Cuba is a very mysterious country, and it is also one of the few socialist countries in the world at present. It has a very high reputation. The Cuban missile crisis happened here, and the famous Cuban cigars are world-famous. Here are some tips for Cuba's free travel.
Wandering in the streets of Havana, it suddenly occurred to me that in a chat last year, I was casually asked if I had any special places to go next year, and I did not hesitate to mention Mexico and Cuba. So I'm really a long-lasting person on the trip.
At the beginning of this year, after several waves of promotion, the airline ticket from Shanghai to Havana dropped from 5 to 4 and then to the prefix 3, so I was angry that I didn't start at the cheapest time.
but after sitting on it, I think Mohair is unexpectedly ok. Like South Africa at this time last year, going to Cuba this year is also a welcome for an economy class trip of nearly 2 hours.
Walk alone and take photos with your mobile phone all the time. (I brought a camera but never took it out)
Days without internet
It is said that Cuba was almost completely isolated from the world a few years ago, but now it is much better, but only a few specific points have internet. I'm used to opening a full list of names on my mobile phone elsewhere, but this page is often empty in Cuba.
Some high-end hotels have Internet access, and the front desk arrogantly indicated that the Internet cards are only sold to hotel guests. Most tourists and locals buy Internet cards at telecommunication offices or street vendors, and then gather in small parks to surf the Internet. The picture of a bunch of people squatting in a row playing mobile phones is beautiful.
the network card counts in hours, and the countdown starts at the moment of login, which is very expensive.
when I get used to the days without internet, I realize that I don't need to surf the internet anymore. I don't know what to do even if I connect to wifi. Thousands of group messages on WeChat jumped out bit by bit, but I didn't want to open any of them. Two days ago, I will need to check something and interrupt a few words to find a sense of existence.
On the third day, I didn't know what to do with my mobile phone, so I began to search for the names of the stars I saw last night-Orion led two hounds, big and small, chasing Taurus ahead, and the three especially bright ones were the "Winter Triangle", and the one with ice blue light was the legendary brightest Sirius in the night sky.
after that, I didn't even buy an internet card, and I felt isolated. There are not so many people looking for you, and there are not so many things to deal with. People don't need mobile phones, internet, reminiscence of the past and expectation of the future.
Havana
Latvia has gorgeous floor carvings, South Africa has colorful blocks, India has dilapidated buildings and little people who take pictures of the scenery casually, Cuba has all three, and there are old cars running all over the street.
You can choose from the colorful classic convertible cars in the downtown square. One is more coquettish than the other, and a drive is a reserved program. You can see it on the street from time to time. If you praise it a few more words, the driver will let you take pictures, which is very generous.
it's very interesting to brush the streets in Havana. After listening to the piano and mass, the square church like the traditional tourist area in the old city will not be discussed for the time being. Every alley has patches of colorful broken buildings, winding like a maze.
Rickshaws move slowly, students wearing brown school uniforms and white stockings pass by, and people queue up in front of stores like supply and marketing cooperatives to buy food and daily necessities. The shit all over the street doesn't seem so unbearable.
On the last day, I met two Chinese compatriots. They just arrived and were exhausted by the vendors chatting all over the street. Why am I seldom accosted to take a taxi, or ask for change, or sell cigars stolen from factories? Maybe I have a cold and poor face.
It's true that the Cuban people are very wild. Idle people in twos and threes sit at the door and praise your beauty (every woman passing by praises your beauty), staring at you for posturing, and blowing kisses in the street.
But there are many jokes, and there is nothing really offensive and won't pester people. I still feel safe after wandering freely in Havana for three or four days.
there is always a band playing in the roadside pub. Occasionally, I walked at night, and there were a few times when I only listened to the loud Latin American music more than ten meters away. I thought it was the legendary Cuban nightlife. A closer look shows that there is a stereo on the street. A person is a big disco, and the picture is so beautiful.
Almost all the travel notes in Havana can see these street performers
Caribbean girls who buy papaya
One little brother is holding a woodchuck, and the other little brother is carrying a fish
Cubans waiting in line to buy newspapers
Somehow, I feel that there are so many barbershops in Cuba
Hemingway has lived in Cuba for many years. Before buying FincalaVigia, a suburb of Havana, he lived in Suite 511 on the top floor of Ambos
Mundos Hotel in the old city, and wrote three books: Death in the afternoon, Castle Peak in Africa, and Although there is still nothing. The elegant green lobby of the hotel is covered with Hemingway's photos, and the room is reserved as a museum, so you can buy tickets to visit it. Hemingway's room was unexpectedly much simpler than expected. Outside the window, you could see the roofs and streets of the old city, and the walls were covered with impressionist paintings such as Manedega, with various versions of translations and typewriters and windbreakers used by writers.
Hemingway said: Mymojito Indabodeguita. Mydaiquiriinelfloridita.
These two places where he often goes to have drinks and meet friends have created two cocktails, mojito and daiquiri, and two most famous pubs in Havana.
nature is crowded with tourists inside and outside, and there are often live performances. El
there are dozens of daiquiri on floridita's wine list, which makes it difficult to choose. I wanted to order more cups and try them, but my uncle picked up tons of rum bottles and poured them in. Boy, one cup is a bit overwhelming.
most people will order the iconic DaiquiríFloridita. My cup is thePapa
Hemingway named after the author himself, with grapefruit juice and more rum added. After drinking it, I sat in under the greenwood tree in Weapons Square for more than an hour before I recovered.
Caribbean blue
Havana has a sea, but it's not a beach, it's a bay. Local children are skateboarding under the huge monument by the sea, and some people are jogging along the road by the sea. Before the old car turned a corner, there was a section of sea exposed between two broken buildings, and the wind came head on, which was amazing.
when I was in Trinidad, I went to Playa
Ancón recommended by the landlord, a beach more than ten kilometers away from the town. There are only one or two less advanced hotels for a few kilometers, and the beach itself is open to everyone for free. The sand is warm and delicate, and the layered Caribbean is like jelly.
The deep blue sea is connected with the skyline, and in the middle is the turquoise blue of robin's eggs. The innermost part is completely clear and transparent, reflecting the white sand, and the water waves are rippling in the Caribbean sun.
The local people took their families and mouths to soak in the water and drank rum from plastic cups. In twos and threes, European and American tourists changed their bikinis and swam lightly in the empty sea.
Trinidad, Night and Morning
Trinidad, a small town in central Cuba, is said to have completely preserved its features in the 19th century. It was a sunny day when it arrived, and it looked more like a hot and dry Caribbean town.
There are colorful low huts and carved gates all over the street. The main means of transportation are horse-drawn carriages, plus narrow stone paved roads. It's really like a movie. It's beautiful.
Trinidad is so small that I seem to have walked all the streets more than three times in two days. Every family runs a homestay, and few people lock the door-so in theory you can visit anyone's home.
There are as many galleries as the B&B, with large and small paintings hanging all over the walls, and occasionally amazing works.
Sunrise and sunset, moonlit starry sky, can't be completely recorded by photos, and can't be completely described by words. Sitting on the stone steps near the church, drinking Cuban beer, the sunset reflected red clouds, and the band played, people danced salsa. After dinner, it was completely dark, and they went back to the rooftop of the hotel to sit in a rocking chair and listen to songs. The breeze brushed their faces, and the night was gentle. The moonlight lit up half the sky, and the other half could see the sparse stars. The night sky was like a dome, like a rush.
Life without internet is very simple, and you can get up early if you go to bed early. At half past six, before dawn, I climbed onto the rooftop and put out the light. The moon had already set, and I was accompanied by the starry sky, and Orion was clearly visible. Horseshoe dada, dog barking, rooster crowing of dozens of families in the neighborhood one after another, and mountains and low-altitude clouds emerged in the distance. When the morning star lights up in the east and gradually disappears in the morning light, the sky becomes bright and unreal pink blue.
then it's breakfast time. I didn't book a place to stay in Cuba for the next few days, so I asked the driver to take it to his acquaintance's homestay. The old couple can't speak English. I am the only guest in this family.
The small rooftop is paved with a diagonal tablecloth, with omelets and fresh fruits. Guava tastes rustling and there are hard snacks like peach cakes.
The peddler peddled bread along the street with sacks on his back, and saw the landlord sticking out his head and buying two pieces, which quickly turned into a bread basket cut on the table, coffee, hot milk and honey, with a large bundle of freshly squeezed mango juice.
The Chinese picture was eaten at an unknown rest stop halfway. A common snack in Cuba, the roast pork sandwich
The blue anchor is the symbol of the hotel. Almost every family in Trinidad has
cigar shops
Adventures
I was so busy with work before going out that I only booked the accommodation for the first three nights in a hurry and made a strategy at the airport. As a result, I found that airbnb in Cuba could not be booked on my mobile phone during my trip
(. _? A: You need to fill in something extra. In Lithuania, where there was no language barrier, no strategy and no internet, I thought it was a great adventure. Four years later, in the face of Cuba, which has no strategy, no internet language and is even more impassable (and seems to be more dangerous), it is also alone, more calm, and its intuition and discretion for the unknown are much more accurate than then.
Some of the things I eat in Cuba these days, many high-end restaurants are full of flies, so I need to keep rushing while eating, while implying that they have never climbed before. The one on the right of Xiang
is a local shop that follows the driver. The pork is soft and rotten, and it is delicious!
In Trinidad, the landlord showed me a small park where I could take the bus to the beach. The departure time is not fixed, the boarding place is not fixed, and the conductor doesn't know what it is. After two days of squatting, he really didn't find out the logic and had to give up.
inexplicably, I got on a broken taxi without a seat belt. The driver's uncle couldn't speak a word in English, and he soared to 9 yards on the suburban highway, overtaking several carriages.
On the return trip, it rained wildly as soon as I got on the bus. I shook my hand for a long time and barely rolled up the window by half. Then rain began to leak from the broken car, and water droplets dripped from various unknown places. While driving, I wiped the water on the windshield with a rag. It was raining and foggy in front of me, but the speed did not decrease (no seat belt! )。
The driver gestured to take a detour to a neighboring town, drove to a local rural village, stopped in front of a dilapidated building and roared Spanish. A woman came out and took some banknotes and drove back to Trinidad.
On the way, the driver also showed me his own home. There was water all the way, and from time to time, a splash half the height of the car body was splashed. I was forced all the time.
there are two kinds of coconuts in Cuba: Turkish coke, frozen chocolate and Cuban beer.
The local people stand a few cents a cup of iced lemonade.
Later, they carpooled back to Havana with three strong Cuban men and lived in 23rd Street in Vedado, a new city. Let the driver get off at the intersection, take a screenshot of Spanish translation such as "I don't have a reservation, can I have a room tonight", and follow the sign of the blue anchor's homestay to find a pleasing home to ring the doorbell. The host was as surprised as she learned that I had to rely on the verbal agreement to find a car on the street to go to the airport at four o'clock the next morning when I met an unexpected guest who didn't speak Spanish.
the food stall in Havana, do you think I ate it?
local bus in Havana
23rd Street is close to the University of Havana, and there are many locals and students, which is totally different from the old city. I punched a card in Coppelia, one of the most famous ice cream shops in the world, and then I fell in love with the local bus that no tourists wanted to take.
Peek at the passenger in front to buy a ticket, one peso per trip, no Spanish, no route, get on when you see a car, and get off when you look at the gps and think the route is off. The feeling of not knowing where to go is very exciting.
that evening, I got on a bus at the gate of the museum. Then the car drove out of the city through the bay and stopped at a toll station by the sea. I took a photo of the beach at sunset and took another bus back to the city across the road.
It's like eating something at a roadside stall with local people. Put a handful of coins in the palm of your hand and let the other person pick out the correct amount. Just like a black car driver will take the initiative to offer a return trip to pick up another business;
It's like talking about a taxi on the street and picking it up at the appointed time and place; Just like not following the established plan, there will be solutions to various situations.
After going through some places, I realized that traveling is not based on homework and language, but on intuition and instinct. Instead of preparing everything in great detail, I prefer to follow the laws of the world and listen to the voice of the world half a world away.
above.
(The gameplay is casual, so please don't follow suit easily. It is recommended to do a good job in the raiders and book the whole journey)
Air ticket/visa:
Mohair Shanghai-Mexico City-Havana, with a stopover in Tijuana on the border between the United States and Mexico, and common domestic departures include Aeroflot (connecting in Moscow) and Air Canada (connecting in Toronto)
Mexico needs to go through customs for connecting flights, showing a valid American visa or other mainstream developed countries. The ingredients are simple
food and drink:
ElChanchullero, Havana: pork ribs are delicious without English menu
lampallilatapas &; Cervezas, Havana: 15 yuan for a grilled lobster and a large cocktail
LaBotija, Trinidad: tapas are cheap and full of wine, and the wine is very strong
LaBodeguitaDelMedio: translated as a five-cent pub, famous for mojito
ElFloridita: translated as Little Florida, Famous for daiquiri
Lodging:
Hotels that can be booked in Cuba are very few and expensive, and basically depend on hotels. airbnb booked or landed to find
NievesHouse, Vedado, Havana(Airbnbid1417435): the hotel I broke into on 23rd Street
Currency and price:
COC. The exchange rate of the former is close to that of the US dollar. All ATMs in Cuba can use UnionPay cards to withdraw cuc, and cuc can be exchanged for local cup in banks for roadside stalls. It is cheaper to use cup when dealing with some hawker drivers. < P > B&B: book 3-4 in advance, find 2-25 when landing, and add 5
transportation for breakfast: Havana Airport carpools 2 to downtown, but does not carpool 25, and takes a taxi for about one kilometer in the city.