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 Travel & Outdoors | The Cuba Connection | February 2005 
Viva Cuba!
 Paul Gogarty - The Saturday Star
The Caribbean must surely be the first family choice when seeking an injection of winter sun. But let's face reality: many of her islands have little more to offer than dreamy beaches.
It would not be an overstatement to say that Cuba - which is about the size of South Africa's North West province and is the largest of the Caribbean islands - shatters the mould. To book only a beach holiday here would be like getting a table at a top-rate restaurant and only nibbling at a bread roll.
Naturally, the Cuban beaches are fabulous and when I took my own family there just before Christmas we started off by the sea, replacing our winter pallor with some winter colour.
But the place's beauty is to know that, after a few days lolling about, the crumbling splendour of Cuba's first and second cities, Havana and Santiago, awaits.
We found the Paradisus Rio de Oro in Guardalavaca the best all-inclusive lodgings we've stayed at in the Caribbean. The five-star resort sits in a lush landscape of palms, mango trees and hibiscus.
The only other time I visited Cuba was a decade earlier. The hotel food then was grim. Thankfully, culinary standards have improved.
The first of our two trips off site took us to a small beach on the banks of a densely forested estuary. In front was the vast playpen containing the dolphins that had brought us here.
Having donned life jackets and had our briefing, we were soon in the water playing synchronised clapping, body-rolling and petting with Torpedo and Alphonso.
Our second excursion was a speedboat trip in a flotilla crashing through waves breaking at another river mouth and then snaking through mangrove.
Havana is the world capital of music, where the buildings may be dilapidated but the people are intent on partying hard at their wake. The 40-year US embargo may mean Cuba is the only Caribbean destination where tourists have to forgo a Coca-Cola and McDonald's diet, but in exchange they're granted entrée to one of the most vibrant cultures on earth.
In Havana a bar may have room for only 12 patrons but they'll always squeeze in a band. For two days our family tasted the Buena Vista lifestyle crammed into bars such as the legendary Bodeguita del Medio (Ernest Hemingway's old haunt) or stretching out in cane chairs on the terrace of the Hotel Naçional.
During the day we flicked through the book market in the Plaza de Armas, trawled the craft stalls next to the Plaza de la Catedral, drooled over colonial architecture and bought fat, fat Cohiba cigars.
Our next base was reached by a two-hour flight from Havana in the north-west to Santiago de Cuba in the south-east, flanked by the Sierra Maestra mountains. The highlight was a taxi journey in a 1957 Chevrolet Belaire 17km to the 17th-century Marro Castle, built by the Spanish to repel pirates.
Cuba is a country on the cusp, but no one quite knows of what. One thing is for sure: when Castro dies (he's now 78), things will change. If you want to taste its cocktail of colonial Spain, Africa, South America and the Caribbean, you really should book now.
What You Must Do: Try to eat at recommended paladares in the cities. These are private residences licensed to serve up to 12 people and you'll find the tastiest food there. In Havana, try the El Huron Azul at 153 Calle Humbolt; in Santiago de Cuba, try the Salon Tropical at 9 Calle Fernandez Marcane.
Don't Miss:
In Havana - a cocktail on the balcony at El Patio in Plaza de la Catedral, another at Bodeguita del Medio and, if it's not too mobbed, El Floridita (where Hemingway reputedly sank 13 double daiquiris at a morning sitting).
The Museo de la Revoluçion - located in the former Presidential Palace, the museum charts the history of Cuba's independence. Admittance R23.
The Museo Naçional de Bellas Artes. Cuba's premier museum. Admittance R26.
Guardalavaca: The dolphin swim costs R520 for adults and R320 for children, the speedboat Adventure Tour R205 and R150. |
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