HOLGUIN, CUBA
(Day 2 if you are following “SEE ALL OF CUBA in 10 DAYS” blog post)
We flew from Miami to Holguin, Cuba on a chartered plane. After proceeding through customs, we jumped on a luxury bus, that would become home for the next ten days. It was quite comfortable. It’s new interior surprised me as most of their cars seemed like they were from the 1950’s.
CUADERNOS PAPIRO in Holguin
Our first stop was an old house that housed a paper making factory called “Cuadernos Papiro”.
It was like stepping back in time with giant printing press machines caked with globs of fresh ink . The workers would swirl around and mix a contraption of white gunk, then press it out and hang it up to dry on a clothesline, sheet by sheet. The work was laborious for one piece of paper.
I purchased two pieces of art work made on this handmade paper for $55. I thought this was a steal – but others thought I could have negotiated down to $25. Either way, I was happy, they matched the colors of my living room perfect and I loved the pieces.
ORIGENES an Art Bronze wall in Holguin, Cuba
Found in Parque Las Flores (also called “Flower park”, because flower vendors are found there) is this Bronze Wall art named “Origenes”. It depicts Christopher Columbus’s landing on Cuba all the way through to the Cuban revolution. Calixito Garcia a Cuban is in the front center of the piece. He was a general in the Cuban War for Independence.
Art, culinary influence & architecture is in abundance in Cuba. Everywhere you turn old historic buildings painted in vivid colors with accents of embellishment surround you.
ROYAL RESTAURANT in Holguin, Cuba
We stopped for lunch at “Royal Restaurant” a little unpresumptuous yellow building that looked closed. It was hustling inside its thick wooden doors.
Were they hiding from something? (C/ Martí 72 / Narciso López y Cervantes, Holguín, Cuba info@royalholguin.com) There are two types of restaurants in Cuba 1) a privately owned restaurants called paladars & 2) government owned restaurants.Up until the 1990’s private restaurants were illegal but with the USSR downfall and the impact it had on Cuba, the government was forced to reconsider and let Cubans own hospitality businesses.
Paladars are typically family homes which they convert a portion of it into a restaurant. Yes, families still live there! The menus change daily depending on what food they can source. Many Paladars also host vacation rentals. Royal offered nice bedrooms for only $30 a night.
We ate soup, salad and beef and I loved them all. Cubans don’t have much in the way of spice and my husband thought everything was bland. But, I love bland as my stomach doesn’t take well to spicy food, so I was in heaven.
NEON THEATRO in Holguin, Cuba
Our next stop was Neon Theatro where we watched a Neon Puppet theatre performance.
Neon Theatre Holguin, Cuba
HOMELESS ANIMALS
It was in this town I started to notice the large amount of super sweet homeless dogs walking around. Anyone who knows me knows my heart bleeds when I see this. In the past I was on the board of Animal Allies in Duluth, MN and even started up a Fur Ball which is now their #1 means of recruiting donations. When restrictions start loosening up in Cuba, it would be my dream to come back and start a shelter here. Locales said that they cannot feed themselves, how can they feed their dogs? However, we did note that no one is ever mean to the homeless dogs. They are just both in the same boat when it comes to food.
FARMING IN CUBA
We ended the day visiting a farmer on the way to our 5-star hotel in Paradisus Rio De Oro.
The farmer shared their home with us and gave us a tour of his bananas and avocado farm. Their home was tiny and I felt almost guilty having to use their small bathroom because I felt maybe the toilet paper was a precious commodity. They served us meat and crackers from their primitive kitchen and we tipped them graciously.
Later, we learned that Cuban people cannot own land but the government gives the residents the opportunity to farm it and live on it. I hated to find out that the Cuba government controls what they eat from what they farm. Can you imagine farming and not being able to eat the food you grow?
Each Cuban gets a ration book which allowed them to buy basics things like rice, beans eggs and sugar. Cubans are always hungry, maybe not completely starving, but there is never enough food. Cuba imports 70-80% of its food at the cost of over $2 billion and it seems tourists get fed first to keep them coming back (talk about feeling guilt). If you are a farmer and slay your own cows to eat, you can get 18 years in prison. A butcher said that he hasn’t tasted meat since he was a child, yet he butchers animals everyday.
HOTEL PARADISUS (Playa Esmeralda, Crta Guardalavaca, Holguin 007 Cuba)
We spent the night at Hotel Paradisus on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The room was spacious with towels shaped into swans on our bed and a patio door leading out to a path which led to the main hotel. We had a large marble bathroom and the shower was outside with a privacy wall behind it. My husband went to take a shower and screamed. He went to move the fake crab and it moved itself instead. Oddly enough, (as he’s typically the bug killer), it was I who found a towel and threw it over the crab, gathered him up and put him outside.
We walked down a path to the Ocean and I found it very unusual that there was nothing on the beach but beach. The beach was stunningly gorgeous without one single building or human body on it. We learned that the government doesn’t really allow anyone to build on the ocean because that is when the Cubans start to think they may be able to escape off the island. Although, hotel owners don’t seem to have a problem building on the beach.
CLICK on the town to explore!
- DAY 1 – LITTLE HAVANA, MIAMI, FL – USA
(spent 1 night in FL) - DAY 2 – HOLGUIN(spent night in Holguin – Hotel Paradisus)
- DAY 3 – BIRAN & SANTIAGO
(spend 2 nights in Santiago – Media Hotel) - DAY 4 – SANTIAGO & CAYO GRANMA
- DAY 5 & 6 – BAYAMO & CAMAGUEY
(spent 1 night in Camaguey – Hotel Santa Maria)
-
DAY 7 – SPIRITUS SANCTI, VILLA CLARA (Santa Clara) & CAYO SANTA MARíA CAY
(spent 2 nights in Cayo Santa Maria Cay – dinner all inclusive – Iberostar Hotel) - DAY 8 – REMEDIOS & CAIBARIEN
- DAY 9 –CIENFUEGOS & HAVANA
(spent 2 nights in Havana – Melia Habana) - DAY 10 & 11 – HAVANA