02 May 2024

Cuba

We offer a wide choice of cheap flights to Cuba together with Cuba hotels, tours and self-drive itineraries.

Other Caribbean Reviews

Partying with Fidel

With Cuba desperate for tourist revenue, even Castro is willing to be a celebrity guest when the Havana Festival is in full swing. Tom Bower reports on the return of fun times of Havana.

1 Tradtional cars in Havana 2 Cuban Dancers 3 Havana

THE CHAOS WAS UNEXPECTED but glorious. “You wanna buy cigar?” whispered the woman. “Buy my cigars,” hissed the man across the gangway. Pointedly, the factory’s security officers had disappeared.

In a dilapidated low building amid tobacco fields in Pino del Rio, 90 miles from Havana, a $5 entry fee allows tourists to pass through a factory in which 100 skilled men and women blend and roll the famous Cohiba cigars. It was part of a day’s tour through Vinales, a lovely region of caves and hilltop views.

For just $10 per month, each Cohiba worker makes more than 100 cigars every day, at a production cost of one penny each. “A dollar a cigar,” offered the woman shiftily. In London, the same cigar costs £23.

The temptation was irresistible. Ten cigars were stuffed into my trouser pocket and a banknote disappeared into her smock. Lipstick, sweets and pens will also be taken in fair exchange, for those without dollars. Welcome to rip-off Cuba, the Soviet Union in the sun, where socialism has corrupted everyone and impoverished all except the privileged few.

Age of decadence

Cuba’s age of decadence after the Twenties, associated with the Mafia’s casinos, prostitutes and rum-soaked parties, was supposedly obliterated by Fidel Castro’s communist revolution in 1959.

In reality, Castro’s Mob replaced New York’s Mob. Austerity replaced decadence, but economic woes have compelled Castro to allow a slow return to Cuba’s natural lifestyle. Sunshine, blue seas, salsa music, seductive rum cocktails and smiling prostitutes at every corner cover the horror of Havana’s sprawling slums and deprived population.

Turn right out of Havana’s excellent Parque Central Hotel towards seedy Chinatown and lifeless Revolutionary Square, and you pass through a blitzed landscape resembling 1945 Berlin. But turn left and join the crowds in Obispo Street, and restored Havana is breathtaking. Built by the Spaniards in the 19th century, the architecture is unique. Dotted among relics of Havana’s past are atmospheric bars, none more alluring than those frequented by Ernest Hemingway, writer, sportsman and drinker.

Mojito rum cocktails

On the airy ground floor of the Hotel Ambos Mundos, the pianist played As Time Goes By for a dollar a time; and in the tiny Bodeguita Del Medio bar, filled with photographs of Hemingway’s era, the powerful Mojito rum cocktail tasted wonderful when accompanied by a four-man salsa group.

Only the $4 bill - two weeks’ wages for Cubans - pricks the conscience of those recalling the universal worship in the Sixties of Che Guevara, Castro’s fellow revolutionary.

Excited by the Hemmingway trail, we headed for the writer’s house (15 minutes by taxi from central Havana) then lunched by the sea at La Terraza, where his fishing boat was moored. A local beach was good, but the best swimming for $10 was the day spent at the Havana Club, a colonial mansion with a spectacular beach.

Decent food in Havana can be found only in the paladares, inexpensive private restaurants located in private homes. The most enjoyable were La Guarida, La Cocina de Liliam and El Capitolio, which served splendid lobsters, and El Gringo Viejo, a modest basement offering excellent chicken.

Worst meals were at a Butlins-style resort. But two days of excellent swimming and unlimited free drinks compensated for Cuba’s lurch into Soviet - style cuisine.

The throbbing nightclubs count among the world’s best entertainment. At the Casa de la Musica and Macumba, the live bands were shattering. After excessive dancing and rum, it was best to recover the following morning on a $10 tour of the Partagas cigar factory.

Production at Partagas is militaristic, and security seemingly tight. Over a public address system, the diligent workers listened to a man reading first the Party newspaper and then the film script of 9 1/2 Weeks! Only the offer of stolen cigars by Jose, a jovial guide, reminded tourists of Cuba’s reality: Consumers of Havana cigars are being ripped off.

A visit to José’s home and the purchase of 25 genuine Cohibas for $40 instead of $248 in the factory shop revealed that untrained cigar rollers and Castro’s greed for dollars are ruining his famous product.

Festival of havana

The great hoax is celebrated once a year. At an extraordinary event, which mixes the best cigars, unlimited drink, a decent meal, some beautiful women, a whiff of corruption and Castro himself, the Cuban experience is paraded. The invitation to the Festival of Havana at the beautiful Museum of Art cost $400, but Castro’s presence and the opportunity of shaking his hand made it worthwhile.

Unsteady in his usual green battle fatigues, the icon seemed surprised by the ostentatious vulgarity of wealth, but cigars and tourists are now Cuba’s life-blood.

The world's last 20th Century revolutionary adds excitement to any party, especially when it’s to watch an auction of humidors stuffed with collectors” cigars. (Unfortunately, halfway through the event, he dropped off).

Later, a blinking Fidel heard a $250,000 bid for one collection, and stood incredulous as a tubby diplomat from Belize paid $20,000 for a straw hat. In return, he and his stunning companion could pose with Fidel for a picture. Glorious decadence is back in Cuba.

Staggering from the riotous party at 2.30 am, long after Fidel had gone to bed, Havana appeared through bleary eyes as one of the world’s great party spots - and the island itself, a certain destination in the future to discover the mysteries of the regions beyond the capital.

0330·100·2220i 0330 calls are included within inclusive minutes package on mobiles, otherwise standard rates apply. X 0330 calls are included within inclusive minutes package on mobiles, otherwise standard rates apply. X