Cuba: 2 Days in Varadero

Varadero is a place where very few actual Cubans live. It’s a beautiful white sand beach chock full of resorts — exactly the kind of place I couldn’t wait to leave. To be fair, I’m not a beach gal. If you’re into the beach then you might really enjoy it. My favorite part of visiting Varadero was goofing off with my husband while scooting around the peninsula in the pouring rain. I also really enjoyed meeting our taxi companions on the way to Varadero. We didn’t take many photos during this short stay, but my brilliant husband has used his techie powers to figure out how to post videos of our shenanigans. I also realized that I haven’t said much about the food in Cuba overall so read on for a bit more on that…

Initially it seemed that the scooter rental wasn’t meant to be. We went by the office twice and managed to miss “the guy” who rents the scooters both times. This is common is Cuba; efficiency is not a national strength — groaned every German we met in Cuba. There were at least 20 scooters on the lot, though, so we decided to wait only to hit another snag when “the guy” got back. It turns out that the State prohibits the rental of scooters once they reach a certain mileage point. Apparently the lot was full of geriatric scooters. Undeterred, Diego did what Diego does and somehow we shoved off a few minutes later on an “un-rentable” scooter leaving 6 other disappointed tourists a bit confused. The universe quickly restored balance, though, with unmerciful rain. It was awesome.

Video of our scooting adventures:

Taxi Companions

Here’s the crew on the way to Varadero. Not pictured are the lovely pair of sisters from Barcelona, Spain riding in the front seat. That’s Lenard and his Mom, Claudia, beside Diego. They are from Germany and she has been traveling the world with her son since he was an infant. #goals The trip to Varadero took a minute so Lenard and I busied ourselves by teaching each other games along the way. I went with Squiggle, a game that I used to play with my Aunt Kim when I was a kid. He crushed me and should definitely become an artist one day. He went with this fidget spinner game/thing that I nearly knocked myself out with. He won that too. A pair of friends from Denmark, Heidi (?) and Ellen, are with me in the back. I loved chatting with Ellen. She’s a Political Science major so we had plenty to discuss. She has incredible perspective, especially for such a young woman.

More Taxi companions…and our host dog

We traveled back to Havana with a couple from South Korea. There was a bit more of a language barrier, but they were great! And of course, it goes without saying that Diego loved our host dog whose name I cannot say let alone spell. He was so chill that I occasionally wondered whether the heat had claimed him.

For my Foodies

I haven’t talked much about the food because there isn’t much to say on that front. Food in Cuba is comparatively expensive, somewhat scarce, and not at all great. One Cuban said that food and transportation are two of the most obvious problems that remain following the revolution. That person is correct. There are a ton of tourist restaurants, but they are pricey if you’re traveling on a budget like us. We mostly stuck to the street food from vendors like the man you see pictured below who was selling caramelized coconut cakes, a classic Cuban treat. The center is a coconut cake that’s not overly sweet and the outside is pure sweetness. We also really enjoyed the small quick food restaurants that are usually home-based and are known as cafeterias. Some of them have a place to sit and they all serve typical Cuban food like Ropa Vieja (literally, old clothes), which is a shredded beef/chicken/or fish stew of sorts and is served with rice, beans, and boiled yucca with mojo (this was my favorite dish in Cuba). That’s me making our mark in one of the quick food restaurants in Havana. There are 2 national beers — Cristal and Bucanero. I strongly preferred the latter and actually threw out the former. Diego said I was being dramatic, but a girl’s gotta have standards. In any case, all the mojitos in all the places are amazing so if you’re unsure then definitely order a mojito. Cubans eat a lot of pork (which looks a lot like spam if you ask me) and chicken because the cattle industry is owned by the State so it’s more expensive. Surprisingly, they don’t eat a lot of fish. I find this confusing. Normally I would just go to the grocery store and cook in the hostel, but that was super challenging in Cuba because the grocery stores really only stock a few things – pasta, rice, oil, sugar, etc. Fresh produce is only available once a week in Varadero and things like eggs, meat, and bread are all purchased at different stores. It really made me appreciate how easy these things are in the US. The business of life in Cuba is not easy.

A beer, a Cuban cigar, and a view of Viñales

Fruit stand in Havana

Making our mark in Cuba

Sipping on $0.80 mojitos by the sea…

Yum. Just yum.

Foodie related videos — a cafeteria in Havana:

Street festival food in Central Havana:

That’s it for our time in Varadero and for our foodie related thoughts. Let us know if you like the addition of video. We’re major amateurs so we’re trying to decide if we should just leave them out. If you like them then check out the videos I added to the Viñales post.

I aim to complete this series in the near future with tips for your trip to Cuba because you really must go! In the meantime, stay tuned for our next post about our adventures in Iceland.