A Carribean Christmas: Mexico & Cuba
23 DECEMBER 2016 - 8 JANUARY 2017
DAY 1
Zurich - Cancun
Who has never wished to spend the cold European Christmas period in a warm place? This year we took courage, (almost) banned panettone, Christmas lights and sweaters with reindeer and booked a flight to Mexico, with a second stop in Cuba on New Year's Eve.
We couldn't resist buying a pandoro and a mini panettone to sneak into a suitcase before taking the flight that would take us from Zurich to sunny Mexico. We board a Condor flight at 11 a.m., bound for Cancun with a stopover in Frankfurt, an experience that was anything but memorable given the very poor quality of the flight, of the aircraft, of the services on board. After about 13 hours of flight we land in Cancun. It is 9 p.m. and a minivan awaits us, previously booked through Suntransfers, to escort us to our accommodation. We are left in front of it, an Airbnb where we will spend a couple of nights hosted by Mrs. Gloria. Given the prices of a holiday organized during the Christmas period, we decided to save a little on some accommodation, and the one in Cancun is quite spartan, although decent. We go to sleep to get around the jet lag.
DAY 2
Cancun, Isla Mujeres
We wake up early for our first day in Mexico. We go out and enjoy the huge, damp streets, the lush vegetation in every flowerbed and the extremely neat and tidy surroundings, despite the uninhabited and abandoned houses in the district where we are. With a bit of effort, we try to find a bus that should take us to the pier from which we embark to Isla Mujeres, where we would like to spend our first day at sea.
We get lost in the deserted avenues, full of bizarre Christmas decorations decontextualized, as giant fir trees bightly decorated and light sculptures of Santa Claus, in contrast to the hot and humid climate, and after trying to get more or less on all buses in Cancun, we decide to take a taxi from the crowded station. For a few euros it escorts us to the port from which we embark for the island.
On the ferry we meet an English family who go snorkeling and we join them to share a taxi to a private beach where we relax for this first day and our micro-pandoro with sea view to celebrate the Christmas Eve. In addition to swimming with ravenous fish to which we give food for sale on the beach, there is not much more to see in the water, because the sea is a particularly murky blue. We spend half a day on the private beach in the company of giant iguanas sunbathing and stealing guacamole from the dishes of unwary tourists. In the afternoon we go to enjoy the first Mexican meal. We slip into a colourful and anything but clean bar and order nachos with cheese and burritos.
After surviving the hottest yellow pepper sauce I've ever tasted, we head to Playa Norte, a very wide beach full of palm trees and people, where we enjoy the last hours of sunshine, sipping a mango smoothie and swinging at sunset on a swing bar where, on video call, we send our wishes to our families gathered in front of the Christmas Eve dinner. After a beer and a few photos, we return to the port, where, before embarking, we stop to dine with some rice and fish by the sea, barefoot on the beach. We return with the last ferry to Cancun.
LUNCH: La Lomita | DRINK: Buho’s | DINNER: Mininos
DAY 3
Cancun - Tulum
How did we spend Christmas? Partly on a bus to Tulum, which after a few hours makes us disembark in this non-existent city, made up of very low and scattered houses so as to be able to see the horizon after the city, deserted streets and our colorful hotel.
HOTEL: Itour Mexico Tulum
We leave our backpacks in a nice little room overlooking the inner courtyard of this open-air hotel, and we go to get a colectivo (minivan going back and forth picking up people on the road and unloading them to the requested destination) for the Cenote dos Ojos. Cenotes are underwater caves, in which one descends from an open oculus into the ground that has functioned over the centuries as a rainwater collection reservoir, and that are thought to form a network of underground tunnels as large as Mexico, once considered to be the passage to the underworld. We dive into these pools of bright blue water, and take part to an underwater tour with a guide who lets us enter the caves, where between stalactites hanging on the head, and stalagmites that populate the seabed there is just space to swim toward a cave full of bats. A beautiful place, where we stay a few hours before returning to Tulum. The waters are very cold, and we recommend you to wear one of the wetsuits offered by the guides.
We take bikes from our hotel and pedal to the coast, where we find a little beach corner from which to watch the sunset in front of an incredible guacamole and a margarita with red salt, even more exceptional.
CAFÈ: Hotel Piedra Escondida
DAY 4
Tulum - Merida
We have breakfast early in the hotel. The owners are Italian and this is evident from the continental breakfast that is served to us, complete with hot croissants. We take our bikes again and this time we go all along the coast in search of the site of the Mayan ruins of Tulum. It is an area covered by the well-preserved remains of temples and houses of the time, which dot the green meadows on a cliff overlooking a turquoise sea. The wind brings the sea breeze between the ruins and the palm trees and although full of tourists, this place is very impressive.
We finish our visit and resume our bikes, along the strange road surrounded by jungle that after a few kilometers arrives at the coastal tourist area. Almost by chance, we stop at a beach that seems to inspire us, which only after we discover to be the most famous of the Mayan coast, the Playa Paraiso. And here, between a mango juice and a guacamole, we eat our Christmas-panettone, with our feet immersed in the white sand, admiring the tall palms and the turquoise sea in the background.
In the early afternoon, we go back to the hotel, where we pack our things and prepare to go to take another bus to Merida. We become a little less quiet when we realize that the bus that we should have taken is full and we could not book any other bus to Merida in the same afternoon. In panic we head to the bus station, on an endless road and once at destination, queuing up with Mexican families traveling for Christmas, we can miraculously snatch two seats in a bus in the late afternoon.
Raised, we do few (very tiring) steps around with the heavy backpack on our shoulders in this strange place, with a fairly wide road, surrounded by uninterrupted work in progress to build sidewalks and bus stops, and flanked by many very low shops and restaurants. Although the town is certainly not aesthetically pretty, we find a corner to fall in love with. A tiny (and obviously very dirty) place where they serve, in a sort of open garage equipped with kitchen and tables for village festivals, the best and cheapest tacos that we ate. Mini tortillas, filled with various meats, on which to add any kind of sauce from a buffet overflowing with guacamole and onions.
For about 7 € for 2 persons, including tip, we ate lots of tacos, and we were stuffed in view of the bus trip to Merida. We finally got on board, and very late in the evening we arrived at our destination. The hotel seems more luxurious than the price would suggest. The room is gigantic, and the bed always strictly designed for people no taller than 1.70, but this time at least 4 places wide, with the addition of bathroom, dressing room, sitting room and entrance. We enjoy a shower and a well-deserved rest.
DINNER: Antojitos la Chiapaneca | HOTEL: Gamma Fiesta Inn
DAY 5
Merida - Campeche
We leave our suitcases ready at the hotel and head downtown in search of a breakfast. We can't find anything but an old bakery with a few sweet loaves of bread, and we are satisfied that at least it looks clean, if not particularly inviting. We take a tour of the city, which apart from a few streets with colorful buildings, and a boulevard with colonial villas, almost all abandoned, teems with deserted areas with uninhabited houses and lowered shutters. We walk around the city and visit a fairly picturesque market. The fish market is very nice, with unknown varieties and even some small sharks ready to be grilled. We make our way through mountains of jalapenos and bananas, and buy some fruit. We have lunch with a sopa de lima in a cafè in the center: we discover to our surprise that Mexicans, with the asphyxiating heat, like to eat boiling chicken broth, with a splash of lime. It all fits together as they also wear feather jackets and black sweaters as if we were in Aspen.
After visiting some elegant buildings, we take our backpacks and head to the very distant bus station to get on board to reach Campeche. We arrive around 9 pm and first of all we make a stop in a restaurant to refresh ourselves, after the fasting-day. We eat fish and quite satisfied we take a taxi to go to our hotel, located on the coast a little outside the town.
DINNER: Marganzo
Arrived at 11 p.m. we discover, with our great joy, that our room, for some problem with the credit card, and without any notice, was given away and that there is no other possibility of accommodation. Fortunately, a couple of Mexicans share the same fate and unlike the receptionist, speak English and are able to help us communicate. After two hours spent calling all the hotels in the area, all full of course, and communicating with the switchboard of Booking.com to try to understand if we would have ever been reimbursed for a replacement hotel, we are accompanied downtown in a hotel that seems to be free.
At 1 a.m., we find ourselves wandering around the center of Campeche again, without accommodation, since this hotel is also full. After an attempt in a homestay to which we were directed, where a sleepy gentleman comes down in slippers from a very uninviting house to open up and offer us a sofa bed in his tiny room, the receptionist of the last hotel helps us and makes a few phone calls, until we find a place in a Boutique hotel, quite expensive, where we go, strongly hoping that Booking will reimburse us for the expenses. This would be the last night in a hotel before spending a few days sleeping in the night buses to Chiapas and we decide to enjoy it as much as possible.
The boutique hotel in which we end up staying is exceptional, housed in a historic colonial house, with an inner courtyard, rooms overlooking the balcony and elegantly furnished, a comfortable bathroom and a canopy bed. We enjoy this fortune and after having had a night snack, we finally go to sleep at 3 a.m. Just a note: we have been fully reimbursed by Booking for this stay!
HOTEL: Casa Don Gustavo
DAY 6
Campeche - Palenque
We wake up in our palace, and go to have breakfast, with fresh fruit, jams, and other delicacies in the courtyard of the hotel, where we also meet the unfortunate couple of Mexicans who like us had been evicted from the hotel booked earlier.
We dedicate the day to visit this small town, by far the most beautiful we have visited in Mexico. A maze of narrow streets enclosed within the walls, flanked by low colorful buildings, some desert of full of life alleys. We have lunch in a bistrot, with enchiladas and guacamole, and we wait for the evening hanging around the city, and sipping a bit of cold mint chocolate in a Mayan chocolate shop.
LUNCH: Luz de Luna | CAFÈ: Chocol Hà
Before leaving, we look for a place for an evening snack, sipping a margarita on a balcony overlooking the illuminated main square. Late in the evening, we take the bus that will lead us to Chiapas to visit the Mayan site of Palenque. We spend the night on the bus, better than you might think, given the soft and super reclining seats on which you can sleep comfortably enough. A night stop in a remote station, in one of the precarious coin-operated baths of the terminal, and we resume towards Palenque, where we land in the morning, not really rested, but sufficiently active.
DAY 7
Palenque - Chichèn Itza
First stop of the morning, coin-operated bath, where we wash ourselves with some wet wipes, we adjust our hair as we can, and we change clothes ready for the day. Second stop, the terminal shop, to buy some banana chips that will serve as breakfast, along with some chocolate cookies. We rely on a tour operator met at the station and we go by minivan to the historic site of Palenque. This place is wonderful, by far the most impressive ruins we have visited. An agglomeration of stepped pyramids and other buildings scattered on small reliefs in a clearing, in the dense jungle. Lush vegetation that wraps around the stones and creates a magical backdrop to the archaeological site. Apart from the 200% humidity, the place is fabulous.
We are then taken to see the waterfalls Aqua Azul, where we arrive after a nice journey that has allowed us to observe the region, covered with forests of palms and jungle, interrupted by some small agglomeration of shacks populated by poor people, without running water, with naked children bathing in vats and women laden with clothes trying to sell to passers-by some folkloric dress. The waterfalls are located in a clearing that has been literally invaded by stalls with handicrafts of all kinds.
Back in Palenque, we have a quick dinner in a Mexican restaurant and then we take the bus back to Chichen Itza.
DINNER: Restaurant Las Tinajas
DAY 8
Chichèn Itza - Cancun
Night on the bus, stop in the coin-operated bathroom... all as above. And even today “fresh and rested”, we are ready to go on a visit to our latest Mayan site. Spectacular stepped pyramids populate a flat territory, completely different from the previous day's site. Dry and warm climate, dry grass and a few trees that shelter from the hot sun. The ruins are definitely worth a visit but have not left us as amazed as those of Palenque.
We spend the morning in the historical site, and we have lunch, unexpectedly with great satisfaction, in the restaurant of the museum. And again we are ready to get on a bus, this time the last one, to Cancun.
LUNCH: Oxtun
We arrive in the evening in the city, where we are accompanied by a taxi driver in our accommodation. Another Airbnb, but this time the premises are immediately different. We enter a residential area, with a barrier at the entrance and a guardian, and we discover that our accommodation is a room with bathroom in a luxurious villa with swimming pool in this privileged suburb of Cancun.
Cancun has absolutely nothing special, a city rotating around a dense turistic centre full of hotels and restaurants. We go out for a walk and get some food, and we find a place with live music, wires of country bulbs and tables on wooden balconies. It's a shame we didn't discover this place before, because we eat divinely, in addition to fabulous margaritas, camarones al coco that leave us breathless. Finally we go to sleep in a real bed, even if very early, in the morning, our host awaits us and takes us to the airport where we prepare excitedly to embark for Cuba!
DINNER: Marakame Cafè
DAY 9
Cancun - Havana
Upon arrival at the José Martí Airport in Habana, the inefficiency that characterizes Cuba overwhelms us with an endless queue of travelers waiting in front of the cadeca, for the exchange of currency. The wait lasted more than an hour, not so much for the number of people queuing up, but for the inexplicable slowness in the exchange operations, very long, even for a few coins. Once we have enough Pesos Convertibles, we head to the city center with our personal taxi driver, probably a family friend of our guests, who for 30 Pesos (approx. $ 30) leads us to the accommodation with a ramshackle Indian car from the '50s, without seat belts, without rear-view mirrors and without speedometer.
The trip from the airport takes about half an hour, during which we have the opportunity to have a pleasant chat with our chauffeur about the situation in Cuba. The conversation is very pleasant, but we shut up as we enter the city and our attention is drawn by this bizarre agglomeration of majestic and crumbling colonial buildings, by the mountains of garbage lying at the intersections of the streets, by the presence of people sitting in front of the houses watching other people sitting or passing by.
Finally, we arrive at our destination. We are greeted by the landlady, a plump lady in apron who escorts us into this building that barely seems to stand. It may be the peeling plaster, the electrical wires hanging on the facade, or the 5 people who populate an entrance/living room/kitchen/dining room, but our accommodation does not inspire much trust. We are accompanied to the upper floor, where an outbuilding awaits us, not bad at all actually, considering the context. Apart from the absence of glass windows, obscured by fixed slats that allow air and little light, weird mirrors on the ceilings and a shower with exposed wires to heat the water, after all, this place does not look so bad.
We get changed and decide to go out, both to start exploring the city, to try to book a bus to take us to the next destination and to make excursions around Havana, as this seemed impossible to do via the internet. We find a travel agency to make reservations, and we start to clash with the frustration of being a tourist in Cuba. The agencies have already closed today, as it is the last of the year, and invite us to come back after a few days to see if there is any place free in some excursion. On the fifth attempt, we understand that respecting our plans will be very difficult in this place. And we surrender to not being able to book any transfers or activities. We take a tour then, and apart from the peripheral areas crossed by large avenues that lead to the monuments of the Revolution, the area of Habana Centro continues to appear a paradox.
No shops, no supermarkets, deafening music everywhere coming from improbable gigantic Hi-Fi systems leaning against the windows of the houses. People queuing up to buy alcohol in the only place that seems to be a sort of shop, and some closed shops with desolate counters with no items to sell.
The atmosphere seems really unhealthy, we feel all eyes on us, and we're almost afraid to photograph around. We can't even find a place to buy a bottle of water, so after wandering around in vain we have to rely on the bottle left by the landlady, obviously unsealed, from which we drink fearful of having wasted every effort to drink bottled water in Mexico.
We shake off the disappointment of this early afternoon and get ready for New Year's Eve. We plan to meet some friends who are randomly there in conjunction with us and celebrate New Year's Eve together. We leave the house ready for the evening and we are accompanied by louder and louder music, improvised dances on the street and bonfires lit in metal cans cut in half and used as a brazier to roast pigs that turn on giant skewers. The music and the smell of roast reassure us a bit 'because the atmosphere seems more relaxed than in the afternoon and the darkness makes us notice less of the disintegration of this city.
We meet our friends who take us to eat in a paladar, a sort of family-run trattoria built in the courtyards, balconies or houses of people who began to deal with tourists in recent years. We cross a dangerous staircase and arrive on a balcony of an inner courtyard of a house, on which some tables are arranged with a few customers. We are served a dish of meat and rice with beans, along with a cloudy Mojito that make up our dinner. With a bit of regret for spending so much money on the evening, we spend New Year's Eve at the Casa da Musica, among rich well dressed Cubans and so many people crowded without even the space to dance to the live Cuban music that was played by the band.
After a crazy taxi ride along the Malecon, without belts, and bouncing on the springs of the seat of an old Cadillac, we arrive unscathed in the center and say goodbye, to end our first evening of 2017 in the company of some unwanted insects in our Casa Particular.
CASA PARTICULAR: Hostal Calvo
DAY 10
Havana
We wake up calmly and have a modest egg and fruit breakfast in the kitchen, where apparently someone from the family spent the night on a mattress on the floor to allow us to sleep upstairs. We spend the first few hours looking for an agency willing to sell us a tour, to any place at this point. We tour all the hotels in Habana that house the so-called official tourist agencies, and we are bounced by lazy employees who do not have access to the internet and tour availability, but spend time calling to see if there is something that leaves for a few days later. Obviously we have reservations for the hotels of the following days, and we can not afford to wait a few days for someone to do us the favor of taking us somewhere randomly.
We give up, disappointed, and go back to Habana Centro to take our luggage and move to the next accommodation. We had chosen two different accommodations due to unavailability and this second is located in the neighborhood of Habana Vieja. To our surprise it is a very nice accommodation, renovated, and kept by a Cuban who lived her life in France, so with much higher standards, and insect-proof. Another pleasant surprise, the neighborhood where we are is much more enjoyable, and apart from a few alleys that seem to be an extension of Habana Centro, the rest is carefully restored and ready to welcome the hordes of tourists who come down cheerfully from the huge cruise ships moored at the port not far away.
Here everything would seem more authentic, or rather, more in line with the idea of authenticity that we Europeans have made of Havana: improvised groups of musicians inebriate passers-by with some melancholic Cuban chant, elderly women smoke huge cigars at the sides of the streets and the tiny bar La Bodeguita del Medio teems with tourists sipping a Mojito and listening to live music. Beautiful, if it were not that just a few alleys further on, if you move away from the most famous and beaten streets, the dilapidated buildings and dirt in the streets dominates again.
In the evening we find it difficult to find a place to dine, both because of the disproportionate prices, and because the guests of the cruises crowd the center without leaving room in the restaurants. Finally, we wait in the queue for a place that seems to have lower prices, and be more hidden from the crowd, so less touristy. The wait is endless, even for dinner, and the dishes are not noteworthy, but at least we can eat something, and especially drink bottled water.
For the next day, finally, we managed to organize a trip out of town. Our guest has contacted a friend taxi driver who for "only" 150 Pesos, will accompany us throughout the day in the area of Viñales.
HOTEL: La Estrella Habana Vieja
DAY 11
Havan - Viñales
Our driver waits for us early in the morning and we leave for Viñales. Chatting with our driver, and traveling at high speed on the only highway of Cuba, crossed by trucks, collectivos obtained from Russian trucks of World War II, peasants on horseback, carts with donkeys and a mass of people hitchhike in the middle of the road, we find ourselves in Valle de Viñales, an expanse of rust-colored land dotted with immense mogotes, gentle curvy mountains that extend as far as the eye can see.
Miguel tries to take us to some tourist location, but annoyed by this forcing and eager to explore the valley, we ask to be left in the middle of a road, where we see a detour that goes into the fields, and agree on a point of arrival a few hours later to meet again. Finally we manage to do something that we had planned, and above all nothing touristy. The disappointment of not being able to participate in an organized tour is replaced by the pride of having managed to do something authentic and much more impressive.
We walk in the valley, through the narrow streets that cross the fields of red land cultivated with tobacco plantations. It feels like we're back in the 1930s: we meet free farm animals on the road and farmers passing by on horseback or by cart, others ploughing the fields with iron ploughs dragged by the oxen, and some guajiro sitting on a typical rocking chair outside his colorful little house next to a banana bunch hanging up. We get lost in the fields and among the mogotes, we find some coffee plants to observe and we enjoy the sunny day. Intuitively and after some unexpected detours, we find the exit of the valley and our driver waiting for us.
We make a stop in Viñales, the village, which consists of a road lined with colorful wooden houses with porches in the style of a far west strictly, with unavoidable rocking chair, and finally return to Havana.
DAY 12
Havana - Cienfuegos
It's time to leave, we greet our guest and we agree to sleep there again on our last night in Cuba. We have in fact changed our schedule, and although the travel agencies are against us, we are determined to find someone to sell us a bus ride and a hotel room in Cayo Coco to finally see a Caribbean beach before leaving. We, then, bought a ticket for the return bus from Cayo Coco to Havana for the day before departure, so as to ensure at least not to miss the intercontinental flight, and resigned to throw away the money of this transport in case we can not reach the Cayo.
We take our bus, much more uncomfortable than the Mexican ones, and with a horde of other tourists we head to Cienfuegos. We arrive in this village and go to take possession of our room. The house where we stay consists of a courtyard and some rooms built around it, but it does not look bad. We go out to try to buy a ticket to Trinidad before visiting the center. The afternoon passes while running between the bus station, the various agencies, and the bus station again, where we decide to buy a ticket for the bus line from Trinidad to Ciego de Avila (the "closest" place to the Cayo where you get a bus line available) for the day after our stay in Trinidad and a hotel in Cayo Coco, the only one that seems available, unfortunately very expensive.
Again desperate, we decide to book a taxi with the help of our host, and then we look at the few houses that make up the city, not of particular interest, but to our surprise, we notice here the first shops of clothes and other basic necessities: some soap, toothpaste, but nothing more. On the advice of the reviews we found, we rely on the landlord, a professional cook, to prepare some lobsters for dinner, really exceptional, paid $ 15 each: not cheap as we read about Cuba, but definitely convenient European standards.
DAY 13
Cienfuegos - Trinidad
We leave in the morning by our taxi to Trinidad. We arrive in this village, very nice, full of colorful houses, where, however, of course, we find immediately a problem to wait for us. Apparently the bathroom of our house does not work and we are sent to the house of some friend of the mistress. Fortunately it does not seem bad and we console ourselves of the misfortune by taking a taxi shared with two Italian boys to go to Playa Ancon. We were expecting a heavenly Caribbean beach, but we are disappointed. We still allow ourselves a bath and a few hours of sunbathing before venturing to explore the center.
This town is really suggestive, above all in the evening, where the colours of the houses become come ignited from the orange lampposts. We stop to taste the local liqueur in a very nice bar in the centre and then we go dining in a restaurant recommended by the hostess: nothing exceptional as the rest, and we return home ready to prepare our bags to try to get to the Cayo Coco the next day.
BAR: La Canchanchara
DAY 14
Trinidad - Cayo Coco
We take the bus leading to Ciego de Avila and from here, fortunately, we find two guys who go to the Cayo, willing to share with us the only means of transport to reach it, a taxi. The car, strictly from the '50s, without belts and with non-existent safety standards, runs towards the Cayo, which is separated from the main island by a road that crosses the sea with a checkpoint where they check that only non-Cuban citizens access the islands. We finally arrive at our hotel, which seems very luxurious until we reach the rooms. It is in fact an old 4-star hotel, probably left intact since the '80s where the rooms are of very low standard: the resort is partly abandoned, with piles built in the middle of a lagoon that separates the structure from the tiny beach.
We are forced to change rooms because the shower does not work, and the frustration reaches its limit when we realize that even the all-inclusive formula can not repay the efforts and money spent, since the restaurant has equal low standards.
HOTEL: Iberostar Mojito Cayo Coco
GIORNO 15
Cayo Coco
Today we are determined to explore the most beautiful beach of the Cayo, and we take a bus that after long, long, very long time, and after having gathered all the westerners of all the hotels of the islands that make up the Cayo, finally arrives at its destination in Cayo Guillermo. The beach is vast, white and the sea turquoise.
Obviously the misadventures do not end there. In fact, our return ticket to Havana had to be confirmed by phone to the company through the hotel travel agencies, as we would have to communicate which hotel we were staying in to be picked up. Our hotel in the morning is anything but willing to help us, and so afraid of losing the only vital bus of our holiday, I go for about an hour of water-gym walking in the sea up to the knees to reach a resort where I hoped I could receive some help. No success again, and with another hour of invigorating walk I go back to the beach. The day ends with an unsuccessful walk along the internal road to try to spot pink flamingos, which should have populated the lagoon, with very disappointing result.
Another evening of recycled food and cheap drinks ended our penultimate day in Cuba.
DAY 16
Cayo Coco - Havana
We get up at dawn to go and photograph the sea colored pink by the sun that is about to rise and we find a small beach on which we decide to spend a few hours before going to take the bus.
Obviously a few hours disturbed by my attempts to contact the company through the hotel travel agency, which after opening, closes again because the employees are having breakfast. Exhausted by the failed attempts, we manage to discover, with the help of a waiter, that the bus that we have to take departs from another hotel and we decide to take the backpacks, leave this hellish place and head to the starting point of the bus. We arrive at this hotel and after a few hours spent snooping around first, and then to lie stressed on the couch, we begin to get nervous and think that we could be in the wrong place and that we have definitely lost our only chance to return home. Finally, after only 1h30 of delay, our mini bus arrives.
The long 8-hour journey that separated us from Havana, and a food poisoning due to poor hygiene in the kitchen of the magnificent 4-star hotel, are the cherry on top this surreal day.
DAY 17
Havana - Zurich
It would seem to be the end of our journey, but there was still a long way to go before we could get home. In the morning we wait for a taxi that does not arrive, hired by our guest. The taxi driver, in fact, considered it appropriate to go and pick up the child from his ex-wife, who however had not woken up and needed some more time to prepare the kid. Unable to even get angry by now, and eager only to take the first flight home, we stop a taxi on the street and we are led with enormous delay to the airport.
We try to beg the people in the airport queue to let us pass, since the departure of our flight is imminent; we arrive at the gate, and we embark miraculously. On that plane we remain almost 2 hours, without permission to leave because there was a problem with the speedometer. When we finally manage to leave, obviously the anxiety of losing our connections from NY begins to rise.
We land in NY, with great delay, but still in time for our flight. Obviously, however, we are held on board the plane for another hour, because we do not have a slot to park. We were more resigned than angry by now, and we had time to watch another movie. Unbelievable to say, we land, and after "only" 1 hour of queuing at customs for the visa, we run wildly and manage to pass the checks 15 minutes before closing.
We don't don't count your chickens before they've hatched, until we land in Portugal, where another flight awaits us, but at least we know we are close to home. Who would have thought that as soon as we land in Zurich, and after putting our noses back in the cold, in the bus, with the snow coming down from the window, it would be the best moment of the last week!
Cuba is an incredible and unmissable place. However, misadventures are around the corner and it is not enough to be experienced travelers, because the traditional ways of exploring clash with the inability of the island to properly receive tourists. Studying the routes, planning the stages, especially in high season, is not useful if not counterproductive: it is better to remain flexible to cope with the unexpected. Agencies are of little help for short-term planning, and the best solution is to have enough time to organize internal travel even after a few days. Travelling with enough time and living day by day is the best way to live without frustration this beautiful and complicate island.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it!
