Noelle is pregnant. This either makes us experts in bovine estrus or incredibly lucky. Either way, it looks like a new bundle of joy will arrive on the Farmette mid- June and we will begin our daily milking chores, never to have a family vacation again. I exaggerate a bit but travel will be much more difficult.
Since lengthy family vacations may become a thing of the past, we figured we might as well go out with a bang and bring the children somewhere exotic and unusual. A place that will give the boys bragging rights later in life when they are comparing "messed up things your parents did when you were a kid" stories with their friends.
With the recent announcement that the US would be normalizing relations, we decided on Cuba. It is not a destination many American consider when planning a vacation so we would still maintain a modicum of street cred while enjoying a warm tropical retreat from the subzero temperatures we had been experiencing in upstate New York this winter.
Back in the 90's when we were young, childless and carefree, the Husband and I visited an artist friend in Cuba . We fell in love with the warmth of the people and the decrepit beauty of Havana. We spent our days walking through the streets photographing the once magnificent Colonial buildings that still housed people despite the fact that they looked like they could collapse at any moment. In the evening we sipped mojitos on the veranda at the Hotel Nacional half expecting to see Michael Corleone walk through the door. We vowed to return someday. Little did we know it would be 15 years later with our three boys. We wanted them to experience the off-limits Cuba of Castro before US sanctions are lifted and hoards of Americans descend upon the tiny island stuck in the 1950's with its orange and lime green tiled hotels and streets lined with, "Chebies" (old American cars from before the revolution that are beautifully maintained and still running.) They needed to see for themselves that countries are about the people who live in them and not foreign policy decisions or governments, despite what the press and the history books say.
We went online and reserved rooms at the hotel we had stayed at during our earlier trip as well as a four night stay at a beach on the western tip of the island.
Since as of this writing it is still illegal for U.S. Citizens to travel to Cuba unless they are part of a tour group or have a special visa, Americans must fly through another country. Every other country has relations with Cuba so flights are not hard to come by. The first time around we opted to fly through Cancun which was a breeze. You can obtain a visa right at the terminal in a matter of minutes. This time we decided to fly from Toronto and visit Niagra Falls along the way. The visa process at the Toronto airport was equally easy. Contrary to popular belief, Cuba wants Americans to come. Tourism is their largest industry and they welcome us and our money. Our money, we soon learned was a problem.
It is not visiting Cuba that is forbidden. The sanctions against Cuba are economic so spending money there is verboten for US Citizens. You cannot use credit cards from American banks or write a check. Once in Cuba, you can change dollars for CUC which is one of two Cuban currencies and the one most used by tourists, but there are higher fees for changing American dollars. We exchanged our American dollars for Canadian at the Toronto airport, but we would soon learn that we should have exchanged more.
Upon arriving at the hotel in Havana, we discovered that our credit card had only been used to reserve the rooms. It could not be used to pay for the room due to the sanctions. Since Cuban hotels will only allow 4 people/room we were forced to have two rooms for our family of five. At $400/ night for both rooms that would take a big chunk out of the $1500 we had brought with us. I started to question the prudence of our vacation destination.
Luckily, we had paid for our four nights at the Villa Maria la Gorda in the Cabo Corrientes Nature Reserve thanks to a British travel agency we found online, so we decided to ditch our second night in Havana and head to Vinales, a lush mountain town where the tobacco for the infamous Cuban cigar is grown.
We managed to get five seats on a very comfortable coach bus that drove us the 3 plus hours to Vinales for 15 CUC per person. When we arrived we immediately went to the taxi office to find a car to drive us another 3 plus hours to the western most tip of the island where Cabo Corrientes is located. Despite the effort the Cuban government has made to preserve this 30 mile reserve, it is a difficult area to get to. A taxi was our only option.
The kindly dispatcher spent 45 minutes with two cell phones and the help of various locals who wandered in and out of the office trying to hire us a taxi. Her tenacity paid off and we were all set for the morning.
When we exited the office we were met by a young woman on a bike whose home we would be staying at that night. Cubans are allowed to apply for a license to rent out rooms in their homes to tourists. You will see many, "Casa Particulars" signs on homes throughout Cuba. They are an inexpensive way to stay in Cuba and offer foreigners a wonderful opportunity to meet locals.
Our accommodations cost us $40 for the night and for an additional $3/person we were treated to a breakfast feast of fresh eggs from the chickens running around the neighborhood, ham, coffee, juice, three different types of tropical fruit and fresh bread. We stuffed ourselves and after the fifth hug and kiss Scrappy received from our enamored hostess, we said our goodbyes and went out to meet the taxi.
A small Renault sedan pulled up and I wondered how the six of us and four suitcases were going to fit. The driver managed to get all of our stuff into the trunk and we piled in.
As we careened untethered down the twisty mountain road, my bad mommy guilt weighed heavy. I clutched Scrappy Doo in my lap like that was somehow going to protect him if we crashed. I couldn't help but think about the hours I spent researching baby seats before Prince was born and the number of times I walked 20 blocks with 2 children in the stroller and one strapped to my chest rather than getting into a cab without child safety seats let alone seat belts.
Once we got down the mountain I relaxed a bit. It was slow going through many small villages with farmers trotting down the street in their horse drawn carts. Rice paddies and tobacco fields stretched for miles.
We reached the entrance to Cabo Corrientes and everyone was relieved; especially our driver who had to go back to Vinales and pick up a passenger headed to Havana. The only scenery for the next half hour was dense forest. All of a sudden, there was a break through the trees and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean sparkled in the sun.
We arrived at our destination about a half an hour later and were pleasantly surprised by the lovely water front cabin we would call home for the next few days. After paying for our taxi, we had no idea how we were going to afford to get back to Havana, but at that point we did not care.
Our room included breakfast and dinner so for the next couple of days we would save some of our fruit, bread and cheese from breakfast. The boys thought it great fun to smuggle out our leftovers in a napkin. Our kindly waiter soon caught on to us and appeared at our balcony the next afternoon with three pizzas. Here we were the, "wealthy" Americans receiving charity from this generous man who probably earns less than $1,000/ year. We were humbled and grateful.
Once word got out about the broke Americans, everyone was trying to feed us. One morning Scrappy Doo came sauntering up the walkway covered in red lipstick and munching on cookies.
"Where'd you get those?" I asked pointing to the lipstick stains as well as the cookies.
"The maid." He nonchalantly replied.
Our bellies were fat but our wallets were still slim. We had enough to get back to Havana and to pay our airport tax but that still left one more night in Havana. With no internet or cell service we could not even call relatives in Denmark to ask them to wire us money. The husband decided to use our last few CUC to buy a phone card and call the British travel agency that had booked our beach cabins. Success! We were able to charge our taxi back to Havana as well as a hotel and taxi to the airport.
The next day a van arrived for us. It even had seatbelts. We climbed in along with our chivalrous waiter and another employee from the resort. Since the cabins are in such a remote location, employees come stay at the resort for a week and go home for a week. We were happy to give them a lift and repay their generosity.
We reached our hotel in a Havana suburb in the late afternoon. The grand lobby was surrounded by balconies and lush foliage. Upon closer inspection the fountain next to the reception desk was dry and stray cats ran across the railings reminding us we were in a country that had seen more opulent days.
The next day as we waited for our taxi to the airport, James Dean and Scrappy informed us of their plans to move to Cuba after college. The husband and I smiled at this affirmation of a successful vacation despite some monetary set backs. Who knows what Cuba will be like by then. I am hopeful for the opportunities the Cuban people will be afforded once the sanctions are lifted but I am fearful of what the influx of American businesses could do to this magical island. I am however sure the people will remain some of the kindest souls I have ever met and I will forever cherish my memories of Cuba.
