The sixth instalment of my (shamefully backlogged) Cuba blog posts. Cuba was over, like, two weeks ago.

On our seventh day in Cuba, Luxy, Ciara, and I bid goodbye to the paradise that is Cayo Largo Del Sur and flew back to Havana in the evening. Our plan of attack was to have a proper night out as our Cuban trip so far was less 'gals on tour' and more 'family friendly'. Even the old people staying in Sol Cayo Lago were partying harder than us, they were thumping away to the beats of...I don't know, disco bingo? while we lay in our beds at midnight wondering if we had put on enough organic anti-mosquito body cream. 

We had some serious catching up to do, and what better an opportunity than a Saturday night in Havana? A gorgeous Cuban local we met, who we shall just call Alejandro (don't call mah name, don't call mah name, Ale-ale-ale-jandro! I'm notcha babe I'm notcha babe) valiantly volunteered himself as our guide to the real Havana and not the tourist traps (Buena Vista Social Club? Casa de la Musica? Ptuiii! *spits in your chips*). 

Enter Fábrica de Arte Cubano, the only place to be seen in Havana on a Saturday night. Or Friday night. Or better still Thursday night. Saturday is when all the 'kids' (anyone under the age of 23. I'm old) show up to poster and peacock.

Interestingly, on the one night I intended to disengage from any real 'learning' ie. take a break from historical outings and instead get trollied on £1 mojitos was the night I learnt the most I ever did about 'the real Cuba'. That night we spoke to many Cubans mostly our age who were wealthier or from more well to do families, which was the only way one could afford to frequent Fábrica de Arte Cubano. From speaking to these locals we learnt the truth about the class system, the government, how (sadly) affluence go hand in hand with being well-informed and educated about 'the outside world', and the dissonance among those who believe that a socialist, communist paradise is nothing but a fallacy. It just doesn't work. The only other place where this is more apparent is China, ironically the consumer capital of the world.


But first, an introduction to Fábrica de Arte Cubano, or Cuban Art Factory in English. 

June 11, 2014


By our fourth day in Cayo Largo Del Sur we had experienced a few beaches. Not including the one by our hotel, Sol Cayo Largo (the temperamental waves stirred up the sand and made for murky waters which held, according to the increasing paranoia of one getting on in age as I am, things imaginary and unseen so therefore were scary and dangerous) we had enjoyed ourselves at the secluded Playa Paraiso, frolicked on the sandbank of the natural swimming pool, and left footprints in the powdery limestone beach of Cayo Las Iguana. We were told of nearby (just fifteen minutes drive) Playa Sirena, the watersport centre of all the hotels in Cayo Largo and their complimentary water activities. Crowds, commercialism, and naff overpriced souvenir stalls be damned! I would never forgive myself if I left paradise without first displaying my shameful ineptitude at rowing plastic boats that look like children's toys.

June 05, 2014


Having had enough of staying in the same spot (day three was spent luxuriating by the hotel pool, day four we barely budged from our sandbank on paradise beach) we decided to shake things up just a little on our and third day in Cayo Largo Del Sur. We threw some Cuban money at the problem and paid 44 CUC a for half-day excursion by boat to three locations; Cayo Las Iguanas (iguana island), a natural swimming pool, and snorkelling near some coral reefs.

When the sky meets the sea. Yet another sandbank by the 'natural swimming pool'. Photo by Luxy

June 03, 2014

On our third day in Cuba, the girls and I woke up at the crack of dawn (four...! How obscene, that's my usual bedtime). We heaved our bags down the stairs of the casa, rolled down the dusty, ripped-up streets of Havana to our waiting taxi (no seat belts, and miles of pitch-black road en route to the airport, what could possibly go wrong?), and headed to the airport for our morning flight to Cayo Largo Del Sur. 

When we got to our resort, the 4* all-inclusive Sol Cayo Largo (there are no 5* hotels on the island. This was as good as it gets) we decided to spend our first day in Cayo Largo lying by the pool, sampling the cocktails (free, strong, and unlimited, that's a potent cocktail for trouble haha), getting a 'base tan', and fantasising about all the different ways we were going to lie around doing sweet nothing. 

On day four, Ciara, Luxy, and I went down to Playa Paraiso to see for ourselves if it lived up to its name.


'Paradise beach' didn't disappoint.

June 02, 2014

INSTAGRAM

Posh, Broke, & Bored. Theme by STS.