By Jennifer Burns

Jennifer Burns takes us to the Caribbean country which is unlike any other.

We all love traveling for many reasons: to relax, to adventure, to experience a new culture or simply to escape the stress of the modern world. Without sounding too much like a travel brochure, Cuba has it all. To get that summer glow on the typically beautiful Caribbean beaches, for some cultural exploration, an adventure into the countryside and iconic tobacco fields, or even just to enjoy a mojito without paying £8 for one. And what better place to travel to for that much needed digital detox, or to escape from a breakup, than a place lacking easy internet access? Personally we saw no downsides, apart from the lack of snacks, the slightly questionable transport and one adventurous horseback experience, but when surrounded by equally beautiful landscapes and cityscapes and Havana’s permanent ‘happy hour’ providing $1 cocktails you can’t complain really.

They say traveling in this socialist country is like stepping back in time, which sounds unbelievable until you experience it for real. Even the airport has an old-fashioned vibe, which isn’t ideal mid thunderstorm: watching buckets collecting rain from the cracked ceiling isn’t the most comforting sight before getting a flight. However, once you have safely arrived, the old-fashioned cars, buildings, and music do indeed feel like something from the past. One of the biggest differences of Cuba is the lack of internet. Here modern life has led us to become reliant on technology, especially currently. Where would we be without 4G, Zoom, Teams, and Facebook? In Cuba it isn’t so easy, especially as a tourist. Due to the government restrictions, that easy instant access is removed and instead, to upload those all important travel snaps and Insta stories, not to mention the reassuring ‘I’m safe and haven’t been kidnapped’ text to the parents, one has to first find a shop selling wifi cards, queue up in the inevitably long line, buy said wifi cards, locate a wifi hotspot and connect. Suddenly that ‘digital detox’ sounds like a good idea.

Another thing I was told by many people before traveling to Cuba was, ‘there are no supermarkets to buy food.’ Again I found this almost unbelievable – ‘surely Cubans buy their food somewhere?’ – and again, I was wrong! Everyone knows travel snacks are an essential, be it for a long journey, and adventurous hike or just to fill a gap, but like wifi this is somewhat difficult in Cuba. The socialist government holds restrictions over shops and supermarkets with each shop selling the same limited stock across the whole country. After almost a month traveling the country, I still couldn’t tell you where Cubans buy milk and bread.

The classic ‘brits abroad’ approach to traveling often includes trying to blend in with the locals, understand the transport and currency like it were your own, and speaking the language, then taking offence when replied to in English. Blending in in Cuba is rather difficult when they have a separate currency especially for the tourists. Suddenly that relaxing holiday experience has vanished, and you’re confronted with flashbacks to high-school maths trying to convert between pounds, dollars, and Cuban CUC and CUP, to figure out what you’re actually spending. Thankfully, the confusion was often around why it was so cheap: 20p for a small takeaway (could be ridden with parasites but we’ll take the chance) pizza, surely not? Despite this, we were often met with people asking us where in Spain we were from. Taking this as a compliment, we decided we could pass as Cuban, and thinking ‘we can get away with using national Cuban money’ we headed off to the local market. Oh how wrong we were… again. We were greeted by locals laughing at our attempts to ‘be Cuban’ and, to our dismay, 3 failed attempts to buy eggs. It turns out that as a tourist, which we obviously stood out to be, you can’t buy eggs in Cuba!

Cuba is the perfect country for all encompassing history, nature, sun, beaches and cocktails. I would love to return one day, if that will ever be allowed again!