Varadero
After heading back to Havana to meet Eamon, we then
took a bus to Varadero. This is a peninsula on the north coast of
Cuba, stretching 20km or so, which gets very touristy towards the
end of the strip with expensive hotels and golf courses. We had
been told that it was illegal for cubans to rent rooms to
tourists in varadero, because the government wants all tourists
to stay in the expensive 5-star hotels. Unfortunately, being
students, we were strapped for cash and were quite pissed off at
having to pay $25 each for the one night we did stay in a cheap
hotel, so we consulted a bit of paper that Raul had scribbled an
address on - it was the home of a former 
doctor and his
wife, so the next day we checked it out. Luckily for us, the guy
spoke a little english and was willing to risk the wrath of the
authorities to allow us to stay in 2 of his rooms for a total of
$30 a night between us. This was more like it - a house just off
the beach complete with dodgy air conditioning, no water in the
indoor shower (we had to clean ourselves outside, from a low-pressure
over-head pipe coming out of the house - great fun!) and having
to hide in our rooms from passing policemen. There was also a
market just outside the house, Dan and Caroline bought baseball
bats, I got a key ring.
The beaches on either side of
the thin peninsula are like paradise; golden sands,
clear blue water and weather to match. We stayed out all day, and
even went back at night to lie under the moonlight and watch the
shooting stars. Unfortunately this weather did cause problems,
Blake got badly burnt, as did luce... silly fools. Blake was so
bad he couldn't actually move his body when he was lying down
because it hurt so much - he ended up using half a bottle of
after-sun of himself. Drinking the cuban version of a milkshake,
as well as cocktails, whilst reading on the beach, listening to
the dodgy radio from Florida Keys just can't be beaten.
Even though we weren't in the
touristy area of Varadero, in fact it was only Cubans on the
beach, it was different to the rest of Cuba. Drinking water,
which we bought a lot of, was more expensive than usual, the
restaurants were more posh (one did have a fantastic magician),
and there were less hustlers than Havana. But Dan went for a walk
along the beach and said he was accosted by prostitutes, but he
was probably bragging.
Lucy and I went out one night
to a local bar, and had a whole coconut to ourselves, we drunk
out of it and ate 
as much of it as we could, sitting under the
moonlight - it was cool. Quite what caused me to spill an entire
pina colada all over myself, i'll never know. Another night we
even took a horse & cart to a recommended
restauarant, although the meal wasn't all that. Whilst walking,
we even passed an American school bus which I later saw on TV; it
was part of the 'Pastors for Peace' campaign in the States,
fighting to end the US blockade on Cuba, and we took some decent
pictures.
We did have a great time in
Varadero, and were glad not have stayed in hotels as we should
have. I'd recommend going there just for the beaches, but i don't
see the point in going on a package holiday to the resort, as
many people do, simply because varadero is unlike the real cuba,
the cuba that remains as one of the last american-free places on
earth, with no McDonalds or Burger King, with no
ugly adverising boards - in its place Castro-inspired propoganda
reminding Cubans of the glory of the revolution, more than 40
years after it happened. The top end of Varadero also has the
distinction of not letting Cubans in - people in their own
country are treated far worse than tourists which is disturbing.
All these little aspects of life in Cuba make it one of the most
fascinating places on earth, I just wish I had more literary
ability to be able to convey it better.
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