Cuba Diary - Havana and some last Tips

So here it is, my last Cuba post, loaded with lots of Havana pics and some final tips for you! If you ever decide to travel to Cuba and not stay in an expensive hotel, you should consider some of these things...

• Don't expect to get anywhere with your English. I was very thankful to speak Spanish fluently, all Cubans were talking to me in their own language. Except for the one time I spoke English with a Canadian tourist, I only talked Spanish for three weeks. I recommend you to travel with at least one Spanish speaking person! English didn't help much and negotiating with the Cubans is much easier in their own language, it can actually help you get a cheaper vacation ;-)

• Wifi is a foreign word on Cuba! My blogger identity was extremely challenged during our three week stay, in fact, I wasn't even a blogger at that time. In Cuba's capital Havana we only found two Wifi spots in luxury hotels, but the only time we tried to connect to the internet it didn't work very well and was also quite expensive. I lived 21 days without social media and whatsapp, so no contact to my family and friends - a totally new and interesting experience for me! It was actually not as tough as some of you might think, it was a relief not to check the phone every minute, not to hear from anybody and just concentrate on the "real life"... the wonderful vacation with my boyfriend.

• There are two different official currencies on Cuba, the Cuban convertible peso (CUC, also referred to as the "dollar") and the Cuban peso (CUP, also called moneda nacional)! We tried to pay as much as we could with the national currency (CUP, pesos) because it was way cheaper, that's the money most Cubans pay with. Only tourist buses, sights or restaurants have to be paid in CUC, which is very similar to the euro and therefore more expensive (almost the same prices as in Europe).

• Havana stands still, also regarding information and service! There were days I got really mad and was a little overwhelmed with the bad organization of the tourism service. If you book an all inclusive trip, you're totally fine. But if you don't plan ahead, it's quite difficult to find transportation, cheap housing or service in general. We always depended on help from the locals, which was actually very interesting and enriching.

• I recommend you to download the app City Maps 2Go Pro. You gotta pay for maps in hotels and the app provides you with a gps system and an overview of all the cities you're interested in. The app saved us a lot of time looking for specific sights and we could also track our daily walks and bus tours.

• Don't forget to pack sanitizer, all kinds of cosmetics and all the medicine you need, plus mosquito spray! Cuban pharmacies and drug stores are definitely not what you expect them to be like!

• Don't expect running hot water in Cuba. Means, don't expect any luxury when traveling as an adventurer. Cuban houses don't offer all the things you know from home, and sometimes you just gotta take a cold shower ;-) 

• Come well organized, because you can't ask the internet for help once on Cuba, haha! Don't bring too much luggage, most of the streets are pretty bad and my boyfriend surely hated me a little for taking so much stuff that we needed a suitcase... sorry, babe! 

• Travel with a man! Not just to avoid whistling and turning heads on the street, but because water bottles are just really heavy on the back all day, haha.

• Wear some old sneakers or other comfy shoes that you don't care about much. Especially in Havana your feet will get pretty dirty ;-)

• Safety tips - always keep your money with you, keep your phone and camera close. We left our passports in our rooms, where they were always safe, but took copies with us.

• Take some napkins, plastic forks and knives, and some salt and pepper. No joke, it would have made me very happy if someone had told me before. I was craving some salt and pepper after eating plain tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers without any spices or dressings for three weeks!

As you can see, there are some things you should consider when traveling to Cuba. But I'm pretty sure my photos showed you that it's definitely worth a visit! Now that I'm back in Germany, heading to Mallorca soon, it seems so unreal that my daily life started with just one piece of bread, and some pineapple and guayaba fruit, that I couldn't drink milk or eat a yummy pizza whenever I wanted, that I survived two food poisonings and a cold without any medicine, and that our days only consisted of sightseeing and going on adventures at the beach. Well, these are the kind of stories I'm gonna tell my kids later! All about our chaotic, adventurous and marvelous trip to Cuba!

Cuba Diary - Havana and Housing

My lovely readers, I'm back! Tanned, happy, 3 kg lighter and with loads of photos for you guys!
My boyfriend and I spent three pretty exhausting but adventurous and very enriching weeks on Cuba and we just got back to Mallorca a few days ago. As you can imagine I took millions of photos, so I decided to publish a Cuba diary on my blog with lots of pics and travel tips for you guys.
So let's start right away with the first post of my Cuba diary series...

First day
I'm done! 27 degrees, humidity, people everywhere, 6 hours walking - hello there, Havana!
Our first day in Cuba was a little exhausting but even more exciting! After just 5 hours of sleep (hello jet lag!) we decided to check out Cuba's capital by foot leaving early in the morning after a nice Cuban breakfast with lots of fruit and a yummy tortilla. A pretty good decision, since you get to decide where to go, when to stop, plus you meet the most interesting people and don't miss any details. However, we didn't plan that 6 hour walk, it just happened cause we wanted to see EVERYTHING! There's sooo much to see in Havana, I didn't expect the city to be so huge! Colorful houses, antique cars, cafés, loud restaurants, Cuban street life, the ocean... One day is definitely not enough to see all of Havana's hidden treasures. I gotta admit I was quite overwhelmed that first day. Tired, sweating, longing to see more and more and more.
We were pretty much done after our flight, the first night and six hour city tour but still wanted to go out at night. Eventually, it was the only night we went out during our vaca, haha! My boyfriend knows a Mallorquin guy whose dad lives on Cuba, he was so nice to take us out that day cause we didn't get to know Havana really well on the first day. So we went for pizza in his neighborhood called La Playa, one of Havana's nicer areas. We also wanted to head to a new it club called FAC (Fábrica de Arte Cubano) but the line was way too long, I would have fallen asleep just waiting to get in so we actually decided to call it a night and head home, haha. That was pretty much our first day on Cuba. 

Housing
We just arrived the night before, February 27th, and after 10 hours in the plane WITHOUT TV (thanks Air Europa!) we were pretty much done. In addition to that we didn't book any hotel or vacation house in advance, we just kinda let us surprise to see what will happen once we arrive. Thank God we met this nice Spanish couple on the plane (a quirky hippie girl and her timid best friend) who helped us out. We shared a cab that took us from the airport to Havana's center for 25 CUC (~25€) and asked the lady who owned their vacation house for help. Fortunately her friend, a lovely Cuban señora had a room for us. Cuba works like that - you just go by recommendation. Be on the lookout for blue anchor symbols that are printed on stickers or signs on the front door and you'll find a room to rent or even a small apartment. (Watch out for red anchors, those are rooms for Cubans and you, as a tourist, are not allowed to legally stay in those houses!) If the room is taken the Cuban house owner will gladly help you out and send you to a friend's house. That's how we found our first apartment. 
A pretty spacious bedroom, clean bathroom, plus a little kitchen with a big table and fridge - all that for 25 CUC per night, which is about 25€, not too bad I'd say (you can see some pics of our first apartment at the end of this post). So this is how we lived on Cuba for three weeks - moving from one house to the other, sometimes staying only one night, sometimes three or more.

Let me explain you how this works. The rooms or apartments are actually part of the host's house, you practically live in the same house with a Cuban family. We chose this type of accommodation because it is the most low priced and authentic one. You don't only experience the Cuban lifestyle first-hand and get to meet lovely people, you also save a lot of money when you're en route for a while just like us. The prices varied from 32€ (our most expensive but not very comfy stay) to only 15€ per night, my boyfriend is a pro at negotiating ;-) All in all I was pretty content with the rooms and apartments we rented, it's surely a "cheap" housing when you stay on Cuba for more than a week. The houses were always safe, most of the owners were very kind, helpful and polite, and the rooms were mostly clean. There were only two times that we were missing running water, which is actually a common thing on Cuba.
I can tell, it was not always easy for me to switch houses, once you get to settle down a little you already have to look for a new house in a new city which can be quite stressful but hey... living like that was surely one of my greatest adventures so far!

Anyway, now you know how we spent our first day in Havana, where we slept and how we could afford spending three weeks on Cuba!

Whew, I think I haven't written that much since I left New York City! But I thought it would be a great idea to leave you some information including lots of pics so you get to know the Cuban lifestyle better. Plus, I wanna give you loads of tips in case you decide to travel to Cuba yourself after seeing all my colorful pics ;-) I hope you enjoy the first post of my Cuba diary! xoxo

Cuban food 

Every single day we were eating those galletas (crackers) because food shopping was so difficult!

Cuban street food - rice with fresh soy beans and spices

The center of Havana

El Capitolio

El Malecón habanero

El Malecón is a broad esplanade and roadway which stretches for about 8 km along the coast in Havana

Our first home for 4 days

Cuban breakfast with tortilla and guayaba marmalade

Out of the Night you burn, Manhattan

Hey guys, today you get to see some night-shots of the concrete jungle!
I took these photos all around Manhattan - some in Soho, others in Tribeca, most of them in Midtown. Some from a rooftop, in the park, on the street or even in the bus.
Nothing left to stay - sleep well, Manhattan ;-)