Sorry, went a little off-topic in my last post.
On the hotel Playa Costa Verde you mentioned in Holguin – I had a couple of weeks there in June 2011. It’s a quite nice (very large) Cuban hotel right on the beach, there's a super “Beer Corner†bar where everyone gathers for end of day chats, the restaurant food I found to be OK, and there’s a wonderful Japanese a la carte, but as Sma points out – there’s nowhere else around the hotel to go for bars or restaurants.
Guardalavaca is easily reached on the regular double-decker bus, but there’s not much there to occupy one for more than a morning.
I did like Holguin city – lots to see, and a great place to wander around. Very safe, and you see how hard life can be for Cubans with some shops having very little stock on the shelves.
One really interesting thing about that area are the land crabs. One day the hotel was invaded by thousands of them, small (about 1cm) all the way up to quite large 15cm. They can climb walls, and the smaller ones had the interesting habit of wandering underneath doors into folks rooms. I woke one morning to a chorus of screams from an adjacent room where two young girls had woken up to find their beds surrounded by crabs!
I’ve stayed in Varadero a couple of times and both times I went into visit Havana – which I think is a wonderful city. Lots of history, some great bars and restaurants, and I felt very safe just wandering around alone.
It’s probably as well to try to visit Cuba while you can. Thomson are ending all charter flights to Cuba this year – the reason claimed being “poor hotel standardsâ€.
I personally think that’s absolute rubbish when one considers some of the awful places offered in Goa, to which Thomson will continue to fly.
Another concern is that it does appear that Cuba might open up soon to American tourists. That could have the effect of pushing up prices sky high and “Americanising†the lovely country of Cuba which currently has so much character.
I’d suggest you go try it while you can!
Don't let stories about the land crabs scare you off! Most of the time they live in underground burrows in forested areas but each spring, after mating, the females migrate to the sea to lay their eggs and then a few weeks later their offspring migrate back inland. If you Google 'Cuban land crabs' you'll get loads of links to videos on YouTube of them on the march.
But I would endorse what Ukbill says, if you are going to go to Cuba, go in the next few years. I first visited in 2005 and have already seen massive changes in the island. Some of them are very welcome, there is more money around and living standards have risen, especially for those with a family member working in the tourist industry, and there are more goods on the shop shelves etc for those who have the money to shop in the CUC shops. But there has been a growth in the attitude that tourists are a cash cow. It hasn't reached the proportions it has in Goa to judge by some of the stories told here by regular Goa visitors but it is creeping in. Many Cubans have started to realise just how different our standard of living is at home compared to theirs without fully realising how much the cost of living can be.
But don't let this put you off - the vast majority of Cubans are still very friendly and welcoming, very grateful for any small gifts you take and delighted to share their culture and approach to life with visitors. The paradox of life in socialist Cuba is that it breeds an entrepreneurial way of life where everybody has a little moneymaking sideline and will try and sell their wares to you! Higher wages will signal the end of that and so much of what makes Cuba what it so will disappear. And the music scene is incredibly rich with live music to be had for the price of a drink in nearly every bar.
If things ever change to the extent that Cuban ex-pats in the US, especially Florida, start to return in large numbers then it will change irrevocably and that will signal the end of my love affair with Cuba. If I wanted what they wanted I'd be going to Miami not to Cuba.
But the one thing you won't get in Cuba is anything remotely like the beach shack life that is what makes Goa so attractive to so many repeat visitors there. Cuba is different but it can be just as addictive!
SM
But I would endorse what Ukbill says, if you are going to go to Cuba, go in the next few years. I first visited in 2005 and have already seen massive changes in the island. Some of them are very welcome, there is more money around and living standards have risen, especially for those with a family member working in the tourist industry, and there are more goods on the shop shelves etc for those who have the money to shop in the CUC shops. But there has been a growth in the attitude that tourists are a cash cow. It hasn't reached the proportions it has in Goa to judge by some of the stories told here by regular Goa visitors but it is creeping in. Many Cubans have started to realise just how different our standard of living is at home compared to theirs without fully realising how much the cost of living can be.
But don't let this put you off - the vast majority of Cubans are still very friendly and welcoming, very grateful for any small gifts you take and delighted to share their culture and approach to life with visitors. The paradox of life in socialist Cuba is that it breeds an entrepreneurial way of life where everybody has a little moneymaking sideline and will try and sell their wares to you! Higher wages will signal the end of that and so much of what makes Cuba what it so will disappear. And the music scene is incredibly rich with live music to be had for the price of a drink in nearly every bar.
If things ever change to the extent that Cuban ex-pats in the US, especially Florida, start to return in large numbers then it will change irrevocably and that will signal the end of my love affair with Cuba. If I wanted what they wanted I'd be going to Miami not to Cuba.
But the one thing you won't get in Cuba is anything remotely like the beach shack life that is what makes Goa so attractive to so many repeat visitors there. Cuba is different but it can be just as addictive!
SM
ukbill and SMa......Thanks for your replies. I really am undecided now!!! ukbill,I couldn't agree with you more about the hygiene etc.in Goa,but it still has something that draws us back...not sure what HaHa. We have also been to Kerala,Sri Lanka,Gambia and Kenya amongst other places and all are cleaner than Goa. SMa, I think you could be right and now is the time to try Cuba,before it changes too much,will give it a little more thought.
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