2004 Cuba – Part 2, Pinar del Rio

We headed out to the province of Pinar del Rio for a day trip with a tour bus. It was structured and rushed, but we did get to see a lot that day. Perhaps the most beautiful sights were the limestone hills in Vinales. These are reminiscent of the limestone hills in Guilin, China.

Another fun activity of the day was riding around in a boat through caves down an underground river in Vinales. It felt really touristy, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it.


We also visited a tobacco farmer and a cigar making factory. Tobacco is one of the country’s main exports. It was really interesting to see the process of cigar making from the field, to the leaves drying in the tobacco barns, to the factories. The factory is set up like a sweat shop where people sit at their stations and roll their cigars all day. Some tourists handed over things like soap and pens to the workers, who accepted these tokens eagerly.

It was interesting to see people lined up on the highway waiting for rides into Havana. Hitchhiking for Cubans is sanctioned by the government, and so drivers are expected to stop and pick up hitchhikers. At designated hitchhiking spots there were police directing the vehicles and organizing the hitchhikers.


Final thoughts: I enjoyed Cuba very much. We ate lots of icecream and listened to lots of music. However, we agreed that we would have gotten a lot more out of the trip if we had a better handle on Spanish. There are not a lot of people speaking English, and I think it is much easier to gain people’s trust and interest if you are attempting to communicate in their language. I was impressed with the way this country and its people have pulled together and succeeded to have such strong education and health care systems, agricultural forethought, creative energy, and political strength through some very difficult challenges. People in general seemed happy and vibrant.

There are a lot of questions about where this country will go in the next little while, whether the politics will change drastically when Castro is no longer around, or whether the people will hold onto his dream. I think that in many ways this country, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, has been able to accomplish many successes that have proved nearly impossible in most of the rest of the world. I am saddened to think that this country may melt back into the capitalist mould that the majority of the world holds in such high regard after he is gone. However, hopefully they will be able to strike a balance.

2004 Cuba – Part 1, Havana


My husband and I chose to travel to the capital of Cuba instead of doing the resort thing. We were interested in learning as much as we could about Cuban history and the Revolution, and weren’t interested in indulging some lazy fantasy of sitting on a beach all day. So, we thought that Havana was a good place to start. My parents also joined us on this trip, and we all had a good time. We spent a lot of time walking around and going to museums and markets. It was a beautiful experience, and even though we were only there for a short period of time we did learn a lot.

The old Spanish architecture is beautiful – there are marble floors everywhere, and beautiful balconies and windows. The Cubans are trying hard to restore these old buildings, but unfortunately it is a constant battle with the sea salt and coastal weather which is not conducive to preservation of buildings.

The Universidad de la Habana is a gorgeous old building. This university was established in 1728, making it one of the oldest universities in the Americas. Cubans are extremely well educated people, with 97% literacy rates. Education, including post secondary education, is free.


Fidel Castro was very much involved with public affairs still at that time, and was speaking at (mandatory attendance) rallies both the day before we arrived and the day after we left. There are political slogans on murals and billboards all throughout Havana. It is really interesting. There are also monuments of the revolution and revolutionaries prominently displayed throughout the city.



The Museo de la Revolution did a great job of accounting the history of Cuba from the time of colonization to the present day, including a significant section on the Revolution. The Museo is appropriately located in Batista’s Presidential Palace (an amazingly opulent structure).

Another historical point of interest that we visited was the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana. This is one of the many forts that was built by the Spanish in 1700s. It was huge, and amazing from an architectural and functional standpoint. More recently it was where Che Guevara set up headquarters in the first months following the Revoluntion in 1959.

There are soldiers on literally every street corner. They stand around, and joke with the public, and generally seem to keep the peace. We didn’t see any altercations. But from what I understand, there is a definite Big Brother thing going on, where any suspicious activities are noted and passed on to the government. Although this seems to make things flow smoothly, I am sure that there are strong undercurrents of discontent at the same time.

1999 – Cote d’Ivoire – Part 3 Abidjan



Abidjan, even at the time when I was there, wasn’t considered safe for tourists. But we went there hoping to buy a plane ticket for me to leave the country. I had decided to leave Africa and return to Canada. However, when we arrived in Abidjan everything was closing down for a four day period over New Years. We were stuck in a dangerous town where all stores, banks, markets, travel agents, etc. were closed, with almost no money. Fortunately, the hotel people believed us when we assured them we would pay as soon as the banks opened (in 4 days time). By this point I was quite sick with pneumonia, so we spent some of our last cash on antibiotics, and the rest on food. It was so quiet in this time period; even though we were in the middle of a huge city there were hardly even any cars on the road.



Eventually Monday came, stores reopened, we got money, shopped at the lovely market, met nice people, ate good street food, and bought a ticket to Paris for me. I loved Ivory Coast, and met many genuinely wonderful people. We had one scary experience in Abidjan, but other than that we were left with only positive memories.


Travel tips/reflections: Be open while being cautious. Be honest and consistent about what you need, and people will generally be willing to help. Eat local food – it is a wonderful way to get to know local flavour, and will definitely help you become accepted more easily. Respect local customs – be modest, eat with your hand, be friendly.