Cuba – December 2011

Scott and his brand-new, blue Patagonia backpack met us in Phoenix.  After a rushed lunch we boarded our flight.  The next day we arrived in beautiful Havana, Cuba.  So excited, we've been waiting for this for a long time.  Greeted by one of our guides, Marlene, at the airport.  We liked her right away, as she gave us her card and said, "This is my mobile number, if you ever need me, for any reason, this number will work twenty-four hours a day.”  After exchanging Mexican pesos for Cuban convertibles, a currency that can't be converted back to anything, we climbed into our taxi and headed for the hotel.  Great ride into downtown Havana.  Miles Davis playing through the car audio system set the mood for a sultry night.  Somehow jazz fits Cuba very well.  The streets were very dark, but lots of people out walking and talking.  Not a lot of electricity in Cuba.  We checked into the hotel, quickly drank a Mojito in the hotel bar and walked the twenty minutes to dinner at La Terraza restaurant. 


Especially festive streets in Havana with people spilling out of all the bars and restaurants and having fun and dancing in the streets to the live Cuban music that was on just about every street corner.  We noticed lots of restaurants and bars and coffee shops, but very little retail.  Dinner was excellent, consisting of grilled chicken, lobster, rabbit, the biggest slice of octopus I've ever seen, and Spanish wine.  Rum on ice for dessert while a local guitar player and his sidekick entertained everyone.  After hearing them play Wish you Were Here by Pink Floyd, we requested a Bob Dylan song once they arrived at our table - the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.  Others requested Cuban songs while many joined in singing, clapping, and banging on the tables.  Including the girl in the yellow pants at the table next to us.  Who knew you could hear everything said in the men's bathroom next door in the women's bathroom?  Kind of a surprising walk home - after 11 pm this city shuts down.  At least Old Havana does anyway.

Apartments in Old Havana

Up early for a breakfast of fruit, eggs, cappuccino and some Oregon State gentlemen sitting next to us.  They wished the Ducks good luck in the Rose Bowl.  Nice guys.  They also asked if Oregon’s running back was going to take a pay-cut and go to the NFL?  Scott told him Oregon has the best owner in college sports.  Everyone is so nice here! 

Outside the hotel in Havana

OK, shoes on for walking all over Havana.  Beautiful city.  Everything is old.  Vintage may be a better word as it implies character and that is one thing Havana has an abundance of.  Character.  Everything has character.  The iconic American cars, stunning but crumbling European architecture, friendly people on the street, lots of live music, lots of bookstores, and lots and lots and lots of images of Che and Castro.  It is an engaging place.  No wonder Hemingway loved it so much. 

One of the better old cars in Havana

We took a break from walking and had lunch at the Gran Hotel Inglaterra.  Ham and cheese sandwiches with ice cold Cuban beers.  Cuban band loudly playing in the background - drums, beats, more beats, soul.  Lots of people writing in their notebooks, little girls eating ice cream, Russian girls drinking Coca Cola, very old women dancing in the street, men smoking cigars...


We spent the afternoon continuing our walk through Havana, taking photos, and talking with random people, mostly Cubans.  The Cuban people are quite friendly and will often approach you just to talk.  As a whole, they are not interested in money, they are just curious.  They are a curious people!  Most of Havana has a boardwalk along the ocean where you can walk for miles.  The ocean smells good. The island smells good.

The view of Havana from Hemingway's deck

The boardwalk along the Caribbean

Drinks that night at one of Hemingway's old hangouts.  It was full of memorabilia and old photos.  They sure loved him in this town.  He may be third in line around here, right behind Castro and Che.  Dinner afterwards included an interesting conversation with an older gentleman sitting nearby.  We introduced ourselves.  David Cabarrocas was his name.  A Cuban American living in Miami, here with the Catholic Church, filming a documentary and helping the poor.  Fascinating guy, and we think, a well-known architect.


The three-hour trip to the south side of Cuba was uneventful.  The highways were in good condition with virtually no cars on them.  We arrived at Cienaga de Zapata, one of the national parks in Cuba after a stop by Ernest Hemingway’s old house and the cigar factory.  Both interesting places, though we didn’t get to see much of the cigar factory.

Hemingway's library, which had fewer books than several other rooms in the house

That night we talked with our guide about socialism and communism and capitalism.  We talked a lot about Cuba and the Cuban people.  The Cuban people mostly have a high regard for communism.  They admire and are loyal to Fidel Castro.  They think highly of America and the American people too.  We talked about how people from around the world, presented with the same set of facts, very often come to completely different conclusions.

Up early and on the dirt road to the saltwater flats - twenty miles or so through the jungle.  Pink Flamingoes and lots of other birds everywhere along the way.  We’ve never seen so many birds.  There are more than a million acres of eight to twenty-inch-deep water in the national park.  Several small islands, some with wild cows, help block the wind at times and provide cover for sneaking up on Bonefish and the occasional Barracuda. 


We quickly learned how different fishing for Bonefish is from fishing for trout.  It is more like hunting.  First you have to find the fish.  Thank God for the guides.  It is unbelievable how well they can see the fish.  Once they point them out, we did our best to get the fly somewhere in front of them without spooking them.  They spook easily and often you’re casting into considerable wind, but if you can get the fly where they can see it, they will almost always hit it.  Setting the hook is different too.  Mostly, Bonefish set the hook themselves.  It is just up to us to give the line a slight tug.  Not too much.  Then it is off to the races.  Sean’s guide, Lazaro, was easily the best of the three.  The others were good too, but sometimes a little impatient.  Scott got along especially well with his guide.

Sean, bringing in one of his many Bonefish

The fishing lodge was located right on a beautiful beach with a pool and some interesting statues.  Evenings were pretty subdued, though we did meet some crazy Russians who invited us to come see them in Moscow.  They drank a lot of rum.  I mean a lot of rum.  Scott asked if Moscow was safe these days and they laughingly said, “We’re the bad people in Russia, so you won’t have to worry about that!”


Back in Havana the last night we had dinner at one of the small, privately owned restaurants, Paladar Vistamar.  Some New Zealanders living in New York and traveling in Cuba on holiday recommended it to us.  Unsurprisingly, it was far and away the best food of the entire trip.  The best service too.  We had lobster, shrimp, fish, salads, seviche, Spanish white wine and a garbanzo bean appetizer that was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  Complimentary rum on ice for dessert.  All of it was just amazing – a meal we will never forget.  Perfect for the last night of the trip.

It was a great trip.  Good friends.  Good fishing.  

Good memories.