Cuba Hindsight

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

The seed was planted on New Year’s Day, 2018. We were hanging out at home with dear friends visiting from Georgia and chatting about places we’d like to go.

My dear man enthusiastically brought up Cuba. He’s wanted to go for over two decades. And he wanted to see it before American fast food stores occupy every corner.

Our pal, Leslie, being the amazing, spit-firey woman she is, said “Well, let’s go!”

And like that, we discussed tentative dates and the ball began rolling. So there I was, quite unexpectedly planning a trip to a country I never really thought about visiting before. I still marvel at my disinterest even having spent my childhood in South Florida, just 90 miles from the island nation.

Rearview mirror

Traveling to Cuba is completely worth the effort. There are extra considerations for Americans that are seemingly intimidating, though. In reality, we found them to be trivial.

So in spite of never having Cuba on my travel radar before, it was a fantastic trip. My dear man was even more delighted than me and calls it our “scouting” trip for future adventures there. Now we’re much more savvy about what to expect and how to manage travel in Cuba.

We did a lot of research before going to be certain we understood how things work in Cuba. But there are many things we learned “in the field.” So in this first installment, let’s go over the biggest takeaways.

Money

There are two currencies in Cuba. The Cuban Peso Nacional, or CUP, is used by Cuban locals. The other currency is the Cuban Convertible Peso, the CUC. That’s for tourists, like us. (Here’s a good breakdown of the very confusing system.)

For U.S. residents, credit and debit cards don’t work in Cuba so bring a lot of cash. Way more than you think you’ll need because once you’re there, you’ll have no more access to money.

Now that we have a better sense of how money works in Cuba—how to change money, exchange rates, and fees—our strategy next time will to be to exchange enough at the airport to get to our first night’s accomodation. From there we’ll visit a hotel to exchange more. Why?

Well, the lines at the airport exchange machines are daunting and require your passport. Our attempt to exchange bills at bank later on was also very challenging. Again long lines, passport required, and the bank’s unwillingness to exchange bills with even the slightest of flaws. Even though we took plenty of cash, we suddenly found ourselves with useless American dollars because we couldn’t exchange them. It was stressful.

It turns out though, that exchanging at hotels is a very different story. No passport, no line, and no fussiness about the condition of the bills. Whew! That was a close one.

If you like to eat at the local stalls rather than the touristy places, make sure you have small bills. They often can’t break the larger bills, especially early in the morning. And often, their prices are in CUP, not CUC so be sure to ask about the cost in CUC.

Connectivity

Cuba is slowly opening up in terms of internet availability but access is still limited. It’s certainly not ubiquitous and easily accessed like in the U.S. We arranged to have service with our cell phone carrier (Verizon) while there but it was extremely unreliable and, in the end, completely useless even for voice and text messaging.

That means you’ll need to be prepared in advance with information on places you want to go and how to get around. And make sure important people in your life are aware you may be off-grid while there.

Our travel pals, Jim and Leslie, eventually figured out how to get internet cards from local hotels. They are sold in one-hour increments and are limited in number. Just walking into a hotel to buy one doesn’t mean you’ll get one. And you’ll have to use it in places with wifi access. They can’t be utilized simply walking down the street. So you can get access but you have to work for it a little.

Recent news since our visit indicates that the Cuban government is allowing more places to have their own internet access so hopefully this will be less of an issue over time.

Language

Knowing some Spanish is really helpful. I know that’s not a surprise. It’s always useful to know a little of the language of the country you’re visiting.

In Cuba, we found that our “casa particular” hosts spoke English well enough to make arrangements for us. But on the streets, having a moderate understanding of the language went a long way in getting us away from the unauthentic tourist-centered establishments. To get to know the real Cuba and her people, brush up on your Spanish and keep a translation app handy.

Also, the people we met seemed to appreciate our effort to speak the language and we had many good laughs over some of my silly Spanish goof-ups. It also allowed me to engage with the people there who didn’t know English and who we would otherwise not been able to chat with at all.

Trust your hosts

The local hosts are great and can sort logistics for you easily. I had some concerns about not having arranged much of anything in advance but our hosts easily arranged tours for us upon our arrival. Granted, tours are not generally my thing. I skew more “indy” traveler. But in the case of Cuba, it’s a great way to support the local people as well as get a feel for places before exploring on our own.

Transport

Getting around Havana is fairly straightforward. Taxis, buses, tour cars, and your own two feet cover all the bases.

However, transportation between cities was a particularly worrisome detail we didn’t set up in advance. Our Havana host happily arranged a ride with a group taxi to Viñales. The same was true for our return to Havana from Viñales. It was no sweat at all.

Stay up to date

Cuba is rapidly changing as are the rules for U.S. citizens to travel there. Make sure you read the latest info before you go, particularly if you’re a U.S. citizen. ViaHero has a wonderful guide to visiting Cuba that they keep up to date.

Coffee

Like many Americans, I drink a lot of coffee. My travel companions for this adventure share my vice as well. But Cubans drink coffee differently — espresso style.

We were happy to embrace to local style to some extent. But in the end, we had to face the fact that we’re copious coffee drinkers and needed to seek out American-style java. Our hosts were gracious about providing extra coffee on the mornings we took breakfast in our casa particulars. But on the mornings we didn’t, it was a scramble.

The hotels are good about having Americano coffee but you have to accept navigating a sea of fellow tourists for the effort. For us, wanting to patronize more of the authentic side street food stalls, we had to make do with espresso style most of the time. And even in those stalls, the coffee isn’t necessarily prominent but it’s almost always there once you know how to look for it.

The kicker of all this coffee drama, is that in all of our other travels, we carry “emergency” coffee — instant Starbucks packets. No, it’s not the best but it’s something in cases when we stay at quirky mom-and-pop motels that don’t offer coffee. Or even in modern hotels that are stingy with it.

And for some reason, we didn’t bring any on this trip. I think we were trying to keep it simple. Next time, we’ll be sure to have some on hand.

Ice

Unlike lodging in the U.S. where ice-makers are typically available, ice isn’t readily available in Cuba. Unfortunately, ice isn’t a luxury for me. I need it to manage my injuries and stay comfortable to travel.

Our casa particulars had freezers but no ice makers or ice trays. So next time, I’ll bring a silicon ice tray to make my own to manage my personal needs. A flexible ice tray doesn’t take up much space and is easily squishable into a suitcase. And for me, it means the difference between a good trip and one overshadowed by pain. That pain did catch up with me in a big way on this trip so I’ll be sure to manage that better next time.

Plus, it means having ice for our rum. So there’s really no downside to adding an ice tray to the packing process.

Fusterlandia

My pal Leslie found out about Fusterlandia, a quirky art installation in a neighborhood west of Havana. It’s an amazing thing to see a neighborhood transformed by tile mosaics.

You’ll need to take a bus or taxi to get there. We chose a taxi and along the way had lunch as well as an impromptu tour by our driver. The catch is that once there, we saw a bunch of visitors struggling to find a taxi back to the city and standing in the heat looking very uncomfortable and stressed.

Leslie had the good sense to have our driver wait for us. A visit to the Fusterlandia neighborhood really doesn’t take too long if you’re being casual about it. Make sure you discuss the cost with your driver so you aren’t surprised by it. But if you aren’t planning on staying too long, it’s a better bet than being stuck without a ride back.

If you do decide to spend a good bit of time there and the expense of the taxi waiting is too much for your budget, just make sure you have an exit strategy. Know how to find the bus or arrange for a return pick up time with the driver.

Remember, in Cuba, you can’t simply request an Uber or pull up the internet on your phone to find a solution.

Immersion

Cuba is a phenomenal place to engage with locals and pursue authenticity.

Talking to locals, you find out about places that aren’t obvious. That’s not to say you abandon situational awareness or good sense. You simply have to redefine it and not bring preconceived notions with you.

You will encounter people who try to take you to places off the beaten path. These “helpers” are hoping for a tip for their help. Some travelers would say never follow them. I say use your wits and gut instinct. Trust but don’t be foolish.

The challenge in Cuba is that there are great restaurants and tobacco farms that aren’t obvious and you would completely overlook. We followed some of the helpers and had a better experience for it. There were some that were more persistent than I cared for, however, so you have to be adamant about not needing their help. Just know it will happen and be smart about it.

The Cuban people are loving, proud, and enjoy helping visitors learn about their country. Embrace that and enjoy what travel can do to expand your mindset about the world.