CUBA LIBRE!

Over the December holidays we were planning on returning to South Africa for my best friend’s wedding. It turns out that flights across the Atlantic, to and from Belize, are astronomically expensive over the December holiday peak season. 

We had already paid for a flight from NYC to Cape Town, but the return and connecting flight from Belize to New York were so expensive we had to give up on our trip home. We had already scheduled with our company that we would be taking those two weeks off, before we even started this job, so we didn’t have any work booked during that time. We had to make a plan to do something with ourselves since we don’t have a place to stay in Belize, other than the boats that we work on.

Belize is rated as the most expensive country in Central America so we decided to save some money on accommodation etc and visit a more cost effective destination. Cuba has been in my top 5 list of destinations for years and when we found out that Havana is only a short plane ride from Mexico (Belize’s neighbour) we decided on the spur of the moment to visit Cuba!

The day after our final charter we hopped on a bus to Mexico, straight to Cancun International Airport. We hadn’t had enough time to book a flight in advance so we took a chance and waited 8hrs  at the airline desk to try our luck. Fortunately we managed to secure two of the last four tickets to Havana that day!

Words do not do this island justice. All the photos on the internet cannot capture the energy and charisma of this country, and it’s people. It is not at all what you would think it is but, at the same time, it is also everything you hear and read about.

Note: all of these photos were taken by myself and Rufus in Central Havana