Valle de Vinales, Cuba and Habana, Cuba
It’s 9am EDT and the sun is beaming through my window and into my face. I am still wearing the same clothes from last night and I find my travel purse underneath my pillow. My room key is laying on the floor in front of my door. Ugh, I still feel drunk.
We have a full two hours before we leave to go back to Habana. I start my day with an extra long shower and a full liter of bottled water. By 9:30am I decide to go and knock on Laura and Andrew’s door. I wait a full five minutes before Andrew comes shuffling outside in his pajamas. I can hear Laura grumbling in the background. I ask if they are interested in joining me for breakfast and they agree to meet me at the cafe in 30 minutes.
I head up to the cafe to enjoy the morning sun and get a head start on coffee. Just as I am getting settled in, Andrew arrives early (this is by far the most punctual vacation I have ever been on!). He explains that Laura would rather sleep than eat and I totally get that. We quickly order breakfast and have a good long laugh about the sloppiness of last night. We are all in pain and are happy that we can spend most of our day napping in a car.
After breakfast Andrew has to head back to his room to pack up. We still have about half an hour to kill, so I opt for quick walk down main street and additional cup of coffee. The main street of Vinales is a series of brightly colored, house-shaped cafes and stores, most of which have large colonial-style front porches. The sun is extra bright and I see the same shirtless guy from yesterday working on his car in the middle of the street. I am extra charmed by Vinales in this moment.
I find a bright blue coffee shop on the way back where I duck in for a second americano. My feeling of still being drunk is starting to fade into a good old fashioned hangover. On the way back to my room multiple cabs stop and ask me if I want a ride. When I say no thank you to one driver he asks if I want a boyfriend instead; these Cubans are really relationship-focused.
When I get back to our rooms, Bruno is waiting out front in his Volvo. I quickly realize that he was one of the drivers who offered me a ride on Main Street and immediately feel embarrassed. When we make eye contact he laughs heartily. As soon as Laura and Andrew join us, Bruno launches into the story about how I didn’t recognize him earlier. He gets so much joy from telling the story that I have to smile.
Eventually, we start the drive back and Andrew takes the front seat. The car ride is quiet and I watch some Netflix on my iPad. About halfway to Habana Bruno pulls over to pick up another passenger. He tells Andrew that he can stay in the front seat, but Andrew voluntary moves to the back. A young girl takes his place and her and Bruno chat enthusiastically the rest of the way back.
By the time we arrive at Leyanis and Manny’s, it’s nearly 3pm. We quickly check in with Manny who is overjoyed to see us. We ask him to help us get a driver to Trinidad for tomorrow morning and he happily obliges. We also agree on coffee service for tomorrow morning, but no hot breakfast.
Now that we are settled in, we decide that today is the perfect day to eat street pizza. We go on a mission to find a pizza window and after, what seems like forever, we finally find one. The place looks a little grimey, but we are feeling adventurous. Laura and Andrew order little pizzas and I get a Cuban sandwich. We eat our lunch standing on the side of the road and are done in 5 minutes flat.
Next we decide to take a break at the coffee shop next to our Airbnb. We sit at a table outside and each order different variations of coffee with milk. I am still feeling adventurous and order something called a bon bon, which turns out to be coffee layered with condensed milk and foam. It’s an attractive-looking drink, but the condensed milk is too sweet for me. We spend our time updating the group travel journal, which is really just Andrew’s journal that Laura and I are co-opting.
We soon realize that we need to log into Airbnb to get the check in details for our house in Trinidad. It looks like it’s finally time to brave the Cuban internet service. First of all, we need to buy a wifi card. We head over to the main street and quickly run into our guide from the car tour 2 days ago. She affectionately recognizes Andrew as “father” and greets us warmly. We ask her about getting a wifi card and she literally walks us over to the shop and tells the shopkeeper to sell us a card. She also directs us to an old hotel as the nearest wifi access point.
We decide to log on using Andrew’s phone but can not get connected. A group of tourists ask us about the wifi and we direct them to a store to buy a card. Since we are planning on eating dinner in Plaza de San Francisco, we head over there to see if we can get a better connection. As soon as we arrive we see a group of teenagers huddled together, looking at their phones. Clearly, we’ve found the right place. When we attempt to connect again, the login page times out. We make multiple attempts and are able to get connected a few times, but each time Andrew’s phone freezes, probably due to trying to download too many emails at once. We are starting to get frustrated and eventually agree that if we can not connect in the next 30 minutes that we will have to give up and try again tomorrow morning.
After 30 more minutes of failed attempts we pull ourselves away and start looking for restaurant for dinner. We pick one at random and grab a table outside. We all order bottled water and large plates of food. I opt for the ropa vieja, which is quickly becoming my new favorite dish.
By 8:30pm we are heading back in for the night. We agree to meet up at 7am to try to log into the wifi one more time and then meet our driver at 7:30 for our trip to Trinidad. We are all looking forward to good night’s sleep.
When I get back to our rooms, Bruno is waiting out front in his Volvo. I quickly realize that he was one of the drivers who offered me a ride on Main Street and immediately feel embarrassed. When we make eye contact he laughs heartily. As soon as Laura and Andrew join us, Bruno launches into the story about how I didn’t recognize him earlier. He gets so much joy from telling the story that I have to smile.
Eventually, we start the drive back and Andrew takes the front seat. The car ride is quiet and I watch some Netflix on my iPad. About halfway to Habana Bruno pulls over to pick up another passenger. He tells Andrew that he can stay in the front seat, but Andrew voluntary moves to the back. A young girl takes his place and her and Bruno chat enthusiastically the rest of the way back.
By the time we arrive at Leyanis and Manny’s, it’s nearly 3pm. We quickly check in with Manny who is overjoyed to see us. We ask him to help us get a driver to Trinidad for tomorrow morning and he happily obliges. We also agree on coffee service for tomorrow morning, but no hot breakfast.
Now that we are settled in, we decide that today is the perfect day to eat street pizza. We go on a mission to find a pizza window and after, what seems like forever, we finally find one. The place looks a little grimey, but we are feeling adventurous. Laura and Andrew order little pizzas and I get a Cuban sandwich. We eat our lunch standing on the side of the road and are done in 5 minutes flat.
Next we decide to take a break at the coffee shop next to our Airbnb. We sit at a table outside and each order different variations of coffee with milk. I am still feeling adventurous and order something called a bon bon, which turns out to be coffee layered with condensed milk and foam. It’s an attractive-looking drink, but the condensed milk is too sweet for me. We spend our time updating the group travel journal, which is really just Andrew’s journal that Laura and I are co-opting.
We soon realize that we need to log into Airbnb to get the check in details for our house in Trinidad. It looks like it’s finally time to brave the Cuban internet service. First of all, we need to buy a wifi card. We head over to the main street and quickly run into our guide from the car tour 2 days ago. She affectionately recognizes Andrew as “father” and greets us warmly. We ask her about getting a wifi card and she literally walks us over to the shop and tells the shopkeeper to sell us a card. She also directs us to an old hotel as the nearest wifi access point.
We decide to log on using Andrew’s phone but can not get connected. A group of tourists ask us about the wifi and we direct them to a store to buy a card. Since we are planning on eating dinner in Plaza de San Francisco, we head over there to see if we can get a better connection. As soon as we arrive we see a group of teenagers huddled together, looking at their phones. Clearly, we’ve found the right place. When we attempt to connect again, the login page times out. We make multiple attempts and are able to get connected a few times, but each time Andrew’s phone freezes, probably due to trying to download too many emails at once. We are starting to get frustrated and eventually agree that if we can not connect in the next 30 minutes that we will have to give up and try again tomorrow morning.
After 30 more minutes of failed attempts we pull ourselves away and start looking for restaurant for dinner. We pick one at random and grab a table outside. We all order bottled water and large plates of food. I opt for the ropa vieja, which is quickly becoming my new favorite dish.
By 8:30pm we are heading back in for the night. We agree to meet up at 7am to try to log into the wifi one more time and then meet our driver at 7:30 for our trip to Trinidad. We are all looking forward to good night’s sleep.
