Preparing for Cuba

Cuba has always been a very interesting place for me. I’ve watched many documentaries on Fidel Castro and on the economics of Cuba. So when Barack Obama made it easy for Americans to travel to Cuba, of course, I was excited and couldn’t wait to go. In July 2017 I finally made my way to Cuba. I had talked to many people who had visited and even lived in Cuba. I got so many mixed opinions and reviews. The people who lived there explained how the “Cuban people '' were not allowed to mix with tourists and how limited they were on food and money. With all the stories I’ve heard, I started to believe that people were starving and unhappy. Another thing that seemed strange is that in Cuba there are two currencies, El Peso Cubano (CUP) and The Cuban Convertible Currency (CUC). The CUP is used by the Cuban people in their everyday basic things. The CUC is used mostly for tourists and for “luxury” items. The CUC was made equal to the American Dollar $1 = to 1 CUC but the truth is it is not since they charge 10% to change American currency therefore the CUC has a higher value. The CUC is not traded internationally and 1.00 CUC = 25.00 CUP. Therefore I decided to change American money into Canadian money, but it turned out the same. With all of that said I was still very excited and couldn’t wait to get there. Now it was on to planning where I wanted to visit and stay!

I wanted to see everything and do everything but unfortunately with only having 8 days that was impossible. 8 days to see a country is not a lot of time especially when all the commute is by taxi or bus. I researched and narrowed it down to 4 cities I had to visit; Havana, Vinales, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad.

Stay tuned for pictures of all my Amazing adventures in Cuba 💙 I want to go back for at least a month.