Welcome to Cuba

We’ve learned that things work very differently in Cuba: For a start, there are two currencies and the tourists use a different currency to the locals (we’re still trying to understand that). The ATMs don’t accept (our) debit cards and instead, we’ve had to make cash advances with our credit card (and even then, the credit card was stopped after just initial withdrawals because the bank figured some Cuban was making fraudulent withdrawals). The internet is off limits for Cubans and as such it’s very difficult to get access anywhere (hence lack of blog updates recently). There are no hostels and backpackers instead tend to stay in “Casa’s” i.e. in people’s homes. These factors contributed to make our time in Cuba a little more interesting than we had expected.

Our entry into Havana was a bit surreal to say the least. We had no Cuban currency and intended to withdraw from the ATM when we got there. However, the three ATMs in the airport were out of service so we changed what little Mexican money we had left into CUCs (Cuba’s “tourist” currency) and took a taxi to Nelson’s house. Nelson is a local who offers his Casa to backpackers and was recommended to us by Nora (Conor’s sister) who had been there a few years ago. We arrived on his door, without a reservation and with practically no money. He proved to be a very helpful and interesting guy.

He was about to rush out to his weekly musical fix – not Cuban salsa but rock n roll surprisingly – and suggested we go along with him....even though we had no money, he offered to look after us. So after only a few hours of arriving in the country, we find ourselves in a city centre Night Club with blacked out windows (to block out the strong Cuban afternoon sun) dancing away to a fantastic live band playing perfect renditions of 50’s and 60’s rock n roll, with a guy we just met buying us beers. Afterwards, he loaned us some more money and sent us off to a local restaurant to go and get some dinner.

The next morning, Nelson gave us a map, a guide book, and helped us work out what to do during our 2-week stay in Cuba. He then set out a suggested walking tour of Old Town Havana.

You can imagine, we liked Cuba immediately :)

Nelson!