Let's Talk About Cuba ~ The Adventures of Amber and AJ

We spent five days in Havana with my mom back in June. I never got around to writing about our trip, but it was amazing. Cuba is one country that I would LOVE to go back to. This post is more of a picture dump with a few captions rather than a full blog post.

Anyone ever seen the movie Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights? Okay, well Havana is actually nothing like that. It’s a beautiful city (some parts were run down though) with amazing architecture, vibrant colors, and so much personality and history. The people were kind and they all seemed to be doing the best with what they had…which isn’t much. Resourceful people who completely understand their unfortunate circumstances and still have great attitudes. Many Cubans are still fearful of mentioning much about Castro or the Revolution in public but have no problem laughing at Americans for our government situation.

· How did we do it? You have to get a visa to travel to Cuba. I recommend going NOW just in case Americans lose the privilege again. We flew Southwest Airlines (the actual best airline in the whole world…I feel like I can say that now since I’ve flown with a ton of different airlines) and arrived at an airport that is quite appropriate for a developing country: hot, chaotic, and slightly unorganized.

· Accommodations: We stayed in an AirBnB that looked a little rough on the outside, but the inside was cute. Most importantly, it had AC units in the bedrooms that worked well enough to get us to sleep.

· Food: The food wasn’t the Cuban American food that we are accustomed to, but very tasty nonetheless. The prices were reasonable and it was very apparent that the restaurants were only there for tourists.

· Highlights of the trip:

-Visiting a tobacco farm: We watched a farmer roll cigars in his home with tobacco and newspaper while his cute, little wife brought him coffee.

-Smoking Cuban cigars in Cuba: I more so just watched :) but my mom and AJ had the best time and it felt good giving back to a local farmer rather than purchasing from a company. Did I mention that they had the BEST time?!

-Old classic cars: AJ made my dreams come true when a pink convertible with a driver and English tour guide showed up one morning to drive us around and give us a tour of the city. Our tour guide was the sweetest, she even ended up having drinks and lunch with us. On a different day, we rode in a green car and visited another town in Cuba called Viñales.

-Botanical Garden: An instructional walking tour of the plants, fruits, and vegetables that were brought in by a Chinese family and kept alive by local workers.

-Varadero Beach: No way that the pictures do this place justice. So far, this beach is on the top of my favorites list. Clear, calm water with soft sand…doesn’t get better!