Monday 23 February 2009

Cuba Photo Update

Better late than never! Here we go.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Una cerveza y "a schaens Wetta", por favor!

Unbelievable we met Biedermannsdorfer here! That's just... "wow"...
They told me they are here for about 5 weeks and the weather is crappy since 2 weeks. They also said that the weather now is very unusual for the Caribbean - rainy, cloudy and very windy (reminds me of Australia, Mission Beach...).
However, we've made some interesting and much more positive experiences! ;)

We have been to the Che Monument at Santa Clara which is a really impressive and beautiful place to visit. You can also come to see the Che Mausoleum and the Che Museum with interesting facts about Ernesto Guevaras life.
Our tour guide told us that the majority of the people in Cuba do not earn more than 350 CUP (Pesos Cubanos; 24 CUP = 1 CUC). That's the reason why all the people who get in contact with tourists are very dependent to tips. They would surely have no problem "surviving" without tips since they get subvention for enough food and free medical care (compare that to the US system). Anyway there are a lot of other products like shoes, washing machines or furniture that are very expensive and almost not affordable without external help.

Yesterday we discovered a very nice beach outside the hotel and much better than the hotels beach :) It is kind of "geology experience playground" - my father will be jealous. We found a lot of corals, shells and other sea stuff in every stage from alive to fossil.

Okay, since stupid PicasaWeb says "FORBIDDEN blabla" I'm unable to upload photos :( I will hand them in as soon as I get home (which is Saturday at about 9 pm).
Have fun until then, und vermehret euch zahlreich! ;)

Tuesday 3 February 2009

Taxi? Chica? Disco?

Well, those are words you hear quite often. Jinteros are the people who try to sell you cheap cigars (made from tobacco-waste), ladies or anything you could "need".
The round trip here is rather different to the round-the-world trip I did because it's a journey organized by a German travel agency. So there are some disadvantages (e.g. the price... I'm still crying) but also advantages - we had not much to organize :)
We're now in Habana (Havana), the capitol of Cuba. Tomorrow we will the Mausoleum of Che Guevara in Santa Clara and then check in a hotel there. So a horrible bus drive is waiting for us tomorrow (the bus obviously has no anti shock).
The traffic discipline is astonishingly high. Our guide Ernesto told us that it is very difficult to get a car in Cuba - so that is probably the reason why the traffic discipline is so high.
Yesterday we had the best cocktails and lobster in the whole, fu** world! I'm very sorry you are not here, Mole! But as cold comfort (schwacher Trost) I can tell you the cocktails were very expensive ... for Cuban ratios - 5 CUC (Pesos Convertibles), about 4,5 Euro, per cocktail ;)
Ok, as we're short of time because 2 delicious self-made Cuba Libre are waiting for us at our room (1 bottle ron (Spanish for rum), aged 3 years: 7 CUC, 2 Cokes: each 2 CUC). So check the new pictures here!

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Cuba

Traveling again! This time I am going to visit the country of rum, cigars and pirates, arrrr!
I am doing the journey with my old classmate Philipp. He also accompanied me during the Netherlands trip.
We will start tomorrow afternoon with the train from Vienna to Frankfurt. Flying from Frankfurt instead of Vienna takes an additional day, but saves a lot of money :) We are going to arrive in Holguin on friday, where we will have the first "impressions" - whatever that means - of the country. Our round trip will then lead us via Santiago de Cuba to Varadero, Havana, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara and back to a beach-hotel close to Holguin. The whole fun takes 2 weeks - one for the round trip, and one for the beach, the cigars, the rum, the resulting drunkenness and (hopefully) to sober up!
As usual, I will try to shower you with photos as soon as possible!
And please forgive me my poor english, I have a big lack of practice and I'm damn tired. Botanic exam tomorrow morning :)