I have some new ones in both categories.
I should be more specific.
I have new family of choice, not of origin.
Though heaven knows I have enough family out there that it would not surprise me in the least if a cousin had a baby and I had no clue.
What I am referring to is Cuban family.
I received the sweetest, most heartfelt gratitudes and thank you from the Cuban people I connected with when I was in Havana today.
Yesterday I finally hopped on Air BnB and reviewed the experiences that I had booked in Cuba.
Normally I don’t actually do reviews on Air BnB.
I have never booked experiences before though and I was asked by each person that hosted me to review them on the site.
Apparently it really helps them and considering the state of economics in Cuba I was more than happy to help in anyway I could.
I gave 5 stars (out of five) to all but one of the experiences.
The one I only gave 4 to wasn’t necessarily the hosts fault. I gave a lesser rating to my trip to Vinales because the tour tried to pack too much into it.
First, Vinales is almost, not quite, but almost two hour drive from Havana, so that’s four hours in a car, a classic car–which is at once super cool and also, not comfortable. At least not nearly as comfortable as a modern car. It was a great car, but my legs were cramped for sure.
Second, the tour really could have, in my opinion, ended after the horse back riding and lunch.
The first thing we did was stop at the Vinales Valley visitor center and take in the panorama of the valley.
It was gorgeous.
After a little education about the valley we headed to a tobacco and coffee farm to learn about how they grow tobacco and to smoke cigars and drink rum.
I did neither of those things.
I did, however have coffee and I bought two bottles of coffee beans.
Yes.
I said bottles.
The country has almost no manufacturing capabilities, everything gets reused and recycled, so my beans came in reused water bottles.
Lovely beans too.
I have been having Cuban coffee every morning since I got back.
Then after the cigars, rum, coffee we went horseback riding through the valley.
It was gorgeous and unfortunately being on a horse did not really facilitate me taking a lot of photos. No pictures of horses for you.
It was hot though, whew, sweat galore.
After the horses we went to a local paladar and had an amazing Cuban lunch–yucca, lobster, squash, beans and rice, stewed pork, chicken two different ways and I had, for my drink, a huge young coconut that I happily sipped all the juice from and ate the entirety of the insides.
Baby coconut is so freaking good.
Then we went to a cave.
Then we went to a mural.
I did not like the cave, it was too dark and wet and it was hot, it did not feel cool being underground and there were bats and we rode a boat at one point.
I did not need that experience.
Nope.
The best thing about the cave?
Literally the light at the end of the tunnel.
After that we got back in the car and went to visit a famous mural.
Now I am done at this point and the cave had been a pretty popular tourist destination so for the only time I was in Cuba, I had to wait in line to do something.
Never my cup of tea.
The mural was nice, but it was nice, not amazing and it was late and a free pina colada was not to my liking. Just give me the water and get me home.
And that was my “worst” time?
Please, I got to ride in a classic car, meet cool people, go horse back riding, buy coffee from a Cuban farm, go spelunking and visit a national monument (the mural). I have nothing to complain about.
The rest of my experiences reflected just that, nothing to complain about, nothing that I would have changed or made better.
I had a slight critique of feeling dropped at Mediteranneo Habana, but it was such a tiny glitch I didn’t give them a negative review.
It was a farm to table experience where I went out and had a tour of the farm that provides meat, milk, cheese, sausage, cured meats, chicken, pig, rabbit, vegetables, all the fruits–bananas, sugarcane, mango, guava, and herbs to this very highly regarded Mediterranean restaurant in Verdado.
The farm was beautiful and I was met by the manager of the farm, his family has been running the farm for 5 generations. He was super kind, very friendly, had great English, and greeted me with a heaping plate of mango, watermelon, pineapple, and guava.
It was lovely.
I felt so welcomed and really got a grasp of what it is like to farm in Cuba.
Where almost all the farm’s production goes straight to the government.
They are not allowed to keep any of the beef they produce and only 10% of the milk they produce. The milk they use to make cheese for the restaurant. I tried four different kinds between the ricotta and the fresh mozzarella I was astounded. They were so good.
The farm also gives the government almost all pork produced and a fair amount of the eggs and chickens.
I was amazed they are able to stay in production.
It was quite a behind the scenes look at farming and I really enjoyed my meal later at the restaurant. The transition between the two was a little bumpy, but like I said, the food and the waiter who took care of me pretty much negated it.
And here I am at the end of my blog time, I’ve got to get up early for group supervision and I haven’t even got to the three top experiences that I went on.
They will have to wait for the next blog.
Buenes Noches!
Auntiebubba 