Cuba – Taxi from Havana to Vinales – Part 1

Rosie and The Operator opted NOT to rent a car in Cuba.

We had read reviews on the expense of rentals as there were limited numbers of cars available to tourists.  Apparently it was also expensive doing a one way rental.  The street/motorway signage is non existent, (we can attest to that).  The towns are super hard to navigate and the streets are narrow, plus the road surfaces are terrible and there are limited places to park in the towns we were visiting.

We also read it was very cost effective to rent a driver with a car to take you directly from one town to another.  The more people you could wedge into a car, the more cost effective it became.  Rosie and the Operator weren’t to keen on sharing a car, we were more than happy to pay the full price for the journey on our own.

In retrospect, organising cars and drivers was hard work and sometimes very frustrating.  If we did the trip again, we would have gone for a rental like every German tourist we encountered did.  Damn.

So, we were standing in a busy square outside the Cafe Floridita, made famous by the writer Ernest Hemingway, this was his local back in the day when he lived in Cuba.  The daiquiris (he invented?) are famous and cost a whopping $6CUC….everywhere else in Havana they are $3….we had already consumed a fair amount of rum, hence the debate on whether to join the throngs of Americans inside, it was fair pumping.

A man approached us and introduced himself as Roberto.  He looked a bit like Kenny Rogers, cowboy hat and all and his English was very good.  He asked us where we were from and he said he had a taxi.  Buoyed with the confidence one has from a few too many rums and the delight of another English speaker, Rosie said that we needed a lift to Vinales which was our next port of call about 2.5 hours down the road.

We asked him what he would charge, ‘$200 dollars’, said Roberto.

Rosie said no we would be happy to pay $100….no, no no said Roberto that is too low.  Rosie bluffed and said OK, she will call Vinales taxis in the morning as I know they charge $90….which was kind of true…$90 for a taxi to be shared with another couple.

Rosie countered and said she would pay $100 because on the way out of town she would quickly like to stop at Fusterland…an art suburb with the most amazing guadi-esque inspired mosaics that decorate the houses and look weirdly beautiful. Rosie would like to take a few snaps. Plus, I would also like to stop in Las Tearrazas, a small hippy village en route that is an artists village and very picturesque.   After abit of umming and ahhing and as Rosie and The Operator were walking away to find another rum, Roberto called us back and said we had a deal.

‘Here is my number, call me tomorrow and we will re confirm’.   Rosie was getting into these street deals and went to a bar next to the fancy Floridita and had a few more rums for half the price.  Double Result!

The next day Rosie calls Roberto from the apartment and carefully re iterates the route and the price to him.  He is still nice and keen and says he will pick us up at 8.30 outside our apartment.  Wow that was easy…lets go out for a drink to celebrate!

While we were out, Roberto comes to the apartment…he knocks on the door and speaks  to  Sarah and Nicolai, a British girl and her European boyfriend who have rented the other bedroom.  When we came home a note was left jammed in our door frame written by Sarah, she said that Roberto apologises but he cannot take us to Vinales tomorrow something has come up.  Never fear, his friend Orlando will do the run for us and he will pick us up as arranged for the same price at the same time, in front of our apartment.

OK….Rosie and The Operator were cool with that…this is Cuba.  We had met Orlando briefly in front of the bar and he spoke pretty good English too. Rosie and the Operator were packed and ready to go bright and early,  there was a knock on our door and sure enough it was Orlando, result, our ride had arrived and half an hour early.

Down on the footpath was a rusty old car, our carriage awaited, but wait, all is not what it seemed….Orlando apologised, he could not take us to Vinales but his friend Haroldo was going to drive us.

Rosie and The Operator looked sideways at each other, we shook hands with Haroldo, he could not speak a word of English.  I reiterated our agreement with Orlando and asked if Haroldo understood the itinerary for the day…si, si all is good.

The Operator put our suitcases in the boot and watched Haroldo tie the boot shut with some baling twine…there was no boot catch.  There was no air conditioning either, Rosies window did not wind down, but luckily the front windows were down all the way and driving speed made for a nice air and bug flow….pity about Rosie’s poor little pink lungs having to ingest all the carbon monoxide coming in the window.  Never mind, its Cuba, this is exciting, we are underway!

So, off we went, in the clanking, clanging rustbuket….until we appeared to be leaving Havana proper, Hey, we are not going to Fusterland at all…whats the go…The Operator checked it out on his downloaded offline maps…definitely not going to Fusterland…Rosie used her bestest Spanglish on Haroldo…he gave us a crafty grin and a shrug of his shoulders…

Rosie turned dark…her laser beam eyes were boring into Horaldo….let me just say that she had two hours to plot her revenge as we chugged along to Vinales….Haroldo, Orlando and Roberto had not heard the last of Rosie!