cienfuegos: Pearl of the South 

As we entered Cienfuegos from the east, I was amazed. First impression was that Cienfuegos was timidly beautiful with busy streets. Unlike other cities in Cuba, the majority of its buildings gleamed sparkling white in the sunlight. An industrial urban centre of some 138,000, the city is a relatively modern town, founded in 1819. Known as the ‘Pearl of the South’, it hugs the bright-blue Cienfuegos Bay and is known as one of the most beautiful cities in the country.

Beautiful church on Central Plaza 

Zdenko in Jose Martí Park

The sugar industry used to be the main source of wealth in Cienfuegos. You can still admire these buildings, for example Palacio del Valle, from which you can enjoy breathtaking view of Jagua bay. Cienfuegos is also an ideal starting point for excursions to numerous interesting sites – Hanabanilla reservoir in the Escambray mountain range or the Jardín Botánico Soledad botanical garden, which is situated on 90 ha of land, 25 km away from the city.

Government building on Central Plaza

Beautiful building by the Jose Martí Park

“Zero mile” in Jose Martí Park 

We ambled across the main plaza, hurrying from the shade of one palm tree to the next. The glorious theatre – Teatro Tomas Terry – and museum have been painstakingly restored and, as in Havana, what amazes are the colors: marigold orange, Barbie pink and every shade of green, from spearmint to newly-laid lawn.

Jose Martí Park 

Teatro Tomas Terry

The Jose Martí Park communicates with a pedestrian walk known as the Cienfuegos Boulevard to the principal artery of the city, the Paseo del Prado. This is the longest street lined with trees in Cuba and leads the traveler to the Cienfuegarian Malecón. On the Malecón, the waterfront drag, kids queued for barbecued pork and cans of Cuban-brand cola, or cycled past on bikes, trying to catch the eye of the girl they fancied.

Beautiful Valle Palace

Palacio del Vall

We drove along the Prado, the longest promenade in Cuba that terminates at the bay until we reached José Martí Square in the heart of town. As we tumbled out of our car I remarked to my wife:  “It looks more attractive than a good number of North American cities.” “I can’t believe it’s in Cuba.”

Malecon ends with the traffic circle

At the end of Malecon: La Punta 

One beautiful house 

Driving for a few minutes we came to Valle Palace, a replica of a part of the Moorish Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. Even the Arab Nassrid, king of Granada’s wa la ghalib ilallah (there is no conqueror but God) is inscribed in Arabic on its walls. Once the home of a count that must have been enamored with Spain’s Arab past, it now houses an antique shop, bar and a restaurant, surrounded by Moorish type plaster filigree – an exact copy of those in Alhambra. For me, it appeared like a re-creation from the Arabian Nights.

Typical street 

Pedestrian walk known as the Cienfuegos Boulevard 

Pedestrian walk known as the Cienfuegos Boulevard 

Vera on the Paseo del Prado with José Martí

Further on, the residential zone and recreational area of Punta Gorda continues with nautical and traditional sport and marine clubs. This peninsula which enters the bay and terminates in La Punta has as well been declared a National Monument, because of its wooden large houses close to the sea, and other important buildings. Amongst the most important is the Palacio del Valle, an elegant eclectic mansion that combines the styles of Mudejar, Byzantine, Venetian, Gothic and Baroque.

The French influence is notable in many cultural traits and Cienfuguerian customs, particularly in architecture, where arcs, stained-glass windows and bars prevail and it is common to find palaces and mansions .The streets, of perfect design, are wide and straight, and give Cienfuegos, the flavor of being an enchanting city.

The Pearl of the South

Cienfuegos City is called “The Pearl of the South” because of the impressive beauty of its bay; because of its seductive city which provokes the wonder of all who know it, and because of that innate nobility which characterizes those born in Cienfuegos.

The history of Cienfuegos possesses interesting antecedents and is rich in aborigine and Hispanic legends. Before the Spanish came to America, the zone was settled by indigenous people and was known as the Cacicazgo de Jagua.

In order to protect its magnificent bay from corsairs and pirates, who ploughed the Caribbean, the third most important fort was erected in 1745. It was called the castle of Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Jagua, situated right in the canyon of the entrance to the bay.

The Paseo del Prado street is about 3 km long 

House on the Paseo del Prado

The foundation of Cienfuegos occurred in 1819, when French colonists settled in it, calling it Fernandina de Jagua, in honor of King Ferdinand VII and because of its aborigine origin. A rosette in the José Martí Park serves as a reminder of the place where the founding took place, and which served as the center for the urban design/layout. This park, which was the ancient Arms Square, is ample and rich in monuments, from which protrudes the only existing Arch of Triumph of Cuba.

In its surroundings coexists, harmoniously, buildings from the end of the XIX century and the first half of the XX, in eclecticism dominated by neoclassic cannons. This historical center has been declared a National Monument for its exclusive patrimonial value.

Another look at Central Plaza in Cienfuegos

It was a tranquil way to spend three hours in this city. We moved on reluctantly after having a lunch in the pedestrian walk known as the Paseo del Prado pedestrian only area. We departed around noon to be on schedule for our planned visit to Playa Giron, the site of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

To be continued…

By: Zdenko Kahlina
Central Cuba – Off the beaten track in Cuba

We are continuing our adventurous trip through Cuba. So far we traveled from Havana to western part of Cuba to visit Pinar del Rio and Vinales. From there we returned back east to Varadero and Cardenas, where we stayed over night at casa particular. From Cardenas we traveled on small country roads thru many Cuban villages to visit Santa Clara.

 The Roman Catholic Church on Sanctisima Trinidad Square 

From Santa Clara we have chosen to travel across the Escambray Mountains on the potholed filed road to Trinidad instead of going via Sancti Spiritus which is longer route.

Sanctisima Trinidad Square 

Vera on Sanctisima Trinidad Square 

 We didn’t have reserved place to stay in Trinidad, so we just drove straight to the old town plaza and parked our car there. A little walk around the plaza, and we noticed plenty of houses for rent, which are all properly marked by the sign on the house. Second house that we walked in was a nice place for affordable price, and we said “yes”.

Casa “Alejandro” where we stayed for four days

 The place was casa “Alejandro” in Calle Lino Perez, very close to the old part of town. It’s a recently renovated house, the interior of which looks like a museum, overfull with all sorts of old furniture, pictures and beautiful “junk”. Our room was in the courtyard, with nice patio and we’re really delighted to have gotten a room there. Very clean place with a friendly family running the place.

Our room

 Barbara and her son Alejandro were very accommodating and ensured we have everything we needed. At one point there was no hot water, and when I mentioned this to Alejandro, he climbed on the roof and fixed the problem immediately. We learnt that his wife was currently visiting Venezuela because her sister was having a baby, but he was not allowed to go with her as he works for Cuban government. They just wouldn’t allow him to go there for the scare they might immigrate there.

Having a breakfast on courtyard patio

 There was already another tourist couple from Liechtenstein (Europe), with whom we exchanged personal experiences about traveling around Cuba. They were basically doing the same thing we are doing: traveling thru Cuba with a rent-a-car.

Our time in Trinidad feels a bit orchestrated by comparison. This is Cuba’s cutest colonial outpost, and its cobbled heritage quarter is very much on the backpacker beat. Sacked by pirates, rebuilt by slaves, it has a handicraft market in every alleyway and infectious music tumbling from many doors. Outside the cathedral you can take a photo of an old man’s ass for half a peso.

It is a town that requires little guidebook reading: you can’t miss the party. But even here, natives and newcomers mingle unselfconsciously. My favorite hangout is the grape-draped courtyard at Casa de la Trova, where a wizened lothario in Daz-white slacks, shirt and cap invites a succession of bashful young women from England up to salsa, whether their boyfriends like it or not.

Typical Trinidad cobblestoned street

Another cobblestoned street with “taxi” patiently waiting for a customer.

Typical Trinidad houses

Selling veggies on the street

What you do need in Trinidad, like everywhere else in Cuba, is a heads-up about where to eat. And, like elsewhere, the paladars – spare-room eateries in family homes – have the edge over the state-run restaurants. A paladar is a family-run, state-sanctioned restaurant (the enterprise was only made legal in 1995), authorised so that tourists can experience ‘real’ Cuba. They can have no more than 12 seats and must function out of the family home. The brilliant part of this set-up is that you might be eating chicken à la Cubana while granny is knitting nearby, or – as in Paladar Estela – you pass through the front room to get to the courtyard restaurant.

Typical Trinidad houses

 Enter Jorge the bici-taxi driver. He insists on pedaling me to Estela’s, where a rap at a shadowy door wins admittance to the parlour of a stuccoed Spanish townhouse, and for £5 I scoff nine platefuls of creole chicken, fried pork and chilly-laced greens, under the anguished gaze of an especially gruesome pieta. We didn’t buy into this, preferring the restaurants instead.

An oldtimer on the main plaza

Kids who just finished dancing on the street

School kids on the break

Until we came to Trinidad I didn’t know Cubans could be fat – I thought the low salary would make over-eating impossible. But at Plaza Mayor restaurant, we ate shrimps, black beans, rice, grilled fish, chicken legs and giant tomato slabs alongside rotund Cubans, skinnier French tourists and visiting Spaniards.

Indeed, Trinidad is a good place to observe the economic contradictions of a country caught between its flickering Marxist dream and the rapacious tide of tourism. Nobody I meet is prepared to criticize the Castro regime, and most Cubans seem expert at having a good time, but in a country where hotel porters now make more than doctors and each “convertible” tourist peso is worth 24 of the local variety, everyone’s after your buck. This even includes the matronly curator at the Museo Romantico, who ushers me discreetly into a side room to offer swag of her black-market embroidery – three convertible pesos, please.

Traditional house in Trinidad

Traditional house in Trinidad

Store for tourists to buy cigars’ and Cuban rum

The Roman Catholic Church on Sanctisima Trinidad Square is immaculate, family houses are lovingly painted, even the old American cars are in good nick. Hardcore Lonely Planet-ers might call Trinidad ‘too pretty’ compared with disheveled Havana, but there’s no denying the standard of living is better here.

Plenty of souvenirs on offer

Taxis in Trinidad

Trinidad history

When it comes to colonial-era charm, few cities in the Americas can rival the small and romantic city of Trinidad Cuba. Moorish, Neo Classical and Baroque architecture dominate Trinidad’s old town, and it is here that you will find the largest church in the country.

The Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad, which was constructed between the years of 1817 and 1892 is just one of the attractions that make a Trinidad Cuba vacation so special. Trinidad Cuba is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is the nearby San Luis Valley, where the countryside is dotted with intriguing castles, old-world haciendas and telling slave houses.

Trinidad Cuba is a city where time seems to have skipped many a decade. The city’s cobblestone streets only make the old town all the more charming, and as far back as the 1950″s, the capitalist Cuban government saw fit to preserve Trinidad’s beauty by limiting modern development. Trinidad was founded in 1514, and it was one of the original seven “Villas” that Spanish Conquistador Diego Velázquez conceived. As such, it is easy to see its value in terms of Cuban history. Growing quickly in its early days, Trinidad Cuba would reap big rewards from the country’s booming sugar cane industry, which began really catching fire in the 1700″s.

Man and his rooster pose for tourists (2 CUCs a shot)

Those making the bulk of the sugar cane money invested in the stately palaces and mansions found in the nearby valleys today, though by the mid-to-late 1860″s, slave revolts and a waning return on sugar production saw Trinidad enter a rough financial period. Though it might be a bit selfish to be thankful for Trinidad’s past economic struggles, they are also responsible for causing a halt in modern construction. As such, those enjoying a Trinidad Cuba vacation will find the city much like it appeared hundreds of years ago.

Parked horse on the street

 A Trinidad Cuba vacation proves both charming and relaxing, whether you choose to traipse about town, or head off to a nearby Trinidad beach. The Plaza Mayor in the city’s old town is a good place to begin your walking tour of the historic district, and it is here that you will find the aforementioned Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad church, which is known locally as La Parroquíal Mayor. Another major attraction here that Trinidad Cuba vacationers won’t want to miss is the Palacio Brunet, which is a stunning colonial mansion.

Inside the Palacio Brunet, the Museo Romántico gives insight into how the old sugar-rich families once lived in decorative splendor. If you find the city’s colonial architecture to be intriguing, you can learn more about it with a visit to the Museum of Colonial Architecture, which offers guided tours. The Municipal Museum is another one of Trinidad’s best, highlighting Cuban history.

Those seeking a Trinidad beach might choose to head to nearby Ancon Beach, where white sand and turquoise water make for an ideal setting. Cayo Blanco, another popular Trinidad beach, is a premier Cuba scuba diving destination, offering some 30 spots to drop in.

Hanging out at a Trinidad beach only serves to accentuate the experience here, and the area beach resorts have you more than covered when it comes to the Trinidad hotels. Just a tad over 200 miles to the southeast of Havana, Trinidad joins Varadero as a top south coast vacation destination within easy reach of the capital.

Playa d’Ancon, Trinidad

Playa Ancón – named Cuba’s most beautiful beach by tourist boards and locals alike – is just a 15-minute drive from Trinidad. You can use the entire beach for free, with exception of parking. If you came with the car, like we did, there are some guys “covering” the parking lot, and charging you 1 or 2 CUC to “watch” after your car.

Local tram/bus/train

Our small private place on the beach

Playa Ancon and beautiful Almond trees

Ancon peninsula

We stopped first at El Grille Caribe, an unmissable shack on the only road to Ancón, with a giant lobster sculpture marking the spot. Restaurant was totally empty, so we didn’t stay for long and never ate anything there.

Restaurant on the beach: El Grille Caribe

Canadians on the beach… burning their white skin under the Caribbean sun

The beaches were empty save for Cuban families swimming in the late-afternoon sun or a handful of other intrepid tourists (usually French or Spanish) who’d made it here too, in hire cars from Havana. We swam in the ocean, drank Bucanero beers and slept beneath the shade of giant almond trees (a holiday’s just not a holiday until you’ve fallen asleep at four in the afternoon). The nearby hotels had also some tourists on the beach, but we didn’t mix with them. They were all wearing the colored bracelets provided by their hotel for identification as hotel quests.

Hotel Ancon

The beach was absolutely gorgeous, and was my favorite of all the beaches we visited while in Cuba. It was quiet, and there weren’t many tourists so we found privacy easily. The water was crystal clear, warm and calm, expansive and sea-green, and the beach was dotted with trees and bushes. We paid 2 CUC (each) for the beach chairs and set up our spot in the shade. Unfortunately for four days in a row that we were coming to this beach, it was very windy every day, and the weather was not so pleasant. We swam little bit in the ocean but spent most of the time sheltering ourselves from wind.

Directions: If you’re driving, follow Paseo Agramonte out of town 4km until you get to the village of Casilda. Go another 4 km along the northern edge of Ensenada de Casilda and follow the only road into Ancon. 

After four days in Trinidad it was time to get on the road again. We wanted to visit Cienfuegos and the Bay of Pigs, before returning to Varadero as our last destination in Cuba.

Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad church

To be continued…

By: Zdenko Kahlina 
Central Cuba – Off the beaten track in Cuba 

We are continuing our adventurous trip through Cuba. After dropping off our friend Ljiljana at the Varadero airport, Vera and I drove to a small town Cardenas, which is only 38 km east of Varadero airport. There we could rent a room in casa particular since this would be illegal in Varadero.  Cardenas 
Ever since we set our foot in Cuba, we are under impression that time had stopped for the entire island somewhere in 1950. But, when we came to town of Cardenas, our impression was that we are entering town that still leaves in the early time of colonializam . Its citizens still use – at masse – the horse-drawn taxis to get around. Others ride bikes. Hasta la bicicleta siempre ! Horse-drawn carriages and bicycles far outnumber cars on its straight and narrow streets.

Catedral de la Concepcion Imaculada, with the statue of Christopher Columbus in front (in Park Colon). 

After finding our casa particular for one night, Vera and I went for a stroll thru the town. What better way of doing it but to hire a horse-drown carriage (Cubans call it: la coche tradicional) for our tour. For 30 minutes tour, Peter, the carriage rider, charged only 3 CUC (1 hour for 5 CUC). The ride in the carriage was something special. Peter was a good tour guide. He was trying to explain what we were seeing, but his English was just as limited as Vera’s Spanish. I was impressed how “robotic” the horse was. I love horses, but these horses are really trained for the job; they can read the traffic, they know exactly how much space the wheels of the carriage need on the street, so they don’t scratch cars or hit pedestrians, they go around the potholes… and after half hour going around the town, there was no sweat. It was just one of many tours they do every day, working probably more than 12 hours a day. As our ride was over, they park and line-up for the next one, without even as much as turning head. Amazing… and I felt sorry for them! 

Horse-drawn taxis in Cardenas 

Cárdenas supplies part of Varadero in labor. It boasts nice examples of neo-classic architecture (superb patios, high windows, detailed motifs) some dating to the town’s founding in 1828 and it’s a short one-day excursion for the tourists who rent motorbikes in Varadero.

Horse-drawn taxis in Cardenas 

Located 18km southeast of Varadero, Cárdenas is a small, quiet city with beautiful colonial-era architecture and a timeless quality. Cárdenas is known as Cuba’s “Ciudad Bandera” (Flag City), as it was here, on 19 May 1850, Narciso López and 600 Kentucky and Louisiana mercenaries invaded the island with a plan to seize it from Spain and annex it for the U.S. to add to the slave states. But their goal was thwarted and the national flag was first raised atop the building of the La Dominica Hotel. 

Horse-drawn taxis in Cardenas

The city center is quite compact, and one can easily see most of the sights in a couple of hours strolling around. There are several small squares and parks in Cárdenas. The diminutive Parque Colón features the first statue of Christopher Columbus in the Americas dating from 1826. Across from it is the beautiful Catedral de la Concepción Imaculada, which is famous for its stained glass. In another main park, Parque Echeverría, sits the Museo Casa Natal José Antonio Echeverría. This beautiful old home features tributes to various independence fighters and revolutionary heroes, including the museum’s namesake, a murdered revolutionary student hero who was born here in 1932.

The town’s main market, Plaza Molokoff is housed in an interesting two-story L-shaped iron building, topped with a large and high ornate dome. Out by the water’s edge is the Arrechabala Rum Factory, where the brand Havana Club was born and where present-day Varadero and Buccanero rums are made. Tours of the factory are given daily.
 

The first electric tramways started here. Second only to Bacardi, one of Cuba’s largest rum distillery Ron Arrechabala (founded 1878) was established here.
Its owner created the Havana Club brand which infamous Bacardi claimed was theirs but after a years-long legal battle in Europe and the US, Pernod-Ricard in partnership with Cuba got rightful ownership of the brand. Other town firsts include the first electric power plant and the first gynecological clinic.
The sleepy town used to live off two sugar mills (José Smith Comas and Humberto Alvarez) in the area but now, there’s only nearby Varadero’s tourist industry and a few of the fishermen’s catches. 

 
Cardenas – Santa Clara 

Next morning we were searching for the place where we could have a breakfast, but we found only place to have a coffee. After that we hit the road hungry (thanks for the fruit bars we brought from Edmonton), going southeast on a small country road.    

Sugar cane plantation in Central Cuba   

Another Horse-drawn taxi in Cuba   

Typical small town in central Cuba 

  We never got lost… the road was narrow but straight, with only few potholes, going thru many small villages. On the western edge of Maximo Gomez (not well marked) we turned right. At Perico, there is an old sugar refinery town called Republicana Espana. (There is a by-pass road around Republicana Espana on the west, or the road through is also fine). We continued thru Perico to Colon, Los Arabos, Mordazo, Manacas, Santo Domingo, Jicoteas and our first destination for the day: city of Santa Clara. This part of the trip was uneventful except for countless sugar cane and banana plantations by the road. We actually managed to arrive in Santa Clara much faster than planned. 

Santa Clara  

We entered Santa Clara, from the west, and first thing we could see was a park with Che Guevarra monument on the side of the street.  

Santa Clara is the Capital City of the Villa Clara province in Cuba. The Villa Clara province is located near the centre of Cuba and is the fifth largest province in Cuba. The main industries in Villa Clara in Cuba are the agricultural production of sugar and the breeding of livestock.   

The town of Santa Clara in Cuba is not very large with a population of only around 200,000. This is a sociable town, famed as the fountainhead of the revolution, where toddlers take pleasure rides in goat-pulled wagons outside the Hotel Santa Clara Libre, still scarred with gunshot from the guerrilla attack that clinched the 1958 war.  

Panels with Che’s picture are everywhere

Theater building on the main plaza in Santa Clara 

 That attack was led by the great Guevara, whose statue casts a 100ft shadow over Santa Clara from its plinth above the Plaza de la Revolucion, and embodies the complex contradictions around his cult.  

Nevertheless, every year thousands of tourists in Cuba pass through Santa Clara in Cuba to visit a few of its noteworthy tourist attractions.  

The freedom-bringing hero stands in trademark combat gear, body armoured with machetes and grenades, overlooking a Stalinesque square that was built to fête him but now serves as a vast, parched coach-park unloading Germans, Canadians and Brits in Che shirts and caps.  

There is a bunker-like museum here, too – and it’s a gripping study in Socialist celebrity, lined with glossy, Magnum-style photographs of Che the medical student, Che the mountain climber, Che the golfer – even Che kissing a baby. And you think: boy, did that guy have an eye for a photo opportunity.  

As we wandered around, dodging the gaze of a museum, I wonder what Guevara would make of his modern status as tourist icon and all-purpose fashion accessory. More importantly, what would he make of a nation that has been 50 years without democracy. 

We had lunch close to the main plaza, at pizzeria “La Toscana” and I had unarguably the worst pizza in my life. My wife also had not so tasty pasta.  So after couple of hours spent in and around centre of Santa Clara, we continued our journey with the car. Today’s final destination is Trinidad.   

Pizzeria “La Toscana in Santa Clara not so good. 

Santa Clara – Trinidad 

From Santa Clara we originally planned to reach Trinidad via Sancti Spiritus and highway road xx. Another look at the map and I realized we’ve had more options. It was 175 km via Sancti Spiritus , but we decided to take the straightest route via Mataqua – Manicaragua and over the Topes de Collantes. It was a scintillating drive across the jungly serrations of the Escambray Mountains.   

Country road heading towards the Escambray Mountains.   

Typical farm in the Escambray Mountains. 

 On the map it was only 85 km between Santa Clara and Trinidad. First 40 – 45 km was good, but narrow, curvy road, going up and down thru the foothills of Escambray Mountains. As we drove deeper and deeper into the mountains, road condition rapidly deteriorated and soon we were unable to go faster than crawling speed. There are some HUGE holes, almost craters! We drove in a small rented Kia-Rio, and managed to avoid all potholes and didn’t have any problems with the car. But keep an eye out! However, the journey was fantastic, great scenery reaching the top of Topes de Collantes. 

View of Escambray Mountains from the road   

Road full of potholes 

  The Topes de Collantes is a tiny village located at the highest peak in the Sierra Del Escambray, the second largest mountain range in the country. Known for its ecotourism, the area is beginning to rival places like Costa Rica, with natural waterfalls and crystal clear lakes with supposed healing powers… 

From the top of Sierra Mountains going downhill towards Trinidad was a unique experience. In the distance, it can be clearly seen the splendid scenery of Ancon Peninsula with its magnificent beaches that face the Caribbean. At one end, with its ancient streets and small places: Trinidad, and to meet the visitor, the mountain with its many greens that dress the slopes and depth. 

View from The Topes de Collantes towards Trinidad 

 This only road into the mountains is by Canadian standards, suicidal!! There are no guardrails and very few posted signs, and the steep downhill grade is too difficult for most locals to negotiate in their beat-up cars…. on the positive side, this last part of the road before Trinidad was in good condition. We left the potholes and mountains behind and were facing town of Trinidad and its cobblestone streets. 

Bienvenidos a Trinidad de Cuba 

To be continued…

 By: Zdenko Kahlina
 Havana – Pinar del Río (region) - Off the beaten track in Cuba

So, after spending five days strolling through the streets and beaches of Havana, our plan was to rent a car and drive around the country.

 Arquitectura tradicional de Pinar del Rio

 We rent our wheels from Cubacar in El Vedado. The car was Kia Rio, small four door sedan, which was in pretty good shape. We asked for instructions how to get out of Havana and didn’t get lost once. The road signs in Cuba are poor – perhaps part of Fidel’s plan that all road-users be equal. The trick is to stop and ask people, whenever you’re not sure where you are. In few minutes we were driving on the main highway heading west towards Pinar del Rio, our destination for that day.

 The A1 highway lay like a concrete table-runner before us. It was eight lanes wide, yet we saw only a smattering of cars (Ladas and the odd 1940s Buick, pumping out smoke from a garden hose acting as a makeshift exhaust pipe). They are not so empty like in North Korea (as seen on some pictures), but they are still practically devoid of traffic by western standards. They are pretty similar in construction to Canadian freeways (concrete based), however pretty much in decaying state. Line markings are mostly nonexistent, that’s true also for any type of signs. This means no signs for cities on exits and interchanges, only signs counting km’s to Havana are pretty common. Potholes on otherwise wide freeways are common; at least medians are nicely maintained.

 Highway Havana – Pinar del Rio Hitchhiking is very common in Cuba

 The only modern freeway (actually tollway – they charge you 2 CUC each way) for Cuban standards is from Varadero to Varadero airport – actually low quality expressway for western standards, at least without potholes and with road markings and signs.

 Gasoline is pretty expensive – 1.10 CUC/liter, it reaches almost European prices. Black market is therefore in full swing. Of course, vintage cars are everywhere and it is a joy to ride in ’51 Buicks and other beauties.

 I was holding the speed limit of 100 km/hour because rent a car people warned me of police looking specifically for tourists. But luckily we didn’t see any police officer monitoring this stretch of highway. Driving in Cuba is easier than the guidebooks would have you believe; petrol stations are plentiful and roads are tarmac (though often pot-holed). Main highway is in good condition. 

 We forked off, after an hour (50km from Havana), to a smaller road going to Las Terrazzas, curling through the jungle.

 Tourist Resort Las Terrazzas 

Las Terrazas, rural community of sustainable development, is one of the most wonderful areas of Pinar del Río region. Located in Sierra del Rosario, Biosphere Reserve, it holds a natural irresistible exoticism. This beautiful community has a great deal of culture life. There you will find the following attractions:
The French coffee plantations’ ruins of the XIX century. You can also take a refreshing bath in the crystal waters of the rivers San Juan and Bayate’s.

By the small San Juan lake we discovered hotel ¨La Moka¨ of colonial style and exquisite comfort. This hotel is perfectly complemented with exuberant nature that surround it. There was also La Casa del Lago (house of the lake), located at one side of San Juan lake.

 In about one hour of this detour, we were back on the main highway. But, just before the highway, we stopped in a village at one small local restaurant to have a lunch. The food was actually amazing considering how local this place was!!

  Ljiljana by the San Juan lake

Restaurant in Cuba

Lunch… lot’s of food but very bland, but Bucanero beer was good!

 Back on the highway it seemed odd when we passed gaudy billboards screaming ‘Patria O Muerte’ (Patriotism or Death) and ‘Bush, el Fachismo’ (you can work that one out for yourselves). These political messages didn’t seem to affect people’s lives in any way. It’s as if Fidel Castro is an embarrassing, rich old uncle who everybody has to humor (the type who snorts when he laughs and eats all the sausages at a party) until he totters off this mortal coil and everybody can finally enjoy their inheritance boon.

 The three hour drive to Pinar del Rio on the A1 is untaxing. Cuba’s only serious highway runs from end to end of the island, six wide lanes of mesmerizing emptiness, sometimes pockmarked and gritty, sometimes smooth and solvent, melting into watery heat-haze. Few people outside Havana have cars. Occasionally, a horse and cart bent down with sugar cane sags by in the wrong carriageway, or a vulture-shaped silhouette swims across the road. We drove by tiny tobacco towns on the way to Pinar del Rio. Life here is serene, slow and self-sufficient, a cine movie of horses and carts, women fanning themselves in doorways, and fence posts in soil so fertile, they start sprouting papaya.

 Pinar del Rio - Capital city of Province Pinar del Río

The city is named after a pine-tree forest at the shore of the Río Guamá. The city of Pinar del Río (Pop. 120,000) is the capitol of the province of the same name. The name, meaning “pine of the river,” refers to the tall pines that grace river banks around the province, and especially flourish near in the extreme western side of the island.

  Picturesque view of the main street in Pinar del Rio

View of the house with arcades on the main street in Pinar del Rio

  Pinar del Río is not a top tourist destination in its own right, but as the area’s largest city, plenty of tourists pass through for a day or two.

 Picturesque view of their streets, in the city of Pinar del Rio

 Our hosts in Havana reserved casa particular “Elena” in Pinar del Rio. We found the place with the help of locals. It was a small-but-perfectly-formed family house offering, like so many Cuban homes, self-contained rooms, breakfast and dinner to foreign travelers. We were greeted by beaming grins from all family members from grandfather to baby cousin.

 Casa Elena, Pinar del Rio

 The house is a virtual museum of kitsch, but boasts a delightful terrace in a courtyard – perfect for sipping a beer while the sun goes down – complete with guava trees that supply the morning juices and cages of the colorful canaries so beloved of Cubans. The two rooms are equipped with fans, but no air-conditioning –  and have en-suite bathrooms – the only idiosyncrasy (of which you must expect many while staying anywhere in Cuba, be it hotels or casas) is that you must knock for entry when coming back late at night, but the hosts bear this with their normal cheer. They even arranged safe parking for our rental across the street for which I had to pay someone who was “watching” my car over the night.

 The city of Pinar del Río is in fairly well upkeep by Cuban standards, especially considering the nationwide shortages of paint and construction materials. Like Havana, Pinar del Río features many beautiful pieces of beautiful architecture. Pinar del Río has a particular abundance of highly decorated, well maintained neoclassical buildings. Their main street was without traffic, so it served as a promenade for young people in the evening.

Historically, the city of Pinar del Río and surrounding area have been important in tobacco production. In the 18th century, smugglers seeking to evade the Spanish’ monopoly on the tobacco trade chose this area because of its distance from the government in Havana, as well as the prime soil and conditions. First cigar factory was opened in 1760.

Picturesque view of their streets, in the city of Pinar del Rio

 As sugar cane became Cuba’s primary cash crop, and single greatest source of economic income, however, the importance of Pinar del Río’s tobacco crop fell and the city suffered from administrative neglect. Today, Pinar del Río manufactures some of Cuba’s finest cigars, using tobacco leaves grown near the city. Pinar del Río is still considered an unimportant city by many Cubans, despite its size and economic significance relative to the rest of the towns in the province.

 Among the unique attractions offered in this city are cigar factory tours and gift shops, la Casa de la Culture (the House of Culture), and the beautifully restored Milanes Theater.

 Next morning, we were off to Vinales. Unfortunately it was another rainy day and we spent most of the day not getting out of the car and just driving around.

 The Valley of Viñales:

The jewel in Pinar del Río’s crown is the valley of Viñales, an official National Park and by far the most visited location in the province. With striking landscapes and an atmosphere of complete serenity, Viñales is an essential stop if you’re in the province or anywhere near it.

 Road to Vinales

 Though only 25km north from the city of Pinar del Río, the valley feels far more remote than this, with a lost-world kind of quality, almost entirely due to the unique mogotes, the boulder-like hills which look like they’ve dropped from the sky onto the valley floor.

 Vinales valley

 These bizarre limestone hillocks were formed by erosion during the Jurassic period, some 160 million years ago. Rainfall slowly ate away at the dissolvable limestone and flattened much of the landscape, leaving a few survivors behind, their lumpy surface today coated in a bushy layer of vegetation. Accentuated by the flatness of the valley floor, the virtually vertical sides of the mogotes seem to erupt from the ground, creating a striking sense of enclosure across the valley.

 Most of the population lives in the small village of Viñales, which you’ll enter first if you arrive from the provincial capital or Havana, and where there are plenty of casas particulares. From the village it’s a short drive to all the official attractions, most of which are set up for tour groups, but it’s still worth doing the circuit just to get a feel of the valley and a close look at the mogotes.

 Early in the morning you can see vaqueros, Cuban cowboys who roam over the red earthen tracks with their horse and straw hat. Probably on the way to the indigenous constructions known as casas del tabaco, or triangular tobacco huts that the valley lodges. These drying sheds are covered with palm leafs for moisture and coolness. It is not surprising that this area produces the best tobacco in the world! 

 There are a number of places in Viñales difficult to find or impossible to access if you’re not on an organized excursion but, conversely, a stay in any of the casas particulares often yields information otherwise unavailable to tourists.

Church in Vinales

 The valley supports its own microclimate, and from roughly June to October it rains most afternoons, making it a good idea to get your sightseeing done in the mornings. Mosquitoes are also more prevalent at this time of year and insect repellent is a definite must for any visit.

 Since it was raining heavily during our visiting the valley, we didn’t stay for long. From the car, the view of the valley just wasn’t the same. We turned around and went back to Pinar del Rio. At one point it was raining so hard that I had to stop at the side of the road, as driving was impossible.

 The Valley of San Carlos:

When the rain eased off a little, we decided to explore the back country heading west fro Pinar del Rio on the local country road. Pretty soon we felt like we discover a road that no other tourist did before. On a very narrow and twisty road we drove thru the remote villages San Carlos, Los Portales, Guane, all the way to Isabel Rubio.

 Country road

 Traffic… what traffic?

 The road runs through limestone hills, crossing the pretty Río Cuyaguateje several times and passing through the Valle de San Carlos, a spectacular narrow valley with cliffs and steep wooded hills rising on either side. Farmers grow fruit, vegetables and tobacco, with ox-drawn ploughs furrowing the bright red soil and tent-shaped tobacco drying sheds everywhere. Guane, a large, attractive village with old houses and a little baroque church, is also the railway terminus.

 At Isabel Rubio we were back on Carretera Central and turning back east towards Pinar del Rio. People were turning their heads after our rental and were probable wondering who we are and what are we doing there.  

 We leave the motorway and take small country roads. Here we’re stuck behind what’s the most usual kind of public transportation in Cuba.

 TV house: There is only one in each village

But before we got too far on Carretera, we wanted to get to the beach and see the ocean again. We made the exit from the highway and stopped at Bailen beach. This beach is at south, eight kilometers from the main road. There we passed by Estación Biológica Zoocriadero, a crocodile farm which is open daily. The beach was deserted and not very interesting, except for the local boy, who wanted a pesos for “watching my car”, while we were exploring the beach. Playa Bailen is a vacation village for the Cubans. The vacation village, composed of bungalows, was to be rather pretty barren ground, but it was devastated by the Ivan cyclone few years ago…

 Bailen beach  

Isabel Rubio

 Further east was a town of Isabel Rubio, a small yet relatively prosperous agricultural town that thrives on the harvest of citrus groves. Isabel Rubio has a gas station with a shop selling drinks, toiletries and canned foods. There is car rental in town and a place you can buy pizza at the junction of the road to Sandino.

 The main road continues through San Luis, a municipality and city in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. All these places are centered mainly on agriculture (tobacco, rice, fruit crops), stock rising.

 Once back in Pinar del Rio we were ready to hit the bed as suddenly we felt a lot of stress coming from all that we’ve seen today. The rain and all the poverty we’ve seen made huge impressions on us.

The following day we left Pinar del Rio heading back thru Havana all the way to Varadero, because our friend’s Ljiljana holidays were coming to an end. It was her last day to be with us. Vera and I are continuing our journey thru Cuba on our own for another week, visiting central Cuba.

 To be continued…

 You can’t go to Cuba and not try their tobacco…

 By: Zdenko Kahlina

Havana – Casa particular

The best vacations are when you travel without schedule. I refuse to go on one of these “All inclusive” tourist packages where they give you a schedule and they say, “O.K., from nine to 10 we’re going to go to the museum, and then from 10 to 11, and we are going to the art museum, then we’ll stop for a lunch”. That to me is like being in school; that’s not a vacation.

 Vera and I like to jump on a flight and fly to our destination, while carrying minimal luggage with us and without any hotel reservations. We usually rent a car, and just find small B&B or motel as we drive around the country. We do that every time we travel, and it is really liberating, a real adventure. We never know in advance what will happen and where we’ll end up. Sometimes the idea of a good vacation is not plan anything and be spontaneous as possible.

 This time Vera and I came to Cuba to stay in Havana for few days, and than start a week-long road trip with rent a car and drive around the island on our own. Our friend from Toronto, Ljiljana was joining us for the first week in Havana and we are all planning to go west to visit Pinar Del Rio and Vinales region where we’ll be touring tobacco factory among other interesting sites.

Canadian tourists in Cuba

For the second week Vera and I are planning to tour the country on our own, heading southeast to Santa Clara, then south to Trinidad, a living museum of Spanish colonial times, before relaxing in playa Ancón – for Mojitos and hammock time. After that we would head from Trinidad west to Cienfuegos, a UNESCO World Heritage city, and continue to Bay of Pigs and Playa Large.

We flew with Air Transat charter flight directly from Edmonton to Varadero. We packed strong sun-block, good hats and, for the easy-to-burn one, a long-sleeved cotton shirt. Do not assume you can just pick up things in Cuba. Often you can’t, or they are very hard to get, or outdated. 

Finally, after months of curiosity, Varadero came into sight under our plane’s window. Cuba is the largest island in the Greater Antilles. A long extended claw that is home to Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, as well as about 12 million other Cubans. At 21-23 degrees north, Cuba lies on the same latitudes as Algeria, Egypt, India, Mauritania, Oman, Vietnam and Hawaii. Our stated purpose – necessary for the Cuba’s immigration officers to grant us entry visa – was to simply be a tourists. But what we really wanted was to explore the land of Rum, Rumba and Revolution for the next two weeks. We were hoping to have a nice warm and sunny weather while there. Little did we know….

After some heavy turbulence while plane was descending, we landed in Varadero with no problems. The weather wasn’t what we were expecting. In Varadero it was overcast with showers and wind blowing the rain sideways. Not the perfect day to begin vacation.

Customs was a bit Russian-like: You go to the booth one at a time, and once cleared, are allowed to pass through the restricted zone door. The humidity and rich Caribbean air was intoxicating, but we were happy to finally be here.

Viazul bus Varadero – Havana

When we landed in this warm country, our first task was to find the best way to get to Havana from Varadero airport, avoiding all local scammers, who are waiting at the airport exit. Luck was on our side, as after exchanging our dollars to convertible pesos at the airport (for CAD $100 we got 87 CUC), we noticed that regular 8:30 am Viazul bus has just arrived. For 10 CUC per person, we managed to board the bus and very soon afterwards the bus hustled us off into the early morning Cuban countryside. The bus made one stop at the restaurant somewhere on the road before Havana, so the driver(s) could have a bite to eat. Two and a half hours after we left Varadero airport, we were in Havana at the El Vedado Viazul bus station. It was still raining quite heavily.

Canadians in Havana

Tobacco factory on Central Plaza

Interesting building in Havana

We took taxi and after a short taxi drive (only 3.00 CUC) we were facing our B&B – they are called “casa particular” in Cuba, where we had reserved accommodation for next four nights. Ljiljana arrived in Havana a day before so she was already waiting for us at the casa Diana.

Casa particular

Once we had determined that we wanted to stay in a casa particular (and if you are interested in local flavor, you MUST do this), I contacted several cases over the internet just to see what is available and check how much they charge per night. Casas usually cost between 20-40 CUC per room per night, sometimes including breakfast, dinner extra.

Casa Diana

So, using the Internet, we have picked one “casa particular”. Our choice was Casa de Ana in the old part of the city. However, we didn’t actually stay at Casa de Ana, because she was already booked, but she recommended her friend, Casa Diana, and when we arrived we were blown away!

Casa Diana

Premium Hospitality!

To our delight the Casa was beautiful, situated in Vedado – the suburbs of Havana about 3 kilometers from Old Havana. Our room was comfy and it had everything we were looking for. Since it was heavily raining outside, the roof was leaking a bit, but as Tony put it: “It leaks only when it rains!” we didn’t complain.

Breakfast in casa Diana

Our hosts in Havana: Diana and Tony

Diana and Tony our hosts were great, advising us on where to go and where to eat etc. Diana if you’re reading this, thank you for recommending ”Union Francaise de Cuba” and even better “De Cameron” restaurants to us. They were great and great prices too. Diana and Tony are an older couple with a beautiful home. Diana’s family bought the house in 1942, but was later forced to leave the house and move to Mexico. In 1959 they moved back to Cuba and got their house back. In the house they have huge library. Tony has an amazing life and if he doesn’t offer it ask about his time in the police force. He has fantastic photos.

We stayed with Tony and Diana and they really made us feel at home. They also helped us plan our time in Cuba and made reservations for us at our next destination Pinar Del Rio.

Ready to face this

There are few obstacles you should expect when travelling to Cuba. I would recommend to be prepared to face them. Nothing is perfect in this world so you have to adjust /adapt to it. First of all, there is too much pollution. Even thought I like the old cars, I hate the smoke/pollution they make. For the first few days, I felt some pain in my throat and found out it’s the pollution I’m not used to. Anyways after few days, I got use to it…no big deal.

Oldtimer on the streets of Havana

Oldtimer on the streets of Havana

Second, there are scams everywhere. You should know it’s a third world country and people will try to get every penny out of you. If you are careful then I guess you should be ok. I don’t mind giving money to poor people but hate when someone tries to cheat me. We actually took some pens, pencils, and clothes for needy people. We wanted to make our vacation something meaningful and help poor people but at the same time we were careful with the people who tried to cheat us. I had to admit we were cheated few times (Eg: every taxi driver without meter), but it’s all an experience. Since it was our first time, we didn’t know all the scams, now we know and that’s what I wanted to share with you.

Movie theatre in Havana

The best known tobacco factory in Havana

Tips on saving money:

-If you are travelling through Varadero, take Viazul bus. You can check the schedule online and book the flight according to it. If your flight was delayed, then you will be left to rent a car or take a taxi.

-If you want to go to beach or look around Havana, then take the tour bus for 5 CUC. Most of the tour buses will come near a hotel and you can take that and connect to other routes as you wish. T1, T2 or T3.

-Learn some Spanish or take a Spanish translator (PDA, phone and etc) with you. There is tons of Spanish translation software available for your PDA or phone.

-Exchange money at the ban, better than at the airport. If you do exchange at the airport triple check/count your money.

-Please do your best research before you go!

Smoking cigar’s… just a show for tourists.. it will cost you up to 5 CUC!

Cuban lady selling peanuts on the street

The streets of Havana

We explored Havana on foot. We would leave our casa in the morning and would return in the evening, just to change and leave again for dinner. Occasionally we used local taxis, and tour bus T1 and T3. Route for tour bus T1 goes thru old Havana and is perfectly designed for seeing basic points of Havana. The tour took about 1 hour.

Tourist bus that took as around Havana

Young and beautiful Cuban girls

The “Camilo Cienfuegos” is legend in Cuba

The best thing about Havana is the city itself – its architecture, streets and famous promenades. Especially famed is the historical centre of the city that was declared part of the world’s cultural heritage. This vibrant city is a scientific and cultural centre. Within its 47 km of coastline, you will find 20 km of beaches as well as places to go diving and deep-sea fishing.

That’s the thing about Havana – it really lives up to its postcard. The collapsing colonial palaces in pastel colors; the sultry women toting cigars as fat as your forearm; the vintage 1950s Cadillacs that cruise around town, their tropical bodywork concealing Lada engines, a motorized metaphor for the phut-phut Cuban economy. It looks exactly as you hoped it would.

Yes, Havana is sensational. The architecture will move you; the live bolero music in every cafe will have you dancing at three in the afternoon; and the sheer buzz of Habana Vieja will still be ringing in your ears when you climb back on the plane home. But Havana is not the complete picture – it’s merely one lovely pixel.

Central plaza in Havana

Another oldtimer on the streets of Havana

 Beyond the city are unknown beaches fit for the pages of holiday brochures (thankfully, you won’t find them in any), colonial cities every bit as handsome as Havana (but full of Cubans, not Gringos), and landscapes so deep (with layer upon layer of banana fields, villages, sugar cane and jungly mountains) that it’s like looking into an Escher painting.

Las Playas Del Este

The best way to get from Havana to Las Playas Del Este for a tourist is the red tour bus T3 that leaves every half hour from opposite Hotel Inglaterra. It costs 3 CUC return ticket and you can get on and off as many times as you like. The best beach is Santa Maria Del Mar, which is at the furthest point on the bus route about 20 minutes from Havana.

Tourists on the beach

There is also a public bus, which will cost you the equivalent of about 5 cents, but it can get crowded and is not too comfortable – it is not one of the new fleet of Chinese buses that serve many routes in the city.

Beach Santa Maria del Mar

Police presence on the beach

We went to the beach on our second day and that was a good decision. It was the only beautiful day we had in two weeks while in Cuba. The beach was crowded with tourists and locals. We noticed heavy presence of police who were after the locals, assumedly preventing prostitution.

Havana History

The city of Havana was established in the beginning of the 16th century, 30 miles away from where it stands today. It was called Villas de San Cristobel de la Habana before it was relocated in 1519. From then on the city was nicknamed the “Pearl of the Antilles” because of its use as a Spanish hub for treasure captured from their Latin American colonies. Spanish ships anchored at the harbor in order to store gold and other riches in Havana, thus necessitating the building of forts to repel greedy pirates. Four forts were built between 1577 and 1763, starting with the Castillo de la Real Fuerza and ending with the Fortaleza.

Castillo del Morro

Big guns at Castillo del Morro

As the capital, Havana has always been Cuba’s wealthiest and most opulent city. Luxurious mansions and buildings that exemplified the grandest in Spanish architecture lined Havana’s streets, and the city quickly became a tourist magnet. However, the Communist Revolution altered Havana’s nature drastically, as it did to the rest of Cuba, as well. The mansions that had once housed Havana’s upper class are now in disrepair, because the government has no money to maintain them. Many Habaneras (people of Havana) must live in slums or concrete tenement buildings inspired by Soviet Russia. Tourism dollars are the only thing keeping the city’s historic buildings standing, and it is often astonishing to look at the difference between popular tourist areas and the typical Havana neighborhood.

We spent only one day on the beach, and the rest of time in Havana getting to know the city! We could do this for weeks; there is so much to see. Homes spill onto the street and the early morning and late afternoon are the most wonderful times to experience the energy of the city. Don’t get bogged down by having to do specific things, open yourself and you will find the city opens up to you. When you stroll the streets, move away from the tourist areas, we found it to be safe no matter where we meandered.

Young and beautiful…

This little girl stopped for a second to pose for this shot…

Leaving Havana for the tobacco land

Havana never disappoints, so perhaps it’s not surprising that most visitors venture no further. But we were also keen to see the back-country Cuba that tourism has barely scratched: Vinales, the centre for tobacco industry on the western side of Cuba; Cienfuegos, on the south coast, where Graham Greene went to sip sundowners and gaze at seagulls; and Santa Clara, in the island’s midriff, where Comrade Che seized the country by derailing an artillery train with his army of farmhands and students.

Malecon

So, after spending five days strolling through the streets and beaches of Havana, our plan was to rent a car and drive around the country. We rented our wheels from Cubacar in El Vedado. The car was Kia Rio, small four door sedan, which was in pretty good shape. We asked for instructions on getting to the main highway and didn’t get lost once. In few minutes we were driving on the main highway heading west towards Pinar Del Rio, our destination for today.

Our rental

 To be continued…

In Havana visit or enjoy:

- Zorra y El Cuervo, the jazz club venue down on La Rampa (Calle 23).

- Coppelia for Icecream at top of La Rampa. (Calle 23 esq. a L, Vedado.) 30,000 a day are served. Cubans love icecream.

- Calle Obispo. Very bohemian with lots of galleries, shops, cafe’s. Just around the from Parque Central and the Capitolo.

- La Floridita Bar for Daquiri (just at Parque Central and Calle Obispo)

- Plaza de la Cathedral (Cathedral Square). Classic old Havana beauty and architecture

- La Bodeguita del Medio for a Mojito. Just around the corner from Cathedral Square.

- Plaza Armas for Sunday bookfair (if it fits your schedule)

-) Free Market (hard currency) on Tacon in Parque Cespedes, at the waterfront just behind Castillo la Real Fuerza for hand made souvenirs.

- El Morro Castle. Canon firing at 9:00 p.m. ceremony. Make sure to climb Faro (the lighthouse) for a fabulous view across the harbour at old Havana.

- Bocoy Rum Factory (Fábrica de ron Bocoy, Calzada del Cerro No. 1417, Cerro) or the Havana Club Fundacion Outlet (San Pedro y Sol, Ave. del Puerto #262)

HC Foundation

- Visit the Cigar Factory – it is a great (free) tour.
- Visit the Famous second hand book market – Plaza de Armas; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat near the Castillo the la real Fuerza, it’s amazing. Only since the late 1990ties this market was officially allowed as a trading place for books-portraits and other literature – mostly of authors from the revolution period.
- Plaza Vieja at the bottom of San Ignacio for the tremendous architecture and also there’s a microbrewery in the southwest corner.

- Hemmingway Marina

- The Capitolio. 3rd largest indoor statue in the world inside under the dome.

- Chinatown. Just to the west of the Capitolo by a few blocks. Walkable distance on Dragones at the south end of the Capitolo.

- Castillo Real Fuerza. Right off Plaza Armas and very nice to walk through.

- The Malecon. Oceanfront drive that is very popular for strolling along the seawall.

- University of Havana (up near la Rampa and Coppelia)

- Parque Lenin and Las Ruinas for lunch. Very pretty.

- The other Lennon Park, with a beautiful bronze statue of John Lennon

- Partagas Cigar Factory (Casa del Habano Partagas, Industria No. 320) Phone 537-33-8060 Tours every 15 min, 9:30-11:00 and 12:00-3:00

- The Napoleon Museum

- Finca Vigia – Hemmingway’s home in southeast Havana

- Parque Alemendares, peacefull beauty alongside the Rio Alemendares right through the center of the city.

- Estadio Latinoamericano – For a major league baseball game (depending on schedule)

- Muese del Aire – Cubanacan suburb for a full aviation museum

- The museum and convent (restored) of St. Francis Asisi, in Vieja

- Camera Obscura – Plaza Vieja.

Rental car tour of Cuba – Itinerary

 15 days / 14 nights

Vera and I are planning another trip this year. With our friend Ljiljana from Toronto, we are visiting Cuba for two weeks at the end of February and first week of March. First few days we’ll spend in capital city Havana and than we’ll hit the road to see “real” Cuba.

The best vacations are when you travel on your own. I refuse to go on one of these “All inclusive” tourist packages where they give you a schedule and they say, “O.K., from nine to 10 we’re going to go to the museum, and then from 10 to 11, and we are going to the art museum, then we’ll stop for a lunch”. That to me is like being in school; that’s not a vacation.

During the 10 days rental car tour we’ll get a chance to discover the Cuban island completely on our own. We are planning to visit only those places which really are of our interest. During our travel we’ll be staying at “casa particular”, which are essentially small Bed & Breakfast places in private homes.

We’ll visit the world famous tobacco fields in the Viñales valley. Drive through the beautiful and hilly landscape of the southern Central Cuba and visit historical places such as Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santa Clara.

Stage 1: Havana – Pinar del Río 175km – Viñales 205km

Day 1: Friday, February 26, 2010

We’ll pick up the rental car in the morning in Havana and travel to Viñales. The legendary Cuban tobacco grows here in the valleys with stretched flat fields among the steep and towering rocky peaks.

By recommendation we’ll detour from main highway on our way to visit the Las Terrazas community. We might also visit the orchid gardens at Soroa.

This internationally known region lies 180 km west from Havana in Sierra de los Organos, in Pinar del Rio province. It has stunning scenery, rich flora and fauna and interesting cave systems, the largest on Cuba and Antilles. One of its attractions are mogotes, the lime stone peaks with steep sides and partly rounded crests. Their height can reach up to 400 meters. The tobacco plantations make this region even more attractive and interesting. Rural Viñales, a place in country style, is located between mountains. It is very picturesque and rich in traditions and customs. A typical feature of Viñales is the combination of colonial and classical style elements, pillars, red roofs and the colourful windows in the houses, most of which were built at the end of 18th/ beginning of the 19th century.

Viñales

Day 2: Saturday, February 27, 2010

After breakfast we should use the opportunity to explore the wonderful surroundings. The valley Valle Viñales offers a spectacular countryside with its unique rocky mounds (mogotes) and numerous bizarre cave formations. Today we’ll visit one of many tobacco plantations which have made this region famous. Another destination to visit is the impressive cave Cueva del Indio.

Stage 2: Viñales – Havana – Matanzas – Cardenas 360km

Day 3: Sunday, February 28, 2010

After breakfast we’ll leave Vinales and head back to Havana on our way to Varadero airport where we’d drop of our friend Ljiljana. She is returning to Canada that day and I know she won’t be very happy about that. Vera and I are continuing our adventure driving thru the Cuba. We are planning to stay overnight in Cardenas (or Matanzas).

Stage 3: Cardenas – Santa Clara – Trinidad 320 km
Day 4: Monday, March 1, 2010

After breakfast, using rural road we’ll leave for today’s destination Trinidad via Santa Clara.

Santa Clara

Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country. Santa Clara was founded in 1689 from the village Cubanacan, of ancient Indian. With the population about 260.000, Santa Clara is a pleasant university city in the center of the island, an important commercial center for minerals, sugarcane, and livestock from the surrounding region. Industries include sugar and cigar factories. The city offer visitors very pleasant, easy-relaxing atmosphere.

Trinidad.

This city is considered to be one of Cuba’s main attractions. The traffic free, colonial district with its colorful houses and old, massive cobblestone crowns the rest of the city as its highest point. You can admire interesting details of colonial architecture when walking through the streets around Plaza Mayor. Especially famous are the high windows with their skillfully carved wooden bars that were replaced last century by iron bars. These so-called rejas invite the energetic street life into the house, rather than excluding it.

This city was founded in 1514 by Diego Velázquez and has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. It is worth visiting the Palacio Brunet which is situated in the mainly Colonial style historical centre of Trinidad.

Trinidad – Ancón 15km

Day 5, 6, 7: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; March 2 – March 4, 2010

This place will be our most enjoyable time because of the beautiful beaches that are in the area of Ancón, about 20 minutes away from Trinidad.

Stage 4: Trinidad – Cienfuegos 90 km

Day 8: Friday, March 5, 2010

Cienfuegos

Today’s destination is Cienfuegos. The city of Cienfuegos lies on Cienfuegos bay, at the entrance to the Caribbean sea. Over a long period of time it was used by pirates as a strategically favorable place for attacking Spanish ships. In the mid 18th century the Spanish built a fortress there, and only then did they manage to gain control over the area. The sugar industry used to be the main source of wealth in Cienfuegos. You can still admire these buildings, for example Palacio del Valle, from which you can enjoy breathtaking view of Jagua bay. Cienfuegos is also an ideal starting point for excursions to numerous interesting sites – Hanabanilla reservoir in the Escambray mountain range or the Jardín Botánico Soledad botanical garden, which is situated on 90 ha of land, 25 km away from the city.

Stage 5: Cienfuegos – Bay of Pigs 135 km

Day 9: Saturday, March 6, 2010

When traveling Cuba on your own, another must-see is of course the Bahia de los Cochinos, the famous Bay of Pigs. There we are expecting an extensive swamp region that is inhabited by crocodiles and flamingos, also declared a National Park.

Stage 6: Bay of Pigs – Havana 360 km

Day 10: Sunday, March 7, 2010

Today we are returning to Havana or Matanzas which is closer to our departure airport Varadero. On the way to Havana, we will probable stop at Matanzas. The city is located in a large bay and is the capital city of the province of the same name. The important industrial city of Matanzas has the world’s fourth biggest port in terms of sugar exports. Because of its many bridges over the river Yumurí and San Juan it is also called “Creole Venice”.

Once in Havana, we’ll return the rental car, and there is a transfer to the airport or to a city hotel in Havana.

Stage 7: Havana Varadero Airport 136 km

Day 11: Monday, March 8, 2010

This will be our last day in Cuba. We are going back to Varadero airport and board Air Transat plane that will take us back to Edmonton.

While in Cuba, I would like to fall in love with the graciousness and humor of its people, the beauty of its land and climate and the charm of its architecture. But I am probable going to leave grieving over the poverty in the country, the grinding oppression, the lack of any semblance of human and civil rights, and the pervasive fear by Cubans of their own government. Though many Cubans would greet me with a smile, their disaffection and dwindling faith in the Revolution shocked me. I will learn that the Revolution was for sale.

By Zdenko Kahlina