Prior to arriving into Cuba, we had already made arrangements to take a private tour to Havana with a guide that came highly recommended by many tripadvisor posters. We were picked up at 8:30am in the lobby of our hotel to begin the 2 hour drive to Havana. In reality it was closer to 3 hours before we arrived because we made a brief stop on the way. It didn’t matter though because our guide, Blexie was amazing and was able to give us a great deal of background information on Cuba. I had previously heard that Blexie was a former University professor, so I was actually expecting an older gentleman, but he was actually set to turn just 28 the day after our tour. He explained that due to government expectations, many Cuban men were expected to transfer and work for the government, so as soon as he finished university, a professor spot opened up and he was asked to teach. Due to his background of studying translation, Blexie’s English was impeccable and his grammar was probably on par, if not better than any Canadian I’ve ever met.
The tour of Havana was very interesting and took us to all of the common tourist sites. Having a private guide meant we were fed with more in depth details and told stories that guides of larger groups probably cannot tell. We were also taken to see some local neighbourhoods that a typical tour probably wouldn’t. Some of the buildings we saw looked pretty worn down on the outside, but it was explained to us that because of Cuba’s communist system, people felt that it was the government’s responsibility to upkeep the buildings, and citizens just took care of the interior.
We walked around for a couple of hours and saw all 4 of the major squares – San Francisco, Old, Arms and Cathedral. However, my favourite part was when we were taken to a local grocery store, which was adjacent to a grocery store selling foreign goods. I was always curious about why Cuba has two currencies and prior to our trip to Havana, I was convinced that the two currencies was a way to rip tourists off. However, it was at the grocery stores that I learned about the real difference.
The pictures above are of the local stores. The ones below are the store selling foreign foods.
Apparently, you can visit the local grocery store to buy local (lower quality) goods with the Cuban Peso (CUP) or you could visit the grocery store selling foreign goods and pay with the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). Surprisingly, most of the people making purchases at the store selling foreign goods were locals and our guide explained that as Cubans are gradually being exposed to foreign goods of higher quality, they no longer want to purchase the local goods and this means they need to pay CUC, of which they’re only making an average of 15CUC-18CUC a month.
Our guide asked if we had any plans for lunch and we asked him to recommend a place to take us to. He led us to a restaurant that was packed with tourists and we ordered a platter that consisted of fish, shrimp, lobster, chicken and pork. The platter came with salad, rice and beans as the accompaniment. The portion was supposed to be for two, but we didn’t want to order too much, so we split this amongst the three of us. The platter and a bottle of water each, came to a total of 44CUC, which already included a 10% service charge. When converted back to Canadian, this was almost $20 per person and although it isn’t an overly extravagant amount for all of the protein we received, I kept thinking that 44CUC is the equivalent of more than 2 months’ pay for the average Cuban.
After lunch, we made our way to Revolutionary Square, where we listened to some stories from our guide about the historical speeches given in that place. There were cars parked all along one side of the square and we joked what is a car show in another country is just a parking lot in Cuba.
On our drive back to Varadero, we were able to exchange a great deal of stories with our guide. I found out that although internet is a relatively new thing in Cuba (Cuba was only introduced to google 9 months ago), the influx of foreign tourists have already opened the eyes of many Cubans. Regardless of how much they are exposed to, there is still much room to be surprised on a daily basis. One example is when I offered a bag of mixed nuts to our guide. He had never seen a macadamia nut before, but what he found even more interesting was the ziplock bag that I had thrown the nuts into. When he told me that he would finish the nuts and then wash the ziplock bag to reuse, my heart just sank, realizing how fortunate I was. He told us of all the things that tourists had given him that he couldn’t find in Cuba. This includes such simple things as toothpaste, Heinz ketchup, and mac & cheese, that we never think twice about.
The locals in Cuba had so little but were so happy and laid back. Several times I commented on how easy going everyone was, especially at the markets where normally, vendors from surrounding countries would try so hard to push you to buy stuff. Here in Cuba, they just let you browse as much as you want and then smile when you walk away.
The private tour we took to Havana was wonderful and if you have a party of 3 or less, then I would highly recommend our guide. The stories you hear offer an insight into Cuba that a big tour couldn’t ever provide.
If you’re interested in booking a private tour with our guide, you can find his info at his site – Havana Tours with Blexie.
For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Havana, Trinidad and Cienfuegos.
0 comments on “Havana Day Tour” Add yours →