Cuckoo over Cuba (PART II)
February 28, 2002 | 12:00am
Click here to read Part I
New Year in Havana is a riot with music blasting, people dancing and tons of rum being downed round-the-clock!
The biggest celebration takes place yearly on Jan. 1, the day when Che Guevara and other revolutionaries stormed into Havana and captured the city while most of the elite, including then President Fulgencio Batista, partied at the Grand National Hotel. The latter had to dash to the airport to avoid being captured by Che G. and company. They fled to the Dominican Republic just in the nick of time.
We celebrated New Year at home. Our party was well-organized by one of my hosts, Nene Lacson. He had a 10-piece all-Mulatto girl band playing for us from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. as champagne and wine flowed. Our cook prepared for us a superb dinner. We danced until we almost dropped but by 2:30 a.m. we (14 of us) went off to party Cuban style.
We joined 200 other party animals at one of the gorgeous mansions in the suburbs. We were charged the entrance fee of $2 and paid for our drinks as we ordered them. By 6 a.m. it was time to hit the bed apres a fantastic New Year’s experience in Havana. Wow!
We hied off to the usual must-see spots with moi other host and pal, Edouard Garcia, starting off at the Museo de la Revolucion. Everything you need to know about Cuba’s revolution and a lot more is found in this colossal palace, the former home of the Batista famille.
The gorgeous building was completed in 1920. Some rooms have retained their Tiffany splendor and clue one in on the lavish taste of deposed President Fulgencio Batista.
Right behind this building is the National Fine Arts Museum where you will find a good collection of ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian art, and European and Cuban paintings. There are colonial, contemporary, and even socialist pop art pieces, many of them sequestered from private collections of wealthy Cubans who fled in 1959.
We left the city apres a week and a half. We took a two-and-a-half hour drive on a super concrete six-lane highway headed for the western part of Cuba. We hied off to the beautiful and mesmerizing Viñales Valley, which is unlike any place in the world. The super cool and clean air was enough to rejuvenate us apres two weeks of sight-seeing, dining and boogie-ing nightly in Havana.
Our postcard-pretty hotel was gorgeously located on a mountain overlooking a fantastic sight which will leave you hypnotized. Viñales Valley boasts unbelievable giant limestone outcrops covered in thick vegetation called mogotes rising majestically from the valley floor of russet-colored earth, and a patchwork of Cuba’s renowned tobacco plantations. Their tobacco leaves grow to the size of a huge serving plate before they are picked and hung in A-shaped barns and covered in shaggy dried palms.
Each room of our five-star hotel La Ermita (at only $60 a day including an excellent eat-all-you-can breakfast buffet, would you believe?) had a breathtaking view of the mogotes and the valley below. The hotel also had a swimming pool; tennis courts; and two bars (one outdoors on the patio and indoors) in the restaurant.
The view there at sunset is mind-boggling. Such incredible colors I’ve never seen before! The change of colors while the sun sinks in the horizon will surely mesmerize you.
Early in the morning, there’s a light mist in the villages and tobacco plantations, winding around like a gigantic serpent around the mogotes. So a light sweater is a must all day long. In the early mornings, dont’t forget to put on a heavier jacket, dahlings.
During our three-day stay, we had dinner at a Casa Particulares, a private home. Dinner here is for tourists who want to try local home-cooking yummies. The lady of the house prepared a mouthwatering meal for our groupie of six, a meal good for at least 11 persons. The two desserts, a bottle of wine, and all the beer and softdrinks you can take come at the giveaway price of $30.
The town of Viñales (down the valley from our hill-top hotel) is a serene rural community, dahlings. It has pillared arcades, quaint one-storey homes, two real good restos, and a cool pine-lined main street. In the center is an eye-catching little square with a fetching church. Behind this is a petite museum and a library.
Now, this is one thing you will find all over Cuba, palanggas. No matter how big or small a city or a village, you will always find a museum and a library. Fidel Castro makes sure that the citizens are literate; schools and universities are for free; medical, dental, and maternity care are also free; and scholars are sent to other post-socialist countries for further studies.
While in Viñales we went through the fields, even going horseback riding in a plantation where mandarin and sunkist oranges grow. We stopped here to rest apres an hour and a half of horseback riding for a late lunch prepared by the farmers.
In this farm – like anywhere else in Cuba – the people are overwhelmingly friendly and are only too happy to have their photographs taken. They will always offer you fruits, coffee and cigars.
After thanking our host, we rode back to our hotel, had a super dinner at the hotel’s resto, then went down to the village for a night out.
The next day we toured the Mural de la Prehistoria. This absolutely bizarre, monumental mural is 393-feet high and 590-feet wide. It was commissioned by Castro in 1961 and created by a brilliant student of the famous Mexican artist, Diego Rivera, with the help of 100 painters who dangled on ropes to complete the task, palanggas. The mural depicts evolution from ammonite to Homo sapiens.
Next stop was the Cueva del Indio. The mogotes are full of caves and beautiful subterranean rivers, one of which is three miles long, and which we explored on a boat trip. Our guide told us that recently, one of the motor boats (which can hold 20 people) was stolen by locals trying to flee to Florida. He never did tell us if they made it or not, though. Oh well.
The next day we hied off to Havana, but not before we drove down to the lowland to Cuba’s regional capital Pinar del Rio.We were amazed to see the main street lined by a wonderful array of neo-classical buildings with huge fluted pillars and elaborate cornices. Some are in a bad state of disrepair while many are gaily painted a shocking pink or green.
We wished we could have stayed there for another day or two, but we had already extended our stay in Cuba from a week to 18 days. So many other interesting sights and beaches to see, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time. But there will definitely be a next time (sooner than soon!), palanggas.
Back in Havana, we were all dying to taste Cuba’s most famous ice cream at the country’s most famous ice cream parlor. The Coppelia in Vedado is definitely it for ice cream and is the queuing Mecca.
The ice cream parlor was championed by the Revolution as "the parlor of the people," dahlings. Before the Revolution, only the rich and the whites could enjoy this fancy ice cream. Today, a anyone can enjoy a sundae.
The Coppelia’s architectural designed is so 1960s. It’s not surprising at all to see endless queues from different sides of the lush park from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight, seven days a week, would you believe? Yet it’s forever packed and no one complains about the excellent ice cream or the price. For example, a huge ice cream salad – which comes in different scoops and different flavors – costs a cheap 25 cents, palanggas.
We never made it (damn it!) but if you want to say you’ve been there, and not have to queue for three days, walk straight upstairs to the parlor’s US Dollar Section. You’ll have a wider choice there though at a much higher bill ($4, natch).
There were many more things we saw and experienced, but moi will instead give you tips on some great hotels to stay in.
Hotel National. This remarkable hotel epitomizes the decadence that used to be associated with Havana. It is grand, elegant, swanky. It’s a great place to make believe you’re wealthy.
The hotel has a marvelous location, beautiful gardens, and a magnificent view of Malecon’s seashore drive. They charge international rates: $120, single; $170, triple; $210, junior suite; $450, royal suite; and $1,000, presidential suite; plus, plus.
Hotel Capri. Built in the 1950s with a heavy Mafia connection at that time, this 215-room hotel had its heyday. Though all the casinos closed after the Revolution, it remains a pleasant hotel to stay in with its swimming pool and resto at the roof top and a cabaret, Salon Rojo, at the ground floor. The price range: Singles, $65 to $75. Double, $80 to $94. Triple, $104 to $123. Suites, $108 to $127.
Hotel Melia Cohiba. Opened in 1995, this 462-room hotel is almost a village. It has stylish surroundings and offers good service including butler service in 12 of the suites (which range from $250 to $350 to $500 depending on the size; single goes for $165). It also has an attractive swimming pool, shopping center and a smoking bar for cigar aficionados.
Hotel Novotel Miramar. Moi favorite, palanggas. Its exterior is rather simple but the interior is great. The rooms are gorgeously decorated in striking yellow and blue designed by a famous Cuban interior designer.
The food in the high quality resto is surprisingly not expensive at all. There are also loads of extra facilities – a gym; sauna; massage parlor; tennis courts; a dreamy swimming pool; plus a fabi night club at the 20-something floor where you can hobnob with many of Havana’s new breed of hip, chic and beautiful crowd. And it’s right where all the action takes place – La Rampa; movie houses; shops; restos; and the ice cream parlor Coppelia are right across the street.
There are Casas Particulares (private homes or apartments) which can be had for a song. They range from two- to four- bedrooms, are air-conditioned, have maid service plus, plus. The best "strategy" is to occupy them with six of you sharing, dahlings. That makes the rent so much cheaper, like it was for us. Write moi or send a message through The Philippine STAR. Moi will gladly help you, palanggas.
Moi could go on and on about Havana and Cuba, but apres a fantastic 18 days it was time to head back home.
Apres tearful goodbyes to our wonderful household help who became like famille to us, we picked up colorful T-shirts (the ones with Che Guevara’s face are the biggest sellers) then dashed off to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport.
We boarded Air France’s 747-400 for our trip back to Paris. Relaxing at Air France’s business lounge was such a pleasure with its many amenities. At 11 p.m., we were ready to jet back to Manille.
Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise awaiting passengers on board. In moi case, it was being upgraded to the jet’s super chic Premiere Section (first class), since the economy and business sections were totally packed! Lucky for moi.
What made moi even more luckier was my seatmate, a tall, model-ish stunning beauty who was fashionably dressed. Moi had see her earlier at Air France’s business lounge in Charles de Gulle while waiting for our flight to Manille. She turned out to be the adorable Chantal Phan Vansong, secretary of one of the Philippines’ favorite ambassadors, Ambassador Gilles Chouraqui, no less. She was traveling with the Embassy’s Cultural Attache, charmant Monsieur Loic Daniel. Being with such great company made the 12-hour straight flight seem even shorter, dahlings.
Naturellement, you’re served like royalty in the Premiere Section with the best the Airline can offer. The seat is really wide and reclines all the way down like a bed. For that extra touch, you are given a goose feather comforter and pajamas (which you can keep) to make sure you are comfortable as you would be in your own bedroom at home. That’s definitely the French way of traveling in style, dahlings.
Touching down at NAIA exactly at 7:10 p.m. marked the end of a fantastic never to be forgotten holiday.
Cuba has become what it is because of the Revolution, which has rid Cuba of many of its vices – rampant prostitution (there still is today, although in a much smaller scale); casinos; crime; garbage; corruption in all forms; what have you’s. Discipline has become a way of life.
Compared to a mere decade ago when tourism was condemned as a "capitalist decadence," today, in pursuit of the almighty dollars, ideological principles have bent in many ways to lure foreigners to Cuba, dahlings, which has become the Caribbean’s fastest-growing vacation destination.
And why not? Cuba is overpoweringly sensual and extraordinarily friendly. The resourceful Cubans, who number just under 11 million, are the country’s best assets. They’ve never lost their joie de vivre (as in, "love of life"), with, as they like to say, "sex, music, dancing" as their greatest pleasures. After all, none of the above are rationed. Neither do you have to queue up for them. They are all free.
Yes, palanggas, Cuba is definitely more than just a vacation; it’s an awesome experience you’ll never forget.
How to get to Havana? Easy, palanggas. The best way from Manille is by the chic French way – Air France, naturellement, via Paris.
For more info, do call Air France and ask for Tess Zulueta at tel. no. 887-7587, or reservation at tel. no. 887-7581. Or, check Cuba out with your favorite travel agency.
You won’t regret it. Promise!
New Year in Havana is a riot with music blasting, people dancing and tons of rum being downed round-the-clock!
The biggest celebration takes place yearly on Jan. 1, the day when Che Guevara and other revolutionaries stormed into Havana and captured the city while most of the elite, including then President Fulgencio Batista, partied at the Grand National Hotel. The latter had to dash to the airport to avoid being captured by Che G. and company. They fled to the Dominican Republic just in the nick of time.
We celebrated New Year at home. Our party was well-organized by one of my hosts, Nene Lacson. He had a 10-piece all-Mulatto girl band playing for us from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. as champagne and wine flowed. Our cook prepared for us a superb dinner. We danced until we almost dropped but by 2:30 a.m. we (14 of us) went off to party Cuban style.
We joined 200 other party animals at one of the gorgeous mansions in the suburbs. We were charged the entrance fee of $2 and paid for our drinks as we ordered them. By 6 a.m. it was time to hit the bed apres a fantastic New Year’s experience in Havana. Wow!
We hied off to the usual must-see spots with moi other host and pal, Edouard Garcia, starting off at the Museo de la Revolucion. Everything you need to know about Cuba’s revolution and a lot more is found in this colossal palace, the former home of the Batista famille.
The gorgeous building was completed in 1920. Some rooms have retained their Tiffany splendor and clue one in on the lavish taste of deposed President Fulgencio Batista.
Right behind this building is the National Fine Arts Museum where you will find a good collection of ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian art, and European and Cuban paintings. There are colonial, contemporary, and even socialist pop art pieces, many of them sequestered from private collections of wealthy Cubans who fled in 1959.
We left the city apres a week and a half. We took a two-and-a-half hour drive on a super concrete six-lane highway headed for the western part of Cuba. We hied off to the beautiful and mesmerizing Viñales Valley, which is unlike any place in the world. The super cool and clean air was enough to rejuvenate us apres two weeks of sight-seeing, dining and boogie-ing nightly in Havana.
Our postcard-pretty hotel was gorgeously located on a mountain overlooking a fantastic sight which will leave you hypnotized. Viñales Valley boasts unbelievable giant limestone outcrops covered in thick vegetation called mogotes rising majestically from the valley floor of russet-colored earth, and a patchwork of Cuba’s renowned tobacco plantations. Their tobacco leaves grow to the size of a huge serving plate before they are picked and hung in A-shaped barns and covered in shaggy dried palms.
Each room of our five-star hotel La Ermita (at only $60 a day including an excellent eat-all-you-can breakfast buffet, would you believe?) had a breathtaking view of the mogotes and the valley below. The hotel also had a swimming pool; tennis courts; and two bars (one outdoors on the patio and indoors) in the restaurant.
The view there at sunset is mind-boggling. Such incredible colors I’ve never seen before! The change of colors while the sun sinks in the horizon will surely mesmerize you.
Early in the morning, there’s a light mist in the villages and tobacco plantations, winding around like a gigantic serpent around the mogotes. So a light sweater is a must all day long. In the early mornings, dont’t forget to put on a heavier jacket, dahlings.
During our three-day stay, we had dinner at a Casa Particulares, a private home. Dinner here is for tourists who want to try local home-cooking yummies. The lady of the house prepared a mouthwatering meal for our groupie of six, a meal good for at least 11 persons. The two desserts, a bottle of wine, and all the beer and softdrinks you can take come at the giveaway price of $30.
The town of Viñales (down the valley from our hill-top hotel) is a serene rural community, dahlings. It has pillared arcades, quaint one-storey homes, two real good restos, and a cool pine-lined main street. In the center is an eye-catching little square with a fetching church. Behind this is a petite museum and a library.
Now, this is one thing you will find all over Cuba, palanggas. No matter how big or small a city or a village, you will always find a museum and a library. Fidel Castro makes sure that the citizens are literate; schools and universities are for free; medical, dental, and maternity care are also free; and scholars are sent to other post-socialist countries for further studies.
While in Viñales we went through the fields, even going horseback riding in a plantation where mandarin and sunkist oranges grow. We stopped here to rest apres an hour and a half of horseback riding for a late lunch prepared by the farmers.
In this farm – like anywhere else in Cuba – the people are overwhelmingly friendly and are only too happy to have their photographs taken. They will always offer you fruits, coffee and cigars.
After thanking our host, we rode back to our hotel, had a super dinner at the hotel’s resto, then went down to the village for a night out.
The next day we toured the Mural de la Prehistoria. This absolutely bizarre, monumental mural is 393-feet high and 590-feet wide. It was commissioned by Castro in 1961 and created by a brilliant student of the famous Mexican artist, Diego Rivera, with the help of 100 painters who dangled on ropes to complete the task, palanggas. The mural depicts evolution from ammonite to Homo sapiens.
Next stop was the Cueva del Indio. The mogotes are full of caves and beautiful subterranean rivers, one of which is three miles long, and which we explored on a boat trip. Our guide told us that recently, one of the motor boats (which can hold 20 people) was stolen by locals trying to flee to Florida. He never did tell us if they made it or not, though. Oh well.
The next day we hied off to Havana, but not before we drove down to the lowland to Cuba’s regional capital Pinar del Rio.We were amazed to see the main street lined by a wonderful array of neo-classical buildings with huge fluted pillars and elaborate cornices. Some are in a bad state of disrepair while many are gaily painted a shocking pink or green.
We wished we could have stayed there for another day or two, but we had already extended our stay in Cuba from a week to 18 days. So many other interesting sights and beaches to see, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time. But there will definitely be a next time (sooner than soon!), palanggas.
Back in Havana, we were all dying to taste Cuba’s most famous ice cream at the country’s most famous ice cream parlor. The Coppelia in Vedado is definitely it for ice cream and is the queuing Mecca.
The ice cream parlor was championed by the Revolution as "the parlor of the people," dahlings. Before the Revolution, only the rich and the whites could enjoy this fancy ice cream. Today, a anyone can enjoy a sundae.
The Coppelia’s architectural designed is so 1960s. It’s not surprising at all to see endless queues from different sides of the lush park from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight, seven days a week, would you believe? Yet it’s forever packed and no one complains about the excellent ice cream or the price. For example, a huge ice cream salad – which comes in different scoops and different flavors – costs a cheap 25 cents, palanggas.
We never made it (damn it!) but if you want to say you’ve been there, and not have to queue for three days, walk straight upstairs to the parlor’s US Dollar Section. You’ll have a wider choice there though at a much higher bill ($4, natch).
There were many more things we saw and experienced, but moi will instead give you tips on some great hotels to stay in.
Hotel National. This remarkable hotel epitomizes the decadence that used to be associated with Havana. It is grand, elegant, swanky. It’s a great place to make believe you’re wealthy.
The hotel has a marvelous location, beautiful gardens, and a magnificent view of Malecon’s seashore drive. They charge international rates: $120, single; $170, triple; $210, junior suite; $450, royal suite; and $1,000, presidential suite; plus, plus.
Hotel Capri. Built in the 1950s with a heavy Mafia connection at that time, this 215-room hotel had its heyday. Though all the casinos closed after the Revolution, it remains a pleasant hotel to stay in with its swimming pool and resto at the roof top and a cabaret, Salon Rojo, at the ground floor. The price range: Singles, $65 to $75. Double, $80 to $94. Triple, $104 to $123. Suites, $108 to $127.
Hotel Melia Cohiba. Opened in 1995, this 462-room hotel is almost a village. It has stylish surroundings and offers good service including butler service in 12 of the suites (which range from $250 to $350 to $500 depending on the size; single goes for $165). It also has an attractive swimming pool, shopping center and a smoking bar for cigar aficionados.
Hotel Novotel Miramar. Moi favorite, palanggas. Its exterior is rather simple but the interior is great. The rooms are gorgeously decorated in striking yellow and blue designed by a famous Cuban interior designer.
The food in the high quality resto is surprisingly not expensive at all. There are also loads of extra facilities – a gym; sauna; massage parlor; tennis courts; a dreamy swimming pool; plus a fabi night club at the 20-something floor where you can hobnob with many of Havana’s new breed of hip, chic and beautiful crowd. And it’s right where all the action takes place – La Rampa; movie houses; shops; restos; and the ice cream parlor Coppelia are right across the street.
There are Casas Particulares (private homes or apartments) which can be had for a song. They range from two- to four- bedrooms, are air-conditioned, have maid service plus, plus. The best "strategy" is to occupy them with six of you sharing, dahlings. That makes the rent so much cheaper, like it was for us. Write moi or send a message through The Philippine STAR. Moi will gladly help you, palanggas.
Moi could go on and on about Havana and Cuba, but apres a fantastic 18 days it was time to head back home.
Apres tearful goodbyes to our wonderful household help who became like famille to us, we picked up colorful T-shirts (the ones with Che Guevara’s face are the biggest sellers) then dashed off to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport.
We boarded Air France’s 747-400 for our trip back to Paris. Relaxing at Air France’s business lounge was such a pleasure with its many amenities. At 11 p.m., we were ready to jet back to Manille.
Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise awaiting passengers on board. In moi case, it was being upgraded to the jet’s super chic Premiere Section (first class), since the economy and business sections were totally packed! Lucky for moi.
What made moi even more luckier was my seatmate, a tall, model-ish stunning beauty who was fashionably dressed. Moi had see her earlier at Air France’s business lounge in Charles de Gulle while waiting for our flight to Manille. She turned out to be the adorable Chantal Phan Vansong, secretary of one of the Philippines’ favorite ambassadors, Ambassador Gilles Chouraqui, no less. She was traveling with the Embassy’s Cultural Attache, charmant Monsieur Loic Daniel. Being with such great company made the 12-hour straight flight seem even shorter, dahlings.
Naturellement, you’re served like royalty in the Premiere Section with the best the Airline can offer. The seat is really wide and reclines all the way down like a bed. For that extra touch, you are given a goose feather comforter and pajamas (which you can keep) to make sure you are comfortable as you would be in your own bedroom at home. That’s definitely the French way of traveling in style, dahlings.
Touching down at NAIA exactly at 7:10 p.m. marked the end of a fantastic never to be forgotten holiday.
Cuba has become what it is because of the Revolution, which has rid Cuba of many of its vices – rampant prostitution (there still is today, although in a much smaller scale); casinos; crime; garbage; corruption in all forms; what have you’s. Discipline has become a way of life.
Compared to a mere decade ago when tourism was condemned as a "capitalist decadence," today, in pursuit of the almighty dollars, ideological principles have bent in many ways to lure foreigners to Cuba, dahlings, which has become the Caribbean’s fastest-growing vacation destination.
And why not? Cuba is overpoweringly sensual and extraordinarily friendly. The resourceful Cubans, who number just under 11 million, are the country’s best assets. They’ve never lost their joie de vivre (as in, "love of life"), with, as they like to say, "sex, music, dancing" as their greatest pleasures. After all, none of the above are rationed. Neither do you have to queue up for them. They are all free.
Yes, palanggas, Cuba is definitely more than just a vacation; it’s an awesome experience you’ll never forget.
How to get to Havana? Easy, palanggas. The best way from Manille is by the chic French way – Air France, naturellement, via Paris.
For more info, do call Air France and ask for Tess Zulueta at tel. no. 887-7587, or reservation at tel. no. 887-7581. Or, check Cuba out with your favorite travel agency.
You won’t regret it. Promise!
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