Home From Cuba
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:00 pm
Go! Just returned Saturday after a week in Havana with Global Volunteers. Anyone can go, so go! I'd recommend flying JetBlue, they seem the most well-represented.
DefinitelyDressage.com
A place for dressage individuals to gather
http://definitelydressage.com/
Home From Cuba
Page 1 of 1
Re: Home From Cuba
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:14 pm
I want to go! More details please!
Re: Home From Cuba
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:55 pm
It was the the start of their cool season - so only in the high 80's and low 90's. We were in a neighborhood just west of downtown Havana, about a ten minute drive. Weird combination of both low-income homes and just a block away, Embassy Row on 5th Ave. Our Casa(B&B) served a great breakfast, the room was small but clean and comfortable, food everywhere was good and plentiful. The water isn't safe for tourists to drink, so our rule was if you got a drink with ice, you HAD to drink it quickly! 
About 40% of the cars on the road date between 1935 and 1960. Half of those are gussied up and used as taxis. This however, means they still burn leaded gas and if you get a few blocks from the coast, the air pollution is significant.
I never felt unsafe, even walking just a few of us in a little bit of a sketchy neighborhood in the dark.
Canadians make up 40% of their tourists, Mexicans, French, and Germans combine to make the bulk of the rest.
It's really CHEAP still: A half hour ride to the airport cost 10 CUCs (Kooks), about $11. Dinners cost about the same. Drinks were about 3 CUCs A fifth of rum, 5 CUCs.
English is taught in elementary schools, but not many older folks speak it. Tourism is where the big money is, so the country is going to experience a brain-drain as teachers ($20-$40/month) and other professionals move into tourism.
What else?
About 40% of the cars on the road date between 1935 and 1960. Half of those are gussied up and used as taxis. This however, means they still burn leaded gas and if you get a few blocks from the coast, the air pollution is significant.
I never felt unsafe, even walking just a few of us in a little bit of a sketchy neighborhood in the dark.
Canadians make up 40% of their tourists, Mexicans, French, and Germans combine to make the bulk of the rest.
It's really CHEAP still: A half hour ride to the airport cost 10 CUCs (Kooks), about $11. Dinners cost about the same. Drinks were about 3 CUCs A fifth of rum, 5 CUCs.
English is taught in elementary schools, but not many older folks speak it. Tourism is where the big money is, so the country is going to experience a brain-drain as teachers ($20-$40/month) and other professionals move into tourism.
What else?
Re: Home From Cuba
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:13 pm
Excellent!
So you volunteered to meet one of the categories for travel?
Might be worth using my UK passport...
So you volunteered to meet one of the categories for travel?
Might be worth using my UK passport...
Re: Home From Cuba
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 10:43 pm
I did. But I met several other Americans and know the daughter of a friend who went simply as tourists. There is paperwork the airlines gave me to fulfill the Visa purchase ($50 with JetBlue), and the recommendation is to fill in as a reason to visit, "people to people". Cuba wants you to have additional insurance, JetBlue includes it as the price of a ticket. Fly with them. ANYBODY can go. Cuba wants us, and this administration has bigger problems on its hands than to worry about who vacations where. 