Cuba, I feel, is a bit of a mystical place for Americans. Ever since the early 1960’s, the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis era, we’ve heard a mix of stories telling of the evils of communism so close to our shores, atrocities committed by our very own government, and of tropical island beaches where your glass overflows with rum and your face grins of a good life. From my short time there, I found that it might all be true, however, it is a deeply complex country that I will certainly need to explore more of in my future to better understand it’s culture and the ways that it operates.

For this trip, however, I flew into Cuba with the main intention of rock climbing. Because of this, I scheduled just a couple of nights in Havana and the rest of my time would be spent in beautiful Viñales located in tobacco country, a few hours west of the capital city. I had heard tales of spectacular rocks to be found there and couldn’t wait to find out for myself!

Landing at the airport in Havana, I stepped off the plane excited! I made my way to the immigration line and eventually stepped up to the border agent. We exchanged a few words and I then watched as she pressed her stamp into the inky sponge then pressed it firmly into my passport booklet revealing the hot pink stamp reading, “República de Cuba”. Despite the loosened restraints on visiting Cuba, the US government still forbids its citizens to travel here unless you fall under a handful of set stipulations. Which, we’ll say, I did fall under one of those stipulations and most definitely filled out all the required paperwork as well. I definitely didn’t feel like a rebel at all and was there on a completely legal basis.

Anyways… after having passed through border control and snagging my bag, I navigated my way through the airport to the currency exchange booth. Money in Cuba is interesting in that they have two separate currencies. The standard Cuban Peso for the Cuban people and the Cuban Peso Convertible for tourists. The Pesos Convertibles run a 1 to 1 exchange with the USD, but there is a bit of a catch here.

First, for US citizens, our banks don’t work here. So using a credit card or an ATM is not an option. This means you must bring and carry around enough cash to last your trip’s entire duration. Fortunately, Cuba is a pretty safe country, so it’s a little less stressful walking around with fist fulls of cash in your bag.

Second, all currency conversions carry a 3% fee, but if you use USD there is an additional 10% tax imposed. To avoid this I brought, as recommended from my research, Euros with me to exchange. Then, with cash in hand I was off to find a taxi to shuttle me to downtown where my room would be for the next two nights.

When you stay in Cuba, it is highly recommended you stay in Casas Particulares over government run hotels. Casas Particulares are Cuba’s version of AirBnB where you rent a room in the home of a Cuban family. This is not only great because it allows for a much more intimate and authentic experience during your stay, but the rooms are typically quite comfortable as well. And an added bonus, despite the fact they are government regulated (as is everything in a communistic country), a much larger percentage of that cost will go directly to that Cuban family rather than to its oppressive government.

After checking in at my Casa Particular, my host Nikolas took me around the corner for some sandwiches and after out to the Malecón, the stone-built embankment along the oceanfront. This is a common gathering place at night for people to hangout, chat, and enjoy the ocean crashing into the barriers below. Nikolas and I had only a little conversation since he spoke no English and at the time, I spoke very little Spanish. But nevertheless we chatted a little about Cuba and our cultural differences with a little help from our friend, Google Translate.

The next day I woke up early and headed out for some sight-seeing. I enjoyed walking around Havana, but I couldn’t help but feeling a little ambivalent about the city. One of the first things I noticed was that much of it is in disrepair due to the governmental oppression while the governmental buildings are perfectly manicured. It was commonly recommended not to walk too close to buildings as there is risk of chunks breaking off and crashing onto your head!

One more thing that I had witnessed was a fairly sizable grassy area being trimmed with machetes. It seems to me that with all of the tourism money pouring into the government they could afford to supply the workers with some sort of machine or more efficient, less back-breaking method of mowing the law. But… communism.

Now, it wasn’t only bad things I witness while walking around the city. I stumbled across some nice music a few times. Miguel, a local musician, walked me around and showed me some sights. And I really enjoyed checking out all the old, classic American cars driving around. So despite a few negative observations, overall, my experience in Havana wasn’t terrible and I would definitely recommend spending a day or two here to check it out for yourself.

The next day I would head off to Viñales. A friend of Nikolas told me that if I showed up 2 hours before the bus departure, I would be able to snag a ticket. Well… he was wrong. I showed up at 9am for the 11am bus and it was sold out. There would be another at 1pm that I could get tickets for, but that would mean a several hour wait. So I went outside and chatted with the taxi drivers and they would search for other travelers willing to take a taxi that I could share with.

After nearly an hour of waiting, they hadn’t found anyone yet, but one driver, Yuniesky, offered to take me for just $25. This was $10 more than the $15 I was going to pay to share, but $55 cheaper than the $80 total. Plus I wouldn’t have to wait any longer, so I went for it. I hopped in back of Yuniesky’s 1952 red Buick Special and we were off. I found out later, mid-trip, why I got a discounted rate. It turned out Yunisky was also delivering packages along the way. Luckily I wasn’t in a particular rush, so I didn’t mind the little extra time searching for houses.

Once we arrived into Viñales, I had Yuniesky drop me off at the beginning of town. About a half mile (800 meters) outside of town lies the small village of El Palmar. In my research, I found mention of El Palmar as a place a bit off the beaten path, so naturally I chose here instead of Viñales proper. Here in El Palmar I found Casa Roja, which would be my home for the next 15 days! Rico and Marilou, the vibrant proprietors of Casa Roja whom quickly became “Mi Mamá y Papá de Cuba,” got me all set up with my room and settled into my new home.

A little behind on my journal, I decided to go up to the roof of Casa Roja and get to writing while watching the sun set with the spectacular views! Meanwhile, Mari got to cooking up dinner. Which I would soon find out, Mari was an incredible cook. You look at her kitchen and you just wonder… “How?” Tiny, and mildly more furnished than a college grads apartment kitchen and she puts out 5-star restaurant food. And a lot of it. She would cook enough food to feed a small army, just for me! I’d been over-stuffing myself for days (with food still left over) and could barely walk after a meal. So I had to ask a couple times to make a little less food because I just couldn’t finish it all no matter how hard I tried!

The next day I headed into Viñales to meet up with Tito. He is one of the local hard climbers and showed me around all of the nearby crags. We headed out of town and snaked our way through the farm of Raúl Reyes and up to one of the most magnificent open-faced caves I’ve seen, Cueva Cabeza de la Vaca or Head of the Cow Cave. This wall is home to some of the most aesthetic and joyful routes I’ve ever had the pleasure of climbing!

The following days we would visit a few other crags nearby, most of which I didn’t get photos. Sometimes you get wrapped up in enjoying the adventure that you forget to take the camera out! But I can assure you, the climbing everywhere in Viñales is world class. If you ever get the chance to go, do it! And if you’re interested in guiding or a room, you can send Tito an email and he can get you all set up! jorgepimentelmorales@gmail.com

On my days off of climbing, I went for several really nice hikes and one of them took me past a farm and was coaxed in my the owner’s sister. She showed around the property having me try some fresh bananas off their banana tree and a small cup of fresh coffee from their farm that was cooked with traditional methods over a wood fire and strained through a cloth filter. Then Clara, her mother, showed me how to make a cigar and rolled one up by hand for me. After I shared my first cigar smoking experience with her in her little farm house!

After hanging out at the farm for a little longer, I continued on the hike meandering through the farm fields and enjoying the landscapes and fresh air. The views around here are just spectacular with the farm fields splayed out over the rolling hills of the valley and mountains surrounding in the distance.

Then, on September 9, Hurricane Irma bumped into Cuba on her way up to Florida. Being on the west side of the island we weren’t severely affected by the storm but there were a few downed trees causing some damage, lost plantain crops, and flooding on the farms. We were also without power for two days, which generally isn’t a big problem for me, however, with a hurricane passing through, the humidity was at about 118% and the temps on a Caribbean summer night aren’t exactly cold either. Without air conditioning, the conditions in my room were a bit… sticky.

To help with this, I opened up my windows and door to get a little airflow going while I slept. Which definitely helped the air be a little more fresh, but along with that air came… mosquitos. And after the third time being woken up at 3am by one buzzing in my ear, I decided to go on a hunt. I closed the windows and door, got out my headlamp and started stalking my prey. I used a t-shirt to stir the air causing the mosquitos to fly revealing their location in the room. Then I used my headlamp to cast shadows on the walls and ceilings to reveals their positions after they had landed and a rolled up piece of paper for the kill shots. In the end I think I spent about 30 minutes hunting the little bastards down, killing about 7 of them and gave up on the 8th.

There was, however, one nice side effect of the storm blowing out the power for a couple days. At night there was zero light pollution and the day after the storm provided some clear skies at night. And being in the middle of the ocean on an island empty of light, the stars we numerous to say the least. I would say that night was probably the clearest, most vivid view of the Milky Way that I’ve ever seen!

Eventually the fun in Viñales had to come to an end. My plan was to head back to Havana by bus, catch a cab over to the airport where I would spend the night, and early the next morning head off to Colombia. So on my last day, I bid farewell to Mari and Rico and headed off to the bus station. This time I was able to grab a ticket without problems and was off.

We arrived in Havana a few hours later, I grabbed a cab and was off to the airport. At the airport I sat outside to enjoy the sunset before heading in and waste away the hours until the next morning to catch my flight. I chatted up a couple Canadians doing the same before trying my luck (and not having any) at catching some shuteye. I might have gotten 30 minutes maximum. Airport floors are generally one of the least comfortable places to sleep.

The next morning around 5am I headed to the ticket counter to get my boarding pass for my 7am flight to Bogotá. The line was fortunately vacant so I went directly up to the clerk. I gave him my information and he then requested proof of onward travel from Colombia. Wait… what? I just have a one way ticket, I never saw mention of this requirement in my research? The clerk insisted he was unable to give me my boarding pass without proof of onward travel. He suggested I could visit the Cubana Airlines booth or the COPA airlines booth an purchase a refundable ticket.

I walked over to the Cubana booth and requested a price for a return flight from Bogotá. It would be 350CUC. Perfect. I have 150CUC left over. I visit COPA. 275CUC. Closer, but still, no cigar! Now remember, as I mentioned earlier, I cannot use the ATMs here nor credit card. I even tried once, but as expected, it did not work. I asked about using one of their computers to go online to purchase a ticket. They informed me the only internet available is on the other side of the security checkpoint.

Perfect. Ok. So. I have about 1.5 hours to figure this out before my flight leaves without me. Perhaps I can call my parents at home and have them purchase a ticket online and give me the confirmation number. They’d probably hate a 4am call, but hey, they love me, right? Well, to make a international call I needed to purchase a calling card. So I walked around looking for where to buy one and found a booth that sold them. But of course, it did not open until 8am, one hour passed my flight’s departure…

I then go back and forth between Cubana employees pleading for their help, but even after I finally got a manager to talk with, it all came down to they would not be able to give me a boarding pass unless I purchased an onward travel ticket out of Colombia due to Colombian law. While contemplating what I was going to do, it finally dawned on me. Many hours prior, while I was talking with the Canadians, one of them had briefly mentioned that he had found a corner of the airport on this side of security that had a weak wifi signal, but regardless, it was a signal.

So I hunted through the airport until I found him, unfortunately, sleeping. Desparate to not be stuck in Cuba another evening and having to buy another costly plane ticket, I shook him awake and inquired about the internet. He was kind enough to show me over to the corner where he found the internet and lent me his internet card with 7 minutes remaining on it. (To use internet in Cuba you must purchase a card and pay by the minute) So I quickly logged on to the internet and navigated my way to COPA Airlines website and purchased a refundable ticket from Bogotá to Quito, Ecuador, a very plausible route I could take should there be any reason I wouldn’t be able to get a refund.

By the time I’d finished up he was sleeping again. So I left him a thank you note and booked it to the check-in counter. I showed the clerk my laptop with the confirmation of the ticket purchase on the screen. He printed out my boarding pass and I was off to security. I finally arrived at the gate less than 10 minutes before boarding. A stressful 2-hour ordeal, but in the end, luck was fortunately on my side. I made my flight off to Colombia, where at the border control checkpoint, as I suspected, they never once requested proof of onward travel. They just asked me how long I was going to be in Colombia, stamped my passport, “Bienvenido a Colombia!”

Bonus Photos