On Holiday in Havana

On Holiday in Havana
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Rosella_Colella]Rosella Colella

Havana is by many, considered the hub of Cuba, being not only its capital city, but also its cultural centre. On any Cuba holiday, visiting this vibrant city is an absolute must, and there are a number of ways to make the most of you holiday. Whether you fancy salsa, history or cigars, Havana is a city in which you can experience the very essence of Cuban life.

Salsa in the City

Havana is definitely the best city to experience the rhythm and soul of salsa - Cuba's signature dance. No Cuba holiday would be complete without swaying your hips in one of Havana's many salsa clubs. You don't need to be a dancer to enjoy dancing here, as the locals are all very friendly and more than willing to help you learn as they dance the night away with you. But if you're far too shy to take the limelight on the floor, you could always go to a few dance lessons which are offered throughout the city.

Havana is a city where dancing is part of the way of life. And the city's vast array of clubs prove it every day. One of the city's best hangouts is Casa de la Música de Centro Habana, where excellent music sets the mood for a night of salsa in the city. Havana nights will turn your Cuba holiday into an experience of great food, dancing and music.

Old Havana

If you're interested in history, Old Havana is likely to be a source of entertainment for hours on your Cuba holidays. Havana is a colonial city, and it is one of the best preserved cities in South America. There are some fascinating old sites to be explored, such as the Catedral de San Cristobal and Gran Teatro, both of which are architecturally beautiful. Today, the Gran Teatro still hosts ballet performances and if you time your Cuba holiday to coincide, you could incorporate a show into your stay.

There are other interesting buildings to be seen in Old Havana too, such as the Capitilio, which is a replica of Washington DC's Capital building. If you want to learn a little more about Cuban history, you could pay a visit to the Museum of Revolution or the Museum of Fine Art, both of which will tell you the story of your surroundings on your Cuba holiday.

Havana's Festivals

Cuba holidays often focus on the national spirit and rich culture, and both of these are best exemplified through the country's many festivals. Being the capital city, Havana hosts the majority of the larger Cuban festivals, and it would certainly be fun to time your Cuba holiday with one of them. The most spirited festival of them all is the Havana Carnival, celebrated each year during June. The city springs to life and is turned into an enormous street party. Colourful costumes and entertainment await you, and a good time is sure to be had by all.

If street parties aren't up your street, fantastic jazz and ballet festivals are equally magical. Whatever your taste, you can't go wrong with spending a few nights in Havana during your Cuba holiday.

Rossella Colella is a Cuba holiday specialist for key2holidays, an online tour operator offering [http://www.key2holidays.co.uk/cuba/index_.asp]Cuba holidays as well as holidays to other destinations in the Caribbean; the Indian Ocean, the Far East, Egypt, Southern Africa, Italy & the Mediterranean, Canada, Australia and the Pacific. key2holidays has a dedicated team of experienced travel consultants to share their knowledge and help you to plan and book your ideal holiday.

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Food in Cuba

Food in Cuba - Peso Restaurants and Private Paladars Compared
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Liz_Saarelainen]Liz Saarelainen

We were waiting for our food with flies buzzing around us. The windows were covered with thick curtains; the table clothes were dirty after the weekend. When we had waited for a long time, a young waitress brought our plates and put them in front of us, Spaghetti Bolognese and lasagna: pasta with ketchup, a little cheese and a grey, horribly smelling shaking cube.

Out of words we looked at each other; is it for this treatment and food that people queue night after night? We had seen long queues in front of the peso-restaurants and had decided to try a local popular pizzeria. On Monday at lunch time there was no queue in the street, but we had had to wait in a small lobby before we were called to enter the almost empty restaurant.

Today we do not serve pizza, announced the head waiter, a middle-aged woman, dressed in a white blouse and a tight blue skirt like the state servants always are in Cuba.

The lasagna was taken away almost untouched. The waitress looked questioningly at me and I told her cautiously that the food was not in my taste. We paid the bill, the food cost 12 national pesos but the big bottle of water had to be paid in convertible pesos (CUC). It cost us 1.5 CUC and we left the pizzeria with our heads lowered.

You have to eat every day and one of the biggest delights of a trip is the food. But in Cuba it is no use to await good experiences regarding taste. The food is tasteless and fat: broiled chicken or pig, rice, black beans, potatoes, canned vegetables and cabbage. A traveler sometimes gets desperate, especially a vegetarian - the vegetable dishes are simply created by taking away the pieces of meat.

A traveler has to consider every day what to eat and where. You cannot digest heavy dishes many times a day. There are not many options, especially for the budget traveler, because the food price is the same as in Europe if you do not use exclusively the peso-restaurants.

You find the best service and food in private paladars - private people are not allowed to use the name "restaurant", which is the privilege of the state owned eating places. The state wants to ensure "equality among the citizens" and has ordered that in a paladar there may be no more than 12 seats for customers, and in additions it is forbidden to prepare beef and other special dishes like fresh seafood.

The casas particulares (family accommodation) often serve meals in addition to breakfast. The hosts always remember to ask the customers about dinner wishes. You can also order one portion for two, one portion of meat is enough for both - it is also a bit cheaper. According to the chef's inventive powers and skill, the portions may turn out to be surprisingly tasteful.

The favorite of many budget travelers is the fast food chain El Rapido. You find their ice cold, air conditioned, eating places in a surprising number of towns. The Bocadillo, ham and cheese rolls, are tasty and they fill your stomach easily for a dollar or so. Also the Palmere restaurants are tidy and reasonably priced eating places. They offer mainly pizzas, hamburgers and other kinds of fast food. At the street kiosks you can buy juicy slices of pizza, they are popular fast food places for the locals.

The menu of the restaurants and bars are often only in Spanish and the price and variety of meals differs depending on the availability of supplies and how big the customer's wallet is seen and whether the keeper has to pay provision to the jinitero, a kind of a hustler.

In this two-currency country there are two kinds of shops: the peso-shops for the locals and exchangeable peso currency-shops. The peso-shops are traditional general stores or service windows where the sellers are behind a desk selling whatever happens to be available for sale. You can buy fresh food at the agropecuario stores (agriculture shops / markets) and bread at the bakeries, which seem to be open around the clock. In the peso shops the atmosphere is often very quiet and depressed.

In the weekends and during rush hours people have to queue for the hard currency stores; those people that happen to have hard currency. The currency stores are modern and the bigger ones have guards who let the customers in and out after the cash receipt and the purchase has been checked. The special items, like seasoning cubes, are sold one by one at the desk. In currency stores fresh food are scarcely seen, sometimes maybe cheese and yoghurt, but the freezers are full of chicken legs - thanks to the lightening of the trade blockade by the US. The export prohibition of agricultural products was removed in 2001.

All food is canned, vegetables, meat, fish. It is hard to understand why in this country of eternal summer, surrounded by the sea, you cannot get fresh fish or vegetables and fruit. The town residents are lucky if they see a farmer selling his produce on a wheelbarrow, calling out "tomatoes, pineapple" and you must hurry if you are going to get something - with pesos in your pocket and a bag for the purchase.

Our friend Yuri wanted to hear our opinion on his country and when he asked if we liked Cuban food, we went speechless. I looked for a polite and true answer. "I see it on your face" Yuri laughed looking embarrassed, but his eyes brightened when I told him that we had never got so many new friends and good company as in Cuba. And the food is crowned by velvet soft strong coffee, mojitos, rum and the smell of cigar and the rhythms that carry you away.

Liz Saarelainen is an independent and adventurous traveler from Finland. She spends all available time traveling to exotic places, often with a very limited budget.

Her and her husband Andy's website with lots more travel stories and picture series is at [http://www.FarAndFurther.com] Site for Adventure and Independent Travelers

Welcome to explore her site!

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The Wildlife In Cuba

The Wildlife In Cuba - Birdwatching And The Island's Indigenous Land Mammals
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Emma_Lelliott]Emma Lelliott

The Caribbean is known for its wildlife, and naturally Cuba is no exception. However, if you don't know what you're looking for, you can miss an awful lot - especially with the world's smallest humming bird, and a frog smaller than a penny are endemic to the island! Here's a guide to the animals of Cuba that you should look out for on your visit to the island.

Firstly, birdwatching in Cuba is reason to visit in itself, and the Caribbean's avian life is both graceful and colourful. Here are some of the more memorable birds you might see amidst Cuba's wildlife:

The Cuban Trogan

Known as Cuba's national bird, because it shares the same colours as the Cuban flag - blue, red and white. Found in forests near streams, it is notable for its dark green head and wings, bright red belly and white chest. They feed on insects, fruits and by hovering on flowers.

Bee Hummingbird

The world's smallest bird is endemic to the island, and a highlight of Cuba's birdwatching scene. Growing to a maximum length of 2.25 inches, it's typically found in valleys, gardens and forests but has been labelled as 'threatened' since 2000 due to a loss of its natural habitats.

Cuban Finch

Another small species, the Cuban Finch is 3 and a half inches of impressive energy! Nesting in shrubs, it is best known for its beautiful yellow head, which males can fluff up to attract mates!

Cuban Parakeet

The Cuban Parakeet, once a common sight for those birdwatching in Cuba has now become something of a rarity thanks to destruction of habitat and trapping, as it was regarded as a crop pest.

Those birdwatching in Cuba will likely find it in grasslands with palms, woodland edges and in undisturbed forests. You should be able to spot it easily enough - it is bright green with red spots on the head, neck and breast with red on the bend of the wing, and a white band of flesh around the eyes.

Cuban Kite

In a distressingly familiar theme, the beautiful Cuba Kite is classified as 'critically endangered' due to habitat loss. In fact, it was thought extinct until 3 Cuban Kites were found on the east of the island.

The bird of prey lives in heavily forested land, and is thought to feed mainly on snails.

Moving away from the opportunities for birdwatching that Cuba offers, the wildlife of the island is equally impressive, though sadly in many cases the animals of Cuba are equally endangered.

Cuban Hutia

The Cuban Hutia is the largest endemic land animal that Cuba has to offer, growing on average to be around 60 centimetres in length. If you're looking to catch a sight of one of these during your Cuban travel, you're best off looking around the forests and rocky areas of the island, where you may spy the animal going about its daily business. It's an omnivore and eats a combination of fruits, small reptiles, small mammals and leaves.

Cuban Solenodon

This insectivore was, like the Cuban Kite, once thought to be extinct, but has now been 'upgraded' to endangered status. You are unlikely to spy this sample of Cuba's wildlife by chance, as it is largely nocturnal, and spends its days hiding in trees and under rocks, mainly in forests and thick shrub habitats.

Cuban Boa

Listed as near threatened, those with a fear of snakes shouldn't worry about running into one of these by chance! Also known as the Cuban Tree boa, thanks to the amount of time it spends up in trees, those looking to see one in the wildlife of Cuba are best of searching in woodland and rocky habitats.

Cuban Treefrog

Also up in the trees (unsurprisingly) is the Cuban Treefrog. If you're hoping to catch sight of one amongst the Cuban wildlife, you will need to be around at night, when it is active. It's carnivorous, and will eat pretty much anything it can catch, but even though it's the largest species of treefrog in North America, that doesn't extend to humans!

Monte Iberia Dwarf Eleuth

The text for its name in this article actually takes up more space than the frog itself! Growing to just 0.8mm long, you could fit 2-3 of these endangered frogs on a single penny piece. It's small size and endangered status isn't the only reason you're unlikely to spy one on holiday - they're also nocturnal, finding cover in the daytime.

The animals of Cuba are simply breathtaking, and the endangered nature of many of the creatures means that seeing some of the species is likely a once in a lifetime experience. Whether you're in Cuba for birdwatching, or simply taking in the history, an exploration of the wildlife is a fascinating way to spend a few days.

Emma Lelliott is the general manager of Captivating Cuba, an independent Cuba holiday specialist. With offices in Havana and the UK, Captivating Cuba can design tailor made [http://www.captivatingcuba.com/cuba/bird_watching]Cuba bird watching holidays to ensure you see the fascinating avian life in their amazing natural habitat.

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