The Cubacar Diaries

I wish our adventure to Maria La Gorda has been as noble as Che’s ride through South America. And while “noble” isn’t the word I would use to describe our road trip, it was nonetheless a road trip through Western Cuba and as such, an adventure.

We started out as a group of nine American students in two small rented cars departing from Havana two weeks ago. It was only a weekend trip, but we planned to make the most of it. Heading west, we saw lots of farmland, billboards praising the Cuban Revolution and other billboards urging the release of the Cuban Five. At one point, we even saw a military tank on the side of the road! They must have been conducting an army training exercise, but to have only seen billboards and farms for the first 30 miles and then glance to the side of the road and see a tank rolling around, its artillery aiming in different directions – truly a Cuban experience.

Then nightfall came and although we had made plans to stay at a beach villa, we were turned away and told it was full. That also happened again at the next place we tried. Before we knew it, it was half past midnight and we were parked at a gas station, ready to sleep in the cars for the night. On a whim, we decided to ask inside if anyone knew of a casa particular [*houses in Cuba where guests rent a room] nearby where we could simply sleep for the night. A woman and her daughter said that they had a friend that they would call, but it ended up that they couldn’t get in touch with her. So rather than letting us sleep in the cars in the middle of nowhere, the woman and her daughter welcomed us into their own home, no questions asked. They offered us food, let us park the cars in their yard and the next morning, went to the bakery and purchased a bread roll for each of us. They also introduced us to the litter of puppies their dog had recently had and we were awakened by the loud grunts of their two, very hungry, 800-pound pigs! While aspects of our stay were quite funny, the generosity of their family was all too kind. After breakfast we thanked them for everything and continued on our journey.

The morning drive went much better, but the dive time that we were trying to make was 11 am. We pulled into the parking lot of the scuba dive office at 10:45 am and somehow, made it on the boat clad in swim wear and scuba/snorkel gear by 11 am. Only two of us (including myself) were certified to dive and while everyone else snorkeled, we explored the ocean floor of the western-most point in Cuba.

Unfortunately, there really wasn’t that much (in terms of fish and other ocean creatures) to see, but we did see a manta ray and an eel and a few species of very colorful fish. The water, though, was crystal-clear. I think my favorite part of the dive was when our dive instructor led us through two high walls of coral that were so large, it felt as though we were swimming through an underwater cave. It was incredible.

Viñales and Other Cuban Adventures

Last Friday, a few other kids from the study abroad group and myself hopped on a bus after class and headed to one of the western-most parts of Cuba: Vinales.

Vinales is a small town in Western Cuba, also home to a UNESCO World Heritage site. The town is nestled within the Valle de Vinales, made up of mountains, tobacco plantations and some of the most natural beauty to be seen in Cuba. To say the least, we had a great time.

Upon arriving, we all split up in pairs to spend two nights in casas particulares (homes where rooms are rented on a nightly basis). I think the best part of that experience was the food: WOW! Not to say that the food at the Residence is lacking, because it’s not, but the food at these casas particulares was so flavorful, you might just start salivating before you even lay eyes on what’s about to be served. Moros, chicken, pork, platanos, tomatoes, juice, you name it. It’s all there and enough to feed a small army!

But despite my love for food, the food wasn’t even the beginning of our experience. That Friday night, Allison (one of the other girls from the group) and I found a man to take us on a hike through the valley the next day and it was quite a hike! We started at 9am and got back to town around 5pm. But the hike itself was breathtaking. Just being in the valley and looking up to see the surrounding mountain range is something incredible. But throughout the valley were animals, farms and various tobacco plantations. We even stopped at one and were given freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice to drink.

However, the best part of our hike, without question, was when our guide and one of the campesinos (term used for a farmer/peasant) took us to a cave on one of the mountain faces. Haha, I think it would be honest to say that we were all a little nervous about climbing inside. We had to use a rope to climb down into the cave and once to the bottom, with a few steps further in, it was pitch black. We wouldn’t have made it more than a few steps without a flashlight, which luckily, we had.

By miracle of the flashlight, some cautious steps and an adventurous spirit, we made it to the very bottom where we found pools of some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen. It was though, without a flashlight, completely dark. Nonetheless, Allison and I jumped in and swam around. Swimming in a pool at the bottom of a deep, dark cave in Cuba is easily one of the coolest things I have ever done.

The next day, with tired legs, Alec, Allison, Drew and I rented a few bikes and went riding through the valley before catching the bus home to Havana. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic weekend.

As for the past few weeks, I’ve been keeping pretty busy with classes and training. Our classes have been requiring more and more reading as of late and while the readings are interesting, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with it all and still find time to explore the country. Still, I’m managing just fine.

My training, all things considered, is actually going pretty well. I get up early every morning to run along the Malecon and about now, I’m averaging 30 miles per week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I swim at the only pool in the city, la Ciudad Deportiva. Coincidentally, it’s also the same place where the Cuban national swim teams practice as well! Overall though, I’m just glad to be able to swim. I made friends with one of the swim coaches there and she lets me come in to train whenever she is there, which is generally late in the afternoon. She also had a few extra athletic shirts with the Cuban flag printed on and sold one to me. At the time I bought it, I didn’t know it was anything terribly special, but when I wore it later that evening, some of our friends from the university kept asking me where I got it. Apparently, only official Cuban athletes have these shirts. How cool is that?

This weekend plans sound like we´re going a little further west on the island (I think it´s the western’most point) to have a beach weekend and get some scuba diving-snorkeling in. It´s supposed to be some of the best diving on the island...I can´t wait!

There's more than one kind of "papaya"

If you’re Cuban, you might already understand the significance of this phrase. I figured that after not writing for quite some time, I would need a fairly interesting blog entry title. I learned that the other day that, in Cuba, there are two different kinds of papaya:

On the days that we only have one class, some of the other girls in the group (Alyssa, Louisa and Alison) and I take the bus to the beach. The ride is about an hour as we ride along the entire route and when we went last week, I brought a bag of dried fruit with me. In the bag was pineapple, mango and papaya and I offered some, in Spanish, to the three other girls. I looked at Alyssa and asked, “Quieres pina, mango o papaya?” She looked at me frankly and said, “You know you just offered me a bag of vagina, right?”

Apparently I hadn’t been present on the day that everyone BUT me learned that in Cuba, the word “papaya” meant “vagina.” The word for the fruit, papaya, is “fruta bomba.”

Well, I suppose just as quickly as I learned this, I soon forgot it. After a few wonderful hours at the beach, we climbed back on the bus to head home. A few rows in front of us was a cute Cuban boy sitting on the floor. In Spanish, I asked him how old he was. He shyly told me that he was 10 years old. Wanting to continue the conversation, I searched in my bag for something I might be able to share. There was the bag of dried fruit, but all that was left was papaya. Before even thinking, I looked at the 10-year-old boy and asked, “Te gusta papaya…”

It had just barely made it out of my mouth when I realized what I had just asked this young boy. He looked confused and all of the teenage boys around him began to laugh. Alyssa, Louisa and Alison could barely contain themselves before beginning to laugh so hard that they started to cry. It takes a lot to embarrass me, and I can honestly say that I was mortified.

Hours later I realized how funny it actually was.

Still, I can confidently say that my Cuban adventures have involved less verbal errors. Last weekend, Alyssa and I tried to take the Hershey train (a famous American-made train brought to Cuba in 1913) to Matanzas, a city about an hour-and-a-half drive east of Havana. However, after seeing some of the guys in our group depart the train looking as though they had returned from hell (and that the line to Matanzas was broken), Alyssa and I opted to take the bus. Originally we were heading to Matanzas, but everyone else on the bus seemed to be heading to Varadero, a beautiful beach town, and so we changed our minds and went with them.

Upon arriving in Varadero, we needed to find a place to stay. After much walking and searching for over two hours, we ended up deciding upon a hotel instead of a casa particular (renting a room in someone’s house). Actually, what we thought was a hotel turned out to be a resort and I’m not sure which of you reading this have seen the movie “Cocoon,” but that’s exactly what I thought of as we began to walk around the report. Everyone was at least 30 years older than us and Canadian, gathered around the pool soaking in the last bits of sun. It was funny, but a great time overall and once having arrived in Varadero, it proved to be a very relaxing weekend at some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

This past weekend was really fun as well. One of my best friends from high school, Greg, used his dual-citizenship (he was born in Poland) to come visit me in Havana. What a weekend, trying to show him even just Havana in a mere two days! We walked along the Malecon, through Centro Havana and through Havana Vieja, the historic district of the city. Yesterday we went to the Plaza de la Revolucion and saw the famous picture of Che Guevara as well as the Jose Marti Memorial. I also took Greg to take some pictures on the front steps of la Universidad de la Habana and introduced him to all of the people in my study abroad group here. I told him that if he brought a bag of candy with him that they would love him. He really didn’t believe me until he got here and had instant friends.

Showing Greg around this past weekend made me realize how familiar I’ve become with Havana and also, how much of Cuba I still want to see. Luckily, I have over two months left for some great adventures.