Category: Cuba

I first visited Cuba around the year 2003. I spent one month studying at the University of La Habana and had some time to visit Trinidad and Pinar.
I was a vegetarian back then, so finding something to eat was not a problem, even if you had to buy cheese and eggs at the black market. Meat was a luxury item, so it was not easy to find it in street food stalls.
What really shocked me was the condition of stray animals: everywhere I went I saw miserable cats and dogs, ill with skin diseases , so thin you could see their ribs, and many of them had their ears cut, I really don't know why.
People of course got shocked and angry when I asked for meat for the animals, in a time when many humans didn't have enough to eat.
I left the island in deep sorrow because I couldn't do anything for the animals, and nobody was going to do anything soon.

In La Habana you won't find huge supermarkets like the ones we are used to, but local markets are scattered everywhere and are just perfect if you are looking for mango, aguacate, platano, guayaba, malanga....

These are the best markets in La Habana (for me)...

When you land at La Habana you have two ways to get out of the airport and arrive at your destination in the city.

-The easy one is taking a taxi: if you take the ones waiting in the line just in front of the Terminal you'll probably pay 25 $, with small possibilities for negotiation...if you want to pay a bit less you can try to walk a bit farther and ask to the ones that are parked outside the line; I was offered a ride to the Habana Vieja for 10 $ but I refused because a wanted to try the second option, as you will see....

-The funny and cheap one is taking the bus, it will cost you only 10 cents $ but I have to admit it was a really punk experience.
If you are coming from abroad your plane will land at Termanal 3, the first thing you need to do is going to Terminal 2, the one for local flights, to get the bus for the city.