While Cayo Largo, was indeed our first official stop in Cuba where we could walk on land, Cayo Largo isn't exactly the real Cuba... but it was definitely a taste. Why? Because Cayo Largo is an insanely beautiful cay full of only all inclusive resort hotels, dormitories for resort workers, the marina, a bank, a restaurant in the marina, a "club"and a "store". Ooo and lots and lots of mosquitoes. They would actually fumigate every night at the marina bar for musquitoes but there were still plenty to go around and maybe this is where my allergic reaction/ infection started? Not totally sure.
I learned quickly that it's a tough life for all the people working on the island. They work twenty days straight and then have ten days off. Most of them come from Isla De Jueventud but unfortunately sometimes the Catamaran which takes them for free to the island doesn't always go the direction they are going with their work schedule so sometimes they lose a few days of vacation because of the schedule. Their work hours and intense. Usually 12 hours but for most of them have their meals included. Lucky for them, and also their dormitory, and transportation to and from their work, and back home is free. However, those are some long hours and then they usually only make around 20 bucks a month. The dormitories are shared with 4 people and one bathroom. With several different shifts and vacation times it seems like there probably isn't always four people in the room at once, but it is a tiny space with one little closet for their personal belongings. The bar staff and wait staff are also allowed to accept tips, which I'm not exactly sure how much that brings them but at least it's better than nothing. Another cool thing, is the relationships they form with the people staying at the hotel.. many of them come back and visit many more times and then they bring gifts for the employees. Oscar has received things like laptops, and smart phones.. Which he was able to create a little side business where he unlocks phones for people on the island and sells them.. and every little bit of income helps to support himself and his little 4 year old son. They were all taught English in hospitality school and really gotten to practice working at the resort. Most of the guys working also learn some Italian, French, and German, because they hear it constantly, or some of them spend more time studying to make work life easier if someone can't communicate in English or Spanish.
So the people who visit Cayo Largo on their all inclusive resort packages have really missed a huge part of the life of a Cuban. It looks all peachy keen at the amazing resort, however this is not Cuba.
Inside of the store, there were snorkels in the refrigerator, a ton of alcohol, some chips, some soda. We had to hunt down bread, and fruits and vegetables were nearly impossible...But then again you think about how many people were actually buying things in the store, and it's not too many. There are several chartered Catamarans that docked next to us, or people that came by for just a day to check in or out. So what's a better place for snorkels than in the refrigerator?
The three of us (Patric, Nicole and I) went to use the wifi at one of the resorts because there was no internet available at the marina. So while there Nicole and I decided to check out their fancy pool, when we noticed a fancy swim up bar.. At the swim up bar we realized that this was an all inclusive and because everyone else on the island is either working or staying at a resort, there was no way they knew we weren't either. After we nailed this out, the mojitos were on. The pool was absolutely incredible and we had way too much fun together at the swim up bar while waiting for Patric to finish using the wifi. We ended up staying a long time and enjoyed the rest of the day th
ere. I made good friends with the bartender and ended up going back to hang out a few more days because it was easy to get to, the beach and pool were amazing so why not? I had some delicious meals thanks to Oscar, the bartender, and you can never have enough Cuban mojitos right?
Oscar was so lovely when we told him about the situation going on at the store and brought what he could to us. He first gave me some pineapples and cucumbers. Then another day brought a huge box of eggs, bread, more pineapples, pasta, cucumbers, and a few other things to the boat for us to eat. Not only that, but Patric asked in one of the restaurants to talk to the chef to see if we could buy some peppers and onions because he wanted to make pizzas. The people working at the restaurant couldn't find the chefs, however because they heard that he was making pizza, they brought peppers, onions, and premade balls of pizza dough, and enough for multiple nights of pizza! It was so sweet of them.
The discoteca was outside and really just played some music. Some nights we walked by and it was completely empty or one or two people were there. A few nights there was a huge crowd of the workers from the hotels getting their party on.
The marina bar was where I had my first taste of Cuban pizza. Cuban pizza is made with really fake tasting cheese, usually their favorite topping is ham, and then they top it off with a tiny tiny bit of pizza sauce.. which is somewhat of a mix of sweet ketchup and pasta sauce. So it's not the best but I would quickly learn that it's everywhere and with my budget... I had to indulge in it every now and then. The marina itself had showers which were essentially a pouring of water, cold or hot if you like, toilets without TP or seats, and a 24 hour security guard. It is illegal for Cubans to enter a vessel not from Cuba.. so they are always out watching. The bathroom attendant at the marina bar one night was trying to kick one of the huge crabs.. like the one below out of the way so I could go to the bathroom and he said to me in spanish, watch out! I was trying to get out of the way but he kicked the crab so hard into my foot and the legs kind of scratched me! It was not a pleasant feeling and he felt terrible but I just laughed hysterically once I walked into the bathroom free from the big crab!
One morning, when everyone was still sleeping I woke up and heard this kind of zapping sound and had no idea what it was.. Immediately Patric bolted awake and ran outside because that sounds, was the sound of an electrical fire. Not exactly sure how it started but the electric wire bringing power to the boat was on fire.I got out of bed and looked outside and saw that the Cuban hired skipper of the boat had grabbed a bucket of water.. salt water to put out the fire. The security guard was trying to use the fire extinguisher but clearly had never used one before and didn't take out the pin. So patric to the rescue who grabbed another fire extinguisher and immediately put it out.. all in his boxers and lion head of morning hair! Patric had told me a few times before that fire was his biggest fear on the boat because everything is wood and there is no stopping it once something starts.
In Cuba there are two different types of currencies.. Which I don't really understand because it seems as though they are all interchangeable now.. Tourist can get the Cuban currency, and Cubans can get the tourist currency. Luckily I had withdrawn a lot of money in Florida before heading to Honduras, not knowing that Roatan, the island wouldn't have any other currencies than Honduran Lempiras and US Dollars.. When I went to Cuba, and probably still there is a huge charge for exchanging USD. So I was trying to think of any way around the situation I could. Luckily for costs on the boat, Patric and Nicole plan to return to Honduras, so I could withdraw Lempira for them, but for when I left the boat in Cuba I was so screwed, and already short on money in the first place because I hadn't withdrawn enough. One of the other boats at the marina we met was three american guys from Tennessee. They hadn't really planned to head to Cuba but as they were going to Jamaica decided why not stop. So they had no idea about the charge to convert USD, the lack of internet, technology, and information in Cuba. So right before they checked out of Cuba, I was able to exchange my USD with them.. and I am so glad I was able to. You'll see more in coming posts why money was very important to me in Cuba but losing 40 bucks would have put me back two more days on the boat.
I learned quickly that it's a tough life for all the people working on the island. They work twenty days straight and then have ten days off. Most of them come from Isla De Jueventud but unfortunately sometimes the Catamaran which takes them for free to the island doesn't always go the direction they are going with their work schedule so sometimes they lose a few days of vacation because of the schedule. Their work hours and intense. Usually 12 hours but for most of them have their meals included. Lucky for them, and also their dormitory, and transportation to and from their work, and back home is free. However, those are some long hours and then they usually only make around 20 bucks a month. The dormitories are shared with 4 people and one bathroom. With several different shifts and vacation times it seems like there probably isn't always four people in the room at once, but it is a tiny space with one little closet for their personal belongings. The bar staff and wait staff are also allowed to accept tips, which I'm not exactly sure how much that brings them but at least it's better than nothing. Another cool thing, is the relationships they form with the people staying at the hotel.. many of them come back and visit many more times and then they bring gifts for the employees. Oscar has received things like laptops, and smart phones.. Which he was able to create a little side business where he unlocks phones for people on the island and sells them.. and every little bit of income helps to support himself and his little 4 year old son. They were all taught English in hospitality school and really gotten to practice working at the resort. Most of the guys working also learn some Italian, French, and German, because they hear it constantly, or some of them spend more time studying to make work life easier if someone can't communicate in English or Spanish.
So the people who visit Cayo Largo on their all inclusive resort packages have really missed a huge part of the life of a Cuban. It looks all peachy keen at the amazing resort, however this is not Cuba.
Inside of the store, there were snorkels in the refrigerator, a ton of alcohol, some chips, some soda. We had to hunt down bread, and fruits and vegetables were nearly impossible...But then again you think about how many people were actually buying things in the store, and it's not too many. There are several chartered Catamarans that docked next to us, or people that came by for just a day to check in or out. So what's a better place for snorkels than in the refrigerator?
The three of us (Patric, Nicole and I) went to use the wifi at one of the resorts because there was no internet available at the marina. So while there Nicole and I decided to check out their fancy pool, when we noticed a fancy swim up bar.. At the swim up bar we realized that this was an all inclusive and because everyone else on the island is either working or staying at a resort, there was no way they knew we weren't either. After we nailed this out, the mojitos were on. The pool was absolutely incredible and we had way too much fun together at the swim up bar while waiting for Patric to finish using the wifi. We ended up staying a long time and enjoyed the rest of the day th
ere. I made good friends with the bartender and ended up going back to hang out a few more days because it was easy to get to, the beach and pool were amazing so why not? I had some delicious meals thanks to Oscar, the bartender, and you can never have enough Cuban mojitos right?Oscar was so lovely when we told him about the situation going on at the store and brought what he could to us. He first gave me some pineapples and cucumbers. Then another day brought a huge box of eggs, bread, more pineapples, pasta, cucumbers, and a few other things to the boat for us to eat. Not only that, but Patric asked in one of the restaurants to talk to the chef to see if we could buy some peppers and onions because he wanted to make pizzas. The people working at the restaurant couldn't find the chefs, however because they heard that he was making pizza, they brought peppers, onions, and premade balls of pizza dough, and enough for multiple nights of pizza! It was so sweet of them.
The discoteca was outside and really just played some music. Some nights we walked by and it was completely empty or one or two people were there. A few nights there was a huge crowd of the workers from the hotels getting their party on.
The marina bar was where I had my first taste of Cuban pizza. Cuban pizza is made with really fake tasting cheese, usually their favorite topping is ham, and then they top it off with a tiny tiny bit of pizza sauce.. which is somewhat of a mix of sweet ketchup and pasta sauce. So it's not the best but I would quickly learn that it's everywhere and with my budget... I had to indulge in it every now and then. The marina itself had showers which were essentially a pouring of water, cold or hot if you like, toilets without TP or seats, and a 24 hour security guard. It is illegal for Cubans to enter a vessel not from Cuba.. so they are always out watching. The bathroom attendant at the marina bar one night was trying to kick one of the huge crabs.. like the one below out of the way so I could go to the bathroom and he said to me in spanish, watch out! I was trying to get out of the way but he kicked the crab so hard into my foot and the legs kind of scratched me! It was not a pleasant feeling and he felt terrible but I just laughed hysterically once I walked into the bathroom free from the big crab!
One morning, when everyone was still sleeping I woke up and heard this kind of zapping sound and had no idea what it was.. Immediately Patric bolted awake and ran outside because that sounds, was the sound of an electrical fire. Not exactly sure how it started but the electric wire bringing power to the boat was on fire.I got out of bed and looked outside and saw that the Cuban hired skipper of the boat had grabbed a bucket of water.. salt water to put out the fire. The security guard was trying to use the fire extinguisher but clearly had never used one before and didn't take out the pin. So patric to the rescue who grabbed another fire extinguisher and immediately put it out.. all in his boxers and lion head of morning hair! Patric had told me a few times before that fire was his biggest fear on the boat because everything is wood and there is no stopping it once something starts.
In Cuba there are two different types of currencies.. Which I don't really understand because it seems as though they are all interchangeable now.. Tourist can get the Cuban currency, and Cubans can get the tourist currency. Luckily I had withdrawn a lot of money in Florida before heading to Honduras, not knowing that Roatan, the island wouldn't have any other currencies than Honduran Lempiras and US Dollars.. When I went to Cuba, and probably still there is a huge charge for exchanging USD. So I was trying to think of any way around the situation I could. Luckily for costs on the boat, Patric and Nicole plan to return to Honduras, so I could withdraw Lempira for them, but for when I left the boat in Cuba I was so screwed, and already short on money in the first place because I hadn't withdrawn enough. One of the other boats at the marina we met was three american guys from Tennessee. They hadn't really planned to head to Cuba but as they were going to Jamaica decided why not stop. So they had no idea about the charge to convert USD, the lack of internet, technology, and information in Cuba. So right before they checked out of Cuba, I was able to exchange my USD with them.. and I am so glad I was able to. You'll see more in coming posts why money was very important to me in Cuba but losing 40 bucks would have put me back two more days on the boat.
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