Guatemala Part III - Rio Dulce - Livingstone - Finca Paraiso

October 25th – 27th
Rio Dulce – Livingstone:

The back dirt road we took to go to Rio Dulce was breathtaking. The people of Semuc Champey hadn’t lied to us. We easily found our hotel, Hacienda Tijax, which was composed of bungalows on top of the river, connected by little bridges and with a restaurant view to the river. We stayed there three nights. Maria was so scared of the spiders in the room.
Our first day, we went along the river by boat with a couple from Israel and two Australian girls. We could appreciate the beauty of this river and its magnificent biotope, so many birds and flowers. The river took us all the way to Livingstone, an afro village on the Caribbean side of Guatemala. This fishing village was not that special but fortunately the boat ride was worth it. The river was surrounded by huge cliffs covered with green vegetation and many local fishermen could be seen in their man made canoes. That night we hung out with our new group of friends at the hotel and played cards.
The day after, we went again with the couple to Finca Paraiso, known for its hot springs. It was our first time in a hot waterfall, which was a nice feeling since we do not often have hot showers! Aubry lost his favorite flip flop and had to go back barefoot but luckily we met a very nice Guatemalan couple at the spring that kindly drove us back to the town.
We enjoyed our last night at Tijax sitting at our friendly bar, the food there was great!

Guatemala Part II - Semuc Champey

October 23rd – 24th
Semuc Champey:

We woke up not knowing what to do or even where to go. We found out that a bus was leaving our hostel at 9.30 to Lanquin – Semuc Champey. We had thought of going visiting this place that people we met during the trip described as amazing and a must see. This was therefore our chance to go and we took it. Our other ideas were to either do a five days trip in the jungle towards el Mirador or to go on a sailing boat for 4 days cruising the Rio Dulce. Those options were very attractive but well over our budget.
After a 6 hours bus ride through beautiful sceneries with a crazy driver we arrived in Lanquin. From there we hopped in a 4x4 to go to Semuc Champey. We stayed at a very nice hotel “Las Marias”. As soon as we put our things in the room which was in the middle of the jungle we jumped into the river that could have been from the movie “A River Runs Through It”. After a well-deserved shower we ate together with the group that came with us from Flores. The hotel only proposed one meal – beef, rice and salad – which was pretty good and only 3 euros each. At 9.30 we ran to our room as the electricity is cut-off every night at that time until the next day at 6pm.
We started the next morning discovering Las Marias cave, which was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We were five to go with our guide Jorge. It is with a bit of fear and anxiousness that we entered the cave barefoot and with a candle each as our only light. After going through the bats, with Maria screaming her lungs out, we advanced into the first pool which was already pitch black. The ground was a strange type of sandy mixed with rocks, but the walls surrounding the pool was marvelous, and at some parts you had to swim. We walked inwards for like 2km, always in water, in between cascades, currents and jumps, very extreme!!!! Maria and the other girl in our group, Leane, even managed to climb the cascade with the help of the rope, instead of using the ladder. Of course Jorge was at the bottom giving a little push, and Aubry was on the top with his hand ready to grab us. The constant water coming down made the visibility zero and contributed to a slippery climb. Can’t believe we managed. On the way back, our guide, excited and overestimating the girls, thought they could go down a tunnel in between two rocks with a super powerful stream, but they chickened out after seeing Alex’s face of panic being pushed down.
Finally seeing the light was a relief, as our candles were almost burned out. We also ran into Aubry’s cousin inside the cave, Hadrien, who is studying Spanish in Antigua, but whom we had no idea would be there that weekend. Outside the cave, we jumped into the river from a really high swing, which actually hurt Aubry’s cheek, and swelled up soon after. We got into floats and let the current take us back to our hotel. Such a pleasant way of finishing the tour. After a great ham and cheese sandwich and a quick nap, we were off with Jacques to visit the Semuc Champey park. A real treasure! We walked up to the mirador, an intense 25 minute hike, you’ll observe how dry we are in the pictures. We could see the wonderful turquoise pulls below as well as the plants growing around them. We ran down to dive into them and spent there a good hour. We left the park at sunset.
Back at Las Marias we took a shower and found a huge tarantula behind our bags. The scream of Maria didn’t scare it. Aubry had to take it out of the room! As a result, we changed rooms and went to sleep with our English friends. They had to put up with Maria’s sleep talking.
Since the beginning of the trip Maria has been sleep talking every night. I have to wake up all scared and calm her down.
Tomorrow we head to Rio Dulce through a back dirt road that is supposed to provide us with wonderful views of the country. We will see.

Guatemala Part I - Flores - Tikal

October 21st – 22nd
Belize City- Flores – Tikal:

Our stop in Belize City after leaving Lamanai was more strategic than anything else, as we decided it would be best to leave to Guatemala early in the morning. We had a hotel in mind and went straight to it, as everyone warned us that this city is very dangerous. We were so happy to be able to order delivery pizza to our hotel which was amazingly good, and have cable TV. Hot water was also another treat we had that night, as many places we go to don’t have any. Nonetheless, we’ve gotten accustomed to cold showers, plus it’s healthy for our circulation.
Strangely enough, I’ve been having weird dreams recently, been dizzy and even hearing voices, turns out it’s probably linked to the Malaria pills we started taking on our last day in Cuba. So I decided to stop taking them. Just need to apply OFF as often as possible! Aubry hasn’t had any side effects to the medicine, so he’ll keep taking them, and he is quite good at remembering to take them each day.
The trip from Belize City (Hotel Mopan) to Flores took about 5 hours. We hopped on the bus bright and early, onto one of those retired American school buses with many interesting people, and one guy who wouldn’t leave Aubry alone. He kept saying how he was going to leave Belize in a jet plane, he would scream out Jihad, commented how he lived in a third world country and we needed to sign something, basically the guy was crazy and drunk!
We crossed the border yet again by foot. It was pretty quick and we just had to pay a small fee to leave Belize, and then stamp our passport once we arrived in Guatemala. A taxi guy offered to take us to Flores directly in his van, with three other English girls, so it worked out well for all of us. They had a hostel which had been recommended by their friends, and we asked the driver to take us all there. Ended up being the cutest hostel we’ve been in yet, called Los Amigos, owned by a young Dutch guy. We had to share a room with another six people. The place was very trendy, clean and had a great vegetarian restaurant.
Next morning we woke up at 4:30 am (who ever said a backpacker’s life is easy!) and went with a big group to Tikal which was leaving at 5am. We arrived at the site at around 6:30, by this time the sun was already out and we could tell it was going to be another hot day. We visited the site with a guide, who started out by taking all of us to Temple IV, beautiful! The climb was intense, but the view incredible. Of course writing this makes it hard to describe how special one feels up in these ruins, looking out to an endless jungle and a few other temples popping out in the middle of the trees. In Tikal, as in Lamanai, there is still a lot of uncovered ruins, and the debate lies in should they cut this rich nature which has grown around it, forcing the monkeys, toucan’s and other species which have made their homes in this area to leave, in order to excavate more ruins?
The tour was very fun, we explored almost the whole site, climbed plenty more temples, and met nice people in the group. We had our picnic in the Grand Place of the ruin, which is probably one of the highlights of this lost Mayan City. Back at the hostel we had a calm afternoon, as the 4 hour walk of that morning had pooped us out. Aubry also swam at the lake nearby, where we watched a beautiful sunset. I could have stayed in Flores a few more days, but there are still so many cities we want to visit in Guatemala.
That night we met a very sweet girl from Belgium, Sanghita and also hung out with the two English couples we had met earlier in Tikal, as they were staying in our same hostel.
They were doing a 4 months trip, and Sanghita a year trip on her own!
We decided that the next morning we would head out with another group towards Semuc Champey, a 7 hour drive away, which is apparently a must see! Can’t wait!

Belize Part III - Orange Walk Town - Lamanai

October 19th – 20th:
Orange Walk Town – Lamanai

From Corozal we took a local bus to reach Orange Walk and arrived at night which we didn’t like (Hotel de la Fuente). Those Belizean cities are morose. This place was just a quick stop to enable us to do a tour to Lamanai, the biggest Mayan site of Belize. The only way to get there easily is by boat.
The day after, before picking up a group of Californians, our guide Carlos made a special tour for us around the river. We managed to see some beautiful exotic birds (Jesus Christ’s birds, Cormorans…), green iguanas, two crocodiles (and not alligators as we may see their teeth with their mouth closed), spider monkeys, bats, and wonderful vegetation… We then headed to Lamanai, had lunch and visited the site. It was more spread out than the others we visited and still under lots of vegetation. There are still many ruins to discover and rebuild. They still permit us to climb up the highest temple which had an amazing view to the river. At the top, one of the Californians got down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend in front of us. It was a wonderful jungle experience.
On our way back to Orange Walk we could again admire the beauty of this river. Unfortunately, the friendly Californians didn’t see any crocodiles, which they came for. Right after dropping them off, we saw this massive crocodile that you may admire on our pictures.

Belize Part II - Caye Caulker

October 17th – 19th
Caye Caulker:

We arrived in Caye Caulker, or as they pronounce it Key Cocker, at noon under an extremely hot and sunny day. The weather was wonderful and great to explore the island. We met a few Creoles who told us that a cold wave was arriving. We did not pay too much attention to it. We spent a great afternoon walking around and meeting lots of travelers at this bar called Lazy Lizard or also known as the split. A few years ago, a hurricane separated the island in two and this bar is now at its north edge.
This small island is such a peaceful place with amazing sceneries and very nice people. We ate lobsters on the street with the English crowd we met. Before heading to the hotel, I (Aubry) ran into Moustapha, an ex-colleague of mine of Euroclear. It was such a nice surprise to meet him there, what a coincidence.
After a long and good night, we woke up with a storm. It was raining cats and dogs for the whole day. We were happy to be staying in a nice hotel with good cable TV. What a bright idea we had to offer ourselves a luxurious place to sleep (for our standards) and finally have a lazy Sunday, accompanied by a fun quick adventure getting to the pizza place (Joe Habanero) in the middle of a tropical rain storm.
Since the weather forecast was not good for the next few days, we decided to leave the day after and return to Corozal to pick up our bags that we had left behind at our hotel and proceed to Orange Walk Town and its Lamanai Maya site.
Even though the weather has not been too much on our side we still enjoyed Caye Caulker a lot. The only regret is that we did not manage to go diving. It is supposed to be one of the greatest places, but well, we always have to leave something behind for the next time, right? Blue hole, we'll be back!

Belize Part I - Corozal Town

October 15th – 17th
Chetumal (Mexico) – Corozal Town- Isla San Pedro (Belize)

We arrived in Chetumal, our last Mexican city before heading to Belize, at 10.30 pm. As we needed to catch the bus the next morning, we chose to stay around the bus station. We found a cheap hotel with the help of our taxi driver, ‘hotel Fernandez’, gross is the word to describe it, stinky and dirty room, shouldn’t be called a hotel. But well, it was only one night. Thank god we had our sleeping bags and airplane pillow.
The bus ride from Chetumal to our next stop Corozal Town in Belize was only an hour. Most of the journey was spent at the border between Mexico and Belize. We had to take our bags out of the bus and cross the Belizean border walking, go through immigration, and after one more step, we were on Belizean soil. Our first impression from the Belizeans is that they are very welcoming, friendly and relaxed. We finally understand the meaning of ‘Belizean style’. We stopped in Corozal Town because our guide mentions it’s a worth halt. It let us down for the first time, what a mistake. The only good recommendation they had was the hotel ‘Las Palmas’ we stayed in and Patti’s Bistro. The city is very depressing and all the shops are owned by Chinese who do not talk or even say hello, not like the Belizeans. It is strange to be in a Caribbean country where English is the national language.
The next day we headed to Caye Caulker, via San Pedro, where we are at this moment. A description of this laid back island will follow once we leave.

Mexico Part IV - ChiChen Itza

October 14th – 15th
ChiChen Itza (Chicken Pizza as the Italians call it):

Arrived in ChiChen Itza at around 5, and the bus literally just stopped on the main road in front of a tiny station that could have been the size of a small store. We kept asking the bus driver if this was it, and he was like pushing us out, si si, get down, ahhaha. We felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Not at all touristic as the other cities we visited in Mexico, a nice change. We figured out by the looks of it, that there was only one main road in the city, and as we were staying just one night we thought it would be smarter to stay nearby the station. We chose the Stardust Inn, and dusty it was. I think we were the only guests in what looked as a hotel from a horror movie. An empty lobby, a huge pool that desperately needed cleaning, and a room that left a lot to desire. We are not here for the comfort, it’s all about site seeing as I repeat to myself, kind of self-psychology to keep me going and to stop complaining.
When we came out of the room, a man was at the reception offering to be our guide the next morning. He’s been working there for years and promises we won’t regret it. We agree and rendez-vous at 8 am. We stroll out to walk the main avenue and come across a clinic. I had to take a tetanus shot which I was unable to take back in Brussels as I was sick just before leaving, and they said they could give it to me right there. The nurse was only 22, and she told me her favorite part of the job was giving shots, hihi. I admit when it comes to these things, I’m a big baby, and Aubry had to resist me squeezing his hands, however, he still managed to take a picture without me even noticing, probably because my eyes were tightly shut not to get scared with the big needle.
That night we went to watch the light show at the ruin. The site is astonishing, as the first thing you see is the pyramid all lighted up. The show was interesting but nothing compared to the next day visit. Waking up early was hard but worth it. Felipe, guided us through the whole ChiChen Itza site with love and provided us with tons of stories and details. We were amazed with the greatness of the pyramid as well as the ball field. The Mayans were no doubt great engineers, astronomers and believers.
After a good three hours tour, it was time to head back to Tulum (3 hours) to take the bus south to Chetumal.

Mexico Part III - Tulum

October 13th – 14th
Tulum:

After about an hour by bus we arrive in the Mayan city of Tulum. It is 16:00 and the ruins are already closed. We have found our hostel La Casa del Sol, not too far from the center and we are heading to the beach. It’s a 15 minute drive by taxi and we had no idea we were going to such a nice beach. Laid back atmosphere, beautiful sand, and most important, virgin-like. It was one of the top one’s we have seen so far!
We spent the rest of the afternoon at this bar called ‘El Paraiso’ where we met a wonderful Canadian family. The parents, Nafisa and Darren, and their two girls were very friendly and we talked a lot. They kindly drove us back to our hostel as the sun was setting and it started to rain. We invited them to visit our hostel, as the two girls had never been in one. I think they liked it. It’s a very hippy and bungalow type hotel. I just couldn’t stand the shared bathroom and showers. As I took my shower that night, I could hear the guests playing their guitars and singing right in front of the tiny window. We then walked to the center to familiarize ourselves. It was crowded as there was a yearly fair taking place. We got to see lots of the locals. There were children everywhere!
We finally sat down at a cute Cuban bar, owned by an Italian, who had just opened 5 days ago. It was good to feel back in Cuba again. The crowd was very interesting.

Next morning, after having had the worst night of sleep due to the heat and no ventilation in bungalow (luckily we are only staying one night there), we took off with a French couple, Johan and Raquel (thanks for the tips in Belize & Guatemala, seems like we were destined to meet you both), who were staying at our hostel towards the Mayan ruin. There were many tourists already there at 9 am, but it was fine to get in. It was our first visit to a ruin. It’s relatively small to what we expected, nonetheless striking, as it overlooks the water from its high cliffs. It is said that the temples were once colorful and more adorned, but of course now a days all that’s left are the natural color of the limestone rocks used to build them. We had a nice rain storm at the start of our tour, which felt great and refreshing!
After that we went back to La Casa del Sol to get our stuff and follow our way to ChiChen Itza, as the bus was leaving at 14:30. We decided to have a sandwich at our Cuban restaurant before getting on the bus. It was the best! Italians know how to make amazing sandwiches!

Mexico Part II - Playa del Carmen

October 9th – 13th

Playa del Carmen:

Here we are at the ADO bus station of Playa del Carmen before heading to our next destination, Tulum. We have an hour to kill and therefore can already start writing about our experience of Playa, as everyone calls it here.
We arrived here after our short stay in Cancun. We were told that this place is very nice and not to miss. Indeed, we quite enjoyed it. We were supposed to stay only one or two nights but it ended up being four, since I followed the open water PADI.
We had a really good time these days as playa has a famous fifth avenue full of charm with shops and cute restaurants which made it hard to keep to our budget. What saved us is our posada, Fernandez. We spent the two first nights without AC, but it was unbearable. I had to wake up in the middle of the nights to take a shower. We then paid for an upgrade, AC.
On our first day, we walked around the ‘city’ in order to find the best option to do the course. This part of the world, the Caribbean’s, is known for its extremely nice and clear water which makes diving sessions unforgettable, plus it’s a great place to learn.
The second day, the course started three hours in the pool practicing. The rest of the day was dedicated to reading, a lot! Maria and I found our favorite restaurant of Playa to which we went almost every day, Fruti Yoghurt, a nice fruit and salad restaurant. Yes, we eat healthy!
The next day, at 12, it was time for the real diving. Maria joined us and she loved it. She was able to face her fears of diving. She also did two dives at the same depth, 12 meters. She received those two dives for free as I was following the course. Down there, another world! It was magic, the colors, the silence, the slow motion … We saw a huge range of different fishes with as many colors as you could imagine. The ones we liked the most: the air crab, the parrotfish which looks like he’s smiling the whole time, and a 1.5 meter fluorescent green moray. Unfortunately, no pictures come along. At night, once again, we were at the right place at the right time, Mexico qualified for the soccer world cup. They were so happy!
The day after, I did the last two dives of the course and we reviewed the basic techniques under the water, taking off the mask, rescue someone out of air, urgent ascent without air, find buoyancy… After that, I finally took the exam and received my PADI, open water diver. If any of you want to do it in playa del Carmen, I recommend Geofish, owned by a family from Denver, Steven and Morgan, who are very friendly and good instructors.
Playa is a happy place to visit and tourists are not scarce. There is an abundance of hotels for all types of vacationers, and amusement every night. The water has it’s Caribbean beauty, the weather is great and there are many places nearby one can do day trips to, such as XCARET, the famous Cenotes which were sacred Mayan rivers, and Cozumel which is right in front. Gosh, I sound like a tourist agent trying to sell the place, hahhaha.

Mexico Part I - Cancun

October 7th-9th
Cancun:

We arrived in Cancun around 6pm, because the flight from Habana was delayed. I think it was one of the emptiest flights we ever took. We were only like 15 people on the plane. At the airport of Cancun, it felt like we had arrived on another planet. We had to take out money as we had no Mexican Pesos, and hadn’t a clue of the exchange rate. 18 pesos = 1 euro, so taking out 1,500 pesos was only 81 Euros, and we had the impression of having taken out so much.
We then took the Ado bus to the center of the city and asked for a hostal at the bus station. They recommended one not too far, but of course we couldn’t find it that easily, and walking around in the heat with 15 kilos on your back are not the best conditions to be lost, hihihi. Finally we found the Casa Haina, and the price was ok, plus we had air conditioning.
We went to McDonalds as they always have Wi-Fi, because we were crazy to connect with our laptop. Bad luck though, didn’t work. So we called it a night and crashed early.
Next day we woke up and went to the post to send our Cuba guides back to Belgium as they weighed all together 2 kilos. Then we found a café with Wi-Fi and were able to finally start working on our blog for all of you to know what we’re up to.
After having done most of our to-do’s and an evening spent in the party district of Cancun, we decided to move to playa del Carmen. In fact, Cancun isn’t our type of beach, way to Americanized (big hotels, loud party streets and out of charm). Therefore, no pictures!

Cuba Part III - Trinidad - Camaguey - La Habana

September 29th – 30th

Trinidad:

The trip from Cienfuegos to Trinidad was short, and we already knew where to stay, as our host from Vinales, La China, had recommended us a casa particular which ended up being very nice. The only surprise was that it was situated next to the oldest cemetery of the city, around 20,000 people. We arrived at sun set time, so amazing. Once again, we were received very well and they prepared a very tasty meal while we were taking our showers and resting a bit.
It’s the smallest city in Cuba we’ve been to up until now, and would probably say the most touristic. It reminded us a lot of Tiradentes and Ouro Preto in Brasil, with its streets of cobblestones, colonial architecture, colorful houses, that show they were once much more glamorous. You can tell the city has lost its economic power which came from the sugar business. The sugar business stopped around 2005 when the Cubans realized that it was not profitable enough. In fact, they needed the help of the Russians to run it all. Nowadays, Cubans only produce their own consumption of sugar and do not export anymore. Besides being a very pretty and welcoming city, it stroke us that it is the first place where mothers would stop us asking if we had soap, candy or anything we could give them for their children, very sad.
For our first day in Trinidad we decided to do something a bit hard core—walk up a dirt road that took you to the best view of the city. While climbing this huge hill, we visited a disco called Ayala. The particularity of this disco is that it’s in a cave, crazy! After one more hour walking under a terrible heat, we reached the top and were received by a very friendly man. He showed us around and we saw one of the prettiest and most impressive views ever. Carlos, has a 24 hour shift, then three days off. He is the guard of the TV satellite of the city. He has been working there for 12 years and basically knows everything about each side of the views.
In the afternoon, in order to recuperate from this long and exhausting walk, we headed to the beach, playa Ancon, by Coco taxi, around 15 minutes from the center. The beauty of the beach is astonishing! Back to our place, we talked to the family hosting us and we realized that they were best friends with Mirtha Bango, a faraway relative of Maria’s family living in Cienfuegos, what a small world.
We woke up at 8 on our second day in order to catch the vapor train that goes around the ‘valle do ingenios’, the sugarcane fields. Bad luck, it hadn’t been running for two days for maintenance purposes. Our back up plan was to go to some kind of natural resort, but way to expensive! We then decided to explore a bit more the city that I (Aubry) loved and enjoy a bit more the sand and sun late in the afternoon.

October 1st - 4th
Camaguey:

We left Trinidad at 8 am as that was the only bus that would leave to Camaguey, we were so excited to finally meet my mom’s hometown. The bus ride was about 5 hours and we got to sleep a lot during the trip. At the station we took a bici-taxi to Maria Josefa and Rufinos house, my mom’s cousins who are still leaving in Camaguey and invited us to stay with them. We could already have a first glance of the city. We were loving it. I would say it’s the busiest city we’ve been to so far (except La Habana), people everywhere, tons of cyclists, horse carriages, cars and trekkers.
Maria Josefa and Rufo were waiting for us with a great lunch, he cooks soooooo well! Their house is in one of the busiest streets of Camaguey, Republica, which is basically the largest shopping street. Her father, Francisco, used to own the shop under their house, which was called Casa Bango, but is now another store. Rufo is retired but works from home as a locksmith, a profession his father in law taught him, and he works in the same atelier as Francisco did. Rufino had a pain in his cervical so he wasn’t working till Monday. We couldn’t believe how many people rang his doorbell asking for copies of keys, etc… He even managed to make a key for Aubry’s lock which was on his backpack for ages since he misplaced the keys. After the rain storm, we went for a walk and came back for dinner. We have to say that the nights spent in Camaguey were sleepless, as there was a bar-disco next door with ‘regeton’ music until 2.30 am.
The next day, it was finally time to meet the neighborhood of Maria’s family. We learned a lot about the family, Maria Josefa knows all of it. We went to Maria’s mother’s house and some other houses of relatives. What a nice place to live. We met Teto, an uncle from the Don family and had a chat with him and his daughter. Our day went by so fast, it was time to go meet Rufo at home.
On Sunday, Rufo, Maria- Josefa, Maria and I went to church. We were presented to the whole crowd as family by the priest, so embarrassing. After a long walk in the Casino park, watching Cubans playing baseball, drinking Rhum, and laughing out loud, we had a nice lunch at the Tennis club.

October 4th – 7th

Back to Habana:

It was hard to say bye to Maria Josefa and Rufino as we spent so much time talking with them about everything, even about the man with a beard as they describe Fidel. After 4.30 hours waiting at the bus station, we finally caught the bus of 3.20 am to head to La Habana. We spent all night in the bus and arrived at Patricia and Graciella’s house at 12.30. Our last days in Cuba, La Habana, were like returning home. We knew how to get around by ourselves and even walked on top of the malecon for hours. We finally went to ‘La Bodeguita del Medio’ to have their famous mojito. We climbed up the mirador of the cathedral and had a good beer at the hotel national, most famoust place to stay in La Habana. Sayinng bye to Graciella and Patricia wasn’t easy. We hope to see them soon, maybe outside of Cuba?

Cuba Part II - Cienfuegos

September 25-28th,
Cienfuegos:

Leaving Varadero behind wasn’t easy, but the trip must go on. We took the Viazul direction Cienfuegos and were able to book a casa particular in advance from our receptionists contact. When we got to the bus station, our host Omar was waiting for us with our names on a paper, ‘Maria + Aupry’, so adorable.
We walked to their house and were so happy to see how nice it was. They suggested we took a walk to the malecon while they prepared our dinner, pork steak- with rice and beans. Families in this city tend to sit on the doorsteps of their homes, which makes it very lively. The malecon was nice and we met a photographer who was fishing with his son and told us his best friend was married to a Belgian.
Next day we met the Castello de Jagua (boat ride not nice though, no place to sit and too too hot), the Palacio de Valle (very impressive), the Plaza Jose Marti, the beautiful view of the bay from the end of Punta Gorda and got to participate in the CDR, Comitee de Defensa de Revolucion, yearly celebration which is from the 27th to 28th of September. The CDRs were created right at the beginning of the Revolution, in 1960, with the purpose to place in all neighborhoods a type of committee to protect all the homes and have each night a different local ‘on guard’ whose duty is to report any misconduct or alert police if there is any apparent danger. Cienfuegos got the prize this year for first place and we just happened to be there. Once again luck is on our side, ending up at the right place at the right time.
Only downside of our stay in Cienfuegos was that Cuba lost the final of the Baseball World Cup to the USA. Aubry woke up early to watch it with Omar and his brother, while I did our laundry in the company of Eliana.
The most impressive part of Cienfuegos was no doubt El Nicho, about a one hour and half beautiful drive, with a magnificent waterfall and natural pools all around. The water was fresh, clear and rejuvenating. We met a really sweet couple from Denmark, Lisa and Per, who were also on their honeymoon and nicknamed me the girl who speaks to everyone and a lot.
Our hosts were very friendly and took good care of us and it’s always interesting to learn more about their families and customs. Their youngest daughter is in Italy playing professional ping-pong.

Cuba Part I - From the plane - La Habana - Soroa - Vinales - Cayo Jutias - Juanes Concert - Varadero

September 15th,
From the plane:

Here we are finally flying to the country, or better yet island, of Cuba. My tv screen isn't working (talk about bad luck for someone who can watch 4 movies straight without falling asleep), Aubry can't change seats with me as he needs the aisle seat, the flight is totally full, so there is no getting up or other things that can distract me from starting this journal, as there are still 10 hours ahead of us and it's day time.
We are so excited to begin this trip we've been planning for so long. First Cuba, then Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and finally ending it with Carnival in Brasil if all goes well and we can keep up our itinerary. I can't believe I'll finally meet my mom's country and her people! Ideas, anxiety, and curiosity keep our minds busy whilst trying to ignore the fact that we'll have to be patient and wait till this Air France plane lands in Habana.
This adventure we'll be life changing for sure and hopefully it will be more fun and enrichning than anything else...


September 16th,
La Habana:

We woke up today with the phone ringing in our room at 6:40 am (we hadn't even seen the phone yet since we arrived as it was hidden near a closet behind our bed). My mom was crazy to hear our first impressions and what we thought of Cuba so far.
I explained to her that we had arrived the day before at the hotel around 19:30, dropped the backpacks in our room, and gone walking close by to visit. We didn't want to do anything else, not even take a shower as judging by the heat we'd want one just before going to bed.
Our hotel called El Commendador, also known as Valencia, is right next to the Convento de San Francisco de Asis, so we were happy with the surprise of seeing such a beautiful church after walking a few steps.
We then turned into the narrow streets of Habana Vieja and were invited by a doorman to enter the renovated Hotel Raquel, which had an amazing terrace on the top floor and gave us a nice first sketch of the city. Cuban's notice right away that you're a tourist, and offer you tons of things or try to lure you into accompanying them for a city tour. You want to of course agree to everything or buy something from all of them, but as our trip is a long one, we've told ourselves that we can only buy what we really need and will have to wait to buy souvenirs and gifts later on...
We were so excited though to finally be in La Habana and feel both the energy and melancholy of the city, to hear the Cuban accent I love so much all around, spot the first old cars Aubry loves, that date back to the 50’s and see so many friendly faces. I could not believe though how dark some of the streets of the capital were.
After sharing all this with my mother, Aubry and I had a delicious breakfast at the hotel: fried eggs with cheese and ham, goiabas, fresh sweet oranges and my favorite, pan cubano!
Right after breakfast, we went to visit a cousin, Graciella, of my mother, who was waiting for us at her daughters house in El Vedado, like 15 minutes from where we were. We got there by Coco taxi, which drove us by the famous Malecon which I was literally dying to meet. Soooooo beautiful!
At Graciella’s, we met her two daughters, Graciella and Patricia, her granddaughter Cecilia and her parents in law, such a lovable family. It was so nice meeting them all.
Patricia came back with us to the center, but took us along some roads and sights we hadn’t been by yet, like the Plaza de la Revolucion, the statue of Jose Marti, the biblioteca Nacional and the Capitolio. All were magnificent, specially the last one. We finally got to a restaurant and had our lunch / dinner, very good, but Aubry didn’t like his spaghetti Napolitano. We were surprised that the food is not that expensive, compared to the price of our hotel and taxi rides (we were actually ripped off by the first taxi from the airport which charged us 25 CUC).
We invited Patricia to join us on our car trip to Vinales and Pinar del Rio the next day, and she accepted with a lot of enthusiasm, even though she would miss her Friday and Saturday course. So she went back home to prepare her things for the trip, while Aubry and I headed to see the 'Canonacio', which takes place at the Fortress every night at 21:00. The ceremony was really nice, and the Fort amazing. We were pooped out after so called it a night.
All in all, we saw many places for our first day and could already have a taste of Cuba.



September 17th,
Soroa:

We woke up this morning with no water in our room, but that wasn’t the last of our problems. We had to take out cash to pay for the rental car, and when we tried at the ATM it said “processing” and no money came out. So then back to the hotel to call this place to make sure the amount we asked hadn’t been debited. Apparently not, thank god! We can’t forget to check our credit card bill though!
Patricia met us at our hotel and we got the rental car, which was luckily around the corner, cause it was so hot to walk with our backpacks.
The road trip was beautiful, so many palm trees everywhere. The highways are so empty and with no signs at all, so you have no idea if you are going the right way. Instead of seeing tons of cars, you see old cars once in a while, missing some parts, people asking for rides under the bridges, others selling cheese with goiaba, chicken, fruits…
Just before getting to Vinales, we stopped at Soroa, to visit its waterfall. Aubry and Patricia swam, but I had left my bikini in the car, so only my feet got refreshed. It was so hot again. I think we will lose weight just from how much you sweat all day.
After Soroa, we headed to Vinales, where we had reserved a room. On the way, Patricia felt sick from all the curves, and when we stopped the car “en pleno camino” a car coming from the other direction stopped to ask if we needed help. Turns out one of the girls in the car needed a ride to Vinales, so we took her. She told us her cousin had a bed-and-breakfast. She offered to show it to us, and we liked it so much that we decided to stay. The food was great, room as well and the family running the “casa particular” also super welcoming (Marcelito y La china).


September 18th,
Vinales:

Even though the room of our hotel is great, we had a bad night, lots of tossing and turning, probably the heat and uncomfortable sheets. I got onto washing some clothes because it really bothers me to have dirty clothes in our backpacks, hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up during our entire trip. And even though we did not bring much, I still have a hard time finding my things and having to unpack and pack every time we change rooms, and it's only been two so far, hihihi.
Aubry had a good idea, to write down all the different rooms we stay in, so we can count the total at the end.
So we decided to go on a horse-back ride around the farms. It was just the 3 of us plus the guide Jesus, who was hilarious. He kept telling me my horse was automatic and knew the whole way. It was so true, he wouldn’t let the other horses pass him and I never had to guide him. Patricia’s was called Chupa-Chupa, and Aubry’s Gaviota (who was actually pregnant).
Jesus took us first to a cave which had a little natural pool inside and on the way kept pointing out different plants, vegetables, etc, saying how everything was natural, with “tractor natural” (cows) and that it was all organic.
Then we followed on to a lake which was no doubt the prettiest one we had ever been to. We jumped off the horses and ran into the water, the best feeling ever. Even Jesus joined us in the swim. After we went on to a campensino’s house, who made us fresh lemon juice and showed us how they make cigars. I always said I’d try my first one in Cuba, and promise kept. No one told me though I’d feel sick after. We rode back amidst a strong storm, which felt great cause it was extremely hot and heavy that morning.
Papi, the father of la China who ran the hotel, had prepared us a light lunch, because he was working on his surprise dinner. It was a real treat. He really cooked with love and had so much pride in his food and stories he shared with us. Him and Pati ended the night singing to us.
We had also visited the market of Vinales after the storm, where Aubry played his first game of domino, against a Cuban double. He was loving it and we were so lucky to meet in one day such special people, who really seem happy with what they do and have pleasure in their work.


September 19th,
Cayo Jutias:

Our morning was a bit slow because we had to check out of our hotel and decide what we were going to do. There are so many places in the vicinity of Vinales which made it even harder to choose. Plus, we were having a hard time to open the trunk of the car, but Patri finally managed to figure out the trick.
We decided to go to Cayo Jutias, about 65 km from Vinales. The way there was beautiful, with all the mogotes blending in with the palm trees, which make me think of all the Cubans that left, but kept somehow their roots back home and are watching over the island.
Cayo Jutias is amazing! My first encounter with a Caribbean beach, clear water and white sand. We swam, took pictures, then went back to La Habana, to Patri’s house, as she kindly invited us to spend the night. We felt at home, and it was so nice to stay with her family.

September 20th,
Juanes Concert – La Habana- yes, we were there!

Last night we fell asleep with the sound of “regeton”, as there was a party going on right in front of Patri’s house, but it didn’t bother us. We were fascinated by the fact of spending the night in a real-lived Cuban home, and not at a hotel which is always impersonal and to picture-perfect.
I loved seeing all the pictures around their house, meeting their cat even though I’m not usually a cat friend, tasting Graciella’s delicious food, and just spending time with all the family. There was a concert of Juanes and other singers at the Plaza de le Revolution, and we went with Patri, her sister Graciella, her husband Alexander and their adorable daughter Ana Paula (4). It was sensational, the crowd danced non-stop and the singers messages were inspiring: it’s time for change, peace, we are all the same and brothers no matter our color, religion, culture and beliefs. There was more than a million people as per the saying of the Cuban authorities, and it was as peaceful as Juanes could have dreamed of!


September 21-24th,
Varadero:

According to Cubans the prettiest beach of all of Cuba. We arrived early as we went straight from Patri’s house, this time with only one backpack to carry less, and shared a taxi with a Cuban couple living in Germany (Berlin), super sweet and originally from Cienfuegos, where we are heading next.
Our taxi took us along an amazing highway, with a view to the ocean on our left the entire trip. Our driver, Manuel, helped us find a really cute, cozy hotel near the center of Varadero, called “Dos Mares”. We had air conditioning, TV with American channels, and comfortable beds. Aubry was happy cause he could follow the baseball world cup in which Cuba is participating.
This week in Varadero has been really relaxing cause we slept well, could wake up at like 9:30 in order to make it to breakfast then would go back to the room to watch a bit of TV and wash dirty clothes, cause with this heat our clothes get super dirty.
Right in front of Dos Mares, we had huts and chairs to lie on, which were 2 CUC each. One CUC (peso convertible) is equivalent to one dollar. The beach is amazing! We swam a lot, long walks, lunches on the beach, felt like our honeymoon.
We met many nice and friendly people as well, mainly Cubans as we were far from the touristic hotels. It was great to observe their customs, and how after their days work, entire families come together to the beach. We met one family who came in 15 in an old but remodeled truck from the 50’s. They kept telling us to take pictures of their truck, and even invited us to go with them to their house. They thought it was so special how we could travel, and even if they have the means to travel as well they usually can’t as it is so complicated to get VISA's. It’s awful to hear these constant barriers they support, but how even though they laugh and accept these conditions, which are unheard of elsewhere, I would think.
Varadero was even more special as it was where my mom and her family would come on holiday's before they left Cuba. They must have missed this beauty so much. My mom told me that her family had even bought a piece of land to build a house near the hotel International, but of course lost it with the Revolution.
At least the Cubans can now come to Varadero, as there was a long time they were not allowed to set foot on the beach, it was exclusive to tourists. Now it seems as if they come in plenty, play baseball on the sand, stay in the water in big groups around a circle, either just talking, drinking “Ron” straight from the bottle, or simply “namorando”.
From hearing their conversations you can notice they are discontent and hopeless that anything will change in their country. They all want to work, but as long as they will be fairly remunerated, which isn’t the case. They can’t buy basic necessities and much less think about spending on entertainment or shopping. No wonder some are so indifferent towards us.