HHoneymoon on Cuba bbbbbMore pictures from Cuba: check the Travels and Trips section!
On September 11 in 2001, four days after our marriage, we went on honeymoon to Cuba. (We left 14.00 hrs local time, which is 8 in the morning US-time. The captain informed us just one hour before landing in Cuba about the terrorist attack on the WTC-towers. We followed the news on CNN or on CNN-Español).
Arie: "I choose Cuba because it's a tropical island and because Fidel Castro is still ruling the island in a communist way. I belief that after his death the whole face of the island will change completely. I went to Eastern Europe shortly before the fall of the wall, and I went there afterwards. I visited two different worlds. Well, I did not want to miss that chance for Cuba." And it is a remarkable island.
Tropical and lazy, but also poor . The US is blocking all sorts of imports to Cuba, making the Cubans very ingenious people, as you might see in the following pictures; cars from the 50's are still running. We rented a -new- car and travelled with hotel-vouchers over the island.
Cuba is very colorful. Houses are painted in pastel-colors and the cars have their original 50's color. Cuba was once occupied by the Spanish and later on more or less collonized by the US. We visited some old Spanish cities. Some still looking as if time stood still over the centuries. Old houses, cobbled stone-streets, horses and carriages as the main means of transport. Here some pictures of Trinidad, one of the oldest towns in Cuba. Typical are the songbirds hanging in cages all over town.
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We visited Cuba in the off-season, so not many tourist where there to annoy us. Due to the trade-restrictions of the US, Cuba is a island with a lot of bikes, just like Holland. Of course, we went to the beach.The beaches look like those in Boracay, in the Philippines, but we think Boracay is more beautiful compared to Cuban beaches.
Not all went well during this vacation. One day we went to an island connected to the mainland by a very long landbridge. On our way back it started to rain. We went slow, but in a curve of the road the water on the first dry road came between the tires and the surface of the road, this is called aquaplaning. The car became uncontrollable, we spinned and went backwards towards the edge of the landbridge, about 2 meters above the water. Getting over the edge the car turned and landed sideways in a tree. We got out unharmed. Good thing that a Dutch couple on their honeymoon just passed and gave us shelter from the very heavy rain. We waited till help arrived and the car was towed out. It still ran, but we returned it the next day to the car rental, where we got a new one.
The second accident happened in Havana. A beautiful old town full of music and romantic views in 50's style. Spanish houses and carriages etc. Arie: "One night we went out in the city, saw a play in a theatre from which we understood almost nothing because it was in Cuban-Spanish. On our way back I suddenly heard Mies scream: "Help..I'm still here!" Looking behind me I saw nothing in the dark. Then I realised that Mies fell in a hole just beside the curb of the street, into the sewage-system!" Together with a passing man we pulled her out (luckely it was only 1,80 meters deep and Mies is 1,70). Mies had some nasty wounds, but nothing was broken. We went to the hotel where a doctor treated her wounds.
The hotel we stayed in had a perfect view over Havana-bay. We stayed on the 10 th floor of this hotel, from where we could overview the sea and the city. Well, we hope you got an impression of our honeymoon.
Mies & Arie
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