From: poole@bnr.ca (Thomas Poole)
Subject: Cuba Report.
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:23:44 GMT

Due to the overwhelming requests (well at least 2) here
is some more information on my trip to Cuba.

I flew from Ottawa, Canada on Air Cubana, which was 
described to me by my travel agent as "a collection
of pieced together Russian airplanes and whatever
parts they have laying around." Actually it was much
better than it sounds and the flight there was uneventful.
It is true that Americans cannot travel there without
special permission and no flights leave the U.S. for
Cuba. In fact, we did not even travel in American
airspace. We had to fly east and travel down along the coast.
There were two expatriot Americans with us but they 
are now Canadian citizens.

The resort we stayed at was Playa Giron. It is about
two hours drive from the airport in Varaderro where
we landed. Most of the busses used to shuttle us around
were in pretty bad shape. They no longer have the trade
with the now defunct USSR since they have their own
problems. Parts and fuel are very scarce. It was not
uncommon to see people working on their vehicles on the
road while the family sat in the car and waited. You 
won't find many people more resourceful though. They 
tend to make due with what they have and usually do
very well. They cars they drive are classic automobiles
though. Since the Americans were kicked out they did not
get hardly any new vehicles, except for an ocassional
Lada. That was 1959 I believe, so you see a lot of old
Chevys, Mercurys of the 55 to 57 vintage. The cars
are just about mint condition, except for the interior
which usually consists of a couple of milk crates. 

Since we stayed there for Christmas and New Years, the
most expensive time of year, the price was higher than
usual. $1100Canadian for two weeks. That included 
everything even meals and all the rum you can drink.
I have seen the price as low as $400 a week for the
October/November timeframe.

Once you get there you will not need a lot of money.
Scuba diving was $20US (they only accept US dollars
so all prices to follow are in US$), day trip to 
Havana was $20, car rental for the day was $40.
When we asked the resort director about driving
on the roads he said the roads are "Total anarchy."
He also highly advised us on getting a driver as well.
You can also rent mopeds. Horse rides on the two
lame horses were free. 
They have a nice restaurant at the end of the beach
which you can go to if you get tired of the food.
After 2 weeks you do get tired of mainly the same
things so we went there twice. It was pretty cheap
at about $10-$15 for beef or shellfish platter and
drinks. 26oz of rum at the gift shop was $5-$7. 
Cigarettes were 60cents for local brands (not recommended)
or $1 for Canadian brands. Cigars were not as cheap 
as I expected. Monte Cristos were about $2 each
but here they are about $4 or more. The silver jewelery
there is really cheap if you go to any of the cities
to get any. Other than that there isn't much to spend 
your money on. You can get souveniers if you want
but I tend to stay away from that stuff.

We had a great time. One of the people I went with
went back 2 months later with 2 other people we met
there at the same time. We did meet some people there
that were bored though but all I saw them do was sit
around the pool and bitch. If you want nitelife, shopping
and playing tourist, staying in Havana or Varadero would
probably be better. If you want swimming, diving,
snorkelling, relaxing on the beach, travelling the 
countryside, talking with locals, do the resort. We were 
never bored. The only thing I regret about the trip
was I would have liked to see more of the cities to
get more of a feel for them and to see more of the
architecture.

The resort we stayed at had mainly Canadians staying
there, and most of them were french from Montreal.
Next to Canadians were people from Europe, mainly
German and Spanish. I didn't meet and Australians.

I'm planning on going back in January.

Tom...
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