Heather:
I can't actually tell you about San Jose as although we spent our first night in Costa Rica there we didn't actually see it! We were so excited by the novelty of all the luxuries of modern living and so put off by the rain, not to mention all the tales of how hideous and unsafe the city is, that we didn't venture out of our (scarily reminiscent of a youth club) hostel. We are flying out from there too so maybe we'll make it out the front door next time!
I must admit that despite the fact we knew it was rainy season the relentless torrential rain that greeted us did catch us a bit off guard. We weren't comforted to be told it had been that way all day, every day for the previous nine days, or by the terrible forecast (we've got WiFi of course we can check the forecast). However, I am very pleased (and a little bit smug) to say that since then it's been pretty good. I mean it does rain, we're in the rainforest (the clue's in the name) but we've had lots of sun and only brief showers most of the time. The 'showers' do result in an absolute drenching when you get caught in one though!
Friday, 17 October 2008
Costa Rica
Heather:
After three weeks in Cuba it's been something of a culture shock arriving in Costa Rica. It feels like the two hour plane journey didn't just bring us to another country, but also shot us forward in time several generations! Suddenly the roads are filled with cars, with not an animal-drawn vehicle of any kind to be seen. There are people cutting the vegetation with strimmers instead of huge macheties. Suddenly the billboards displaying Communist slogans are replaced by blinding adverts for all kinds of tempting crap we don't really need. The American pollution (did I say 'pollution'? Maybe influence is more polite) is everywhere in the form of Dennys, Burger King, Wendys and of course the evil Mc Donalds. Prices are all in dollars, the locals all speak perfect English (if you can call American English 'perfect'!) and refer to us as "guys" and our counterparts are all teenagers who appear to have stepped straight out of an episode of 'Beverly Hills 90219' - aaagggghhhh!!!!
However, the up side of all this of course is... The food is fantastic. Everything runs ultra-efficiently. You know exactly what you're going to get when you hand your cash over. The facilities are astonishing; WiFi internet access in your room? Swimming pools? Roof-top bars? Hammocks? Cable TV? Folks that arrange everything for you? Pick ups from the door? Whoever said this travelling lark was hard?!
After three weeks in Cuba it's been something of a culture shock arriving in Costa Rica. It feels like the two hour plane journey didn't just bring us to another country, but also shot us forward in time several generations! Suddenly the roads are filled with cars, with not an animal-drawn vehicle of any kind to be seen. There are people cutting the vegetation with strimmers instead of huge macheties. Suddenly the billboards displaying Communist slogans are replaced by blinding adverts for all kinds of tempting crap we don't really need. The American pollution (did I say 'pollution'? Maybe influence is more polite) is everywhere in the form of Dennys, Burger King, Wendys and of course the evil Mc Donalds. Prices are all in dollars, the locals all speak perfect English (if you can call American English 'perfect'!) and refer to us as "guys" and our counterparts are all teenagers who appear to have stepped straight out of an episode of 'Beverly Hills 90219' - aaagggghhhh!!!!
However, the up side of all this of course is... The food is fantastic. Everything runs ultra-efficiently. You know exactly what you're going to get when you hand your cash over. The facilities are astonishing; WiFi internet access in your room? Swimming pools? Roof-top bars? Hammocks? Cable TV? Folks that arrange everything for you? Pick ups from the door? Whoever said this travelling lark was hard?!
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Cuba - Havana (again)
Heather:
Unfortuntely our time in Cuba is now over. We're back in Havana for the night as we fly out early in the morning. We really have had a fantastic time though and have learned loads about a country which is no doubt going to change dramatically over the coming years. There are still a lot of things that remain something of a mystery to me, such as how a government can call itself Communist then have regions of it's own country where only foreign tourists are allowed to go, or introduce a second currency that can't fail to increase the divide between those that have and those that don't. And I certainly won't miss the bloody awful food, not being able to access the internet or constantly being asked if I want to buy cigars!
But I think my Spanish is improving, and I'm definately understanding more and getting better at interacting with people, whereas Ben seems to have advanced from saying "Si" to everything to answering any question that he's asked with "Cerveza" (beer), not always that helpful in practice!And I will miss the scenery, the relaxed lifestyle, the sunshine and most of all the people, who are so friendly and have a real sense of community.
Still tommorrow... Costa Rica!
Ben:
There's some bonus photos from Cuba taken on the small camera that can be found here!
Unfortuntely our time in Cuba is now over. We're back in Havana for the night as we fly out early in the morning. We really have had a fantastic time though and have learned loads about a country which is no doubt going to change dramatically over the coming years. There are still a lot of things that remain something of a mystery to me, such as how a government can call itself Communist then have regions of it's own country where only foreign tourists are allowed to go, or introduce a second currency that can't fail to increase the divide between those that have and those that don't. And I certainly won't miss the bloody awful food, not being able to access the internet or constantly being asked if I want to buy cigars!
But I think my Spanish is improving, and I'm definately understanding more and getting better at interacting with people, whereas Ben seems to have advanced from saying "Si" to everything to answering any question that he's asked with "Cerveza" (beer), not always that helpful in practice!And I will miss the scenery, the relaxed lifestyle, the sunshine and most of all the people, who are so friendly and have a real sense of community.
Still tommorrow... Costa Rica!
Ben:
There's some bonus photos from Cuba taken on the small camera that can be found here!
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Cuba - Bens little bit on Politics
Ben:
After writing all the blog entries for cuba Heather has told me that I have to write something too! So I thought I'd write a bit about my polical observations of Cuba!
Being in Cuba it's hard not to form opinions on the political system here and to speculate on where it's going. Back in my Swansea university days people selling Socialist Worker papers would wear che t-shirts and would idolise cuba as a how revolution can work. I don't doubt that after the revolution first happened there were good intentions within the new regime. This is shown through Cuba's health and education services, both of which we are told are very good (though thankfully we never had to put this to the test). Though che's efforts to encourage moral incentives to work rather than materials was never sustainable. The buildings are crumbling, the streets are full of potholes, the shops are empty, the food is rationed and many people each year try to "escape" to the states.
Over the years Fidel has blamed USA for all of it's problems (this can be seen in Havana's very biased Musea de Revolucion!), and to be fair there is some truth in this. The trade embargo from cuba's closest and largest neighbour has made the importing and exporting of goods expensive. Until the late eighties Cuba's economy was mainly held up by their close ally Russia. But when the Berlin Wall fell in Europe Cuba lost trade and credit of $5 billion dollars overnight. This resulted in a five year spiral of poverty. To stop the riots in the streets the government was forced to legalise the US dollar and promote tourism. Ploughing the money made from tourism to eleviate poverty. This has created the cuba we see today. Two economic systems running side by side, the national communist peso and the more capitilist tourist money (the dollar was taken out of circulation in 2004 to be replaced by this second cuban currency of equivelent value). This of course is creating a divide that the initial revolution was trying to stop. Now beggars and touts on the street collecting foreign tourist money can earn more in a day than a doctor on a government salary can in a month. This double economy is not sustainable and will eventually have to change. I cannot see communism lasting in Cuba and I imagine as the government changes power over the next few years we'll see more capitilism coming back into Cuba. Hopefully, though, change won't come too quickly so that the country won't lose it's culture, identity and sense of community.
After writing all the blog entries for cuba Heather has told me that I have to write something too! So I thought I'd write a bit about my polical observations of Cuba!
Being in Cuba it's hard not to form opinions on the political system here and to speculate on where it's going. Back in my Swansea university days people selling Socialist Worker papers would wear che t-shirts and would idolise cuba as a how revolution can work. I don't doubt that after the revolution first happened there were good intentions within the new regime. This is shown through Cuba's health and education services, both of which we are told are very good (though thankfully we never had to put this to the test). Though che's efforts to encourage moral incentives to work rather than materials was never sustainable. The buildings are crumbling, the streets are full of potholes, the shops are empty, the food is rationed and many people each year try to "escape" to the states.
Over the years Fidel has blamed USA for all of it's problems (this can be seen in Havana's very biased Musea de Revolucion!), and to be fair there is some truth in this. The trade embargo from cuba's closest and largest neighbour has made the importing and exporting of goods expensive. Until the late eighties Cuba's economy was mainly held up by their close ally Russia. But when the Berlin Wall fell in Europe Cuba lost trade and credit of $5 billion dollars overnight. This resulted in a five year spiral of poverty. To stop the riots in the streets the government was forced to legalise the US dollar and promote tourism. Ploughing the money made from tourism to eleviate poverty. This has created the cuba we see today. Two economic systems running side by side, the national communist peso and the more capitilist tourist money (the dollar was taken out of circulation in 2004 to be replaced by this second cuban currency of equivelent value). This of course is creating a divide that the initial revolution was trying to stop. Now beggars and touts on the street collecting foreign tourist money can earn more in a day than a doctor on a government salary can in a month. This double economy is not sustainable and will eventually have to change. I cannot see communism lasting in Cuba and I imagine as the government changes power over the next few years we'll see more capitilism coming back into Cuba. Hopefully, though, change won't come too quickly so that the country won't lose it's culture, identity and sense of community.
Cuba - Trinidad
Heather:
Our time in Cuba has carried on getting better and better :0) We spent most of our last week in Trinidad, and haven't wanted to leave as we've made ourselves well and truly at home in another 'casa', headed by Ramonita, a wonderful tiny energetic little old Cuban lady.
Our initial arrival didn't quite go according to plan though as we were whisked off the bus (which had broken down on the way) by a guy pretending to be from the casa we were looking for. He dumped us on the back of a bicycle rickshaw, that didn't cope too well with carrying me, Ben and all our luggage and promptly broke! This led to some comedy antics as we were dragged around town by a second rickshaw, with our driver holding on to the back. The streets are pretty hilly, so every time they got up some momentum there was no way they were going to stop at junctions, regardless of whether or not there were motorbikes headed straight for us!
We realised pretty sharpish that we'd been taken to the wrong place and sought out the right house (on the same street) where we found Ramonita. We then hid behind her, as she let rip at the dodgy guy, despite the fact she was too small to reach his doorbell! Then took us home to her beautiful house, complete with peacock in the garden.
Since then it's been all plain sailing. We've explored Trinidad, which is a pretty, biggish town, with cobbled streets and multicoloured houses. There are lots of great bars, with all manner of rum-based beverages, and fantastic music and dancing. Even I can recognise some Cuban tunes now but still haven't learned to salsa.
Ramonita has kept us well fed, but always gets upset when we're not able to finish the mountains of food she lays on for us every night, but to be honest I could probably do without the microwaved cheese sandwiches she gives us for breakfast!
There's a beach (PLAYA ANCON) near-by, so we hired bikes and cycled there (resulting in sore bums but surprisingly no strops) and spent a couple of days lounging around occasionally venturing out of the shade to work on the tans (I've got a bit of a peely belly) and went snorkelling on a near-by coral reef. The best bit for me was sailing out to it on a tiny catamaran, hanging on to the side as the waves splashed over our heads (not quite so health and safety mad over here!).
I'd say the highlights though have involved hiking in the near-by mountains (TOPES DE COLLANTES and RANCHON EL CUBANO) where we walked through incredible tropical vegetation (again generally with a mangy dog or two at our heels!) to reach waterfalls where we could swim. And as if that wasn't cool enough already... at one we swam right through the waterfall into a cave which was full of bats! Amazing.
Ben:
You can see some more photos here.
Our time in Cuba has carried on getting better and better :0) We spent most of our last week in Trinidad, and haven't wanted to leave as we've made ourselves well and truly at home in another 'casa', headed by Ramonita, a wonderful tiny energetic little old Cuban lady.
Our initial arrival didn't quite go according to plan though as we were whisked off the bus (which had broken down on the way) by a guy pretending to be from the casa we were looking for. He dumped us on the back of a bicycle rickshaw, that didn't cope too well with carrying me, Ben and all our luggage and promptly broke! This led to some comedy antics as we were dragged around town by a second rickshaw, with our driver holding on to the back. The streets are pretty hilly, so every time they got up some momentum there was no way they were going to stop at junctions, regardless of whether or not there were motorbikes headed straight for us!
We realised pretty sharpish that we'd been taken to the wrong place and sought out the right house (on the same street) where we found Ramonita. We then hid behind her, as she let rip at the dodgy guy, despite the fact she was too small to reach his doorbell! Then took us home to her beautiful house, complete with peacock in the garden.
Since then it's been all plain sailing. We've explored Trinidad, which is a pretty, biggish town, with cobbled streets and multicoloured houses. There are lots of great bars, with all manner of rum-based beverages, and fantastic music and dancing. Even I can recognise some Cuban tunes now but still haven't learned to salsa.
Ramonita has kept us well fed, but always gets upset when we're not able to finish the mountains of food she lays on for us every night, but to be honest I could probably do without the microwaved cheese sandwiches she gives us for breakfast!
There's a beach (PLAYA ANCON) near-by, so we hired bikes and cycled there (resulting in sore bums but surprisingly no strops) and spent a couple of days lounging around occasionally venturing out of the shade to work on the tans (I've got a bit of a peely belly) and went snorkelling on a near-by coral reef. The best bit for me was sailing out to it on a tiny catamaran, hanging on to the side as the waves splashed over our heads (not quite so health and safety mad over here!).
I'd say the highlights though have involved hiking in the near-by mountains (TOPES DE COLLANTES and RANCHON EL CUBANO) where we walked through incredible tropical vegetation (again generally with a mangy dog or two at our heels!) to reach waterfalls where we could swim. And as if that wasn't cool enough already... at one we swam right through the waterfall into a cave which was full of bats! Amazing.
Ben:
You can see some more photos here.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Cuba - Vinales
Heather:
Havana was hectic and Playa Del Esta was deserted, we're now in Vinales, which is tranquil. It really is lovely. We're properly in the country, with chickens and pigs snuffelling past and the farmers going about their business with Ox-pulled ploughs. We also seem to constantly have a mangy dog at our heels (and I don't encourage them and really don't need Ben to keep shouting "Don't look at it! Don't give it eye contact!").
The scenery is fantastic; with these huge imposing limestone mountain things (I can't really describe them, have a look at the photos) all around and all kinds of crops growing including tobacco, coffee, sugar cane and tropical fruit (finally fruit!!) among the palm trees. We've done loads of walking (and I mean LOADS, even though it's like a million degrees and we're bright red with sunburn). We've also seen lots of evidence of the major hurricane (Gusto) that hit here about a month a go.
Instead of being in a hotel we're renting a room in a 'casa', the home of a local family (it's the main form of accommodation for tourists in Cuba away from the big resorts). The family were recommended to us by some Americans we met (one of whom, bizzarely, is the nanny for Eddie Vedder from Perl Jam's kids - cool hey?!) It's been such a positive experience, the family (and in fact the whole town) have been so warm and welcoming. Also, finally, we've had some good food, as the Gran of the family has cooked a feast for us every night (still no fresh veg though and I seem to be on a four eggs a day diet, which I'm not entirely convinced is good for me!).
One of the neighbours took us on a guided hike and we met some of the local farmers who showed us how to roll cigars, fed us pinapple straight from the plant and gave us sugar-cane drinks (with rum - obviously!). After this our guide (having drank a LOT of rum) proceeded to strip off down to his pants and jump in the nearest river. He semed confused by our refusal to join him in the muddy water!
Being here has definately won Cuba over for us. We're starting to love the place and the people and are excited about moving-on tomorrow to continue our explorations :0)
Ben:
You can see some more photos here!
Havana was hectic and Playa Del Esta was deserted, we're now in Vinales, which is tranquil. It really is lovely. We're properly in the country, with chickens and pigs snuffelling past and the farmers going about their business with Ox-pulled ploughs. We also seem to constantly have a mangy dog at our heels (and I don't encourage them and really don't need Ben to keep shouting "Don't look at it! Don't give it eye contact!").
The scenery is fantastic; with these huge imposing limestone mountain things (I can't really describe them, have a look at the photos) all around and all kinds of crops growing including tobacco, coffee, sugar cane and tropical fruit (finally fruit!!) among the palm trees. We've done loads of walking (and I mean LOADS, even though it's like a million degrees and we're bright red with sunburn). We've also seen lots of evidence of the major hurricane (Gusto) that hit here about a month a go.
Instead of being in a hotel we're renting a room in a 'casa', the home of a local family (it's the main form of accommodation for tourists in Cuba away from the big resorts). The family were recommended to us by some Americans we met (one of whom, bizzarely, is the nanny for Eddie Vedder from Perl Jam's kids - cool hey?!) It's been such a positive experience, the family (and in fact the whole town) have been so warm and welcoming. Also, finally, we've had some good food, as the Gran of the family has cooked a feast for us every night (still no fresh veg though and I seem to be on a four eggs a day diet, which I'm not entirely convinced is good for me!).
One of the neighbours took us on a guided hike and we met some of the local farmers who showed us how to roll cigars, fed us pinapple straight from the plant and gave us sugar-cane drinks (with rum - obviously!). After this our guide (having drank a LOT of rum) proceeded to strip off down to his pants and jump in the nearest river. He semed confused by our refusal to join him in the muddy water!
Being here has definately won Cuba over for us. We're starting to love the place and the people and are excited about moving-on tomorrow to continue our explorations :0)
Ben:
You can see some more photos here!
Friday, 3 October 2008
Cuba - Playa del Este (part 2)
Heather:
The rain did clear, but not until we'd had some fantastic storms. The lightening was so close I was sure it was going to hit and I was torn between wanting to watch and wanting to run and hide when the thunder rolled around us, especially when all the power went off. It was all worth it though because what followed was perfect beach weather. We're both looking browner and blonder now (Ben looks even more like a German!) and it feels a bit more like we're actually on holiday.
The whole food fiasco continues though. We have both actually been dreaming about fruit and veg and even pizza has deserted me now. Last night the restaurant we ate in had no milk or bread and I was served a pizza base covered in tinned tomato soup and cheese! Other memorable low lights include for Ben a plate of various tinned meats arranged neatly on a plate (everyone loves spam, right?!) and for me the local speciality dessert that I naively believed couldn't actually be what it sounded like, but no sure enough was a saucer full of marmalade covered in grated cheese! After nearly 20 years of vegetarianism following a week long diet of white rice and raw grated white cabbage (as yet the only veg not from a tin we've eaten in this town) I've been driven to eating fish! I'm also developing quite a taste for mojitos :0)
Ben:
There are some photos here.
The rain did clear, but not until we'd had some fantastic storms. The lightening was so close I was sure it was going to hit and I was torn between wanting to watch and wanting to run and hide when the thunder rolled around us, especially when all the power went off. It was all worth it though because what followed was perfect beach weather. We're both looking browner and blonder now (Ben looks even more like a German!) and it feels a bit more like we're actually on holiday.
The whole food fiasco continues though. We have both actually been dreaming about fruit and veg and even pizza has deserted me now. Last night the restaurant we ate in had no milk or bread and I was served a pizza base covered in tinned tomato soup and cheese! Other memorable low lights include for Ben a plate of various tinned meats arranged neatly on a plate (everyone loves spam, right?!) and for me the local speciality dessert that I naively believed couldn't actually be what it sounded like, but no sure enough was a saucer full of marmalade covered in grated cheese! After nearly 20 years of vegetarianism following a week long diet of white rice and raw grated white cabbage (as yet the only veg not from a tin we've eaten in this town) I've been driven to eating fish! I'm also developing quite a taste for mojitos :0)
Ben:
There are some photos here.
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