Havana (Cuba) - The old man and his sea

HAVANA (CUBA)
28 February - 05 March 2017

This time in Havana it felt like we were visiting an old friend. Someone we had a lot of fondness for and one that we knew would welcome us back with warmth, hospitality and late night conversations of the good times we'd previously experienced together. A few drinks, some music, dim lights and the familiarity that comes from being in the company of someone that you enjoy being with. To me that's the way Havana feels now.

Habana Vieja - Cuba

The Malecon - Habana Vieja - Cuba

Habana - Cuba

For this entry I don't feel the need to discuss the contradictions, the one that exist in constant write-ups about the hotchpotch of buildings, the taxi drivers wearing American baseball caps as they touts rides in their Chevrolets or Buicks, the Revolutionary propaganda that is more parody now than anything else, the Neoclassical shopfronts, the Soviet style buildings - all those influences, all that has brought Havana to the place that it sits right now, in this moment, has already been well documented and philosophised about. Havana for the both of us at this moment in time is just exactly what we get to experience, and without losing that connection to the past, I don't think that there's an overwhelming need now to justify how we act as tourists in a city that sits on the precipice of its own  ocean of change.

Habana Vieja - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Cuba

El Floridita - Habana - Cuba

El Floridita - Habana - Cuba

I don't believe therefore that there's a need to justify our want to stay in a Hospedaria on the Malecon and occupy a room rented out by a lovely family whose home and offering of accommodation in any other corner of the globe, with their sort of location, would go for hundreds of dollars of night. We simply wanted to have the pleasure of being able to look out from the balcony, dangle our feet over the edge and watch the sun drop over the Bahia de la Habana. Can there be a more tranquil and warming experience than watching the slow transitions of the handful of old 50s' & 60's vehicles making their way up the Malecon as the Habaneros  make their way out in a slow, deliberate and slightly melancholic way to occupy their section of the retaining wall, open up some rum, chat, canoodle, play music and just be. Walking to the regular beat of the drum of their city, there's something warm and satisfying about letting the scene wash over you. 

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Sunset on the Malecon - Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Siete Anos

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

In the same, is there an issue with us heading to the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, sitting  out on the  back patio, having a few cocktails and enjoying a few  Montecristos on a balmy evening.  Understanding that a few streets away there is economic hardship, but then also understanding that in every country there exists that same hardship, and yet, when we're at home we don’t feel as compelled to delve deeply into our own domestic guilt.  For some reason touristic guilt and being required to act  ethically appears to be the yardstick by which tourists/travellers are held to account. Being conscientious,  having authentic experiences under the auspices of somehow being culturally aware is demanded more often, is this our ongoing requirement to all that travel? Is this an objective we need to meet only outside of our country? Or is it only whilst in third world countries? What’s the rule?

Montecristos at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

The Malecon - Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

The Malecon - Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Havana is infectious in its vitality, it offers itself to you at every turn, on every block, with every person that you come across. Our purpose can be, and should be, to enjoy what it has to offer in the present. The kids playing on the streets, the ramschakled, dilapidated buildings that give way to intriguing snippets of life through open windows and doors.  As you peer inside catch glimpses of old men sleeping on rocking chairs, old transistor radios acting as their eternal lullaby, women hanging out their washing as they hold conversations from windows across the street.  I bare witness to daily life as I make my own path through this wonderful city, but, who should I apologise to? Is there a need for me to set the record straight for just wanting to experience a little bit of all that Havana has to offer?

Pulling up seats in the back corner of El Floridita, ordering a few of the classic daquiri’s and disappearing into a cloud of our own cigar smoke, I thought back  to the type we were last here. Same room, same style of music, same style of crowd but now, different circumstances. Just like Havana, changing quickly but slowly before your eyes, its an interesting feeling being aware of a future with new possibilities but not knowing exactly what they are.  Around Havana you can see a new economic tempo, a quickening of investment, restaurants and cafes starting to make their way into previously uncharted territory, and then, there’s places like El Floridita that just follow their well established beat, on the path they’ve always followed.

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

La Bodeguita del Medio - Habana - Cuba

La Bodeguita del Medio - Habana - Cuba

La Bodeguita del Medio - Habana - Cuba

The beauty of this city is in its rhythm, in its contradictions, in both its wants and failings. It’s in its secret desires and what you see on its very surface. Enjoying it for what it’s worth, to me, is positioning yourself in a place that allows the town to wash over you in just how it pleases. To me that’s how we’ve been able to feel Havana in our own way and in the way that it let us, un-apologetically and without casting aspersions, because hey, we have no right to do that, much in the same manner I won’t allow that to happen to us just for wanting to see a place.

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

El Floridita - Habana - Cuba

El Floridita - Habana - Cuba

Our corner of El Floridita - best spot in the house

On the way to the airport - hope to see you again Habana - you will be missed!

Thank you Havana, you are a shining light for us all. Never change …. But change all you want.

-

Cancun (Mexico) - Not Spring break

CANCUN (MEXICO)
25 February - 28 February 2017

What people refer to as 'Cancun' is more likely the Hotel Zone that is the eastern frontier  of the town that lies on the Caribbean Sea. That part in itself, whilst not soul destroying, can in itself be disarming to travellers that may be made their way up through Central America or spent their time trouncing around the Yucatan. It's concrete, its glitz, its virtually Las Vegas on the Sea. To us, it was kind of cool in all honesty.

Chetumal - entry point into Mexico - with the slowest, most pedantic border officer we've ever encountered

In itself however Cancun is remarkable for an entirely other reason and it relates specifically to the resort area, known as the Hotel Zone, which didn't exist until the late 1960's. This was the time when the Mexican government had the bright idea of 'developing a resort area in order to diversify the economy'.  That's when T\they did their research, absorbed all the data that they had possible on climate, natural attractions and general vistas, then 'hey presto', step up Cancun, a 25kms barrier island with spare population, attractive beach and a great climate to match. Mexico had its own tourist show pony right on the Caribbean, 'just add water', so to speak.

Inga and I stayed in Central Cancun, which is unremarkable in its own unremarkable way. A typical town that is only saved by the fact that it's Mexican...and Mexican food is awesome, along side tequila, which when you mix with lemon juice gives you an automatic party!

Cancun - Mexico - build a wall

Playing up to those familiar 'jump' photos at the beach...why? Who knows why people do it!?

Cancun - Mexico

Cancun - Mexico

Hey, if I steal something then the least I can do is bust myself!

Cancun - Mexico

Air Elisher - Cancun - Mexico

Cancun for us served two purposes, the first, it was a cheap and easy way for us to get into Cuba. One short flight and we were there. The second was more an incidental but a happy one at that. Considering we were close to one of the New Wonders of the world (Chichen Itza), then jumping on a tour in the days that we had here was another item to put on the list.

Chichen Itza

Right off the bat, let me call it out, as I did with my entry on Tikal, Chichen Itza, whilst worth seeing, is in fact a major disappointment, and here's why.

Wherever the administrative obligation and cultural obligation for the site stands, wherever the the ownership for it resides, they have failed the Mexican (Mayan people). This magnificent site stands like a two-bit side show, a quasi carnivale of all things that are wrong with ancient cultural and architectural sites of major significance. The site, and let me be clear, the site is absolutely crap - the architecture and the magnificence of the structure is not.

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

The throngs of people attending automatically cheapen the value in the sense that they, as in 'us tourists', are not properly directed to allow for the place to be enjoyed be all. Additionally, how in the world that souvenir shops and touts can be onsite and for there to be such a proliferation of them simply detracts from the entire experience. It's poor, very poor on behalf of everyone. So where Tikal stood tall in terms of preservation and conservation of what they had, the Mexicans have failed so diabolically with Chichen Itza.

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

El Castillo, The Temple of Kukulcan, is the dominant force here. It is a Mesoamerican step pyramid built by the pre-Columbian Mayan civilisation somewhere between the 9th and 12th century AD. Serving as a dedication to the feathered serpent deity, closely related to the God, Quetzalcoatl, it stands 30mtrs tall and is 55mtrs around its base. Impressive from an architectural standpoint certainly but when you compare it to Tikal and the much older Teotihuacan then you wonder what actually happened in terms of 'lobbying' to get this on the New World Wonder list. To me the more interesting aspect of the Chichen Itza site was the Great ball court. Measuring 165mtrs * 68 mtrs, it is the largest in Mesoamerica and are bounded by 12mtrs high walls that have rings carved with intertwining serpents in the centre of each wall. I'm not entirely sure how the game worked other than the fact that there were two teams, they had to get the ball through the rings and that the loser would not suffer the ignonimy of defeat, because, they needed to suffer the wrath of death first. And I'm not talking the Rugby League grand final style of 'life and death' being misused for purposes of showing some sort of courage in thinly veiled machismo. In this scene your death is real and this is captured spiritually in one panel which shows a headless player kneeling with blood shooting out of his neck, while another player holds his head - as they say on the streets, even in Chichen Itza, this shit is real!

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza - Mexico

To me the much bigger highlight of the day was a visit to a local cenote after leaving the Chichen Itza site. For those that don't know, a cenote is a deep water filled sinkhole in limestone, created when the roof of an underground cavern collapses. This fills in when rain water couple with those from underground streams are captured and stored. The words itself, cenote, comes from the Mayan word dzonot, which means well.

Il Kil Cenote - Mexico

Mid-flight - Il Kil Cenote - Mexico

We went to the Il Kil cenote, which to me was a magnificent marvel. A 60mtrs deep cavernous hole, beautifully round at the top, and wonderfully blue when the sunlight hits it. It was an absolute pleasure to see this geographical feature but to also head down and have a swim. There are green vines that stretch all the way from the entrance at the top to the water below, and when you just sit there and admire its beauty, you can't help but things that there's something just a little magical about a place like this. Apparently the Yucatan is filled with places like this due to both its proliferation of limestone and underground water systems. A truly special site and we both felt better for the day having stopped there.

Caye Caulker (Belize) - No shirt, no shoes...no problem

CAYE CAULKER (BELIZE)
21 February - 24 February 2017

And to think, Caye Caulker almost didn’t make our itinerary. It was in and out like a cheap highway diner in Nebraska, never truly making its presence felt, never delivering an overwhelming statement or value proposition as to why we needed to be there.  It stood like an outcast, a nobody within our mix of ‘must do’ places on our Central American escapade.

In the end Caye Caulker turned out to be the most unexpected and memorable stop that we made. On the back of Cayeans (or is it the Caulkans?) fundamental philosophy of life, ‘No shirt, no shoes…no problem’ and a relentless breeze that can sway your hammock into a Caribbean induced coma, we loosely played with the feelings of Caye Caulker and now that makes me feel slightly ashamed. I was un-learned, un-schooled in the ways of the Cayes, but now I have had  my life improved significantly.

Caye Caulker - Belize

La Cubana Hostel - Caye Caulker - Belize

Not a bad location for a hostel huh :)

One of the main streets on Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker - Belize

If the place is hammock ready then Inga loves it!

Caye Caulker - Belize

Sitting pretty some 35kms north-east of one of the most ordinary of world capitals, Belize City, Caye Caulker is a place where you’re greeted with a balmy breeze, palm trees, soft sand and low, bright multi-coloured buildings as you step off the main pier. It’s the epitome of reggae, just in Belize fashion. Lonely Planet says that the easy going nature is due in part to the strong Creole presence on the island, which pulses to the classic reggae beat, forming a more than suitable home to those translated Rastafarians.

Shoes are redundant here. Walking barefoot is almost obligatory and getting dressed up for the night means pulling out your best ‘flip flops’, or as Australians would put it, thongs. Golf carts transport new arrivals to their lodgings around the small town (and really, a car here would not even be a waste, it would be pure stupidity), there are no traffic lights, street signs or any real association a town of any real size. This is the ‘chill zone’ where island time is as serious as you want to make it. And there you have the beauty of Caye Caulker, a paradise without the massive crowds, without the high rises, with the beautiful calm water of the Caribbean and your beck & call. Bliss would be the classic understatement.

Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

Take your pick

Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

We didn’t have any accommodation booked on arrival but managed to quickly find the La Cubana hostel, located almost at the end of the pier for the San Pedro-Belize express ferry. A small, clean but occasionally inconvenient hostel, it was an ok place to stay, made bearable at night only by the presence of an air conditioner – which unfortunately we did not have for our first two evenings. Oh well, the small pains of paradise.

The Caye itself is 8kms long, split right in the middle by a little channel cut by cyclone Hattie in 1961. The ever present cut, known by all as “The Split” is at the northern end of the southern island of the Caye and provides a good swimming opportunity for all those revellers taking up a position at the fabulous Lazy Lizard bar for the day.

Caye Caulker - Belize

Out on the reef with a few stingrays - Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

Par for the course - Smirnoffs at the ready

Caye Caulker - Belize

Walking around on sand all day, heading from bar to bar, i.e., Ana Genie, Bryce’s Beach BBQ, the Lazy Lizard, we could have been forgiven having our time occupied just by doing that…but no, we had the want and desire to do more, like watching the fabulous sunsets on the western side of the island each afternoon, taking some SUP’s out for an attempted circumnavigation which didn’t quite make the great and partaking in the cuisine which ended up being mostly quesadillas, pork and whatever else could wash that down, which as this point in time was Smirnoff Double Black Zero’s…and really, how good a place is it that you can just buy a bottle of alcohol, open it right in the shop and walk barefoot on the sand streets without a care in the world!?

Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

Priorities

Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker, we love you!