I tried to find a Taxi that would bring me to the Viazul Bus terminal, and as the Maquinas are using predetermined routes, mainly, I had to fall back onto an normal Taxi. Most taxis wanted 6 CUC but I wanted to pay a maximum of 5 CUC and when I said 4 they didn't even haggle and just drove off.
Just then, Alex came by and negotiated a Taxi for 5 CUC for me and I was happy to take it to the Bus station.
The intercity Bus system in Cuba is ridiculous... Tourist have to use other buses (Viazul) than local people. As in any well organized Communist country you will have to show your passport to buy a ticket. Also it was not possible to book a ticket for the same day. I had either prebook a ticket for tomorrow, or wait and hope that there was a seat on the bus left, when it arrived.
I was not the only one hoping for that, which made the prospect of this plan succeeding even more unlikely
As if this was not difficult enough to figure out in Spanish, none of the 4 or 5 counters had any signs on them to give me an indication of what information / booking or ticket you could get there.
I can see some typical stereotypes of communism here in Cuba, most obvious the affection for queueing... lots of places with queues... restaurants, cambios, food distribution places, electro shop with really old telephones on display.
At some point a bus to another destination arrived at the Bus station and people tried to get on, who didn't have a reserved ticket and were hoping for a spare seat (same situation as me). They were not lucky and couldn't travel today - only book a ticket for the next day.
I still had 90 minutes to wait until my bus arrived and I would find out if there was a seat available on hit or if I had to come back tomorrow. This really didn't make sense to me and was pretty frustrating.
My suspicion was, at the time, that the Cuban government, tries intentionally to make it hard for tourists to get around the island, so that people rather pay a little extra and take the more expensive Tourist taxis, which would result in more funds for the country. - Maybe, but it was certainly an interesting experience which I had so far avoided by not growing up in eastern Germany...
Luckily you have some enterprise cautious people in Cuba as well, who take advantage of this situation.
A man approached me and asked where I was going, I told him to Vinales, he told me I could share a Taxi for 15 CUC (it was 12 CUC for the Bus) and we would leave right away. Only thing, I had to share the taxi with two other people, we would pick up at their Casa particular. also, he asked me not to tell them that I only had to pay 15 CUC as they had to pay 20 CUC each... Not a problem, I can live wiht that :-).
We went out to the car park and trew my backpack into the book of a Peugeot 405 and headed back into town to pick up our friends.
They were an elder Australian couple that was enjoying their retirement by travelling the world and financing that by renting out their house while abroad... Masterplan!
We enjoyed a very relaxed drive to Vinales. This was the first time for me out of the big city of Havana. Not many cars on the bumpy motorway, no Billboards, no real settlements or much infrastructure. All very rural, some horses, fields, and wooden huts along the road - also no Aircon in the Car :-).
After 2 hours, or so we stopped at a sort of Petrol station to get a coffee.
Soon after we arrived in Vinales, which is really not much more than a 1km long road intersected by another road, with a church at the intersection.
I got to my Casa and, somehow they already know who I was and greeted me ( I assume Alex passed on the description of my beard or something).
It turned out that I had to change to another Casa for some reason, so the woman showed up at the door a few minutes later and brought me down to another house, three doors down the road. Here I hada large room, with two double beds, a bathroom and most importantly a ceiling fan. Happy days.
It was very hot and I rested on the bed for a few minutes... which turned into 2 hours, but then it was time to go for a little walk and explore the village.
As I said before, there was not much to see here in the town, a few little bars and restaurants, most of
them tourist oriented, a church, and plenty of Casa Particulars. There was also a little Supermarket "Supermini" which had not much choice, but literally only one type of beans, one type of sausages and one type of pasta, some shampoo, water (luxuriously placed in a fridge), and that was pretty much it.
It was like the one of the stories you hear about the former GDR (DDR) but to the square root.
I felt a little strange to take a photo of this "pity" (for us it is pity, for them it is a place where they can get their stuff) and didn't.
All this didn't really add to my impression of Cuba, it felt like adding to the separation, some of this may be me being spoilt with choice and a bit uncomfortable in this environment.
Somehow I haven't really gotten to like Cuba up to now. It is a nice place with a lot of unique things to see, but it really is not made for single travellers. The lack of hostels means it is hard to meet other single travellers, you always sit alone in a bar or restaurant, while couples and families sit around you. Accommodation is more expensive than in other countries as you have to rent an entire room. Maybe it is also the fact that I am getting closer to the end of my trip and more increasingly miss Yuni. - I don't know, but I am glad I am here, experiencing Cuba as it is right now as it will not be the same in a few years time. It's a very unusual place.
I witnessed a few more interesting things this evening: all the old 1950s cars here (as well as in Havana) have their big Petrol V8s replaced by smaller Diesel Engines, possibly some of them not even intended for cars. On the other hand, some of the scooters that were zapping around town were running on electric power. Also, it's been a long time since I've seen people use pay phones on the street... here it is common practice.
It was very hot this afternoon and I had a drink in a tourist bar, while I observed the street. Across from me, I could see a little wooden hut, where a man in ripped and dirty cloths gave out food stamps to other people in ripped cloth, while I was sitting on the veranda, under a large fan sipping on my mojito. It's a strange place and I wonder what their feeling is towards Tourists. Is it friendliness as they are always showing towards me or is it jealousy? - Have to be honest, I would struggle not to be jealous.
It's not the first poor country I have travelled but it is the first time where the people do not seem to have a choice or chance to make it out of poverty themselves. - Enough of those disturbing thoughts, back to some enjoyable ones.
On the way back from the Cocktail bar I popped into one of the Tourist offices to book a tour to the beach for the next day. There are two main things to do in Vinales (there are more but these are the "must-dos"): A day at the beach and horseback riding through the tobacco fields.
The office I booked in looked very socialist and had some antique charm to it.
I continued my walk through the village and checked out some of the restaurants to get an idea what I would have for dinner that day and then returned to the Casa to relax a little and read my book. I got bored pretty quick and realized, this usually doesn't happen at home. There is always something to do.
I just sat around and waited. I was happy when finally the time came around to go for dinner.
I found a little place for food, got a sandwich - I wasn't in the mood to spend money all on my own. I really needed some company.
After dinner I went home and watched a film called "Looper" on the laptop. In Cuba I am watching lots of film, due to the lack of social events and connections in the evening.
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