but it's warm, tropical, cigars, not gonna arrest, kidnap, or murder me for being a rampaging homo. oh, it's cheap.
i mean i can't go because of my job anyway. but i'd like to see it just to...y'know. see it. i like to explore, man.
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but it's warm, tropical, cigars, not gonna arrest, kidnap, or murder me for being a rampaging homo. oh, it's cheap.
i mean i can't go because of my job anyway. but i'd like to see it just to...y'know. see it. i like to explore, man.
PilotBland
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I’d spend more time on how the people live Or what little they have access to than...
the tourist trap that is just visiting the beaches everyday
I mean it depends on your definition of exploring, I guess saying “it’s shit there for the people” can be said for a lot of countries that has nice touristy looking areas
i'm a more of roam the countryside kinda guy.
i do want some beach time tho.
lets go, i'll quit my job and we'll infiltrate gitmo with rainbow facepaint and start an international incident or two.
fr tho i'd probably feel safer in cuba than like...y'know. mexico with all the wack ass shit going on over there.
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You feel very safe in Cuba, there's lots of police and people are generally pretty nice but don't let that distract you from the fact that almost all people have a substantial portion of people in poverty, falling apart infrastructure and fucked economy. It's a nice place to visit as a tourist if you speak Spanish and can get access to visit places like schools etc (they really like taking pictures with you if you're a tall dude with blond hair and blue eyes for an example).
It's one of the best places I've ever been to. Fantastic weather, nice people, wonderful regional food and plenty of stuff to do but I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't knowledgeable of Cuban culture, history and the Spanish language. Spanish is the most important factor considering nearly no Cuban speaks English enough for you to get around
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I guess with everything going on, worldwide protests and a pandemic, they thought this was a good time to do it. Pretty gross.
to add insult to injury he did it on the anniversary of pulse shooting
ya i have an idea of what it'd be like over there. can't say i'm that tall but i am blonde haired blue eyed???? lets go cuban cuties mwah
i got all those three bases covered too. i'm not uber fluent in spanish but i can get around, yuuuuge spanish speaking population in my region too.
but i can't go due to work related travel restrictions so :(
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Ond
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You're good then. Got a bunch of pictures from my trip I can dump with some descriptions if ya'll want
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ask and ye shall recieve
Church built by slaves to attend service and other things during the colonial era, taken near the Malecón and right on the other side of the next photo:
These two buildings stand in a square, with the fountain somewhat in the middle. This part of the district is very popular for street artists and more high-end stores and art exhibits. Police were also very present in this part of Havana
We obviously also visited Revolution Square and got to enter up into the tower (which is the tallest building in Havana)
Statue of the national hero of Cuba, José Martí, who was a poet and renowned writer. Inside this building is a museum of both contemporary arts dedicated to the revolution and historical artifacts of the leaders and battles.
(view from the statue into the square, it's common to see cars like those cruise around as taxis)
This is one of said pieces of art, which is an image of Che created entirely out of pencils and ink bottles, to symbolize the great mobilization of school children to eradicate illiteracy across the entire country.
The entire building was empty except for the staff when we went inside, so we had unrestricted access to a lot of stuff including the elevator to the top of the monument tower;
This is the view from the tallest accessible building in Havana. You can see the parliamentary building from here;
(Note the similarity between the Capitol Building in the U.S and the Cuban parliament in the distance)
We also got to eat in the restaurant sitting at the second tallest point in Havana. This is the view from the window next to my seat in said restaurant. A clear view of the Malecón and the road following it, and endless ocean beyond.
Various anti-capitalsm/America murals placed throughout Havana:
Church built by slaves to attend service and other things during the colonial era, taken near the Malecón and right on the other side of the next photo:
These two buildings stand in a square, with the fountain somewhat in the middle. This part of the district is very popular for street artists and more high-end stores and art exhibits. Police were also very present in this part of Havana
We obviously also visited Revolution Square and got to enter up into the tower (which is the tallest building in Havana)
Statue of the national hero of Cuba, José Martí, who was a poet and renowned writer. Inside this building is a museum of both contemporary arts dedicated to the revolution and historical artifacts of the leaders and battles.
(view from the statue into the square, it's common to see cars like those cruise around as taxis)
This is one of said pieces of art, which is an image of Che created entirely out of pencils and ink bottles, to symbolize the great mobilization of school children to eradicate illiteracy across the entire country.
The entire building was empty except for the staff when we went inside, so we had unrestricted access to a lot of stuff including the elevator to the top of the monument tower;
This is the view from the tallest accessible building in Havana. You can see the parliamentary building from here;
(Note the similarity between the Capitol Building in the U.S and the Cuban parliament in the distance)
We also got to eat in the restaurant sitting at the second tallest point in Havana. This is the view from the window next to my seat in said restaurant. A clear view of the Malecón and the road following it, and endless ocean beyond.
Various anti-capitalsm/America murals placed throughout Havana:
We spent the majority of our time in Havana visiting collective farms, schools and universities that all took great interest in not only our appearance, but also our language and the differences in culture and mannerism. But all this was arranged through the Cuban embassy, so I doubt it's possible for any American/foreigner.
Most of the schools and universities have busts of Lenin, and follow the principles of José Martí. They also have rooms dedicated to the revolution and leaders.
We mostly ate at the hotel or at a privately owned restaurant in the middle of the city. The restaurant was (by Cuban standard) very expensive, but due to currency and economy differences it was actually about the same price as our school cafeteria at home.
Onto Cienfuegos, the province that we spent a lot of time in doing more relaxing stuff. Among many things that included joining street parties, taking taxis 20km out to go to beaches, walking the streets and repairing cars with strangers on the sidewalk. There we also visited a school dedicated to music and arts named after the artist Beny Moré, and a school dedicated to training kids for competitions in sports.
We also visited a swamp that held the original natives of Cuba, discovered by explorers. We went through the swamp on jetskis though, so it was difficult to take pictures. I don't have many.
While Cuba is a very colorful place, Cienfuegos is the place that was the prettiest to me personally. Brightly coloured buildings, well-kept streets and pristine old American cars. It is named La Perla del Sur (pearl of the south) in Cuba, and also made the UNESCO list iirc.
Most of the schools and universities have busts of Lenin, and follow the principles of José Martí. They also have rooms dedicated to the revolution and leaders.
We mostly ate at the hotel or at a privately owned restaurant in the middle of the city. The restaurant was (by Cuban standard) very expensive, but due to currency and economy differences it was actually about the same price as our school cafeteria at home.
Onto Cienfuegos, the province that we spent a lot of time in doing more relaxing stuff. Among many things that included joining street parties, taking taxis 20km out to go to beaches, walking the streets and repairing cars with strangers on the sidewalk. There we also visited a school dedicated to music and arts named after the artist Beny Moré, and a school dedicated to training kids for competitions in sports.
We also visited a swamp that held the original natives of Cuba, discovered by explorers. We went through the swamp on jetskis though, so it was difficult to take pictures. I don't have many.
While Cuba is a very colorful place, Cienfuegos is the place that was the prettiest to me personally. Brightly coloured buildings, well-kept streets and pristine old American cars. It is named La Perla del Sur (pearl of the south) in Cuba, and also made the UNESCO list iirc.
I don't quite remember what the current function of this building was, but it was once owned by a wealthy merchant way back before Cuba had it's revolution. It is right on the shorefront, in the middle of the market district of this city.
The following pictures are all taken within the same square;
A bust of one of the more influential regional historical figures. His name escapes me though, sadly. The entire park was incredibly well kept and clean, not a singular piece of trash.
In the background of this bust you can see a grey building;
This building is an old, maintained and perfectly functioning Victorian theater built by a businessman for Cienfuegos. You had to pay to take pictures inside though, so I didn't get any pictures. But trust me when I say that you wouldn't be able to tell that that theater was a hundred plus years old. It was immaculate
A slightly lower quality picture of the main street with all the stores, grocery shops and clothing shops. This is just up the street from the park previously pictured.
Every school we visited had a performance for us, whether it was theatrical, a ballet or musical. This was taken in the musical school (obviously) and was an acoustic performance of one of Beny Moré's songs. Later the same day we also had a dance lesson with the students, and at night went to "Club Beny Moré" (and got shitfaced)
If you haven't caught on yet, Cienfuegos is a very musically inspired city. It's not uncommon to find street performances and orchestras suddenly turning up to play music together. This picture was taken on a bus we rented to visit the PE school (pics will follow), and was just a random gathering of people in the morning cool, to play music on the main street.
Note the people with courierbags on their way to work, stopping to listen in
We arrived at the PE school and got shown their facilities. They were very proud to show us their computers from the 90's, and assured us that it was the top of the line tech available to them. Schools out there don't have windows since it's so hot and humid, so you don't need them. Even at night it didn't dip below 25C while we were there.
Since it was a PE school, they saw fit to challenge us to volleyball for eternal glory or shame to our respective countries. They caught us lacking by not telling us this beforehand, so we didn't bring any clothes for training, and had to do the game in the midday sun in our regular clothes.
We won 13-9, and they took it very well. They were very eager to greet us, take pictures with us and talk with us with their limited English throughout the entire affair. So somewhere out there, there's a picture of me standing with 12 Cuban schoolgirls who all wanted a picture with me.
They didn't ask individually, the girl in school uniform on the left asked for herself and brought all of her friends afterwards without telling me.
These are pictures from the swamp containing reconstructed buildings and living areas from indigenous people. There was no wind in this area at all, zero. With an insane humidity and heat it was a blessing to ride around on jetskis.
The following pictures are all taken within the same square;
A bust of one of the more influential regional historical figures. His name escapes me though, sadly. The entire park was incredibly well kept and clean, not a singular piece of trash.
In the background of this bust you can see a grey building;
This building is an old, maintained and perfectly functioning Victorian theater built by a businessman for Cienfuegos. You had to pay to take pictures inside though, so I didn't get any pictures. But trust me when I say that you wouldn't be able to tell that that theater was a hundred plus years old. It was immaculate
A slightly lower quality picture of the main street with all the stores, grocery shops and clothing shops. This is just up the street from the park previously pictured.
Every school we visited had a performance for us, whether it was theatrical, a ballet or musical. This was taken in the musical school (obviously) and was an acoustic performance of one of Beny Moré's songs. Later the same day we also had a dance lesson with the students, and at night went to "Club Beny Moré" (and got shitfaced)
If you haven't caught on yet, Cienfuegos is a very musically inspired city. It's not uncommon to find street performances and orchestras suddenly turning up to play music together. This picture was taken on a bus we rented to visit the PE school (pics will follow), and was just a random gathering of people in the morning cool, to play music on the main street.
Note the people with courierbags on their way to work, stopping to listen in
We arrived at the PE school and got shown their facilities. They were very proud to show us their computers from the 90's, and assured us that it was the top of the line tech available to them. Schools out there don't have windows since it's so hot and humid, so you don't need them. Even at night it didn't dip below 25C while we were there.
Since it was a PE school, they saw fit to challenge us to volleyball for eternal glory or shame to our respective countries. They caught us lacking by not telling us this beforehand, so we didn't bring any clothes for training, and had to do the game in the midday sun in our regular clothes.
We won 13-9, and they took it very well. They were very eager to greet us, take pictures with us and talk with us with their limited English throughout the entire affair. So somewhere out there, there's a picture of me standing with 12 Cuban schoolgirls who all wanted a picture with me.
They didn't ask individually, the girl in school uniform on the left asked for herself and brought all of her friends afterwards without telling me.
These are pictures from the swamp containing reconstructed buildings and living areas from indigenous people. There was no wind in this area at all, zero. With an insane humidity and heat it was a blessing to ride around on jetskis.
The final location we visited was The Bay of Pigs. Historically important to the Cubans as it's the place they "beat back the American invaders". There's actually a museum there with countless weapons, uniforms and vehicles belonging to both American and Cuban forces. They had a no-picture policy without payment, so I didn't get any pictures of that either.
The bay itself was a really nice spot, pictures doesn't do it justice at all so I didn't take a whole lot. Spent an entire day there on the beach, in the water and in the bar talking to an Australian couple on a bike tour of the country.
Said bar was just to the right of where I took this picture. This is the spot that had the best coconuts out of all the places we visited. Can't describe to you how nice fresh picked coconut water is if you've been on the road for most of the day.
The bay itself was a really nice spot, pictures doesn't do it justice at all so I didn't take a whole lot. Spent an entire day there on the beach, in the water and in the bar talking to an Australian couple on a bike tour of the country.
Said bar was just to the right of where I took this picture. This is the spot that had the best coconuts out of all the places we visited. Can't describe to you how nice fresh picked coconut water is if you've been on the road for most of the day.
This building complex is connected to the entire beach area and bar that I was talking about, and is how you get down here. Nice, well-kept and colourful like most of Cienfuegos. The people here were exceptionally nice and laidback.
The Bay of Pigs was probably the least memorable location, but out of the rest of the places we went that's understandable. It was by far one of the best beach locations though, but it just doesn't hold a candle to the revolution museum in the center of Havana, and the street/school life of Cienfuegos.
It's the best trip I've ever been on in my life, loved every second of it despite spending a day on the shitter because of a suspicious looking carbonara.
All in all, I think this is the best picture I took on the trip @Subeh
ama if you want
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uh ok bro
guess ur not eating epic food here
and optimistic of u to think like that
PilotBland
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PilotBland
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PilotBland
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