Wednesday 3 February

After breakfast at Casa La Mar 3719 we strolled off down the road to La Punta Gorda, a peninsula with some rather ostentatious buildings situated amongst the local houses shops and restaurants. In the distance we spotted what looked like an observatory but turned out to be a nuclear power plant that has never actually functioned.  An Australian lady spotted us and came over for a chat. Marnie had sat beside Cam on the flight to Havana.

   

After a bit of banter we finally accepted a lift from the local tricycle taxi. These guys peddled us off down to a local bay where thirst was quenched with a 3L vessel of beer. Our taxis then stopped by our Casa where Miguel had finally turned up with the car. He was supposed to meet us at 0930. It turned out he had driven to Havana and back last night to drop off the money we had given him. A nearly 800km round trip hardly made sense to us. The bike taxi guys peddled us to an old cemetery famous for its artistic statues (in the guide book). It turned out to be a rather run down with a lot of damaged tombs.

Miguel picked us up and after dropping Marnie off in town we headed for Trinidad.  We stopped at La Covacha, situated slightly above the road with a thatched roof and no walls on a concrete pad. Chooks wandered around amongst us as if waiting their turn for the pot. A ring tailed lizard also put in an appearance. The food was great.

Soon we approached the sea, driving east along the coast through a few little towns and beach resorts. Trinidad is an old town with relatively narrow streets.  Arriving at Hostal Onidia we again found one double and one single bed, in spite of AJ’s instructions to Miguel. The hostess was rather pushy trying to make us order breakfast while the husband tried to talk us into a box of Cohiba cigars for 50 locals. Two turtles swam in a small put waiting to be cooked.

A stroll up the road to the local park revealed lots of tourists and locals on phones and computers soaking up the local Wifi. We chatted to a few people then headed up to the old part of town, which hosts numerous shops filled with art, carvings and expensive restaurants.

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Thursday 4 February 

We relocated to Casa Yanelis just around the corner with 3 single beds. Miguel was late again but not by much as we got the Casa man to go and get him. He has now been given the message. Once by me in sign language, once by Cam in a version of Spanish he may not have understood and lastly by AJ in Spanish.

Next we ventured to the Museo Historico Municipal, once a stately home, now a museum with a few, in some cases badly kept, artefacts from the local area. The climb up to the tower was entertaining as we squeezed our way up a spiral staircase. The view was well worth it. The city is a lot smaller than I expected with no modern buildings. Batsista, Castro’s predecessor, declared the town a heritage site in the fifties.

Brunch was enjoyed at El Taco Local.

A visit to Peninsulas Ancon revealed a stunning beach with thatched umbrellas and white coral sand.

Back in the old part of town we spent the afternoon listening to music and chatting to people. One couple from Denmark had their 18-month old son and five-year old daughter with them. They had spent three weeks in NZ last year with their children.

It is dark here before seven. On the way home we stopped at Fruty Fruty Horario for dinner. This three table restaurant fed the three of us with a tasty pork and rice meal and a drink each for thirteen locals.

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Friday 5 February

An early morning stroll out to the east and west side of Trinidad revealed a tranquil beauty. With no cars buses or trucks about apart from the odd tractor the clip clop sound of well-shod horses was all one heard.

 

A man with a large bag of bread rolls went from door to door, as did another man with his string of onions and garlic stretching from almost the ground over his shoulder and back again. Horses and carts laden with building materials made their way at a good clip towards the centre of town. Others laden with fruit and vegetables stopped in the street with locals gathered around. Children made their way to school on foot in tidy uniforms, some spinning large string powered tops on the cobble stones as they went.

 

People often leave their front doors open. Even rough looking houses are clean with nice looking old furniture inside. Riders lead teams of unsaddled horses through the streets. Saddled horses wait patiently outside houses feeding from large bowls.

The 260km journey to Camaguey was an interesting one, driving alongside the valley of what were once the sugar fields that established Trinidad some five hundred years ago, then through the hills into central Cuba before heading northeast through Sancti Spiritus, famous among other things for its old English style Punto Yayabo bridge.

As we turned east the land became even more fertile with paddocks full of stock and large sugar plantations. Chimneys from the sugar mills pumped out black smoke while harvesters in the foreground reaped the cane from the fields.

At our destination we discovered a city built 500 years ago with streets designed to protect it from pirates such as Morgan and Bligh. The streets are at all different angles which makes the city really interesting.

After settling into our Casa we took a stroll to the nearby square where we were entertained at a bar by a really cool band. As well as the musicians they had a young singer/dancer who was brilliant.

We strolled a few blocks further and found another square with a band setting up as locals sat around logging on to the local Wi-Fi. A few hundred meters on through a flash mall type street we found another square with another band and more Wi-Fi. It looks like the retail sector is still learning when it comes to window displays! There were many police and security people present here, something we have not seen before.

 

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Saturday 5 February 

The early morning stroll saw the city awakening, the last of the street sweepers finishing their shift in grey overalls, cleaning both footpaths and streets with small brooms. This town too is very clean; even as I reached the outer suburbs with dirt streets the foot paths had been swept and little or no litter lay about. I spotted a team of men lined up with what from a distance looked like weed eating machines. They turned out to be spray machines for killing mosquitos. Interestingly we have only seen one of since we have been here.

A small factory was making furniture – like one used to see in NZ in the nineties. Louvers are on many windows here.  Horses and carts line up like trucks waiting to go about their daily business.

Obesity seems to be a big problem here with both sexes. It is surprising as there is definitely no fast food here, (in fact the service makes it slow food) no coke and few fizzy drinks.

The petrol stations are stocked with beer, rum, spirits and a few food items. It’s usual to see people sitting drinking beer in a cafe at nine am. We have yet to see anyone showing signs of intoxication. Buildings are being restored, the facades held up by timbers and in some cases small trees.

Miguel is two hours late. We had paid him 500 locals last night. The whole deal is dodgy to say the least. This is how I think it works!! We organised the car through Taxi Vinales Cuba; they organised the driver; he rented the car from Cubacar. He had to pay them in stages as he obviously has no money. We pay, he pays. Last night he went all the way back to Havana to make the payment – a round trip of over eleven hundred kms.

Finally on the road we headed east through farmland and a number of small towns and a couple of cities.

The sugar cane harvest was well underway here with large plumes of smoke appearing in the distance from the burning of stubble. Most of the harvest seemed to be done by harvesters. In one place we spotted a team of bullocks carting manually harvested cane. We stopped to take photos. As we watched the team was unhitched from the dray. I took a stroll down to see the bullocks. The driver suggested I mount one of the beasts. As I swung my leg over the bullock took a few steps. I had visions of the beast doing a runner leaving me sitting the ground. He was just steadying himself and stood still with me on his back. We donated the drover a part bottle of rum I had taken from the Tropicana Show.

All the horses and bullocks we have come across on this journey have been extremely well broken. We have never seen one shy even as big trucks pass close by puffing out large plumes of black smoke.

As we head south there are mandarin stalls on the roadsides. Strings are threaded through the centre so they hang in neat lines.

As we are closing on Santiago de Cuba Miguel is tiring so we watch and chat to him to ensure he stays awake. The city is quite big with lots of propaganda signs about the revolution. Castro started the first revolution here. The town dates back to the early fifteen hundreds. Eventually we find a Casa after many we try are full.

We head into the main square where a religious ceremony is taking place at the huge cathedral built in 1515. Hundreds of people watch from the square. We enjoy a meal on the balcony of the Hotel Casa Granda opened in 1915. From there we have a grand view of the proceedings.

We then took a stroll up a busy pedestrian street to another square where music played and young children were given rides on carts pulled by goats. Young men sat around drinking beer and run. Pre-teen girls roamed the streets in short skirts and shorts many with smart phones.

Finally we settled into a local bar where a super salesman spent twenty minutes selling Cam a box of 30 assorted Cohiba cigars for just 30 locals.

Saturday 30 January

After a relaxing start to the day we headed to the airport. Once again old cars puffed out black fumes while drivers and passengers alike draped arms out open windows or rested elbows on sills, just like you used to see in NZ prior to aircon in cars. Sylvia has a long trip in front of her via Cancun, Houston and London to Singapore. We have had a wonderful time in Cuba so it is as always hard to say goodbye.

I finally caught up with AJ and Cam at Hostal Italy in the old town after they couldn’t find me at the airport. Casa Hostal Italy is clean and well presented with a lounge and dining room as you enter from the street. We have arranged by sign language a large room with 3 single beds and a bathroom.

We took a stroll into town visiting several bars where bands played easy listening local music. We enjoyed dinner at Dona Eutimia. After a visit to Bosque Bologne in Obispo St we strolled the kilometre or so back to the hostal.

As we approached the hostal Cam realised he had left his phone at the bar. A fast stroll back to the bar and the phone was handed back by one of the bar staff.  On the return to the hostal we stopped at the Alegria for a celebratory drink. At this family-run, rather basic but patriotic bar, apparently visited by Castro, we had a good chat and a fair bit of banter with the locals turning what was going to be an early night into a very late one.

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Sunday 31 January

From the Central Square we took the same tour Sylvia and I had done last Wednesday, this time in a 1958 Oldsmobile. With its original motor the oil fumes were pretty strong.

The rest of the day we spent looking around the town with visits to the markets, some shops and old buildings. We stopped at Restaurant America on the way home where we shared a large dish of pork, beef, chicken, lobster and rice. Including a water each it cost 19 locals for the three of us.

 

The area on our route home is dominated by prostitutes in very short skirts and tight fitting tops. They try hard to strike up conversations as we stroll past. On Concordia the street where our hostal is there are a few basic food outlets, some just a window with a cafe sign above it. Here also you can still get your fan or electric pot fixed.

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Monday 1 February 

At breakfast we met Ignoe, a lady from Spain, who works for a research foundation who work with other international agencies to improve living conditions in Cuba. Ignoe was telling us that after the iron curtain came down the flow of Russian money to Cuba stopped. They had no fuel, no cars on the road and very little food and clothing. This is referred to by the locals as the “special period”. It is with the help of these international organisations parts of the city have been restored.

Next I rang Cubavanalustaxi.com. The plan was simply to confirm our car for tomorrow. Here nothing is simple. I ring the number – they hang up. After four times of that they ring back. “We have no record of your email!!” Asking if we can get a car anyway we get the response “we will find out and ring back”. I explained we were going out. “Just ask anyone to for their phone, ring once and we will ring back”

After checking emails at the internet place and trying the car company again on their phone, we got a cab over the river and took a stroll around part of the Three Kings of El Morro Castle, a fortress on the headland built in the mid fifteen hundreds.

Slightly upriver is San Carlos De La Cabana. Built between 1763 & 1774 it is one of the largest forts in the Americas. With river to the south and multiple moats to the southeast and west, it must have impregnable. As mentioned a few days ago this place has a tobacco shop that houses an 81m cigar. We paid the 6 locals and took a stroll inside.

This place at 700 plus meters long has a mass of what we presume would have been barracks storage and cook houses. It is well kept with internal stairs running down to the moat in places. It now houses a couple of restaurants and the odd coffee shop. There are a lot of people in uniform walking around. The women, like others in uniform, wear fishnet stockings. Wide ramps lead up onto the walls and roofs so you can walk from one end to the other.

 

After we took a look at the cigar in the shop, where a guy dressed like a waiter stood perfectly still the whole time we were in there; it was only his eyelashes moving that gave him away. There are lots of these people around town staging themselves as statues etc.

A closer look at the outdoor military museum revealed some innovate weapons. One in particular was an old Mig that had been turned into a rocket. There is also the remains of a US plane shot down during the 62 missile crisis era. We went to the buildings next door believing they were the museum but they turned out to be the admin buildings.

Back across the water at the internet place (no internet “broken”) I called the car company again but still no luck in finding us a driver that spoke English. I had earlier said we would accept one with no English but no luck there either.

After Cam called a friend of a friend we had a beer or two then went to try a couple of rental car companies. They had nothing for today. We said we wanted a car tomorrow, “can’t book come back tomorrow”.

Back at the hostal I rang the car company again: “we have a car with Spanish speaking driver”. We leapt at it job done at last.

We headed back into town to Europa in Obispo St for a good meal followed by a drink and cigar at a local bar.

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Tuesday 2 February 

The stay at Hostal Italy Concordia # 462 has been fantastic. Sergio and Anya along with son Alejandro who run the place keep it spotless. They are friendly very helpful providing a tasty and filling breakfast.

Our driver Miguel with an almost new BYD (better your life) Chinese made car was on time. After a petrol stop we were soon heading east then southeast through farm land. This part of the country is very fertile with mobs of cows and pigs. As we hit the bottom of the Bay of Pigs we continued around the coast a little. We stopped for a map check to find we were on a road to nowhere. Communication with our non-English speaking driver was a little difficult in spite of AJ’s good Spanish. We turned back and stopped at Playa Giron for a very tasty lunch. The area is the site of the US-backed 1961 invasion which was over in 72 hours. With some sandy beaches, a pretty coastline, very blue water and a couple of small towns it’s all very picturesque.

After lunch Miguel once again headed off in the wrong direction. Eventually on the right road we headed through some jungle, then into rich farmland. Old tractors worked the fields among large irrigation units. We came across big bags of what looked like grain lying on the edge of the seal. Then a trail of what turned out to be rice spread hundreds of meters along the edge of the road with people scooping it up and bagging it. This is apparently how the dry their rice.

Arriving in Cienfuegos, famous because of singer-songwriter Benny Moore, a French built town in the early eighteen hundreds with wide streets and avenues, we were soon settled in a local Casa. We strolled up the street and along a mall we found a roof top bar where we tried out their unreliable WiFi. The fiery red sunset from here was well worth the visit as were the eight flautists who began to play with great skill just on dark.

     

We stopped at Te Quedaras for dinner. This upstairs ‘rip the tourist off’ restaurant turned out an overpriced, poor quality meal.

Roger: Saturday 23 January

A stroll out the back of the hotel to the beach confirmed that the pictures on Hotel.com had been doctored up considerably. Sitting by the pool were three blokes from up near Chicago. Ben, Chris and Andrew had just arrived and told they couldn’t check in until 2pm. We left their bags at reception and took a wander up the road. This part of town was probably pretty flash when built at least 50 years ago but nothing much has been done since.

The trip to the airport revealed more run-down buildings.

I met Sylvia at the airport. She had got her visa in Cancun at the check in queue for USD25 – in about 3 minutes. I had got mine in NZ by applying to the consulate and sending passport and $80 – it took a couple of weeks! Aboard the late Russian Tupelov 204 we made the 1hr 20 flight to Cuba. Customs and immigration was a walk through.

Cash is king in Cuba. We headed to the ATM on the second floor at the airport. My Air NZ smart Mastercard was not too smart – it would not work. We changed some Euros at the money exchange. A 25 local taxi ride took us to the Hotel Parque Centrale.

After dinner at the rather unique hotel restaurant we adjourned to the lobby bar and the pleasant odour of cigars. The man on the cigar trolley lit me, with great finesse, a Cuban. We joined a lovely English couple, Dan and Amy from Stratford for a port and a good yarn.

A little about Cuban history: Columbus rocked up here in 1492. The place had been inhabited for 4000 years by inhabitants having come from South America. The Spanish built a fort in 1503. Morgan and Drake, pirates raided through the 1500’s causing the Spanish to send an armada and fortify the place. The English in 1762 ruled for eleven months then exchanged it for Florida with the Spanish. In the 1860’s the Independence movement started. Finally in 1902 with the help of the US it became independent.

In the 1950’s Castro and his merry men started the revolution. After being jailed and let out a few times including a stint in Mexico he finally took over in 1959. The US tried invading at the Bay of Pigs with ten thousand men but they were defeated in less than seventy two hours. In October 1962 the Russian missile crisis nearly put the world into atomic war, only avoided by President JF Kennedy’s good management. In 2008 after three successive hurricanes they started western reformation. In 2015 Obama finally recognised Cuba.

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Sylvia: Sunday 24 January

We had a lazy morning, feeling the effects of the 3-hour time difference. We had breakfast in the hotel before heading out to explore the old part of Havana. Hotel Parque Centrale is right on the Central Park (funny that) in the heart of Old Havana. There are always loads of old style cars parked outside waiting to take people around the city but today we opted to walk, wandering down Obispo towards the bay, marvelling at the thickness of the old buildings, the variety of colours, the general cleanliness (relative to other parts of Central America anyway), and the friendliness of the locals. Despite being warned about touts and hassles, we found people would ask once if we wanted a taxi/restaurant etc and after a polite “no thank you” would smile and leave us alone. I feel as safe here, if not safer, than anywhere else I have been, and certainly safer than I do in downtown Auckland, Melbourne or Sydney.

    

We took it pretty easy, strolling down to the Main Square where we bought a second-hand guide book from one of the many stalls, and then to the Museum Castle of the Royal Force. From here we had great views over the bay to the large fortresses and giant statue of Jesus. The moated castle was built in the 1600’s and set the standard by which all other forts in the area were designed.

There are many amazing buildings and lots of lovely little squares and plazas here with some pretty incredible street art as well. Much of the old city is pedestrian only with many of the bollards actually old canons and cannonballs. We spent a bit of time wandering around the San Jose Arts and Crafts Fair which had loads of different paintings and photographs as well as other art and crafts.

   

Eventually we headed back to the hotel and up to the bar on the top deck for gin and tonics and a cigar with a fantastic view over the city. The requisite band was fantastic – the flute in particular was impressive – enough so that we actually purchased the CD. Then down to the main bar for more drinks and cigars… the smell of cigar smoke is quite pervasive – people start smoking them early in the morning and even women seem to smoke them – they certainly haven’t picked up on the no smoking rules that seem to have been adopted by most of the rest of the world.

We had a delicious dinner in the hotel’s steak restaurant – perfectly cooked steak, great wine and chocolate soufflé. So much for not being able to get good food in Cuba!

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Roger: Monday 25 January

A stroll to the old square revealed a bunch of cartoon style statues surrounding a water statue. In the corner of the square is a naked woman riding a rooster cast in bronze. The square is surrounded by European-style buildings several hundred years old in good condition with wrought iron railings. We went to check out a couple of museums to be told closed Monday.

 

Coming across a very old fort with a now empty moat we strolled around the front to take a look inside and discovered it was the police station.

The museum of the revolution was open – a grand building with a dome tower. The exhibits were mainly photos taking one through all the revolution attempts. It is rather self-centred and badly put together. The building next door contains the boat Castro came from Mexico on surrounded by tanks, planes and other armaments but is closed just now.

The rest of the day was spent strolling the streets visiting the odd bar. We took a taxi to look at a couple of Casa’s for AJ, Cam and I to stay in next week. The guy was really helpful in getting us sorted.

A drink on the roof top bar at the hotel was followed by a bar hop including the El Floridita Bar (Ernest Hemmingway’s watering hole) to the Dona Eutimia restaurant by the Cathedral Square. We can highly recommend this place; with only eight tables it has amazing food and is really cheap. Bookings are essential.

 

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Sylvia: Tuesday 26 January

We slept late this morning and just made it to breakfast before the restaurant closed. It is a beautiful sunny day and after giving up on the hotel internet we headed back to the internet café we had found yesterday to check up on a few things back home then back to the Tobacco Museum that was closed yesterday. Someone had obviously taken a bit of care with collecting a lot of tobacco-related paraphernalia but overall not a particularly inspiring place.

Next we wandered back to Old Square and visited the Camera Obscura. This is on the rooftop of a tall building on the corner of the square. There are great views over Havana from the rooftop but the really interesting part came from the “camera” itself, one of only 6 in the world with the rest in Europe. The “camera” is basically a large periscope that reflects a live image onto a concave screen inside the room. The guide was fantastic and used the “camera” to point out the different sites of Havana.

It was finally time to try out one of the old cars After a bit of haggling, Roger settled on an old 1959 Dodge convertible – apparently the only one in Cuba with its original motor. We agreed on a two-hour tour of the city and cruised off, music blaring and Roger videoing… Our driver, Yulieski was great, pointing out the different sites. We first headed under the tunnel under the bay to some of the forts across the other side, stopping also at the cigar exhibition where the Guinness world record 81m cigar is displayed curling around the ceiling in a Perspex tube. Back under the tunnel again we drove into the ‘newer’ part of town to see the Jose Marti Revolution Square with its tall tower and large iron work etchings of Che Guevara and one of the other revolutionary soldiers.

   

Next stop was the Nacional de Cuba Hotel, which prior to the revolution was a large casino and now boasts the hall of history with photos of many famous people. Yulieski assured us they serve the best mojitos and pina coladas in town so of course Roger had to have the typical Cuban mojito and cohiba cigar, while Yulieski and I each settled for a natural (no rum) pina colada – very tasty.

In the evening we headed first to Sloppy Joes, the original, established in the early 1900’s and still decorated in the same way. There we had drinks and burgers among photos of various guests both past and present. After another drink and a cigar (for Roger) back in the hotel bar we caught a taxi to the Tropicana show, under the stars out in the suburbs about 20 minutes from the city centre. The show was impressive with amazing costuming and about 50 dancers and singers as well as a full orchestra. There was even a special guest appearance from some outstanding opera singers: three tenors and four sopranos, one of whom was male! The first time I have ever seen a male soprano. Our taxi driver had waited for us and returned us to the Parque Centrale at about 1am.

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Roger: Wednesday 27 January

At 0815 I was waiting in the already formed queue at about number 15 outside the local bank. About 0845 I finally made it to the door to be told by a nice banker with good English that “it’s the day we pay the old people until 1030”. I was sent to the money exchange four blocks down the road. They would not take my Air NZ Smart Mastercard (so much for smart) so I headed back to the bank and eventually got the arrogant security guard to get the man with good English.

Back in the queue and when they ran out of old people I got to see a nice chap at the counter, also with good English. Still no luck with the smart card. Luckily my back-up Visa worked or we would have had to go to plan C which I won’t go into. If you’re coming to Cuba bring enough cash to pay for everything in Euros; the USD incurs a 13% charge.

At 1100 our taxi to Vinales turned up. About thirty minutes later we were clear of the thick petrol and diesel fumes spewed out by the pre-1960 cars and trucks which seem to make up at least a third of the traffic.

The highway is a three, then two lane highway. About 70kms into the journey, through what is scrubby farm land, we stop at a thatched-roof diner. The guy behind the counter in bow tie and waist coat (seems to be a theme here) makes us a coffee and soon we are on the road again.

We pass many trotting horses and two wheeled carts along the highway. Under overbridges people sit in the shade, I think waiting for a bus. The further west we go the more cultivation we see. Houses are colourful often sited alongside tall thatched tobacco barns.

We reach the valley of Vinales and stop at a viewing spot. The view over the valley is spectacular with the limestone karst mountains (mogotes) in the background. There is a guy there with a big bull all saddled up ready to go. Yes you got it! I couldn’t resist.  Short as the ride was it was amusing.

Down the hill and through the town and we arrived at Villa El Habano (http://elhabano.alwaysdata.net). This is a stunning place with rocking chairs on the courtyard outside our room. Sylvia is really good at finding us neat places to stay through researching trip adviser and other reviews.

After a beer and a cigar we took a stroll into town. The place is well kept with nearly every house being painted a different bright colour. We wandered around various streets one leading out into the paddocks. The people are really friendly smiling and waving as one takes movies or pictures. Old cars, trucks, horses, bikes and tractors make their way up and down the streets. Just about every second house is a casa. There are 800 casas (private homes licensed to rent out rooms for accommodation) in Vinales, each with between one and five rooms. Only the pictures can really describe and I hope give you a feel for the place.

Arriving back at our Villa some two and a half hours later we relaxed in the rocking chairs until a superb dinner was served on the porch. Chicken for Sylvia and Pargo fish for me accompanied by rice beans and salad. One can see how this place gets such great reviews. 25 locals a night for the room, dinner 8 to 10 locals, beer and wine very cheap and they have better internet than we were able to get in Havana!

Yuray, the owner, gave us a bit of rundown on how it all works here. Back in the 90’s they had little in the way of food, clothing etc. and intermittent electricity.   Reforms have now meant that he owns his Villa (Casa) and pays 25 locals in tax on each room per month and a further 10% on his total turnover. He seems very happy with this having expanded from one to five rooms over the past few years.

A little about tobacco: Columbus when he rocked up here found people puffing on cohiba (tobacco) through tabago’s (pipes). This act was called “sikar”. He must have had a few puffs and enjoyed it as he took a bunch of the stuff home with him. Soon the whole of Europe was puffing away with tobacco being grown commercially in Cuba from the 16th century.

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Sylvia: Thursday 28 January

This morning we were up much earlier. A delicious breakfast was provided for 4 locals each including omelette, toast, fruit, flan, ham, cheese, juice, coffee etc. At 8:30am our guide for the morning Yubier, from www.horseridinginvinales.com arrived to take us into the national park. Roger mounted Chocolate and I was on Lucerno. We headed into the park for four hours at a sedate walk. Chocolate lead the way and while extremely well-broken in and used to the trek you could actually get the horses to obey instructions from the reins.

Our first stop was a tobacco farm. In the National Park area no mechanisation is allowed so everything is done manually. In this area the main crop is black tobacco but other crops like manioc, rice, maize, tomatoes, pimentos, coffee, cocoa and sweet potatoes are also grown. The farmers must sell 90% of the tobacco to the cigar factories but can keep 10% for their own use and to sell to tourists.

From a tiny, dust-particle sized seed, the plants reach 1.2m in about three months. They are then dried for a minimum of four months and are then fermented with fruits, cinnamon etc for 45 days. In total it takes twelve months to go from seed to cigar (I know the maths doesn’t quite work but that is what I gleaned between his broken English and my broken Spanish.) Only tobacco grown in a very few parts of Cuba is used for habano cigars (the best apparently) – including this area. Leaves from the same plants are used for different brands of cigars. Cohiba cigars (apparently the best of the best) are made only using the three top leaves, then the next leaves are used for Montechristo, down to the leaves for Patageros and at the bottom for cigarettes only. Cigarettes will also often contain yellow tobacco as well as black. The Romeo y Juliettta’s that Roger favours are from a mixture of the upper and middle leaves. Apparently Fidel Castro used to favour Cohibas and Che Guevara Montechristos.

Once the leaves have been dried and fermented the cigars are rolled – not on the thighs of Cuban women much to Roger’s disappointment. Our guide demonstrated how the main vein from the leaf is stripped – apparently it contains 70% of the nicotine and is discarded for cigars but left in cigarettes. He then rolled a perfect cigar, retaining the best leaf for the cover – all in less than 3 minutes. Here at the tobacco farm you can buy cigars that are made from the same tobacco as the big brands for a fraction of the cost. Roger was very impressed with the one he had been given on arrival and proceeded to purchase 25 – all bundled together and wrapped in a palm leaf to keep them safe. Apparently they will keep that way for 2-3 years.

Back on the horses we headed to our next stop, passing plenty of other tobacco farms, pigs, chickens, cows, horses and other crops growing. This area is stunning with large, flat-topped limestone mountains or mogotes dominating the landscape. In one area we saw people planting out tobacco plants and in another the ground was being prepared by a guy being pulled around on a farrow-type thing behind two yoked together oxen. Eventually we arrived at an open-air café with fantastic views over the surrounding area. This place brewed and sold locally grown coffee.

After about 4-hours we arrived back where we started. It had started to rain and Yubier had been fantastic. He gave me his raincoat to keep the camera dry (I just needed to keep his cigarettes, wallet and cell-phone in the pockets) so I fared much better than Roger who was quite sodden by the time we got back.

Yuray, our host at Villa El Habano then arranged a driver, in a 1954 Plymouth with a 4 cylinder Russian Volga motor (it does 7 kms/litre here in the mountains and 9kms/litre on the motorway) to take us to the Caverna Santo Tomas, a huge seven-level cave that runs for 46kms. They take tourists through level 6 and 7 – helmeted up and with head-torches. With all the rain the ground was pretty slippery underfoot. We were with a group of about 20 and a couple of the older women struggled a bit, slipping and falling a few times. The cave itself is impressive and it was really enjoyable to be able to walk through one with no footpaths, railings or other safety features – just a natural cave with only a couple of wooden ladders to help with the steeper sections. It has loads of stalactites and stalacmites and we also saw some vampire bats, a crab and a frog. Apparently there are also scorpions, tarantulas and snakes, although the latter, large boa constrictors, are found primarily in the subterranean rivers – thankfully!

On the way back to our casa we stopped to take pictures of a large mural painted directly on the mountain back in the 1960’s.

After a fairly active day it was nice to relax outside our casa, catching up on emails, blog etc. Roger is definitely enjoying the cigars he purchased; apparently they are the best he has ever had. We enjoyed another delicious meal, prepared by our hosts before calling it a day.

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Roger: Friday 29 January

After another great breakfast at Villa El Habano we headed to Pinar Del Rio. This place is a little more city like being the capital of the region.

Patriotism is alive and will in Cuba, particularly in this region with lots of statues and signs about the revolution; Che Guevara features dominantly on many of them. “While one guerrilla is alive there will still be a revolution”.

Our taxi waited while we toured the local cigar factory. About 40 workers roll around 150 cigars each a day. Sitting a benches in rows of four each person completed the whole process. The initial roll is placed in a plastic mould with a dozen others. The trays, up to ten at a time, are then pressed in an old manual wind down press. The trays then go down to a tester who puts each cigar in a machine to test the air flow (if they are rolled too tight they are too hard to smoke, too soft and they burn too fast). Then it’s back to the roller who puts the outer skin on. They do all this while bantering and laughing as a bunch of tourists lean over the rail watching. There are strictly no photographs allowed.

The ride back to Havana was a bouncy one as like most cars here the yellow cabs suspension needed some attention.  Arriving at Hotel Capri at just after 1pm we were told come back at four (rooms not ready).

We took a stroll down to and along the Malecon. Surf was breaking over the wall onto the road as we viewed the odd statue. This area (the new city) does not have the character and charm of the old part of town. There are a few well maintained buildings which are mainly Embassy’s. The US one being the largest most modern and most secure.

We ended up at the National Hotel for a drink and a cigar. A stroll through the garden afterwards revealed a couple of 280mm canons used to engage the USS Montgomery at 9000 Yards in 1898 during one of many wars with the US. Interestingly it didn’t state if any hits were made!

Just below the canons are a maze of tunnels with a display on the October 1962 nuke missile crisis. A large number of Russian military were deployed on the island including ground to air missile batteries, fighter aircraft and much more. It was a U2 spy plane that spotted nukes being unloaded from a ship that nearly set off a nuclear world war, with R12 and R14 mobile nuclear missiles located in three different places. With the R12 ranging most of the US East coast and the R14 the whole of the US things got a little tense. Castro wanted the US out of Guantanamo Bay. In the end the US took its nukes out of Turkey and Russia took theirs home.

Arriving back at Hotel Capri we were told there was a problem with two floors. They sent us off back to the Hotel National with a voucher.

After checking in we strolled along the Malecon to the La Abadia restaurant, highly rated on the net. Service was poor and the pork tough and cold. Cheap as it was, we rated it poorly, especially with the constant roar of traffic from the Malecon.

Monday 18 January

While Roger was in the Shot Show in Vegas my sister, Debbie, and I decided to have a few days reliving our childhoods at Disneyland in LA. This is something we have done a few times and we always have a great time, soaking up the atmosphere and generally running around like 10 year olds.

We had a very easy flight to LA. Debbie had been upgraded to Business class, her first time not in economy. It was great to be able to travel together and Air NZ definitely do Business class well. We both got plenty of sleep on the flight.

On arriving in LA we encountered the same congestion and madness at US Immigration as Roger had the day prior. I have a US passport so entered through that queue, which was long but moved very quickly. Debbie, on her NZ passport took considerably longer with lots of being shunted to a different queue, only to be shunted back again. After about 90 minutes she made it through. This is where our challenge started!

I had been patiently waiting, sitting on my cart (with both our bags) at the bottom of the stairs leading down from immigration, knowing there was no way she could miss me there. After about two hours I stood up to stretch my legs and realized, to my horror, that there were two sets of stairs! I went back to the NZ baggage carousel and realized that there were no other bags from our flight left. Surely Debbie wouldn’t have gone through customs without me I thought, checking my phone. She had – causing quite some consternation with the customs officials arriving in the US with no luggage.

Eventually we reconnected and caught a taxi – about an hour’s drive to the Disneyland hotel. The check-in was quick and easy and we received our passes to the parks, dropped our bags and headed off. We had a dinner booking in the California Adventure Park, which also gave us access to a reserved viewing area for the World of Colour show later in the evening. We managed to fit in several of our favourite rides as well. The World of Colour show is very impressive (yet hard to describe) with numerous fountains creating the backdrop for the story of  Walt Disney’s dreams. The whole park is lighted up in multiple colours as the fountains shoot high into the air. They are somehow able to project movies onto the spray created by the fountains as well.

After the show we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

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Tuesday 19 January – Friday 22 January

Staying at one of the Disney Resort hotels gives you an extra magic hour each morning with admission to one of the parks one hour before it opens to the general public. This alternates between the parks: Tuesday and Thursday we were at Disneyland and Wednesday and Friday it was at California Adventure. The best part of this is that you get to do a whole lot of rides quite quickly as there are relatively few people in the park. In Disneyland we really let out our inner children and start in Fantasyland riding all the real kiddie rides. In California Adventure we make a bee-line for the Radiator Springs racers, where we also make use of the single rider line to really minimise our queue time. After a few visits we now have this down to a fine art, managing about 25 rides a day between our extra magic hour and using Fastpass effectively. We also walk about 15km a day so that helps to make up for the cinnamon buns and ice-cream!

      

On Wednesday evening we had dinner in the Blue Bayou restaurant which is part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The atmosphere is amazing and the food is excellent. This dinner also gave us access to preferential space for the evening Paint the Night show and the fireworks spectacular. Although I have been to Disneyland several times and gone to many shows I have never watched the fireworks – an incredible spectacle and I could only wonder why I hadn’t bothered before!

One of the best things about the trip was just catching up with Deb. Both of us have busy lives and it was a rare treat to get to spend so much time together – and even though we minimize queuing time we still had plenty of time waiting around where we could just chat. We got to scheming… but watch for more of that in the future…

On Friday evening, tired but happy, we headed back to the hotel, picked up our bags and taxied back to the airport, Debbie to catch her flight back to NZ and me for the long, overnight haul through Houston to Cancun to meet up with Roger.

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Sunday 17 January

I am again fitting in the Shot Show in Vegas on the way to meet Sylvia for a week, then Cam and AJ, in Cuba.

On arriving in LA, after a reasonably comfortable flight NZ6 from Auckland, I discovered Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck had taken up residence at US immigration. Thanks to Helen Clark my passport had hit the 5 year mark recently and had to be renewed. They have passport  scanners at US Immigration!! You got it – there is a but coming up. A fat man in a light blue uniform stands saying “ETSA passports over here if you have visited since 2008. First time passports over to counters 52 to 58” then goes back to telling his female colleague how shit his marriage is. The queue was only a dozen or so. Two hours after getting off the flight I finally cleared customs. They just kept shoving people in front of us.

I made the United flight to Vegas with thirty minutes to spare. A window seat allowed (after a bit of a sleep) a good view over the barren hills and desert of Nevada. This scenery continues right up to the edge of Vegas. Even the city looks barren as we land in the centre, only 5kms from the Treasure Island hotel on the strip.

  

After checking into the Treasure Island Hotel I headed across to the Venetian hotel to pick up my pass for the Shot Show.

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Monday 18 January

After a text from good friend Michael (formally Sure Fire Michael) I headed to Battlefield Vegas. Here they have a gun shop and a range plus a few tanks and other military equipment. After meeting up with Michael, Eric from Aim Point in Sweden, and Husam a Colonel from Saudi we got to look at a few new toys and test-fire the new Perators OSS Suppressor.

Next was a forty minute drive north to the Home Guard Shooting Range. Four ranges were operating at full noise as hundreds of people tried out the many different guns on show. Marathon Targets had some robotic targets there. These guys are on a 4-wheel platform and are programmed to fall over when hit. Stuart (who I met here last year), an ex Aussi SF guy based in Dubai, was running the stand and insisted on handing us 30 round magazines so we all had plenty of shots as the robots raced around from cover to cover. We ran into lots of people from all over the world who we had met here previously. There is a no photo rule out here.

In the evening we met for dinner at one of the many restaurants in the Venetian. We were also joined by Mikko and Yari From Finland. I first met these guys in a sauna in Helsinki in 2015 and again at the Show that year. Travis who visited us in NZ last year also joined us. I first met Travis down at Fort Brag three years ago and still have the Mayflower t-shirts he put up as prizes at a shoot we had there. Magnus (at well over two meters and 230 kgs – he was formally the worlds strongest man) from Sweden also joined us. I had met his brother Torbjorn (formerly Sweden’s strongest man) in Sweden. He helps promote Aimpoint. We all had a great catch up, the responsible ones heading of to bed after dinner. A few of us headed to the bar at the centre of the Casino. After chatting to a few people it was suddenly after 3am. Micheal was still at the bar after midnight something no one has witnessed before!!!

 

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Tuesday 19 January

The Shot show begins. With 1600 exhibitors spread over 63,000 sqm over 3 floors, it’s massive. There are 60,000 plus people that visit each day from all over the US and a hundred different countries. It opens at 8.30 in the morning – the huge hallways leading to it are packed.

The first day I managed to cover most of level one, making a list of stands to go back to. The product range is huge; there are even undies with built in pistol holsters.

At 4,30pm we meet at the Aimpoint stand (they have beer). It’s a great chance to catch up with the many people one knows here. It was great to see Bill, a retired SF Colonel I met in DC 3 years ago and again here last year; Gary and Simon from Sportways Distributers NZ, who I had got to the show through (thanks); and Frank and Kris from Papakura Camp NZ to name just a few.

This was followed by dinner and a yarn at a bar then it was suddenly 2 am.

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Wednesday 20 January

Before heading into the show I took a stroll around the Wynn, Palazzo and Venetian hotels, which are all linked up with high ceilings, statues, displays and many upmarket shops. There is a canal running through the Venetian with electric gondoliers singing to their guests as they motor past the many shops and restaurants. Around 20 years old and in immaculate condition these places can best be described by pictures.

 

The day passed quickly as I investigated target systems and shooting range building processes.

Later in the day Micheal took me to a suite in the Venetian. There I met Peter, an ex Aussi Commando. He and his colleagues have developed a head camera “Mohawk.com” for the military as in the past they have been adapting Go-Pro and other products that don’t quite do the job properly.  This is a good example of the innovation and product development you see at the Shot Show.

After dinner I snuck off for an early night.

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Thursday 21 January

After a final day of looking at products we headed to the El Dorado Cantina, a Mexican Restaurant. This was the first time (apart from crossing the bridge from the Treasure Island Hotel to the Venetian) i had ventured outside since Monday.

At the restaurant along with Eric and Michael were Dusty and his 3 DEA colleagues, who I had met the previous evening; Ron, who I have met at two previous shows and his three Dutch Marine colleagues who were first time at the show; John an ex Canadian SF ,who I met in Vancouver three years ago who now works for Arcteryx; Sean and Chris from Aussi, representing Beretta (Sean is a former olympic clay target shooter) and a couple of others who’s names I have forgotten. One thing I enjoy so much about the shot show is the great people one gets to meet. Everyone has great and interesting stories to share.

A short taxi ride and I was back at Treasure Island for a farewell drink with Gary and Simon.

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Friday 22 January

I was lucky to have arrived early for the flight as the queue for security was the longest I have ever seen. It was however compact, going backwards and forward then around columns. They guy who put up the ropes must have filled spaghetti tins by hand in the past.  The queue moved surprisingly quickly – a card was handed to me as I entered the queue with the time on it, 29 minutes later i was through the other side.

I got to have a good chat to Tim and Jennifer from Colorado,, who had been at the show on the way through . They are keen snowmobilers and bikers, among other things.

Flights in the US are struggling just now as most of the east coast airports are closed due to snow. Some of the boys can’t get out of Vegas until Monday but my flight left pretty much on time.  Flying out over the gulf from Houston I counted over seventy ships either anchored or heading into the ports.

Arriving in Cancun I got a shuttle to the Casa Mexicana Hotel. It’s not one Sylvia would stay in. In fact it’s pretty old and run down and in quite an untidy area. The guy on the desk flagged me down a cab to a local restaurant the lady on the shuttle counter had recommended. La Parrila turned on a good meal with a great atmosphere including a a bunch of musicians serenading people from time to time.

A 30min late night stroll home revealed some dodgy looking places with lots of bars on windows and broken glass set in the tops of walls. The people I passed on the streets seemed pretty friendly though.