Cuba - so far from the Dominican Republic and so close to Crimea
We returned from Cuba 5 days ago. Varadero. Brisas del Caribe. 4* - type.
How Russia should be grateful to Gorbachev is clear only there. But in order. A couple of years ago we were in the Dominican Republic. The island is a neighbour. Bounty. But Cuba is much greener, I don’t know why, but there are much more living creatures and everything (except mosquitoes) is harmless.
That's where the pros end. The passage of the border guards took about an hour - they were unsmiling and closed the window in front of their faces without explanation.
Finally - the bus and the hotel. I expected ruins, but it was no worse than the Dominican Republic and inexpensive hotels in the Canary Islands. Air conditioning worked, TV, both water and free safe.
Dinner alerted, breakfast cheered, and by lunchtime they were laughing. In Turkey, having lunch with sausages, you will get chopped sausages for dinner. In Cuba, they will warm them up with potatoes for breakfast.
The choice of food is very small, but usually edible, if you do not take what you have already seen twice.
Some fruits - 3-4 items (if you wait in line), vegetables - like from Lidl in Germany. Only much worse and tastier. Tomatoes are a green delicacy, cucumbers are a mild delicacy, usually dry grated carrots, the same cabbage, peppers. You can, of course, take a plate, knead, salt, add pepper and salt from stone salt / pepper shakers, pour oil / sauces - but what did we pay 1100 euros from Germany for? Muscovites, by the way, are much larger.
For the first time, I looked unfriendly at people with bags from the catering department 8))
Bars are free and enjoyable. Haven't seen "All included" with Beefeater and Gordons, Campari and Martini yet. However, they must be requested separately. And the magic phrase is "Poko yelo, por favor" (Less ice, please).
The staff is ordinary Soviet people. Torn between normal human kindness and the understanding that we are capitalist sharks.
And what to expect - salaries - 10-20 dollars a month.
A few products are sold for pennies at fixed prices, the rest - at wild prices. A pack of Marlboro - 3 dollars (more precisely, local convertible pesos equal to a dollar), cheap cigarettes - a dollar.
Animation. It was seen from the performances - unbridled fun everywhere, a lot of music, dancing waiters, crazy discos, promotion of people on the beach, beautiful shows in the evenings - like in the Dominican Republic.
In the evenings - Miss Hotel, Mr. Hotel, Men against women (children on the beach in the morning repeat “chiki-chiki” - and they repeat far from missionary poses), the magician of the hotel. It was fun when the pissed off animator (yes, pissed off) tumbled out of the bar and yelled "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! " .
It’s not a pity that I got drunk, everything is there for that 8)). It's a shame that I've been working for this for a year, so that a professional team would make fun for me for two weeks. And the animator thumps all year round - just like that. And he will not be fired - socialism.
I asked the representative of the travel agency - is it normal when the staff drinks? Lot? Specific names, essno, did not name - the Soviet habit.
They said that this, in fact, is wrong, but they are being soldered by young tourists. 30 - year old men - 15-16 - summer. As well as bartenders and others. But they are fighting.
They went berserk, began to entertain themselves. A sundial was built on the beach. They signed the times, the brand - Rolex, the country of origin - Cuba. People were reaching out - they asked what time it was. Mostly English.
In the shopping center we bought paired drums (souvenirs there are balls, and very good ones. Drums - 10-15 dollars). Expecting wives from the shops remembered a lot. The wives found us by "...we are cheerful Hawaiians, we will sing a song for you ... ".
Wives crushed our popularity to the core. And so ...who knows ...they would sing like that ...
Varadero is a reservation for tourists. 15 kilometer. Hotels and a town with staff and souvenir sellers.
A taxi driver cannot enter it - a private trader. Therefore, excursions are only official. Havana - $67. Like all metropolitan excursions, it is interesting and leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction.
2 hours of travel, half an hour of sightseeing from the bus, an hour of jogging around the old city with a patter commentary, an hour of self-guided walking, an hour and twenty of lunch (damn, the waitress, puffing up with pride, serves salad, almost hitting her wife in the face with her elbow). Salad - a spoonful of coarsely chopped white cabbage and a teaspoon of canned asparagus. Then - chicken meat (with legs) on a piece of wire with the usual rice from the hotel. A bottle of cola or mineral water. Coffee. Expresso differs not in taste, but in the size of the cup.
After lunch - a twenty-minute group run to the bus, half an hour on the bus, visiting the cemetery, Revolution Square and the Capitol.
And home. In Havana - about 6 hours. And the feeling that the most interesting to consider did not have time.
We were often told that the country is very poor and we should take souvenirs - like small gifts. Didn't know what. We walked around the market. Well, baseball caps. Like an epiphany - lighters with LED flashlights for 40 cents . . It really was an epiphany. Tipping at the bar in one peso (dollar) went to the general cashier. But private gifts are personal booty. Especially - a flashlight with a battery life of a hundred hours. Even in a lighter. And remember the Union 20 years ago. Darkness in the evenings everywhere, blackouts, a condom only to the touch.
Well, such a lighter provided THAT rum, gin, the rest and pouring a bottle on the road 8))
Tropicana show. There is in Havana, rchdom with Varadero and somewhere else. Two hours with an open mouth. Actors, musicians, scenography, directing - must see. The only professional Cuban product I've ever seen.
Cigars. On the second day, we met a Russian citizen, an employee of the hotel. Olga.
Offered to arrange a cheap trip to Havana. But the driver is not allowed to the hotel - we go to him by taxi. Then with him - vegetable gardens. At the exit to the highway, a policeman slows us down and turns us around. Again we catch a taxi and by 11 o'clock in the morning we return to the hotel.
They could have guessed, but they also decided to buy cigars from Olga. Much cheaper and she claimed to provide all necessary receipts and export certificates.
Some of the cigars are just wet. They returned. Already before leaving, they realized that the papers that she gave were a flimsy letter, it’s good that there was no inspection.
She also offered us coffee, telling us that even its collectors do not have cheaper coffee.
Well, you already understood 8)) In general, Olga is from Varadero.
Everything is practically safe. Well, except for heartburn. Play late. All night long. Smile at women. To ride a horse. Dive.
At the airport, on departure, an Afro-Cuban customs officer noted that we had a 10 kilo overweight (25 bucks per kilo).
And how quickly in my German passport he noticed the city of birth - Kharkov, switched to Russian, remembered his studies as a glazier in the Donetsk region, noted his unwillingness not to offend anyone and his desire to get vodka (his wording).
Well, Ilf-Petrov said about America - an interesting country, it is necessary to visit, but not to live.
In a company of about 25 Germans/Austrians - all "never again" and one - "I'm here for the ninth time and will be again. " To tell him "Man, without a wife, and I would probably come back here" did not allow ...Wife, probably 8) Joke. This holiday is not only there.
About Cuba - you can visit, but if you want not to the museum of the USSR, but to relax - the Dominican Republic.
The country is good and interesting, there is something to see. But the tourist always has the main question - the ratio of the interesting things seen to the money paid. Cuba is interesting as the Soviet Union.
If friends/acquaintances take you to nature reserves, show you a story, fry kebabs and sit with you in the kitchen, you will like Cuba. Only to communicate with foreigners to them ...how would it be ...is not recommended.
Scrolled through the report. Kind of dark. This is not true. Interesting! You just need to know what to expect. And remember - an extra couple on a trip increases the star rating of the trip by 1 8)).
Interesting country. If you fly - a company or a rabbit. And don't expect smiles 8))