You've arrived at your Casa (home stay, essentially similar to a B&B) or hotel (more than likely, if you are on a tour, the Hotel Nacional Cuba).
A Casa is privately owned and there are different "grades": A Guest House through to a Premium Guest House - I am sure you can work out what that means. Here is a link for you to take a look: Cubans Casa's
If you choose a tour they will book your Casa forevery part of your trip. If you choose to travel solo that link will also guide you. Trip Advisor is also a great place to visit to review Cuban Casa's.
I arrived at my Casa just after 1am, I will admit I was freaked out. My Spanish is, well about as good as my Mandarin, so I played charades with my host. She showed me to my room and left me. I wandered out to the terrace and again, I am not ashamed to admit it, I cried because I was so over whelmed by jetlag, the heat and being in someone's home. My feedback is if you can and there is availability, book a hotel - it will be a lot less daunting and your adventure will start off a bit happier than mine.
The next morning my host knocked on the door at 10.30am (when I was finally convinced I was not about to be murdered in my bed, which can I point out is the thoughts of a mad woman overcome by jetlag and exhaustion, as it is such a safe country) I fell asleep for many hours.. I think I was supposed to be out by 10am, but hey ho, I was on Cuba time. My breakfast consisted of very thick mango juice (an acquired taste), cheese, ham, an egg and fresh bread and honey. And coffee. Oh the coffee in Cuba - it is awesome!
A taxi was called and I was on my way to the Hotel Nacional to get ready to join my tour later that night. It reminded me of Raffles in Singapore. I had a beer (local beers are Cristal - a lighter beer and Bucanero - meaning strong beer, they are the most popular AND very good!) and went exploring the grounds. A beautiful old hotel with beautiful grounds. It buzzes day and night.
I took a shower - again a tip, be prepared for minimal water flow in Cuba, it is more a trickle and hot water, even in hotels, is hit and miss, again all a part of the adventure. Forget trying to wash shampoo and conditioner out of your hair in a hurry - I didn't wash my hair for 5 days once I left the hotel... Dry shampoo is your friend - take some with you!!
I will pause now to tell you what you should take with you to Cuba, as most things are not easy to purchase. Sun block (rumour has it the sun block for sale in Cuba is not good, so if you are fair skinned like me, take your own), insect repellant (all roads lead to Bushmans, it is the recommended one as it is the strongest, apparently) - believe me mosquitos are out in full force (and Cuba has the Zika warning at present), some sort of pain relief (I took Heron, I didn't use it but other members of the tour did), small packets of tissues (toilet paper, once you are out of the hotel, is hard to come by), hand sanitizer (I didn't use this but lots of my tour companions did), a good hat with a peak, and lots of cotton clothes - the heat is intense (and I was there in winter) and the humidity is high. Your host at your home stay will offer to do your washing if required, everything came back squeaky clean and in good shape! Oh and take some form or stomach relief (get my drift? Something like Immodium and Buscopan).
I met my tour group at 7pm. An interesting group of varying ages from 31 to 65 - 7 of us in total (a great sized group!)- 4 Australians, 2 English and 1 Swiss. Our tour guide was Tatiana from Peregrine - a fabulous human being! We headed out for our welcome dinner. The meal was good (I will review on Trip Advisor soon, and post links for you to follow). An early night as we headed off early the next morning to Vinales.
More on that tomorrow - a beautiful region of Cuba. Best home stay I had the whole trip!!
Till tomorrow.
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