My Trip to Cuba, Expectation vs Reality. Chapter 1

There is a very logical question, everyone asks: Does one who read a lot or does one who travel a lot? I clarified the answer to this question after I went to Cuba. Definately travel! Traveling is absolute knowledge. For example, there are clear opinions about Cuba that are in everybody’s mind. Everyone talks about Cuba as a city of honest people, historical richness, poor but happy. The men stood up to the world hegomania America, made the most important revolution in history, it was such a revolution that its leaders became the portrait of a political ideology. If you ask me, I wish they didn’t make that revolution, and I wish those leaders were not so famous. Because, contrary to what everybody said, they did nothing but create a nation that was pitiful and cheating. No country has unlimited wealth, endless mineral deposits, productive power, agricultural functionality or livestock competence, then I understand, be a communist. But why do you become a communist if you don’t have resources to feed your nation? You apply the most illogical ideology of the world in the most irrational land part of the world.

I think the people who wrote articles about Cuba said “We paid so much money, we came here, let’s write something nice and not be disgraced” and made descriptions about Cuba that are not essential. Now I’m going to write down all the irrationality and heartbreak we’ve been through without skipping a second. My conscience will not be comfortable if I do not write. I think that I, the noble revolutionary, will speak out against this injustice.

We were making our travel program with my fiance. Our target was America. We would be traveling to New York, Miami, New Orleans regularly. I said, “When we have gone that long, it will not be possible to go again. Look, shouldwe visit Cuba before the American embargo is lifted and the country changes? ”. We thought and decide to go. We thought that among the constantly happy people, we would have a salsa siesta every day, drinking mojito every hour and made our day. So we got our visas with great excitement and we were ready to travel.When we arrived, there was no direct flight from America since the American embargo was not lifted. That’s why we reserved our place with Habana airlines, which are connected to Cancun. However, day after day we arrived in Havana with a wonderful tiring journey.

The first impression at the airport was how fancy the women on duty are. Under their tan uniforms, their patterned panties and long nails make us very surprised. It’s a pretty sweet look, essentially. First we went to this office to convert our money. There are two types of currencies in Cuba. One of them is Cuban peso and the other is Cuc. The people of Cuba use pesos which are very cheap. You have to use Cuc as a tourist and it’s crazy expensive. They increase commissions when they see dollars and euros. Especially if you have dollars, you fucked up. We learned later, if you convert your money first to Mexican peso and then to Cuc, you profit a lot. For example, you have $ 100, when you convert it to Cuc, it becomes 70 Cuc, but if you convert $ 100 to Mexican peso and then buy Cuc, the same money is 90 Cuc. When they become rich tourists, they get it. So I suggest you don’t go with dollars or euros. By the way, they also collect taxes when checking in. You say what the tax is my ticket, they don’t listen. They get $ 20 from some, $ 30 from some, and $ 10 from others. According to the head. So the moment you enter the country, you are dumbed twice before.

Anyway, after we finished our work at the airport, we gotthe famous old car taxis to go the hotel. Airport to city about half an hour. Unfortunately, it feels different to see this poverty, as people who have seen no place but Europe and America yet. They have nothing. Even the Olympic stadium they were rubbed into was ruined. The buses are crowded. The roads are bad. Suddenly your empathy develops, you feel sorry, you worry. Provided that neither of us ever laughed, we were moving towards the city, and now it was becoming more and more anxious than long. Streets, houses, windows were hitting our faces one by one. We sensed danger. But I can tell you that this first impression is not real. It isn’t a dangerous city. You can walk around as you wish. It only gives a dreadful anxiety at the beginning. After we came to the hotel, I was so anxious that I cannot explain. What are we gonna do here? The hotel employees spoke little English, no map, no internet. Nothing. When I went to the balcony of our room and I looked at Havana from above, my blood pressure droped… All I was thinking about, now we are fucked.

After overcoming the first shock, we decide to go out after balancing my blood pressure with the trinkets we got from the plane and than we throw ourselves to the street. Maybe for the first time in my life I didn’t smile somewhere I’ve just seen. There was a feeling that something bad will happen at any moment. Fortunately, when a street corner turns, we realized that we were not actually on the coast, but in the center of the city. We were in Paseo del Prado, Havana’s most famous street. The place where Karl ledgerfield held the Chanel fashion show in the past months. My uneasiness went so quickly at a time that it’s as if I started ronescence, I made the industrial revolution. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I made this journey that will not be beneficial for everyone. After I felt safe, everything started to look different in my eyes. Gorgeous open cars, old houses, culture, people, fashion … everything is very fascinating. There is only one real thing about Cuba, which is as if the country remained in the 1960s. There is no stone on the stone. No technology, no construction, no fashion today, no brand, not even junk food. It has a completely unique lifestyle. It’s so nice to see them, until I communicate with people…

Where to see was written in our notebook. We approached a taxi driver to guess where we were. We asked where exactly we are, where is the old city etc. The man explained excitedly and added to the end. “How lucky you are, today you have come across the 50% cigar discount that the government makes once a year, but it will end at 5 o’clock, you have 20 minutes, right across the cigar factory, if you want to accompany you?” We didn’t want to spend our money in the first minute because we have just arrived. There was also no place where we can withdraw other money. He asked us about the hotel we stayed in, and he is disappointed that we did not want to buy cigars and he said bye.

A few steps away, a man who probably listened to us behind came to us. How smiling face, how helpful I can not tell. He said “Hello, I work in your hotel, I saw you coming. Welcome to Cuba, you will love it very much.” He showed us everywhere. He was very happy when he found out that we are Turkish. Strangely, the people of Cuba love Turks very much. Everyone smiles when they hear that we wereTurkish. When he had nothing to show, he told us the same cigar talk. At least we say “let’s go and see, it won’t hurt to see.” He took us somewhere in the back streets. We came in front of the door of a house, we looked at each other with my fiance. There was nothing to do, we dived into the house. There was a strange person inside. The guys have officially made fake cigars, but it looks like the original because they put it on all the quality cigar boxes they stole from the cigar factory and add the original labels. For example;Cohiba box is $ 200 but they sell you $ 100. He was trying to sell it insistently. Fortunately, we had read, you can’t get anything out of the country without an invoice. When we decided not to buy it, his faces fell off, and suddenly bursts into an icy air. We got rid of this situation immediately.

This guy at our hotel didn’t give up. He was like a vampire. He will not leave our blood without sucking. He asked ud if we want to eat something. We said yes, and asked him to drop us off at a restaurant. There are home restaurants called lapadar in Cuba. People have thrown tables and chairs in their homes to make money. They cook in their kitchens and offer them. We say that it will be cheaper and we will go to make money for the public. As we understand, there is a commission system everywhere in the city. When you grab a tourist, take them somewhere, you earn money, you get a certain rate from the tourist. Any other kind of effort is not worth that much. We were entering Lapadar. A very cute house, an old kitchen, a smiling face hostess. She brought the menu. We were looking but what is that? They wrote incredible money on a lousy menu. I will never pay 20 Cuc (around $ 20) for a plate of chicken that is not clear what I am going to eat! We take it for one person and share it, we say we are not that hungry anyway. Again insistently, both the man who brought us and the host does not want us to buy a single menu. When we get angry, they get depressed again, the man leaves us with disappointment. We eat our meals very full. We actually enjoyed the environment after the man left. Because it’s different. When we requested the account, the woman also wrote a tax on dirty paper :) Anyway, we got out of the house without any problems, we threw ourselves back into the street again. We realized that the Lapadars are 5 times more expensive than 5 star hotels :) When you go to a good hotel in the city, you pay 5 Cuc or something for the same meal. Unfortunately, this happens when there is no control. It was a lesson for us and we did not go to Lapadar again. After walking a little more on the street, we went back to the hotel. Fortunately, alcohol is very cheap. After a few beers and mojitos, we dive into the dark to forget the ruin of the first day.

… to be continued