Oh, by the way…
So, oh yeah, I almost forgot: I’m going to Cuba today.
Between last month’s trip to India and Nepal, and next year’s travel plans that are already in the works, I have to admit, I’d kind of let this one slip through the cracks.
See, I booked it on a whim; I have the vacation time, and Montreal’s pretty quiet this time of year. So why not use the time to squeeze in one more travel destination before the end of the year?
But after booking, I sort of didn’t pay too much attention to it. It’s only Cuba, I figured. It’s easy. I don’t need to do much planning. It’s a vacation, see? A proper one, of the sort that I rarely take. I usually come home from travelling needing a rest. This time I’m going away for a rest. It’s an unusual feeling for me.
Cuba beyond the resorts
Of course, being me, a vacation doesn’t mean a beach resort.
See, for those who don’t know this about me, I actually hate the beach. I’m a fair-skinned redhead who burns in about four seconds in the sun. I don’t want to play golf, snorkel, or go to the casino. I’d get bored to tears at an all-inclusive resort.
Instead, I’m flying to Havana and and staying in casas particulares — rooms in private homes that are rented out, B&B style, to tourists. Casas offer several advantages over hotels — they’re affordable, good for meeting other travellers, the owners can help book things and make recommendations (useful in a country with very little internet access), and it’s a good way to meet and interact with Cuban people. Or so I’m told.
My plan for the week involves stops in Havana, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. I’m looking forward to seeing colonial architecture, visiting some historical monuments, maybe checking out a national park, making some terrible attempts at salsa, and meeting and chatting in my rudimentary Spanish with some interesting people.
I might even get to the beach at some point. But probably not.
Why Cuba? Why now?
So why go to Cuba at all? I admit I had put it off for ages, wrinkling my nose up at the all-inclusive last-minute crowd and not wanting to be one of those people — you know, the clichéd types who visit Cuba and never interact with any actual Cuban people other than the resort staff.
But in recent months, things have changed a bit. Between the door opening a bit to our US neighbours, and last month’s death of Fidel Castro, Cuba is at a historic crossroads right now. I don’t care about going to the beach, but I am interested in seeing the country.
I should point out that I’m not someone who romanticizes the hardships faced by Cubans as ‘charming’. They’re not charming. The American embargo has been a disastrous policy that has had a terrible effect on ordinary Cubans without achieving any foreign policy goals. Far from worrying about Cuba getting ‘ruined’ by an influx of American tourists and businesses, I’m hopeful that — despite Trump — the first steps towards openness that Obama took this year will continue, and that there will be hope for a better future for the Cuban people.
So no, I’m not rushing to Cuba to see it ‘before it changes’. Not in that sense. It’s more that I am curious to get a glimpse of these changes while they’re happening.
(Also, the totally mundane reasons: Cuba’s relatively close by, so it’s easy to get to for a short week-long trip. Plus, I got an awesome deal on a plane ticket.)
Digital detox
This is going to be my only post on this blog, for now.
See, despite some advances in the past couple of years, Cuba still has very little internet access. There are WiFi hotspots in locations around the country where you can attempt to get online by purchasing scratch cards for a couple of CUCs per hour. But it honestly sounds like a lot more hassle than it’s worth.
So instead, I’ll be travelling old school: Paper maps, offline guidebooks, bookings made by casa owners. We all used to travel this way just a few short years ago. It wasn’t a problem then, and I don’t expect it to be one now.
Actually, I’m looking forward to the digital detox: A blissful week with no screens, no constant connection, no people staring at their phones instead of talking to each other. It’s probably the closest thing I can get to a true vacation. To that end, I’m leaving the laptop at home. I’ll be bringing a paper journal, some dead-tree books, and — hopefully — the willpower to not try to get online at every WiFi hotspot. I think my brain desperately needs this.
So with that, I’ll sign off and wish you all a Happy Chanukah / Merry Christmas / Happy Festivus, or happy whatever-you-celebrate at this time of year.
Have a good week, and try not to miss me too much. I’ll be home for New Year’s.
Sari. Out.