Cuba!

For our mid semester break, there were a few options that we could do. 1) Travel to Bocas del Toro Panama. 2) Go to Cuba and earn some credits. 3)Plan a trip on your own. I went with the Cuba Field Study ooption which meant for five days, I would be studying in Cuba!

Before the trip, we had an orientation on Sunday to go over all the details, rules, itinerary, and meet everyone who was going. There were five students from San Ramon, 3 students from the Puntarenas program, Don Carlos (the head of the program), two other USAC staff members, a couple, and someone from the State Department. We were leaving by bus to head to the airport in San Jose at 2:00am, so everyone stayed in San Ramon for the night.

A street in Old Havana. In the background is the rest of our group.

Day 1: Arrival and Old Havana

On the first day, we woke up bright at early at 1:30 a.m. to hop on a bus that would take us to the airport. After a very quick layover in the crowded Panama City airport, we arrived in Cuba around 1:00 p.m. Walking out of the airport, my very first impression of Cuba was that it is very hot and humid, smells like gasoline, and there really are vintage cars everywhere. Even from the drive from the airport to our place in Old Havana, I noticed horse pulled carts, cars from the 1950s, and old trains and ferries.

When we first got dropped off in the square outside of our apartments, I could not believe what I was seeing. The square was so beautiful and it reminded me so much of the squares in Italy. Before coming, I did a lot of research and looked at many photos. Of course I saw all the colorful buildings of Havana in those pictures, but for some reason I had assumed that was just in one part of the city. These colorful colonial style buildings were on every block and every corner, with each one looking different than the last. I got to see more of this as we went on our walking tour. It wasn’t until this tour that I figured out we were staying in Old Havana. I was really grateful for this because although a fancy hotel room would have been nice and comfortable, it was a once in a lifetime experience to live as a local Cuban would for a few days.

Un Gato outside our apartment. He had one eye

The walking tour was incredibly interesting and because I am a fan of Ernest Hemingway, I really enjoyed visiting all the places he visited and seeing where he lived and drank what he would have drank when he was there. This tour was also really great because it was led by two Cubans and was entirely in Spanish. This gave me the chance to refresh my language skills and learn about the city through the eyes of people who live there. Our last stop of the tour was at Hotel Mundo Ambassador, which is where Hemingway lived for three years while he was in Cuba. After taking an old school metal gated elevator to the roof, we were able to see the whole city of Havana and get a mojito where Hemingway drank mojitos (I think I was the only one who thought this was cool).

A church we went to on the walking tour

After the tour, we walked to dinner and I was pleasantly surprised over the quality of food. I have been to countries without potable water before and usually you have to be just as careful with the food as you are with the water. This didn’t seem to be the case because the food was beautiful and surprisingly tasty. Our night didn’t end here, however. After dinner we went to get drinks in the square in front of our apartments. While we were here, we were handed a flyer for an underground club. After a while, we went to go check it out only to find out we needed ids and money to get in. After we left here, we wandered over to the Malecon with some alcohol in hand. I did not drink, but I went along with the group because I did not want to sit in the apartment when there was a whole city left to see. I was surprised at how safe I felt out at night, even as my smaller group walked home at the end of the night.

A pretty yellow building with orange flowers

Day 2: Casa de Africa Lectures and Dinner with Cuban Family

The next morning was our day of lectures in the Casa de Africa. After a breakfast prepared in our apartments by a Cuban lady, we met the group and headed over to the museum. These lectures were also taught in Spanish by the same couple that gave us the walking tour. For a while, I struggled to keep up with what they were saying. It was hot and I was having a hard time focusing. After some initial translations with the help of Richard, I was able to follow along with what they were saying. Everything was interesting because they had artifacts both from African tribes and nations and from early colonial life in Cuba. The guides explained the history and influence of African cultures in Cuba and how they contributed to the Afro-Caribbean culture that is still present today. At the end of the lecture was a performance of the traditional African dance and music

Traditional African dance and music

After the first lecture, we took a break for lunch. Today we ate Cuban food at a Chinese restaurant. Again, the food was really tasty and for dessert, there was flan. After lunch we had another lecture. This time it was focused on Cuba in the 19th and 20th centuries. The professor walked through the history including the beginning of agriculture and tobacco plantations, when the American mafia ran Cuba, and the famous Revolution. This museum was very interactive and made learning this information really interesting. After this lesson, we were given a couple hours of free time.

This was the first chance that we got to explore, so a few of us walked the few blocks to the capitol. This was probably my favorite part of the city. On the way there we passed many historic buildings and lots of street vendors selling local art and souvenirs. Just a couple blocks before the capitol was the Floridita. This is another famous bar and is also one of Hemingway's favorite spots. I was the only one who went inside and I am glad that I did. It was incredibly crowded but there was so much history to the place. There were old photographs on the walls and bartenders in old school uniforms serving up mojitos. I loved this place.

The Floridita

After the bar, we walked over to the capitol building. It was very obvious which one it was because it was modelled after the capitol building in Washington D.C., ironically enough. This was also where I saw the most vintage cars. I noticed most of them were just taxis, which makes sense with the gas shortage, but it still made for a great picture. While most of the group left after this part, I stayed around with a couple others. We sat of the steps and just watched the city go by for a while. Finally, Sophia whom was with us mentioned how she loved the dilapidated building across the street. At first I thought she was joking, who would find a torn down building in ruins to be beautiful? Then she explained how she loved seeing the remnants of the interior design aspects, the layers of paint peeling away and the remains of doorways and trimmings that told a story of the people who had lived there before and the lives they might have led. After she had mentioned this, I began to look at every building a different way. The old building on the corner was not run down and in need of repair; instead, it was evidence of old architecture that is strong enough to withstand history, time, and the harsh climate. As we walked away from the capitol building down to the Malecon, I noticed this everywhere. Not just in the buildings, but also in the people. These people whose lives I thought were miserable because of their government we laughing in the street and dancing along to the music that they were creating in the moment. It was beautiful and I loved with long walk because of it.

Capitol building with some old cars

After the break, we had our dance lesson. I have nine years of dance experience and almost half a semester of Latin American Dances class, so it did not take long for me to pick up the steps and rhythm. I loved learning Cuban Salsa and it is probably my favorite style of dance now.

Around 7:00, after our lecture and another short break, we went to the house of our guides for a Cuban family dinner. This dinner made me realize that I had made the right decision in choosing this field study. Even if I were to travel to Cuban on my own, I would never be able to have the same experience that I had while on this particular trip. I did not know it at the time, but our guide was the son of Che Guevara's best friend. When we met his mom, it was like meeting a very important piece of history. This is still the coolest part of the trip for me. Not only did we meet them, but famous cinematographer Fernando Perez joined us for dinner. For a while we ate and played with the grandchildren, but after a while we sat around and listened to the stories that Fernando Perez had to share. Everyone was silent as we were trying to take in everything he said. It all seemed very important and interesting.

Selfie with Fernando Perez

Around 9:30, it was time to go even though I don’t think any of us really wanted to leave. On our last stop of the day, we went to Hotel Nacional Cuba. This fancy hotel was historically run by the American mafia and has hosted many celebrities from around the world, including Walt Disney. It was nice to live luxuriously at this hotel, even for just a couple of hours. As the clock struck 11, we no longer had the taxis and headed home to our apartments for the night.

Hotel Nacional Cuba

Day 3: Regla, Malecon, and Cananzo Ceremony

For our third day, the plan was to visit the neighborhood of Regla, have our final lecture at Casa de Africa and visit the Canonazo ceremony. We began the morning with another breakfast at the apartment. Since I was the first one up and the only one awake when the lady came, I took the time to practice my Spanish with her. I was surprised at how easy it was to talk with her, especially after a couple of days full of Spanish. After we all got ready, we headed out towards the ferry where we met with Dr. Jose Matos, our professor for the day. The ferry we boarded was very humble. It kind of looked like the inside of a shipping container with small barred windows, no seats, and only hand rails. It reminded me of a public bus. When we got to Regla, I understood the importance of visiting this neighborhood. While Havana is very beautiful, I could tell that the locals struggle.

Church with aspects of Christianity and Santa Maria

Here in Regla, were no tourists visit and where the Cubans live, the poverty is very present. Our first stop was just outside the ferry where we visited a local church. Despite the humble neighborhood, this church was very grand. All the walls were blue with gold trimmings, but the most interesting thing I noticed is despite being a Catholic church, the depiction of God was of a black woman in a full gown. I really enjoyed this aspect because it represented the people more. The people in town were people of color and they worshiped and believe all kinds of things that were different than what is known as traditional.

After the church, we went to a type of grocery store where the citizens exchange their ration cards for items such as milk, bread, and sugar. This part was sad for me because the store looked incredibly old fashioned, like one you would see when visiting an old pioneer town, except it was still fully functioning. It was dusty, hot, and barely had anything on the shelves. What was worse though was the sad kitten just outside who was crying for food. Eventually, we made our way to a bookstore. All the books here were extremely cheap. While others looked around the small space, I was talking with the professor about why the books were so cheap. He explained that it was because Cubans valued education and wanted to make learning accessible for everyone. Once everyone was done, we boarded back on the ferry and went to eat lunch at a pizza place.

Outside of the bookstore

When lunch was over, we had a bike tour of Havana to the Malecon. The Malecon is the famous street in Cuban that runs alongside the ocean. I really like this place in particular because in the Fast and Furious series, Fate of the Furious specifically, the opening car race scene takes place on this road. After the hikes dropped us off, we had a couple of hours of free time. Most people went back to the apartment, but my friend Chisato and I decided to walk around and explore a little. We walked farther down the Malecon for a while. While we were walking, a man started walking beside us and talking to us. There was not anything threatening about him except every time someone had talked to us before, they wanted something from us so we assumed this was also the case. He found out that Chisato was Japanese and knew a little of the language, so he told us that he was a tour guide for Japanese tourists. Chisato taught him a few phrases in Japanese. He was really grateful and gave each of a Cuban peso as a souvenir. This was actually the first positive experience I had with someone on the streets. After that, we ended up on the same street that led to the capitol building, so we walked back that way. One the way, we stopped to look into some of the shops. There was one store with really cool art and they made us a deal. We decided to come back later to get it, with hope that we would have free time again.

Bike tour

Our fourth and final lecture was held at Casa de Africa again. This lecture was on the Revolution in Cuba taught by Professor Ariel Camejo. He gave an honest and unbiased talk on the Revolution from start to finish. Despite being hot and tired, it was easy to follow along and stay awake.

For dinner, we went to a little hole in the wall place. I had the best ravioli of my life here, and I’ve been to Italy where pasta was born. Once dinner was over, we headed to the other side of the bay where the fort was. Here is where they do the Canonazo ceremony. This ceremony is symbolic of past military exercises where they would fire a cannonball out of a cannon. We arrived around 7:30 and the ceremony was not set to start until 9:00, so we took the time to shop around the vendors display. For the most part, they sold a lot of the same stuff. I did end up getting a cigar box, some rum and a couple of cigars, but I liked the stuff sold on the street near the capitol building a lot more.

Amazing raviolis

It was easy to tell when the ceremony was about to start because all the tourists arrived and started moving towards the back of the fort. I followed them and ended up on top of one of the walls right in front of the cannon. There was a big grand ceremony accompanying the cannon where the soldiers marched up and chanted some things. They then put on a little show of loading the cannon. When it was time to fire it, they dimmed all the other lights. I tried to cover my ears because I realized it was going to be loud when it shot off, but I was too late. The cannon fired so quickly and for a few moments after I couldn’t hear. There was a lot of waiting and standing around, but it was worth it to see the cannon be shot. When it was over, we met out front again and took a taxi home where we ended our night.

Havana from the Canonazo Ceremony

Day 4: Plaza de Revolucion and Playa del Este

Our fourth day in Cuba would also be our last day in Havana. On the itinerary, we were set to visit Plaza de Revolucion, Universidad de Havana, and Playas del Este. After a slightly earlier start to the day, we headed out in our taxis and drive about 20 minutes to the Plaza de Revolucion. This is a very important place because it is where Fidel Castro would give his speeches to the public. The plaza itself is actually just one big parking lot, but surrounding it are tributes to the three historical figures: Jose Marti, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos. There is a big statue and tower for Jose Marti. On the steps of this monument is where Fidel Castro and other political figures gave their speeches. On the other side of the square are the silhouettes of Che with the saying “Hasta la Victoria Siempre” and Camilo Cienfuegos, Fidel’s best friend, who says “Vas Bien, Fidel”. When Castro was in charge, he declared that he did not want anything commemorating him, so there are no paintings, statues, or icons of him in Cuba. We also met up with Fernando Perez again here where he gave us a little history lesson. After about an hour here, we headed over to the university on our way back.

Both figures with the flag in the middle. Che Guevara is on the left

The Universidad de Havana is the official college of Cuba. It is located in a newer area of the city and includes very nice buildings and architecture. We stopped here briefly to look around the buildings and see what student life is like in this country. For the most part, it looked like any other prestigious university, with students chatting and studying everywhere. While the buildings and gardens were very beautiful, I glanced in the classroom and noticed that they were incredibly small with old desks and chalkboard. Education is important to Cuba and the university is free to attend for students, but there needed to be more funding.

Inside of one of the university buildings. There is a bust of the founder and a big tree in the middle

The plan for the rest of the day was to go to the beach for lunch and the afternoon and head back to Havana for dinner. We ate lunch at a very bad seafood restaurant on the beach. I was scared to eat my fish because it smelled incredibly fishy, so I mostly ate plantain chips and rice. After changing in the restaurant bathroom, we headed to the beach which was about 30 meters away past some small sand dunes.

The first thing I noticed was the water. It was very blue and changed from a light turquoise to a dark blue about 100 meters of the coast. This indicated a reef system, but it was too far to swim to. Overall, we had three hours to stay at the beach and I probably spend two of those in the water. It was so clear and warm and the sand was so soft under my toes. It also stayed relatively shallow for a while, so I was able to walk way out into the ocean. It was really relaxing being here, until we were about to leave. Me and a couple people were headed back out to take pictures and swim one more time when we saw two people get arrested on the beach for seemingly no reason. The police were everywhere, even the beach and unlike in other countries, they aren’t really trustworthy. After this incident, we stayed very clear of the officers and tried out best to mind our own business. When it was time to go, I got ice cream on the way out and hopped back on the bus to go back to Havana.

Beautiful beach

By the time we got back into the city, it was almost 5. For the rest of the day we basically had free time. Don Carlos gave each of us $15 to eat dinner at a place of our choosing. Me and my friend Chisato wanted to go back to the place we saw the art, so we went that direction. By the time we were done shopping for souvenirs, we were pretty close to the capitol building so we decided to eat around that area. We ended up settling at the restaurant that was connected to the Floridita. Surprisingly, it was pretty cheap and really tasty.

The restaurant we went to

There was an optional dance event that night where Don Carlos arranged with our dance instructor from Tuesday to take us to a Cuban salsa dance club. I had a great time learning it so I decided to go, along with most of the other students. We got there kind of early, so there was not a whole lot of dancing for a while. However, after an hour it got really busy and there were plenty of people to dance with. It was a little hard to pick up at first because I kept dancing with experts who like spinning and complicated steps, but after a while I picked it up. This was probably one of my favorite parts from the trip. It was so much fun dancing with all those Cuban people and Latin music!

Salsa dancing in Cuba!

It got to eleven and we split up since some people wanted to stay and others wanted to go. I chose to go home since we had an early start to the day. Our taxi home was the first time that we took a random taxi from the street and it was kind of rough. We didn’t know what our neighborhood was called so we had to direct him in Spanish and his car was pretty run down. We got home eventually though and I promptly went to bed.

Day 5: Vinales and Horseback Riding

Valley of Vinales

On our last full day in Cuba, we woke up a little extra early to take a taxi about two hours away to the town of Vinales. It was about a three hour drive with us stopping twice. The first time we stopped was just for a bathroom break, but already I could tell the differences between Vinales and Havana. The housing structures were made out of more natural materials like straw and wood, there were more livestock around, and it kind of had the feel of a swamp to it. The second stop was at a lookout into the valley where we saw all the beautiful mountain structures and trees everywhere.

View from the rest stop

Right before we got to the place we would be staying, we stopped to eat at a restaurant that had a platform overlooking the valley. It was an incredible place to eat lunch (despite the food not being the best) because we got to look at the valley while we ate. I spent the whole time watching the large migratory birds catch pockets of air up and fly away. This restaurant also had lots of cute cats and dogs wandering around and really pretty flowing trees.

Around 2:00, we arrived in the town of Vinales. Like before in Havana, we were staying in apartments. They were a little different this time, however. Before, it was just apartment that were rented out similarly to an AirBnB. In Vinales however, we stayed with a family in their detached garage/room area. It was surprisingly really nice accomadations with much comfier beds than in Havana. We stayed two per house all over the neighborhood. The host families here were also really nice and accomadating.

Horseback riding

After settling in, we went horseback riding. The ride overall took about two hours. We started off a little ways out of the city and hoped on our horses. We went through some trails in the valley that were really beautiful. During the ride, we got some up close looks at the beautiful, weirdly shaped mountains. It was such a peaceful ride and my horse was really easy to control. About halfway through, we stop at a small farm. The farmer showed us around and walked us through the process of harvesting coffee beans, tobacco, and even stingless bee honey the Cuban way. After the tour we sat around and had coffee with his family while he let us try his homemade rum and honey. I ended up buy a (actual recycled water) bottle of honey for my Bed Club. After the farm, we took a different route back to the place we started.

Stingless Bee Honey!

When we got back, we had a little bit of free time before dinner. There was not really anything to do, so I took a nap (kind of by accident). For dinner, we went to a family owned restaurant where we ate traditional Cuban food family style. Food in Vinales is just not as good as food in Havana, but I loaded up on plenty of rice, plantains, vegetables, and chicken. Later, after dinner, we decided we didn't want to just sit around our rooms (and we all wanted to use some wifi, Vinales really did not have any anywhere except at two restaurants in town) so we went out for drinks. At 10 we all got tired though and went back to go to bed.

Day 6: Tobacco Plantation and Departure

Today was the day we would leave Cuba. Our plan for the day was to eat breakfast early at our apartment and head to the airport, with a quick stop at a tobacco plantation in Vinales and a restaurant for lunch near Havana. The tobacco plantation was interesting, but we were mostly just there to buy cigars. The man who runs this particular plantation is famous all over the work. He was really cool and he showed us how to roll cigars from the tobacco leaves. Before we left, he offered us some rum (at like 9 in the morning!) and some cigars. He also had many cool animals on his property, including climbing tree rats, pigs, and many dogs.

Me pretending to smoke a cigar at the plantation

It was another three hour drive back to the airport outside of Havana. Right before getting to the airport, we stopped to eat lunch. This was kind of a fiasco because the restaurant took forever to make all of our food and we were late getting to the airport, which stressed out our head chaperone, Don Carlos. We got there with enough time though and headed back to Costa Rica.

Final Thoughts:

Despite both being Latin American countries that speak Spanish, there are a lot of differences between Costa Rica and Cuba. I thought after having already spent a month in Costa Rica, Cuba would seem very familiar. This was not really the case. There were so many differences, from the culture to the food to even the Spanish. Where Costa Rica is more laid back, Cuba has higher energy and feels more alive. Costa Rican food is lacking in flavor, spices, and variety but Cuban food, while very similar in contents, is significantly more delicious. One thing I wasn’t expecting was the differences in the Spanish. I knew that each region’s Spanish is slightly different, but I was surprised at how much easier it was for me to understand Cuban Spanish versus Costa Rican Spanish. love both Costa Rica and Cuba, but for very different reasons.

From this trip, I learned a lot. Not only did I learn about the history of Cuba from its founding to the Revolucion era to its current situation, from people very involved in the history of it, but I learned a lot about the lives of other people and myself. Havana was a lot nicer than what I had expected. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Old European cities with the way the buildings looked. It was nothing like I had ever experienced though. While it looked familiar, it didn’t feel familiar, which was good. It had a very lively vibe with colorful people, music, art, buildings. Everything felt very alive. I learned so much about how people live here. They may be struggling financially and to live a modern life, but just because it is a lifestyle unfamiliar to me does not mean that the people and necessarily unhappy. I understand now that everyone has a hustle and they are trying to gain money, but each person I met was passionate about something. For myself, I learned that I love the afro-Caribbean culture more than I thought I did and that it would do me some good to get off my phone sometimes. I am incredibly thankful to have had the chance to study in Cuba and I got a lot out of the trip.

More Pictures and Videos:

Day 1: