Chapter 3: Transportation in Cuba :Part 1

In the two weeks we were in Cuba we utilized several forms of transportation. We also did a lot of walking. Did I say we did a lot of walking?! I strive to get to 10,000 steps on my Fitbit everyday. Some days are better than others. In Havana we walked over 18,000 steps with a third of those with backpacks on. We would laugh, thinking this what it must be like to be on the Amazing Race! The first mode of transportation we took was the Varadero Beach Hop on Hop off bus. It took us by all of the resorts and into the town of Varadero. We rode on the top of the open air bus where we had the best views and needed to duck several times to avoid getting smacked by Palms and bushes. They let the buses & tourists do their tree trimming here! It was a deal for $5 CUC each per day, if you were a good ducker! We took this a few times. We went to the bus station in Varadero a few days prior to buy our round trip ticket to Havana. We were told to purchase tickets in advance as they sell out. When we were in our first line people were cutting in front of us left and right, until I caught on & said No! They stopped, then I found out we were in the wrong line, and in the wrong room!!! There is a line for locals & a line for tourists. When we went to purchase our tickets we needed to give them our visa & passport and they entered our information in a data matrix machine and printed our tickets out with computer paper. When we checked in they wrote a big ok on our ticket. They are about 40 plus years behind in several areas of local technology. The locals ride in the most run down buses & the tourist are in different levels of motor coaches, some good, some not so good. We were able to try both! They also transport their farm & construction workers by tractor pulled cattle carts or military type vehicles. The bus trip to Havana took us through Matanzas and the country side. Several very picturesque spots. I was surprised how mountainous certain areas are.