Finally I get to go to Cuba :D

Well I've always wanted to go to Cuba, but it was a really quick decision I made to have a two week break from Mexico in the beginning of March. I hadn't really done to much planning or research for what I wanted to do while I visited the island. I got some good help from Rosmy who had been living on Cuba earlier and knew a family who had a room for me. I had been trying to find hostels on Cuba, but I found out they don't really have hostels because of the government controlling the tourism. They only want tourists that come to spend a lot of money in their country. They only have expensive hotels, or an alternative to hostels, casa particulares, which was what this family offered me. The family had made a plan for what I could do during my stay, but it was a fairly expensive and touristic plan, so the first days I decided I just wanted to walk around Havana and get to know the city. I did like the first meeting with the traffic!

The family I was staying with thought I was crazy wanting to walk around, and ment the city was to big for that, but they helped me out with a tourist map and explained where things were. One of the first places I visited was the important Plaza de la Revolucíon. This is the place where Fidel Castro held his speach for several thousand people after the Cuban Revolution. Unfortunately I could not go all the way up to the top because of some maintenance work, but from the top you should get a great view of Havana!

So I continued walking around exploring new places, getting a ground view of Havana :) It is actually very interesting walking around in the city, there are so many different things to see! I walked by the university of Cuba and at the moment they were preparing for some big event. Curious as I was I had to ask someone what was going to happen. Walking around in the city I had seen many posters with the five faces you can see in the back. I got an explanation from some cubans that these men had been taken into custody in the USA for espionage on the government. These were the Cuban Five, and one of them had just been released to Cuba, so they would have a big celebration in the streets that night.

I kept on walking around to get to know the city. On Cuba they have two currencies, Cuban pesos (pesos) which the locals use, and Cuban Convertible pesos (CUC) for tourists. It is a good idea to have some of both while walking the streets of Havana. On every street you find the so called peso shops where everything is really cheap. These are "hole-in-the-wall" shops the locals use, but tourists may also shop there. Families just open a window or their door and sell whatever they have. You also find food and groceries in the peso shops. Very typical are the shops selling pizzas, where you can get a personal pizza for a bit less than US$1,

There are several places where you can buy handcrafts and souvenirs, but there is one big market where people rent booths and sell different things. It is impossible to walk past a booth without having cubans shout out to you trying to sell everything or anything they have.

A very typical thing on Cuba is sitting in the streets playing domino. I met this group and asked to take a picture of them, and they invited me to play with them. I don't know if they made me win, but I won twice in a row :) One of them wanted to play some chess with me, but couldn't find his board, so instead he asked me if I wanted to go to Callejón de Hamel. I had no idea what this was, but he said that they always have a big party on Sundays, and lucky for me it was Sunday!

I joined him to this funny alley with lots of colors and culture! This is the place to know the Afro-Cuban culture :) So much interesting art on the buildings and I could hear and feel the mood was great when entering the street. The rumba was playing and people were dancing in the packed street! My friend took me in to El Barracón de Hamel, a popular restaurant with typical Afro-Cuban food and some great drinks.

After a couple of drinks I felt like going out in the street to feel the energy and dance!!

The next day I had a trip with one of the sons in the family I was living at. We went to Viñales, a valley well known for production of tobacco. In the valley there is a cave I went down into, and took a boat ride through it. Then we just passed through Pinar del Río on our way back, and ended off our trip with some delicious cuban food!

When I had been walking around in Havana I found a hostel with several backpackers. This was a better option for me, so I went to stay there. It was a great option to meet other travelers, and I went sightseeing with some of them. Together with two guys from Norway and one from Denmark we got one of the old cabs to drive us around the city, and also to a beach nearby.

One other traveler at the hostel was leaving Cuba and arranged a dinner out with travelers from the hostel. This was an amazing restaurant, and my friend had booked our own diningroom. The restaurant was so classy, the service great and the food was so delicious. I had one of my best lobster meals! At the end of the meal we got cuban rum and cigars on the house.

At the dinner I talked some with a local girl my friend had invited. She was very sweet and suggested places to see and things to do in Havana. One of the things I found very interesting was seeing Havana from en eagles perspective. This is one of the 74 Camera Obscuras in the world, and the only one in Latin America and the Caribbean. You go to the top of a building on Plaza Vieja and enter a dark room. With two lenses and a mirror on a periscope a clear and live picture of Havana is projected onto a 1.8 meter concave platform in the dark room.

During my stay on Cuba I also wanted to travel around and see more of the country. Together with my norwegian and danish friends we rented a car and headed out on a road trip.

Our first stop would be Cienfuegos, an old city about 3 hours south of Havana. On our way we made a couple of stops. The first was to check out all the crabs that were running across the street from the forest towards the ocean. There were thousands of them, and it was impossible to not run over them with the car. The second stop was to have a meal. They are really famous for their lobster on Cuba, but at the place we stopped we also could choose to have crocodile. Crocodile was a white-greyish meat and had a very different taste, but I preffered the lobster during my stay on Cuba.

We had just a short stay in Cienfuegos to do the sightseeing downtown. When we moved on towards Trinidad, further south, we stopped by Guanaroca Lagoon and the Delfinario of Cienfuegos. We rowed out in the lagoon with some local guides.

The lagoon is a mangrove lagoon and home of hundreds of flamengos. From far away we could just see a pink line on the surface of the water.

Closing up on the flamengos was an amazing view. When we were close enough for one flamengo to get scared it started to run for lift off, and the rest of the flamengos would follow, creating pink clouds of flamengos!

Arriving Trinidad was interesting, as one of the oldest and best preserved cities in the Caribbean, you certainly can see and feel this entering the narrow brick streets. The night we arrived and the sun was setting we thought there was a burning car driving around in the streets, but it is normal that a car drives around spraying some gas against insects at sunset.

We had a little longer stay in Trinidad, and really enjoyed our stay there! It was a nice and realaxed city to walk around exploring, and by night we went to a cave party with some spanish friends we just met in the street. The next day we went to the beach and ended up meeting the spanish, and also by surprise I met a swedish girl from the hostel in Havana! The best experience from Trinidad was our horseback ride to a waterfall in the hills. It was so much fun riding the horse, and for the first time galloping in the cuban nature! When we arrived to the waterfall we had some time to relax and swim a little, which was very refreshing in the hot weather.

Our continuing travel was heading towards Varadero to enjoy cuban beaches for some of our last days. On the way there we made a quick stop in Santa Clara to se the famous monument of Che Guevara. This is the city where the last battle of the cuban revolution was held in 1958, and Che Guevara is burried here.

We arrived late in Varadero, but we were all very ready to enjoy the famous beach the next morning! It was so clear and good in the water, and the white beach would stretch as far as you could see :D

When our stay on Cuba was getting close to the end we headed back towards Havana. We still had a day in Havana, and also the rental car, so we decided to go out to see Ernest Hemingways house a bit outside of the city. 

I had a great stay on Cuba without any problems until I was going to leave the country. I got to the airport with a couple from Australia who were taking the same flight as me. We got in line for check-in and didn't really think to much about it. After some time, when it was getting close to boarding time we were still in the same spot. We asked someone about the check-in, and somehow they had changed the line for our flight without any notice, so they told us we were to late for the check-in. We tried to explain that we had been in line the last 3 hours, and asked if they could help us. They said there was no possibility to get us on the plane now because it was leaving. There was still half an hour to take off. Without anyone willing to help us we had to go to the company's office and find a solution. The only solution was to change for a later flight later that day going to Cancún, and then catch a new flight to Mexico City. All in all I had a great time on Cuba, and I loved the country and it's culture :D

And their cars ;)

A stop by Mexico City and Playa del Carmen :)

I wanted to head out and travel some more, so I made some plans for going to Cuba, but I had a couple of stops in Mexico City and Playa del Carmen before I went there. In Mexico City I would stay with my friend, Fernando, from Ollerup. He is studying there, so when he was at school I would have time on my own. I arrived when he was at school so I had arranged to meet a friend of my parents, Susana. She is a member of Servas and was more than glad to show me around in Coyoacán. This was a nice and relaxed part of Mexico City.

The next day when Fer was at school I went exploring on my own. I started at the zocalo and just walked around most of the day. Near the zocalo is a statue of the founding of Tenochtitlan, an Aztec legend says the gods told them to build the capitol where they found an eagle on a nopal eating a serpent. Today Mexico City is built on top of what used to be Tenochtitlan. The zocalo is located at the site of Tenochtitlan's original central plaza and market.

Later I met up with Fer and a friend at the famous cathedral across the zocalo. The rest of the day all of us walked around as tourist, since both of them come from different parts of Mexico. That night we met up with some more friends and we all went to Plaza Garibaldi where you every night can find loads of mariachi's. When we arrived in a car the mariachi's were jumping in front of the car to stop us and try to sell their music. It was crazy!! We went to the famous Salón Tenampa and had some great food and mescal accompanied by mariachi music :)

The next day Fer had a conference near Chapultepec, so I joined him there, and while he was in the conference I walked around in the bousque de Chapultepec. I had heard about the castle you can find in one part of the park, but it was on the other side of where I started so I decided to have a walk through the park before visiting the castle. The park was so big and so pretty!!

When I arrived to the castle it unfortunately had closed ten minutes ago... So I just got some pictures from below.

I still had some time before Fer finished up so I decided to walk to El Ángel de la Independencia. It is an impressive statue in the middle of a roundabout.

Mexico City is huge, and there is soo much to see, but unfortunately I only had 3 days to spend there. Muchissimas gracias por todo Fer!!!

I moved on to Cancún, and stayed there only one night. I met with a spanish guy who knew of a nice hostel in Playa del Carmen where he would be moving on to, so I joined him. Most of the people staying at the hostel at the moment were travellers living by selling their artscrafts. It was very interesting to see how they worked and to learn about how they travelled!

My first trip in Playa del Carmen I figured out on my own. I just catched a van to the ruins of Tulum. This is a ancient costal Mayan city whitch used to serve as a major port.

The next day I had ordered a tour to one of the 7 world wonders, Chichen Itza. This was a very nice and well preserved Mayan city!

My last day in Playa del Carmen I went to one of the theme parks, Xcaret. It was a huge park with lots of things to do and see. I was walking around all day, but I also got to do some snorkelig with turtles :D

Finishing off the day in the park they had an amazing show, telling the story of Mexico from the Mayans untill today! They played ancient games, danced so many different traditional dances and wore amazing and colorful costumes :)

This would end my time in Playa del Carmen, and the next day I had my flight to Havana, Cuba!!

Exploring Puebla and it's surroundings!

I must admit that I haven't really offered time to keep my blog updated. I've just been busy enjoying time with all the great people I have been lucky to meet here in Puebla! At the moment of writing this post I am having some relaxed time of my own on Cuba ;) Puebla is a great city with lots of things to do and see, and I have had some wonderful and helpful people spending time with me and showing me around! One of the first places to visit in Puebla is the zocalo which is a nice and relaxed park with a fountain in the center. The zocalo is right between the palacio, where the governor of Puebla works, and the cathedral.

I have been so lucky getting to know the Condado family! The are just amazing, and have been like a family to me :) They have really helped making my stay in Puebla unfogettable!

Manolo has taught many through his years in gymnastics, and we went to a nice restaurant owned by one of his former students. This was a restaurant famous for it's pozole, a soup with huge maize corns.

After having a tasty lunch we walked on to visit the famous market for arts and handcrafts, El Parian.

One of the things that I have gotten really used to in Mexico is the way they use chile with anything and everything ;)

After a nice day downtown Edgardo invited us to finish off the day with a ride on the worlds biggest transportable wheel. In the back you can se Volcán Popocatepelt.

Every Monday in the luchas arena they have luchas libres, the famous wrestling matches of Mexico. One Monday after classes at the gym we were a few who went to see the mathces. It was crazy!! They were dressed up in funny costumes, there was wild fighting, loud screaming (fighters and spectators) and some beautiful ladies announcing each round.

One day Edgardo had a meeting in Cholula with a principal of a school we would have a workshop with, so we both went for some sightseeing in the city before the meeting. Cholula is known to be the city with one church for each day of the year!

Also they have a church built by the Spanish when they conquered Mexico. They made a hill by burrying a pyramid from the indigonius, and built the church on top of the hill.

We were lucky and got to see the tradition of the voladeros. They are four people dancing upside down while hanging by ropes and swinging around. Normally there would also be a fifth person on top playing a tiny drum and a flute.

Again the Condado family was so kind to invite me out to experience more of the Mexican culture. This time they took me to Atlixco where there is a famous restaurants with a lake nearby where they fish their trouts they serve. There were two ladies making all the tortillas that were served, and I got to try to make my own tortilla ;)

This is the result, my Norwegian tortilla! I can assure you it tasted better than it looks ;)

I have also had a wonderful girl, Veronica, showing me around. She took me to the worlds smallest volcano (or if you want, the largest geyser), Cuexcomate, which only reaches 13m.

We also could climb into the crater ;)

Vero also invited me to Ex Hacienda de Chautla. This park used to be farmerland, but today it is a recreational and cultural center. The park is well known for El Castillo, it's castle overlooking the lake. Edgardo and another friend, Emmanuel, also joined us. Before we got to the park we bought some lunch so we could have a picnic in the park :) Tacos and tequila was a great combination!

A popular meal in Puebla is the cemita, and one of the most famous places to eat a cemita is in Mercado del Carmen. The Condado family invited me to have one of these cemitas, and we went there to see how they prepared them. It was amazing watching how fast they made hundreds of these huge cemitas!

I must admit I am a fan of Mexican food, and I got a great oportunity to learn how to make tamales from a great friend (Comadre) of the Condado family.

Some of the gymnasts from the club made an arrangement to go ice skating. To get there we drove this beauty. Manolo's original buggy from 1962!!

For some it was the first time trying to ice skate, but they did really well and there were no major accidents!

One of my last trips with friends from Puebla before travelling went to Teotihuacan, known for many of the most architecturally significant pyramids. To the right you can see the great Sun Pyramid, and straight ahead you can see the Moon Pyramid.

On the top of the Sun Pyramid there is a point where you can gain energy from the sun by holding your finger there for 30 seconds.

The pyramids had some great spots for doing gymnastics! I am glad to do some gymnastics with my friends. Here I am working with Amèrica :) We also met 4 guys from Taiwan who asked to take some pictures of us perfoming our art ;)

¡Gracias a todos! ¡Voy a extrañar Puebla y ustedes todos!