Bern - Frankfurt - Cuba

The world is a book. Those who do not travel, only see one page of it.

Augustine Aurelius

Our journey began on May 12, 2018 with our beautiful wedding. The weather was amazing and accompanied the first stage of our upcoming journey.

The adventure of marriage begins with an intensive exploration tour around the globe. On May 14, 2018, we finalized the preparations and printed all the booking confirmations. In doing so, we discovered two strange situations. The hotel supposedly located on Highway 1 was actually in the UK at a place with the same name. We could cancel it. And our hotel in Frankfurt for the following day had canceled the booking in mid-April. Our credit card had been blocked due to a skimming attack, and the reminder email from booking.com was lost in Thomas' email jungle. The hotel, which was originally booked for EUR 114, now cost EUR 274 due to a trade fair in Frankfurt. After two or three hectic hours, we finally found a new hotel in Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt. In Rüsselsheim, we immediately felt at home. It is similar to a neighborhood in Frankfurt or maybe even Bethlehem.

After an intense flight, we landed in Holguin the next day. We were the only airplane at this airport. The entry process was quick, but changing money was not. We waited for about an hour to exchange our currency (no, we could not exchange money in Switzerland, import/export is prohibited). After an hour in a taxi, we arrived at our holiday paradise. We were greeted by a triple infinity pool, a butler (responsible for about 20 guests), and a private small beach bay. Our honeymoon had started in this resort.

After three days of lazing around, eating (whole roasted pig), and drinking (Mojitos), as well as splashing in the sea and the pool, we were eager to explore the real Cuba. Equipped with a rental car and a navigation system on our phone, we set off for Santiago de Cuba, where we had booked accommodation for 2 nights via AirBnB. Santiago - the city of music - presented itself very quietly during our stay. After a plane crash in Cuba, a two-day state mourning was declared, and playing music was banned (by the way, after Fidel Castro's death, it was 7 days). We especially liked the view over the basilica and the sea from the terrace of the Hotel Casa Grande, the ruins of El Morro (Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca), and the pilgrimage towns and the most important place of pilgrimage in Cuba - the Basilica in El Cobre.

After two days of city hustle and bustle, we were looking for some relaxation and found it after about 6 hours of driving in Santa Lucia. However, due to the bad weather, the otherwise wonderful sandy beach seemed less inviting for a swim than we had hoped. Thomas instantly made friends upon arrival, which made Karin less happy. Angelo accompanied us everywhere, whether on our long walk, during dinner, or during a bedtime beer. He enjoyed Thomas' attention, and Karin was a little jealous, but she was mostly allergic to the cute four-legged friend of the Casa owner. The weather forecast did not look good, so we decided to treat ourselves to two nights on Caya Coco in a nice hotel. The crossing to the island was wonderful, a 27 km long dam connects the mainland with the islands of Jardins del Rey. However, the hotel turned out to be less enchanting, and now we understood all the tips about "no matter what you do, never stay in a hotel in Cuba". After these two nights, we were looking forward to spending the next night based on a recommendation. And Daniela did not promise too much: we arrived at a paradise of nature near Trinidad (El Manantial) that is second to none. The highlight was the numerous fireflies that frolicked in the night sky, creating a romantic honeymoon atmosphere. The jump into the cool water below the Vegas Grandes waterfall was also beautiful. Unfortunately, 50 percent of our small travel group thought that a fish allergy could also be triggered by potentially swimming and invisible but certainly very aggressive large schools of fish, and they limited themselves to observing. Furthermore, a new Angelo was waiting for us at the accommodation. This time, however, it was a puppy whose main occupation was playing with Thomas' shoelaces. When we went to bed, Puppy was so sad that it spent the night whimpering outside our room.

We started the next day with a visit to Trinidad. We had high expectations of Trinidad, but they were rather disappointed. We really liked the view from the tower of the former monastery. What was particularly interesting was the spontaneous visit to a school, where the teacher called us from the street into the classroom. And the truly spectacular highlight: the find of a treasure, a real Coca Cola - what a treat! After Trinidad, our journey took us to Cienfuegos. Choosing the Casa was not particularly difficult - Relais Italia enticed us with real Italian pasta for dinner. We really liked the Casa, its owners, and the spaghetti. The favorite activity of Karin was hiking in heavy rain, Thomas enjoyed following the Champions League final. Small note for all sports enthusiasts: After the final whistle and in a big celebration mood, the big screen alternated between the logos of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona; they are crazy, these Cubans - imagine if SC Bern won the Champions Hockey League and the logos of SC Bern and Langnau Tigers were displayed - a real scandal!

Watch out, now comes the highlight of our trip so far - a visit to Vinales.

On the way there, about 1.5 hours before arriving, we stopped at a rest area where we met Javier, a local. We made an exception for him, as we usually do not pick up hitchhikers, especially considering that our mini car was already packed with our luggage. We took him all the way to Vinales because his car broke down somewhere (we never found out where). After a few initial concerns - Karin kept looking at the back seat to make sure he had enough space for all his stuff, and he thought those were suspicious glances, thinking that she might be afraid he would steal something - it turned into a very entertaining and interesting car ride. He actually wanted to give us money for the ride, but when we declined, he organized a little tour of a tobacco plantation for us. This free tour ended with a very direct sales attempt to sell us 25 cigars for CHF 100. In the end, we left the plantation with 5 cigars for CHF 20. Thomas still has the impression to this day that this search for a ride was more staged than necessary, and Javier just wanted to sell his cigars. Karin thinks that is exaggerated and defends dear Javier.

In Vinales, we promptly fell in love. The town at the foot of the mogotes (mountains that were formed differently than real mountains and are therefore not called mountains) stole our hearts: the restaurants on the main street of the town offer delicious food and Mojitos (more on that later), the hike around the Los Hermanos karst mountains of about two hours was simply enchanting (you won't believe it, but we were accompanied by a stray dog that attacked every passing car), the Cueva del Indio - underground stalactite caves in the rainforest - very exciting, and the view from Hotel Los Jazmines was stunning. A visit to a tobacco farm was a must, and Karin discovered her love for cigars. Now to the Mojitos…. Due to my trip to Prague, I am very familiar with the Mojito disease. So far, Thomas has mainly observed it in flocks of sheep in the morning, just before the shepherd drives the sheep back home. Previously unknown was the fact that lonely sheep or princesses can also be affected by this disease. Vinales impressively proved the opposite. In this village, the necessary consumption of Mojitos is 5-6. Despite the discomfort associated with this disease, we set off for Havana. However, the driving speed was determined by Thomas and was slightly below that of a Sunday morning taxi driver in the Czech capital. Although many people assured us that a direct flight from Cuba to the USA is not a problem, Thomas (over)organized and insisted on clarifying at the airport. The two responsible people from American Airlines looked at us very puzzled. According to them, it is not a problem as long as you have money. With the answer to the question "where are you from", this topic seemed settled for them. In the world, the firm belief still exists that all Swiss people are rich.

From Havana Airport, we drove to the tourist hotspot Varadero. Here we will stay for 3 days in a very nice and yet affordable 5-star hotel. On June 1, 2018, we will head towards Havana, where we will spend our last four days in Cuba in an AirBnB in the historic center. We are excited!

In summary, here are our highs and lows so far. Our favorites:

- Vinales and its very natural environment

- The crossing on the 27 km long dam to Cayo Coco

- Staying in a 5-star paradise with all the amenities as the beginning of our honeymoon

Our lowlights so far:

- Rain, rain, and more rain; but at least we don't have sunburn yet.

- Hotel in Cayo Coco

- Laptop only functioning for 5 minutes and then getting infested with ants, making it impossible to start up again. Karin's prepared travel blog can only be edited with a laptop and not with a tablet.

It is also noteworthy (especially for people who have never been to Cuba):

- The streets (including highways) are full of pedestrians who try to hitchhike to get around faster, as well as horse-drawn carriages or ox-drawn carts.

- The roads have a very high number of potholes. It is always interesting to see which sections of roads are repaired in Switzerland and what the road quality is like abroad.

- Knowing how to speak Spanish is not mandatory, but it would be a huge advantage.

Further travels

In two days, we will continue to Havana, and after four nights in Havana, we will cross the Atlantic by plane and visit Miami.