Westerners tend to have a romantic vision of Cuba. But behind the glamour that still clings to Fidel Castro's rule is a gritty country whose people have had to innovate to survive, writes Rosita Boland
"TAXI, CIGAR, AMOR?" This is the mantra you are guaranteed to hear when you walk down any street in Havana, day or night. It doesn't matter if you are male or female; taxis, cigars and love are available to all, although you'd be unwise to take up offers of either of the latter two. Privately touted cigars are more likely to be filled with dirt than with tobacco, although, clearly, enough people still buy them for the scam to endure. As for love, well, nuff said.
Cuba has long provoked discussion around the world. Now, with the resignation as president last month of Fidel Castro - news I heard at the airport on the morning I was leaving - the country is front-page news yet again.
Havana itself is a city that has been both much romanticised and, ironically, commercialised by the west. From Buena Vista Social Club to beer commercials and many other examples in between, Havana is portrayed as a place of spontaneous music-making, laid-back people, vintage American cars and picturesque buildings. Some of these things are true, but, like any cliches, they are only part of the truth of a place. Salsa music and old Chevrolets aside, it's western curiosity about the enduring communist regime that has probably attracted most of the country's tourists. "I must get to Cuba before Castro dies" is a familiar refrain of many would-be visitors.
Castro snr may have tendered his resignation, but with Raúl, his younger brother, designated as his successor, no drastic changes are likely any time soon. You can still visit Cuba while a Castro rules it.
Central Havana, where virtually all of the buildings are in a scary state of disrepair, feels far older than neighbouring Old Havana. Central Havana is where you are most likely to have someone take you by the arm and steer you away from walking under a balcony that looks as if it is held together only by paint, or to warn you about craters in the footpaths.
Old Havana, several parts of which have been restored under the Unesco World Heritage programme, is the place you are most likely to have seen in the ads: Malecón Avenue, hugging the sea wall; the salsa bars that have had the famous visitors; the colonial architecture; and the impressive plazas where schoolchildren practise fencing and first aid. Walking around parts of Old Havana, you could think momentarily that you are in any European city, until you go into a shop to browse and are jolted into remembering that there is nothing to buy, unless you would like a Che Guevara T-shirt, a pair of maracas or a box of cigars.
The US dollar, which used to be the currency of tourism here, is no longer accepted for exchange anywhere - nowhere I could find, anyway. Nor could I find an ATM that would give me money, although if you go into a bank, some will give you money on your credit card, as long as it is not one issued by a US institution. Euro, sterling and Canadian dollars are all accepted for exchange. Tourists pay for all transport, food and services with Cuban convertible pesos, which are worth about 70c each.
Cuba is not a particularly cheap country to travel in, particularly if you are backpacking. Accommodation is almost always priced by the room, so if you are travelling alone you pay the full, two-person price. Government hotels cost anything between €60 and €200, for even the most modest of places. Many people choose to stay instead in the networks of casas particulares - like bed and breakfasts, where you stay with families. You find them by spotting the blue-and-white sign on the door; by being led to one, for a tip, by anyone on the street; or by waiting on spec at the domestic bus stations.
My casas, in Havana, Viñales and Trinidad, cost between €20 and €30 a night. The owners pass most of this on to the state, in taxes, retaining only a fraction; the average income of most Cubans is €13 a month.
Casas vary as much as Irish B&Bs do. The best I stayed in was the one in Trinidad, where I had white linen, an antique brass bed, a bathroom and my own terrace to watch the sun go down over a Bucanero Fuerte beer. My worst was in Havana, where I discovered a two-centimetre nail in the mattress only after it poked into me, and realised when I eventually lay down that the ceiling was so damp that half the paint had flaked off. The bathroom was through the living room, where the owner was entertaining what seemed like 1,000 people to a very rowdy party. Although the quality of the accommodation is a lottery, staying in casas is a great way to meet locals, especially if you speak even a little Spanish.
As in the former communist countries of Russia and eastern Europe, Cuban food is both notoriously bad and poor value - a culinary shock if you are coming from nearby Central America, as I was. The menu might run to an impressive 20 pages, but, when it comes to ordering, only the same few items are ever on offer. Fried chicken, black beans and rice costs about €10. When you get tired of that, there's fried fish and fried beef, usually served with at least one tinned vegetable, mostly carrots. Salads are always shredded cabbage, tomato and cucumber. It's understandable, though: why bother to court customers with inventive cooking when you get paid the same salary by the state no matter what you dish up?
After four days I took the bus southwest from Havana to Viñales, a lovely area of limestone pinnacles, banana plantations and cave-filled valleys. In Viñales every house looks the same, each with rocking chairs on the porch, where people gather every evening to smoke home-made cigars and chat to passers-by.
The village's casa de la cultura hosted a different open-air salsa band each night. There were more bicycles and ponies and traps than cars. I went for one day to the nearby beach of Cayo Levisa, an idyllic, beautifully tranquil island with white sand, tilting palm trees and water a colour that shifted between a surreal blue and emerald green.
The most striking aspect of the day was not the location but the slow realisation that there was not a single pleasure boat or yacht on the horizon: people in communist countries don't have the luxury of owning pleasure boats. After three days I felt as if I had been in Viñales forever, but in a good way, as if the place would always lodge happily in my memory.
After travelling in Cuba for more than a week I began to get used to certain things: the bad food; the good music, which is evident everywhere, and an integral part of life; seeing the same colour paint on the interior walls of people's houses - a bright salmon pink, which must be the only paint colour in Cuba not subject to sanctions; the lack of almost any kind of machinery in the fields; the pictures of Guevara painted on walls across the country; the absence of western advertising; the culture of making do; the lively dignity of people; the way you begin to understand that contacts are everything for the local economy - one casa owner passes you on to a friend, who will meet your bus with a name card at the next station; the way that people trade and barter excess goods with each other; the obvious culture of smuggling; and the feeling of being in both the 20th and the 21st centuries.
Cuba is perhaps the least likely country to have been so romanticised by the west. Its land mass contains both Guantánamo Bay and beaches where would-be refugees still risk death by attempting escape in ill-equipped boats to Florida. It's a gritty place, with resourceful people, whose long-term future is uncertain. Go, but don't expect it to be like Buena Vista Social Club.
The essentials for your visit
Where to stay
If you want to stay with a family, there are casas particulares (like bed and breakfasts) throughout Cuba, many of which will also cook you an evening meal. If you book online in advance, you can also organise an airport pick-up. See www.casa particularcuba.org.
Famous hotels in Old Havana include the Inglaterra (www.hotel inglaterracuba.com) and Hotel Nacional de Cuba (www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com). Havana is hugely popular for conferences, and hotels often get block-booked in advance.
Where to eat
Sanctions have left Cuba's restaurant scene very understated, although you'll find plenty of paladares, private homes that are permitted to serve a set dinner for up to 10 people. Look for signs or listen for people touting paladares on the streets at night. Lobster is common, surprisingly cheap and easily the best restaurant meal you will have in Cuba, for about €10 a person.
Where to drink
The bar scene in Havana makes up for lack of restaurant choice. Famous haunts include Old Havana's La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita, both of which Ernest Hemingway regularly drank in. There is a life-size bronze of him at the bar in El Floridita.
Mojitos and all other rum-based drinks are cheap and good in Cuba.
Although nearly every bar offers live salsa at night, there is consistently excellent music at Café de Paris. Havana's famous Casa de la Musica offers live music twice a day, and it often attracts world-class visiting musicians. Look for casas de la cultura in towns across Cuba; they provide live music, often outdoors and free.
What to see
Wander around Central and Old Havana and be amazed by the colonial architecture.
Go to Parque Central and Plaza del Armas for people-watching. The plaza is lined with marble benches and lit by atmospheric gas lamps at night.
The Malecón is Havana's mighty sea wall, surrounding the city, where locals and tourists alike promenade by day and night.
If you see only one museum in Havana, make it the Museum of the Revolution, housed in what was once the presidential palace. Much of its interior was originally designed by Tiffany & Co. It now contains a huge selection of objects of considerable historical relevance. Chief among these are the yacht Granma, in which Fidel Castro and Che Guevara sailed from Mexico to Havana in 1959, prompting President Batista to flee Cuba.
Go there
You can fly to Havana from London Gatwick with Cubana Airlines (www. cubana.cu) or Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin atlantic.com) two days a week. You can also reach Havana from Madrid and Paris. Expect to pay €700-€850.
GET Cuba Travel (01-6713422), a Dublin agency that specialises in trips to Cuba, can tailor packages. Sunway Travel (www.sunway.ie, 01-2311888) sells packages to some of the better-known resorts in the Varadero area, such as Sandals. Expect to pay from €1,650 for nine nights.