Joe's World Backpacking Trip Stories and pics from my travels.

I decided to spend a week in Cuba since I was fooling around in the Yucatan anyway.  The cheapest way to get there is to fly from Cancun.  I only spent a week because its a pretty expensive country.  One of the most unique and interesting countries Ive been to.  There are two currencies there.  One for tourists, and one for Cubans.  They have to have two currencies because everyone makes the equivelent to about 10 dollars a month.  If tourists used the local currency it would wreck the whole economy.  Unfortunately, using the tourist currency or the "cuban convertible peso" makes everything pretty expensive.  I stayed in "casas particulares" during my stay there.  Those are homes of regular cubans who put travelers up for the night in a room.  Its about 20 bucks a night in the casa particular but its cheaper than staying in a hotel.  And you get to talk to and hang out with Cubans.  Which is something special because the Cubans you meet on a daily basis or on the street are a little bit scared to talk to tourists because they dont have freedom of speech there and they could get in a lot of trouble with the government.  Havana was a really interesting city.  It was filled with classic cars, from the 50s and 60s.  There was carribean music coming out of every door and window.  And people would stay out on the streets talking and playing soccer and rollerblading all hours of the night.  There was almost no crime there.  Its how I would imagine an American city to be in the 50s.  Or maybe how spanish Harlem was if it was really like West Side Story.  Well there was no choreographed dancing or "Jets" in Cuba anyway.  Also, the people there are probably the healthiest Ive seen anywhere.  The guys looked like they went to the gym and the women were gorgeous.  I spent 3 or 4 days in Havana, walking around the city and I went to a Partagas cigar factory and went on a tour to see how they make them.  All the cigars are made entirely by hand.  A very interesting process.  The women dont roll them on their thighs though, contrary to popular belief.  I also went a little out of town and visited the house Hemingway lived at for awhile.  I spent the rest of my week at a place called Viñales.  Its a farming area where they grow a lot of tobacco.  There are also caves there I explored a little.  All in all it was a great experience.  Im glad I went before things change there and they have Mcdonalds and Burger King and the women arent hot anymore.  They have an interesting social system, all health care and education is entirely free.  Sounds nice but people barely make enough money to survive.  Everything is rationed and they go to special shops to draw their rations for the month or week.  There are doctors driving "bicitaxis" because it pays better than practicing medicine.  Its an unfortunate situation, but everyone is happy nonetheless.