We planned a motorcycle tour of Cuba earlier in the year--just like Che Guevara. We've just come back. It's hard to describe that trip and hopefully, I can recall the most interesting parts of it. In the meantime, my husband just lit up one of those cigars that he bought back. It definitely doesn't smell like a cigarette. He claims that you aren't supposed to inhale it. I don't know if I can understand that. What is it about men and cigars? Someone needs to explain that to me. Luckily, he doesn't plan on making that a habit.
Cigars are not what I want to remember from the trip. Instead, I'm remembering the food, music, and the people. The food was wonderful. We had seafood every day which mostly consisted of lobster or whatever fish was caught that day. They always start a meal with fruit and vegetables like cucumbers. I suspected that the fruit and vegetables were the culprit of my digestive tract not behaving. So, I stopped eating that part of the meal. It seemed to help. It is a fact that you can't drink the water in Cuba. You also shouldn't brush your teeth with it. Everyone everywhere drank bottled water. I found this aspect of the trip somewhat inconvenient. You definitely needed to carry bottled water with you on the road.
Live music played everywhere we went. I felt as if we were being serenaded. The one piece of music we heard everyday was "Guantanamera." It seems that this is an unofficial Cuban patriotic song since one of its more noted revolutionaries, José Martí, wrote the official lyrics for it. Halfway through the trip, I proposed a bet with some of the other motorcyclists that we would hear this song everyday. I won. Unfortunately, none of the motorcyclists took me up on the bet. Even if I did win, I would have won in CUCs. That is the preferred Cuban currency which you can't convert back into dollars once you leave the island. A good travel tip for going to Cuba is to convert your money into Euros before landing on the island. Dollars are essentially levied a 13% penalty. This means that you'll get 87 cents for your one dollar even though their currency is pegged to the dollar. When you convert the Euros into CUCs, you actually get a better conversion rate. At the moment, you will get 1.17 CUCs per Euro. Regardless, as an American, it's best to make sure to spend all of the CUCs before leaving the island.
What can I say about the people of Cuba? They are warm, open, and friendly. Everywhere we went, we were greeted with smiles and waves. It may have been because we rolled into the towns like rock stars on our motorcycles--there were 13 of them altogether. Some of the people on the tour chose Harley Davidson motorcycles. Those always attracted the most attention everywhere we went--especially with the young girls. Invariably, they wanted to sit on the machines and pose as their friends took photos of them. One time, one of the young ladies got the thrill of her life when she got a ride from our tour guide on his Harley Davidson. I'm pretty sure that he ruined her--I don't think that any man will be able to live up to that experience.
Speaking of vehicles, many of them are from the 50s. They are fondly referred to as "yank tanks." To most people, they will look as if they have been lovingly preserved. But, they would be wrong. They are Frankenstein creations. Look under the hood of any of these vehicles, and you will discover how they are still going after 60 years. The cars don't usually have the original engines. They are Russian or Japanese engines running on diesel fuel. You have to marvel at the engineering and talent that is being utilized to keep these cars going. Seeing so many of these cars running around on the island really made me feel like I was thrown back in time to another era. On top of that, the roads are shared by horse and carriages. The carriages can hold about 6 people at the most. These are a lot more prevalent in the towns outside of Havana. This conveyance is used by most of the town people as opposed to the vintage cars that we saw everywhere. Those vintage cars cost more and serve as taxis for tourists or people with more money to spend on their transportation.
Of course, the prevalence of diesel fuel meant that there was more pollution to deal with on the roads with the vintage cars, two-stroke motorcycles, and trucks. I really appreciated all of the legislation regarding air quality in California while I was in Cuba. I started to feel some grittiness in the back of my throat after a few days of traveling on the roads. I noticed that it went away once I got back to the Bay Area. We should all appreciate clean and clear air.
Another characteristic of Cuba is the pothole. While people may complain about potholes here in the United States (and particularly, in San Francisco), they don't compare to the ones in Cuba. Part of the thrill of motorcycling through the countryside was avoiding the numerous potholes we encountered. As a motorcyclist, this is something that you want to avoid. There were so many of them that I lost count. Every day was an adventure of how to avoid them. Once again, I appreciated another aspect of the United States--roads with very few or no potholes.
To be fair, the island got hit by a Category 5 hurricane, Irma. It makes sense that there would be a lot of potholes. However, there were quite a few to begin with. What is sadder, is the fact that many more buildings were affected by the hurricane, as per this news item. Everywhere we went, we saw a lot of what my husband likes to call, "ruin porn." Apparently, one building falls apart every 3 days. The state of the buildings that actually survived the hurricane was very concerning. I know that the country will have a lot of work to do to shore up the remaining buildings.
There were, of course, many beautiful beaches. The sand is very fine and the water was warm. The sea is turbulent in Cuba. It is not easily swimmable--surfers might like it, though. We did see some parasailing taking place. That makes a lot of sense since we experienced a lot of windy days there. I wonder if there are any serious Cuban surfers there.
One last thing I want to remember is toilet paper. If you do decide to visit Cuba, make sure that you come with a roll of toilet paper. That's because there is no access to toilet paper in public restrooms. The first rude awakening of that occurred at the airport. I went to use the restroom and found to my horror that there was NO toilet paper anywhere. So, at the first hotel that we stayed in, I stole a roll of toilet paper to take with us for the rest of the tour. That was the best thing I have ever stolen in my whole life! Actually, you can have toilet paper as you enter the restroom if you decide to pay the attendant 1 CUC for the privilege of having 2-3 sheets of it. I made a calculation in my head and came up with the fact that a roll of toilet paper would garner the attendant about 50 CUCs. Or, another words, that toilet paper roll will yield about $50 - $75 depending on how many sheets there are. That's good work if you can get it! It's definitely a hustle.
No matter. Cuba has a piece of my heart. I can easily see myself living there and adapting a much simpler life. Truly, what do you really need to live a happy life but, food, music, and happy people? Oh, and toilet paper. Free Cuba!