Viva la Revolucion! Or Something

So. You are DYING to know.

Cuba. Deets.

Well...

Cuba is one of those strange countries where you can't tell up from down. Really. Communism is a bit messed up. I'm not saying Free Market Capitalism is better but I saw the nicer areas of Havana... It just doesn't measure up.

And no. Before you go any further, I did not visit Guantanamo. But they probably have the same thing that all the other parts of Cuba has.

Namely toilets that DON'T WORK!

Excuse me for being a princess but when you practically have to do your business in front of everybody (because doors that fit the doorjamb are a hilarious concept in that country) when doing a pit stop in a Bus Station, and then, as the toilets didn't flush AT ALL, it was pretty damn awkward when I had to let that poor woman with the buckets fling water into the toilet to get rid of my waste product.

I'm. Not. Even. Kidding.

When we got off the plane at Charles de Gaulle airport, I visited the loos.

THEY WERE SO BEAUTIFUL THAT I ALMOST CRIED!

Also? Dyson airblades are AWESOME!

Ahem.

I saw many many things in Cuba. Lots of critters:



Also roaming about were horses, chickens, turkeys of every sort and pigs.




Just. walk. away.


HELLO THERE, MY PRETTY!



We found this mygale spider in THE BATHROOM!


Check it out. IT'S DINNER TIME!



A snake eating a lizard. The lizard kept twitching. It was wicked cool.


We drank a lot of these:



Mmmmm..... Mojitos....


Also? Kommunist Kola:



Also exists in Regular Kola and "Fanta".


Some locals:



A hat seller in Trinidad


This old lady in Trinidad invited some of us into her house and told us her life story. Thank goodness we had a Spanish speaker in the group. She made us some kick ass coffee afterwards:




Apparently, this fellow has 7 wives. Funny. He doesn't look suicidal:




As you can see, the scenery in Cuba is breathtaking:



Somewhere near Pinar del Rio.




Trinidad




Somewhere near Santa Ana




Somewhere near Cayo Maria


There are no billboards or any product advertising at all in Cuba. However, there is propaganda all over the place:








"You don't touch The Che":



Che Memorial outside of Santa Clara. Security is slightly manic here.

An Argentinian, I'm still unsure if Che had any business being in Bolivia, the Congo or Cuba for that matter. But whatever: He had his beliefs.

Dude is a "God" now which may have been what he was after all the time...


At the start of the trip, I was amazed at how clean the country is. The streets/highways aren't lined with garbage (like in North Africa) and people regularly, despite the dripping heat, swept their porches and kept things neat.

Then we arrived in Havana. One of the smelliest cities I have ever been to. The heat, the humidity, joined with the conflicting smells of tar, rotting excrement and fruit all gathered together to make walks outside truly nauseating.

However, I suppose this was par for the course in this crazy city.

Check out the Capitole Building:



Look familiar? Apparently modeled after the Capital Building in Washington. Oh.... The irony.

How about this building only three blocks away:



I'm sure it is totally normal to have a tree growing out of the side of a building and that that building be propped up by sticks!

Tenements a little further off:



And squatter quarters with an ocean view:



All and all, an experience that I'm not likely to forget anytime soon. I'm tempted to return, though admittedly, I don't think I'll choose July next time. Whew.



P.S. There are over 400 photos in the above slide show. Word: The night shots are mostly experiments.