CUBA (1). Local life. Matanzas town
The man (photo above) with his funny cut trousers was walking in the middle of the street and singing Cuban songs. He was lost in his thoughts, probably a bit drunk. He was not homeless, nor was he dangerous. He was rather talkative and kind. Here is a simple Cuban joy: empty streets, music and rum. Pure living, with happiness on the surface mixed with delusion and poverty behind.
Our vacation was split into two parts: 1 week in Cuba and 2 weeks in other Caribbean islands. Little did I know that I would like Cuba this much and I wished it was opposite. Leaving Cuba after one week is like walking away from a man after one lovely date – too early to say that you are in love, but too late not to wish for more. I didn’t get enough of it.
After many other trips, Cuba still remains in my heart as one of the most exciting destinations there are. It is unique and original; it offers amazing landscapes, beautiful architecture, different cultural experiences and that unique excitement of capturing something vanishing, something that soon enough will be read only in books. Cuba outside touristic areas is still original and doesn’t change that quickly. However, most visited cities like Havana are already very much Westernized and very commercial. Anyways, it is still not too late to get a ticket for a journey back in time, get a feeling of how the Soviet Union was, witness a lifestyle of a dictatorship communist country.
I am afraid that soon enough the massive flow of American tourists will change Cuba unrecognizably. Cuba has been closed for Northern Americans until 2016. The situation did not change from black to white in one day, but infrastructures are being developed. You should try to go before McDonald’s and other international brand set foot on this unique island. While I am writing this, America is building new walls around the USA, so I am not sure if the situation for Northern Americans will not change backwards once again.
Our trip to Cuba started in Frankfurt. Together with several hundred of German pensioners, we landed next to Varadero in the late evening. First feeling about Cuba: it has a very hot and very humid climate. It was late September – early October, the end of the rainy season. However, people say that Cuba is always hot and very humid. It takes a few days to get used to it.
Varadero is a peninsula in the North of Cuba, a famous beach resort town offering Western level luxury hotels and all-inclusive services, white sandy beaches and warm seas while it is snowing in Europe. Cubans are not allowed to enter this zone. Only working staff can access the area. If you do not care about local culture, and just wish to lie down under the sun, with a Mojito in your right hand and a Cuba Libre in your left hand, while somebody massages your lazy feet, Varadero is for you. When you are back, tell me how it was, because the first thing we did, was to head opposite direction and go to the least touristic Cuban towns.
Matanzas. A small town to experience local Cuban life
Matanzas is a small local town, where tourists do not come. It is a poor town but with most sincere and friendly people, offering an excellent opportunity to witness traditional local life.
Where to stay
We stayed in the rented apartment of Casas Particolares (Cuban version of Bed & Breakfast). It is an excellent economical choice. Those apartments or rooms are clean, nicely furnished and have air conditioning.
In the centre of Matanzas, there was a beautiful hotel called Velasco. We went there for cocktails and internet because it was the only place in the town with WiFi.
Photo from www.booking.com
People. Local life
People of Matanzas are very friendly. We were invited by our neighbours to their houses, received a gift of Cuban song lyrics directly from its master and had dinner with the apartment owner in his house. He had a cute little dog called Porcholo, which was too clean and too much loved to walk down the town streets. He was kept inside all the time with a balcony view on the prohibited streets.
We travelled in Cuba in September in 2015. One of my most vivid memories are these wide, empty streets with small colourful houses around them, electricity wires like spider webs swinging in the wind and an old man somewhere, walking or sitting on his doorstep, drinking rum or smoking a cigar. It is not from Hollywood movies, but a real picture of Cuba nowadays.
Cuban street dancing parties
Did you notice a huge pot on fire out in the open in the photo above? It is a soup that has been boiling there for hours. The soup was made with some vegetables, meat (mainly fat), later it became the main dish for the evening party on the street. We participated in one of those events. That party was in honour of the anniversary of Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (sort of police), in other words, political fest.
All neighbours came, everyone brought some snacks, rum and juice. Of course, brands like Bacardi, Havana Club and Cohiba are better known outside Cuba. These products are for export. They are too expensive, and locals use much cheaper local alternatives.
Locals shared the hot soup, old men played cards, chatted, sang, while younger members brought huge speakers, tape recorders, and they danced. Those parties are extremely loud and can be heard from far away. Life is hard but people party harder.
Old style salsa is rather seen at shows for tourists. Street parties are all about modern reggaeton beats and most famous Latin American pop star songs. For example, when we were there, Enrique Iglesias El Perdòn was playing on every corner. Still, today when I hear it, it brings my memories back to Cuba.
Cubans can dance to anything and anywhere, even kids: instead of joyfully jumping around, they move like little professional dancers. With that darker toned skin and chubby faces, they make the cutest dancers. Cubans do not take dance classes after workdays, but they have been dancing like masters ever since they were babies.
What do you do when you are invited to a Cuban party, and your hair is a mess? Adriano decided to try the local beauty salon. Girls in front of him were already dressed up, impatiently waiting and trying some new dance moves when the song they liked played on the radio.
Art in Matanzas. Poverty
The painting on the wall was the only art seen in the local town. We found a theatre, but it has been closed for renovation since 2006.
Pictures of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban revolution, were everywhere, but no photos of Fidel Castro were to be seen. I heard that he prohibited the use of his pictures while he was still alive. In 2015, when we visited Cuba, locals did not know how old Fidel Castro was and if he was still alive. Officially, Fidel Castro died in November 2016.
Since 2006 his brother Raul Castro has governed the country, and in 2018, Cuba has got a new president Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Poor part of the town.
“Shopping” like nowhere else
There are two types of stores in Cuba. Local product shops and imported product shops. I would like to say supermarkets, but they are so far from “super” that it just does not sound right.
Photo from Martynas Sirusas adfoto.lt
There are also two currencies – Cuban peso (equal to US dollar) for tourists and “CUCs” for locals. Therefore, you see two prices on shelves. Below photo is from the shop, which sells only imported and therefore expensive products. Hardly any locals can afford it. However, these are the only shops still having something to offer. Local product shops are completely empty, selling maximum 2-3 products when they open, causing huge queues outside of the shop. I was ashamed to take any photo of those enormous queues. It is in short a disaster, but this is exactly how I remember Soviet times in Eastern Europe as well. When I was a little girl, I also waited in such queues for hours. In Lithuania, you can still hear people sometimes ironically say a “queue for bananas,” meaning some timely effort to get something very rear and precious.
From Matanzas, we took a private driver and headed to Cienfuegos, bigger but still very local Cuban city. Read CUBA (II). Local life. Cienfuegos city.