Cuba Life
27.12. 09. The second misunderstanding in escorting us happened at the Havana Airport. Since the first adventure begins with a delay of 1 hour 15 minutes for the bus Donetsk - Kharkov - Kyiv (Sheriff-tour company) for a good reason. Indeed, the weather was bad, the drivers were unable to predict the time of arrival at the airport, and by nightfall everything had gone bad, the delay according to the schedule for Poltava had worsened by half an hour... I had to leave the route already in Poltava and, having called a taxi successfully, got to Boryspil together with two more passengers whose morning flights were on fire.
Upon arrival in Cuba, logically, we are met by a representative of the Kiev tour operator Verano, the so-called "receiving party" indicated in the accompanying documents. We turn to the person with the sign "CUBATUR" and giving him the names, we get the answer: your names are not on the list of those arriving on this flight! After waiting 15 minutes (the person who was meeting was checking the lists of his colleagues) and not finding information from anyone, he offers to go to the office of the travel agency "CUBATUR" in the airport hall. After searching for information in the office and not finding it, we are nevertheless escorted to the exit, and sent to the hotel in Havana by a transfer organized by them.
28.12. 09 Felipe Ochoa I am a representative of "CUBATUR" - this is how the person introduced himself on the phone and made an appointment in the hotel lobby. Having received, I must say in full, the information we are interested in about Havana, and about tomorrow's departure to Varadero “at 9 am I will meet you at the reception and put the bus to Varadero”, we go on a city tour.
Briefly about the places worth visiting in Havana: you can start from the Old City, the end of the Malecon promenade near the fort surrounded by water, go deeper along the street. Obispo (Obispo), branching left and right, to the neighboring streets (Calle) Tacon, O'Reilly,... , to the right, two blocks later, there is an old square with a Catholic cathedral (they are allowed inside without problems), and a sculpture by Antonio Gades, st. San Juan de Dios, also a monument to the famous Spaniard Miguel de Cervantes Saayedra, the building of the State Treasury, as well as the Ambos Mundo Hotel, where many celebrities of the pre-revolutionary era stayed, then as we move along the main tourist street, do not miss the funny installation of Sancho Panza, we approach its beginning, which crowns the world-famous bar of E. Hemingway - Floridita (Floridita). It works daily, but on Monday it starts at 11.30. After passing through a small square, we find ourselves in a park with a monument to Jose Marti with the coat of arms of the city of Havana and a symbolic key from it, behind which a view of the oldest hotel in Cuba "Inglaterra" opens. Turning left, we find ourselves at the foot of a copy of the Washington White House - "Capitolio". If you go around it on the left, you can see the old (1845) building of the Partagas tobacco factory, right behind it are the “gates” to Chinatown... After that, you can go to Revolution Square - one of the most revered places for modern Cubans. The stele of José Marti with the podium of the leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro, is impressive. Also of interest in Havana are Plaza Vjeja, a monument to Don Quixote on a horse with a spear, the Malecon embankment area, with a whole galaxy of monuments to military leaders and the governor of Havana, as well as the Melia Cohiba and Riviera hotels (the hotel is 52 years old! ) Miramar area, primarily with its luxurious Melia hotels Habana, Occidental Miramar, Panorama hotel, and two candles of the Neptune's and Poseidon hotels... At a very large distance from the city center, ~ 40 minutes by car, there is an estate and a house-museum of E. Hemingway (Finnish “La Vigia”), a cult place for admirers of the writer's talent.
29.12. 09. In the morning, before the transfer to Varadero, in the lobby of the hotel We met again with Felipe Ochoa, as he had appointed. He handed us his business card, which listed another tour company, and also said that in Varadero Us will be accompanied by his colleague - a representative of "CUBATUR" named Odalis. The bus arrived on time, and, having picked up tourists from other hotels (there were no Russian speakers), we went to Varadero. On the way in the bus we were told a little about the history of Cuba, there was also a stop in the middle of the way, where the tourists were offered Pina Colada.
29.12. 09. Arrival at the hotel and check-in went smoothly.
30.12. 09. At the hotel reception, we met a porter, a wonderful person, who also speaks Russian well, named Lazaro (Lazaro), who was told that no one met us, in response to this, he checked the hotel's mail, and found for us letter.
31.12. 09. At the time appointed in the letter, namely 12/31/09 at 11 am, we came to a meeting with Odalis. However, after waiting 40 minutes while she was solving some of her questions, she deigned to come to us, and, apologizing for being late, within 20 minutes, with complete distraction of thoughts, she wrote us a plan for rest, excursions and reported the total amount for them. Fortunately, we were prepared informationally in advance about the excursions, and we did not need much time to discuss them. Since we did not have enough money in local currency, we agreed with Odalis to meet on 01/02/10 at 8.30 am to pay for the excursions we had chosen. The plan also indicates the date and time of the transfer to the Havana airport.
02.01. 10. Arriving at the appointed time (8.30 am) in the hotel lobby, we met the receptionist Lazaro and, having warned him that we were waiting for Odalis to meet, sat in the lobby until 9.30 am! Lazaro advised us not to wait any longer, and if we really want to book excursions, then it is not necessary to wait for it yet, since there are representatives of the organizing companies in the hotel, excursions can be ordered from them, the conditions (prices and responsibility) are the same for everyone (this public policy). Turning to the company "Cubanacan" in the same lobby of our hotel, we arranged everything in 15 minutes without any problems. In the future, throughout the rest, we never met with Odalis, although we received a letter to the room with a claim about our failure to appear at the meeting on January 2 in the morning. A new day and time was appointed in the letter (01/03/10 at 11 o'clock), this is the day when she herself planned the first excursion for us... there is no logic!
Actually, quite a lot has been written about excursions from Varadero. I will only add my opinion... Three cities: Santa Clara (Santa Clara), Trinidad (Trinidad), Cienfuegos (Cienfuegos) - a tiring, and at the same time, an exciting bus tour for ~ 14 hours, drive through the territory of central Cuba approx. 800 km. see the nature of Cuba, it's worth it! Dolphinarium near the hotel Iberostar Tainos (Iberostar Tainos), with a weak performance and a rather expensive price list for swimming with dolphins. Jeep safari - quite exciting especially for those who have a car license, they provide Suzuki mini-jeep, the first part is a bit long... moving to a farm, moving to caves and swimming in an underground lake, moving to the city of Matanzas (Matanzas) lunch, the second part - transfer to the park area on the bend of the river Canimar (Rio Canimar), rafting on the river on a boat and gliders, return to Varadero. The Russian-speaking guide worked for a solid 4ku and at the end presented all the participants with a cigar. The best impressions leave a trip to the islands of Cayo Largo (Long Island). The system of islands in the Caribbean at a distance of ~180 km from Cuba. Air travel by Cuban Airlines on a twin-engine aircraft takes 25 minutes. From the pier on a yacht or a large catamaran, we set off for the Caribbean turquoise sea with uninhabited islands and fine sand as white as flour... this is Bounty from a fairy tale, sunbathing, swimming and walking on foot along the sandy spits and rocky capes of the island of mermaids can take weeks, however, for this you should stay in small but cozy bungalows on Cayo Largo. I recommend this excursion to everyone who loves active events and calmly endures flights and boat trips, especially since there are practically no waves, and the sun is all year round!
01/10/10. At 10 am I had to call Odalis about our departure. By phone, she confirms the time of departure from the hotel, namely: at 14.30 a bus will pick you up at the Havana airport, and to my question about the bad weather and possible disruptions in the work of the airports of Havana and Paris, she replies that she knows nothing about France, and in Havana the weather is normal and your flight will be on time - no change, she says.
At 14.30 we are loaded into the bus, having collected tourists from other hotels in Varadero, we leave for Havana at 15.05. We are brought to the airport at 17.10. We run up to check in for a flight... BUT Air France representatives tell us that it is impossible to check us in for a flight, the plane has departed, and direct us to the Air France office. At the office we are told that our tickets have “burned out” and in order to get new tickets we have to pay 2128 c. u. c. (~2000 euros) for one ticket. Having turned around, we head to the CUBATUR office at the airport to find out the reason for this situation, and until ten in the evening we “hang” in their office on the phone. We call Felipe, he first of all starts to find out if we have money for tickets... - “maybe a credit card . . ? you will pay for the tickets now, and I will return the money to you later, ”he says, he probably sincerely hoped that we would get 4248 euros from the right back pocket, buy tickets again for our own, and fly home, and then he would return them to us; . We answer him in an apologetic sense that we have no money, especially such. In response, he gives out two lines of behavior at once... , “do not worry, now a representative of your Verano travel agency will call you from Kyiv, sit in the office and wait for his call”, which will look for a Russian-speaking colleague to help us. The situation was not cleared up even after the call from Odalis, who was very surprised by our call. For a long time she could not understand what we were worried about, and we want from her at 7 pm, because our flight leaves at 22.30, - “go and register! ” she said, your flight number is AF479. After I told her that we were “turned around” with our tickets and sent to CUBATUR, she said that she had nothing to do with this company, just like Felipe Ochoa is not an employee of this travel agency, and that we should call Kyiv to our travel agency Verano, then checks our ticket details for a long time, says that we arrived at the wrong time... and then hangs up. At 22.30 CUBATUR representative informs us that today we will be accommodated in a hotel to spend the night, and tomorrow on 11.01. 10 at 15.00 we will be picked up and brought to the airport. She reported the new number of our flight and the time of departure, namely 01/11/10 at 20.20 flight AF479.
01/11/10. At the reception at check-out, we are handed a note from Felipe with a phone number (not the same as in the business card! ) And information about the transfer to the airport. This is a strange note, since the information in it duplicates the one that was told to us by the CUBATUR representative at the airport.
At 15.00 we are picked up and taken to the airport. When checking in for a flight at 16.50, the representative of Air France demands e-tickets from us for a long time, and after we explain to him that yesterday, 10.01. Air France office, for printouts of ticket reservations for this flight. They don’t give us anything at the office, and, wondering why we came to the office at all, they send us to go through customs procedures, saying exclamatory that everything is in order with our tickets. After paying the airport tax and going through customs, we head to the aircraft waiting room. An hour before departure, suddenly, out of nowhere, the same Mr. designer appears... an Air France representative comes up to us and takes our passports and tickets from us, saying that he will be back in five minutes. After 15 minutes, he returns with a piece of paper, where the amount of 4040 euros is written by hand, which we must pay him, and then he will bring us our passports and tickets. We politely inform him that we don't have that kind of money, and he... leaves in an unknown direction. Further searches for our documents lead to a scandal at the airport, Roman and his wife join the search - Russian tourists who sympathize with us from our hotel in Varadero, who, thanks a lot to them, help to contact Felipe by phone (despite the fact that they dialed Anita's number indicated in the documents ). By the way, this same Anita (simply Anna), a former Ukrainian woman who moved to Cuba, who, as we found out, is a relative of this Felipe Ochoa, we have never seen or heard on the phone, although in the information sheet provided to us by the Ukrainian travel agency Verano (Verano), she appears as a Russian-speaking representative of the travel agency CUBATUR "meeting party". Then Felipe again refers to Ukrainian support, and says that a certain Alexander from Ukraine will call us, and hangs up. There is no reason to wait any longer! We are raising a scandal, during which we “beat” everyone involved in the work at the airport. Fortunately, a sane customs officer comes across, to whom we inform about the seizure of passports and tickets, after listening to us and asking us to wait on the spot, he dissolves in the customs zone, where we are already forbidden to go. Passes ~20 minutes and, at 20.00, the same malicious representative of Air France appears, with our passports and tickets in hand. In a mocking tone, he, again, offers us to pay him the cost of tickets. After our threats to call the police and call the embassy, as well as the demand to immediately return the documents to us, he, to our surprise and joy, “surrenders”. In a sarcastic manner in front of witnesses, he parted with our documents with “great reluctance” (they were simply torn out of his hands). At 20.20 we were on the plane.
On 12.01. 10 at 17.00 we land at Boryspil airport, after going through passport control upon receipt of luggage, we find out that our luggage is not there. Having completed the paperwork on the loss and search of luggage, we, without winter clothes (remaining in luggage), return to Kharkov to the hospital to treat a nervous breakdown and a cold. Luggage search takes 4 days. The home delivery promised by Air France turns out to be a lie, which was voiced by representatives of the baggage search service at the port of Boryspil. They also misled us when filling out luggage declarations, pointing out that in the luggage content column you need to write the phrase personal items in one line, this then played into the hands of thieves! After three days of calling this service of the Boryspil a/port from Kharkov, it suddenly turns out that the luggage is in the Kharkov a/port, and we can safely pick it up... on our own! The crown of everything - luggage robbery! Already at the first examination, my wife and I understand that the weight does not correspond to the original, (later weighing showed the difference: the first suitcase was 23 kg. On the tag from Havana, in fact 17.5; the second at the start was 19 kg. In aport In Kharkov, he already weighed 16 kg. ), despite the fact that everyone knows that in the port of Havana the scales are “charged” by 1-2 kg plus, the difference at the end is noticeable! Having opened things, we actually discover the reason for such ease... some part of things is not. Shameful thieves: 1. Representatives of Air France in the aport of Boryspil, who received the keys to our suitcases from the luggage search service and carried our luggage through customs. 2. a customs shift that opened the luggage with keys, pulled out everything more or less pleasing to the eye, then closed with our own keys the rest after the looting
things, along the way forgetting for some reason to put the keys and acts of seizure of things in the side pocket. Still, they didn’t bring anything illegal, but they liked the sweetest thing, like: coffee in beans - they took out a whole kilogram, and filled the void with a jacket from another suitcase (like they disguised it), we conclude that they are well versed in Cuban rum, since they took 4 bottles of the most expensive Barrel Proof with a blue label, a boxed version (they disdained to take the boxes, which means they will drink and not give, as we expected when buying it in Varadero), but other losses caused more surprise... for example, a wedding necklace of expensive jewelry in gold (we assume that probably the male sex stole, a woman would have determined what is gold and what glitters), what glitters, crows and pigs, as a rule, will covet... the leather gloves presented by me are really a pity no less than a necklace just as a memory, it’s disgusting that they rummaged through my wife’s entire cosmetic bag, stealing even a hairpin of your choice, preferring our plastic wooden handmade from Cuba. In general, the employees of customs and Air France distinguished themselves (they acted together according to the information of the baggage search dispatcher). The evidence is, for example, a photo taken on the eve of departure to the airport from the hotel, there are witnesses of the purchase of gifts, there are also checks from the store for alcohol, checks were left along with boxes of rum, as well as the fact that in Kharkov the suitcases were closed for the lock and sealed with tags (in which, by the way, the initial weight of the luggage from Havana is indicated), and the keys were no further than in Boryspil aport, and nowhere else it was impossible to open and close non-standard padlocks.
I suppose that the participants in the theft have no conscience, and their hands will still turn black one day, along with the throats of those who drink someone else's stolen, and then it will backfire on them...
On this major note, you can end the story, but you need to add...
It is impossible to spoil the impression of Cuba... NOTHING!
For questions and detailed comments (useful tips for tourists) you can contact.
I will be glad to answer c SW. Andreev Oleg Vladimirovich and Gaponenko Valentina Viktorovna.
