Staff: I had read so many positive wonderful reviews about the friendliness of the Cubans that I was a little surprised that they did not seem all that friendly to me at the beginning. However, after a few days, they got to know us as friendly people and were less shy. We had also heard that you were not supposed to tip them or be friendly (this was on CNN a few weeks before the trip). Mario said that was not true, the actual report was that Cubans working abroad were not allowed to take gifts, etc. So feel free to bring gifts and tip your brains out! Canadians are very well-liked down there.
Tipping: I brought small gifts and always had coins to tip. Like stated elsewhere on this site, they only get $8 CUC monthly and ration coupons for rice/beans/milk. We tipped at every meal. We tipped for our drinks. We tipped the driver, the tour guide, anyone who helped us. I’m no Rockefeller but there is lots of good karma and pleasure to be had in tipping. And they are very pleased when you do. The maids and waitstaff are the equivalent of “rock stars”, as they make the most money, more than doctors! I liked to tip the gardeners, and behind-the-scenes folks, and gave baseball caps/gardening gloves/shampoo to them.
Food: Main restaurant – I’d read that “you don’t go to Cuba for the food”, so didn’t expect much. But I liked the food! Don’t know about you, but I don’t have a carving table (roast turkey/beef/pork), 4 meat, 4 hot veg, salad bar with 15 different choices, and a dessert bar for lunch or dinner at my house, so I was thrilled with the selections. If I don’t cook it and don’t have to clean it up, it’s all good! Breakfast was my favourite – fresh squeezed OJ like an angel’s kiss, custom omelettes, bacon, and good bread selection. Tons of fresh fruit – oranges & grapefruit slices that were sweet and ripe; guava; papaya; no bananas. Lunch was basically like dinner – we had pork, chicken, fish (usually fried), goat, lamb, beef. Cuban stuff like black beans and rice; malanga; yucca; plantain chips. Lots of salads but romaine lettuce was a rare treat – maybe 3x. Desserts: rice pudding; caramel bread pudding; ice cream; lots of tarts and puffs. Food is precious in Cuba – it is considered very rude to take more than you will eat. Hours: 7:30-9:30; 12:30-2:30; 7:30-9:30. Dress code in effect.
Swim up bar grill – beside the swim up bar you can order “perro caliente” (hot dog), “papas frites” (fries) and grilled cheese sandwiches. They have hamburgers but rumour had it they were actually pork burgers. Grill was great because we found that after a rough day of beaching and drinking, we needed a snack around 4 pm to keep us going til dinner. Always have a “base” in your belly when drinking!
Beach restaurant – you could eat here in your bathing suit. They had the same stuff as the swim up bar, and also mackerel sandwiches, salad, Cuban pork veg soup. They have a cd player there and previous guests have left CDs behind. Lots of different music playing.
Ecological – $5 pp. All food is organically grown or caught fresh that day. This is a wonderful little grass hut in a stunning garden with orchids, cactus, and fabulous flora. But go for lunch, not dinner. Dinner at 8 pm is right at mosquito time. Someone brought out the Raid and we sprayed ourselves silly. Tree frogs leaped onto leaves and I could hear things moving in the dark foliage. It gave us the creepy crawlies. The shrimp cocktail was a strange red soup with shrimp in it. The bruschetta looked like fake vomit (yellow with peas and carrots). The seafood kabobs were good with fish, scallop, shrimp and squid. An interesting experience but we did not feel the need to go back, because of the mosquitos. Take After-Bite if you get bitten.
Who might not appreciate BSM: Anyone looking for a go-go-go party holiday (teens to early 30s). This is most suitable for 35 and up, for persons who really need a peaceful quiet vacation, without a lot of hectic tours. This is NOT a place where you meet tons of singles. When I figured that out, I gave my condoms to the locals, who were very pleased indeed! Mostly folks were couples in their late 40s-early 60s. By 11:30, it was pretty quiet and low key, except for 24 hr piano bar. There were lots of "lifers", people who came every year for the past 10 years. Some even came twice a year. If you have a mobility issue, there are some wheelchair ramps but if the elevators go out, you will be trapped until they come back on. I have read reviews where the elevators were down, but they were never down the entire time we were there. Who will love BSM: Anyone who is utterly burnt out and dying for a mindless week of tropical beauty and relaxation amidst mountains and palms. What a delightful adult treat to just do nothing, no work, no cell phones (you’ll never hear one), no internet…. heaven! You can get a one hour massage for $15 CUC. There is also a mud bath spa trip for $15.
Children: There were some kids (6-14 yrs) there. They have a kiddie pool connected to the main pool. They have a kids’ club that keeps them busy all day long. I believe you can hire a sitter for a reasonable fee. There was enough food choice to keep a child fed. Cubans are very good with children. Never heard one squawking kid, which says a lot.
Shopping: There is a store at the hotel that sells cold drinks, biscuits, chips, t-shirts, rum, cigars, postcards and some drug store basics. They have vendors come in by poolside and sell jewelry, carvings, macramé. You can go into Chivirico to their “mall” – 4 stores with limited selection of things but you will come home and appreciate Loblaws and the Bay! At Castillo del Morro you could purchase souvenirs and cold drinks at their small stores. Cuba is a refreshingly non-consumer society. You will LOVE the lack of American visual pollution i.e., McD’s, Levi’s, Mickey Mouse, etc. It’s a very "pure" country! Like time travel, with the great old cars and architecture.
Secret elevator – okay, it’s not a real secret, but there is the main elevator for everyone (still faster than the one in my building at home!), and it was never broken. There is also another elevator just off the rear of the main stage staircase. I found out about it from a teenager who would hide and smoke there, away from parents. It only goes to 4th floor, then you have to take stairs up to main level. But it was very convenient to get to our room.
Beach – Every morning the gardener rakes the entire beach of seaweed. I tipped him once and made a friend for the whole week. (When the beach bartender was not there yet at 9:50 am, I just sat on the beach and waited, reading. 10 minutes later, the gardener brought me a drink right away. Very considerate!) I found the BSM part of the water quite weedy, and something bit/poked me. Go on other side of the dock where the regular Cubans go and the water is clear – no weeds. The reef is farther away than it looks, if you are not a strong swimmer. Bring your flippers and snorkel gear. Snorkeling trips are available and some folks said it was the best snorkeling they’d ever done. There’s a ship nearby that was sunk in 1890’s Spanish-American war with great diving/snorkeling. Be sure to play Beach Bingo with Ernesto – prize is RUM. Ernesto is one lively dude! The grass huts went quickly but there were always enough lounge chairs and shaded areas under the sea grape. Don’t be one of those entitled tourists who puts a book on a chair to make it “yours” then goes away for 6 hours and squawks when someone sits in YOUR spot! 😉 The sand is brown and gets Chernobyl hot – water shoes are mandatory.
Money: You can get it at the airport or changed at the hotel. We had no problem. There is no such thing as an ATM in Cuba, or debit cards. We took cash, kept it in the room safe (free with room), and changed $ as needed. Carry single peso coins with you for tipping.
Rooms – We were on the first floor, facing the basketball court and beach area. The bathroom was large with a great walk-in shower, good water pressure, but they do not give you washcloths. A review on Deb’s site recommended I bring my own. I brought 4 from the dollar store and left them behind for the maids. The toilet has a weird handle – you pull a stick UP to flush. The tap water is drinkable. We brought our insulated jug to the bar to get ice water for our room. No problems with the water when brushing our teeth. We had 3 double beds in our room for some reason, so K used the one bed for clothing storage. We had a tv (no remote) that got 3 Cuban stations and CNN. The phones did not work on levels 1 and 2. (I thought it was a blessing, frankly). We moved the chairs to the balcony and had a smoking lounge outside, with mango trees, date palms, and a hedge of red flowers where hummingbirds would fly right up and sip nectar. The hens and chicks would walk right up to us and we fed them bread. The bed had a strange tilt to it so I slept with my head at the feet. The curtains and bedspreads were crazy tropical prints and the furniture was 70s wicker style. After visiting the city, I came back to BSM and realized this was a lush Paradise! The maids came everyday and tidied nicely, even straightening our shoes. We loved the luxury of fresh towels every day. (It doesn’t happen in my house!) We left a tip (nailpolish, earrings, hand cream) on the pillow each day and they would do the ancient Cuban art of bedspread origami, with swans, hearts, etc.
Shows: There was something planned every night. There was a water ballet show one night, a dance show, a music quiz (which I won!), and one night they had Grupo Granma, a live band that was out of this world. The lead singer can wail with the best of them. Shows start at 9:30 and wind up by 10:30, then there is DJ music for another half hour. All shows end with the Brisas theme song, which is kind of like a Macarena dance, and everyone gets up and joins in.
Piano Bar: The guy can play anything! This is in the lobby, with a wonderful breeze coming through, and you must try the Spanish coffees – nectar of the gods! It’s open 24 hours so if you urgently need a mojito at 3:30 am, no problemo. I also liked the rum punch – fruit juice has vitamins and rum kills bacteria so it’s a perfect drink.
There is security on the beach during the day time, til about 5 pm, to shoo away local Cubans from interacting with tourists. If you walk further down the beach, you can talk to them freely, but use discretion because you don’t want to get the locals in trouble. They are quite friendly and can speak basic English. They will want to trade with you – they have coffee beans (rich dark scent), conch shells, cigars. You may be asked if you will mail a letter in Canada. I took pictures of the families in groups and separately, to mail to them. Can you imagine not having a picture of your family? But to illustrate how safe you are, let me tell you this – as we were leaving our room, we talked to Noel (delivering towels) and I was distracted and dropped my room card without knowing. When we came back to our room hours later Noel found us and returned the card – he’d gone all over the place looking for us, desperate to reunite us with our room card. So honest and caring! I’d even forgotten my digital camera at the beach restaurant and went back and there it was, sitting there. No one had touched it. I felt extremely safe at all times.
Trip to Santiago: For $27 we went on a nice A/C bus into the city. Gorgeous architecture, and a photographer’s dream. If you are a photographer, take at least one roll per day, or at least 300 pics on your digital card. I took 256 pics in 6 days and it was not enough. Angel was our guide, and he took us to Iphigenia Cemetery, Cathedral, Parque Cespedes, the main square, and to a cigar store. Peter, a cigar aficionado from Canada, helped us choose Partagas, a decent box of cigars for $43.75 CUC. Bought a 5 pack of Partagas Chicos for $5. Bought the cigarillos of Cohiba and Monte Cristos for $11 ea. Guantanameras were $3 CUC each in glass tubes, and make a nice gift for the men in your life. When I said I was going to Cuba, nearly every man I know begged me for cigars. TAKE YOUR PASSPORT with you – they need to write your passport number on the receipt or they can confiscate it. You can legally bring back 2 boxes of 25 as long as you have your forms. The smaller cigarillos are considered as cigarettes so no problem bringing those back. Do not buy cigars off the street unless you plan to smoke them in Cuba. Anything without the Republica Guarantia stamp is illegal. You can also buy a giant bag of coffee beans for 6.75. Rum ranges in price from 2.70 for a mickey of plain white rum, to 10.70 for a 750 ml of exquisite Havana Club Anejo 7 year old (like cognac!).
The hotel gift shop was cheaper than Duty Free at Antonio Maceo airport. At BSM, Rum is 2.70 for a flask, 4.00 or 5.00 for a no-name 750 bottle of white rum, and 10.70 for the Havana Club 7 year aged. I was BLESSED to meet Peter and Graciela – he is a cigar aficionado and she is fluent in Spanish. Peter advised me on cigars. Cohibas and Monte Cristos are way expensive ($400 a box, maybe $15-20 per single) but you can get the cigarillos for 10-15 pesos a pack of 20. If you are asked to bring cigars back to Canada, have your friends front you the cash first – it’s very easy to change Cdn dollars at the hotel. Non-US credit cards work for cash advances and purchases, but you can leave at home anything with the words American Express on it. While in Santiago, we walked around for a while, but felt shaken by constant pleas for “shampoo? Pen?” so went to Casa Grande to the balcony bar. Expensive (3 pesos for OJ – seems expensive after an all-inclusive!) but a luxurious feeling of looking over the square seeing the beautiful Cathedral on that site since 1522! Tour also went to Castillo del Morro, a Unesco World Heritage site. Construction started in the early 17th century and took 30 years to build. It is a fully restored castle with some of the most breathtaking views of the city. I was shown around by a helpful woman and when I reached into my fanny pack to tip her a peso, BOOM! About 5 women showed up and held out hands, “…por favor, for my baby…”. I gave what I had but it shook me up. Other fellow travelers agreed that the constant pleas were distressing. If you are off the hotel grounds, carry a roll of toilet paper with you in a Ziploc bag. Cuban toilets do not have seats, and toilet paper is not standard issue! Bring Purell or wetnaps in your purse. Peter and Graciela rented a cab and kindly brought me along. We visited the hospital to donate drugs and bandaids, etc. Very nice, with an ambulance, and banana trees growing in the courtyard. You would not see THAT in T.O.! Then we drove to a school 6 kms from the hotel which was a primary school. There is a school 2 kms from the hotel and they receive the majority of donations as they are in walking distance, but this two-room schoolhouse didn’t get a lot of donations. The children loved all the crayons and colouring books. The teacher made sure that everything was fairly distributed. By pure chance, the day we visited was the teacher’s birthday so we sang Happy Birthday in Espagnol, and I had gum and candy to pass around. It was a very moving experience Graciela translated my English into Spanish as I unpacked the goodie bag. They oohed and aahed. Stickers were a huge hit! Stickers are obviously the international currency of the child! I gave the teacher white and coloured chalk, star stickers for good work, file cards, glue, tape, teacher-y stuff. For the students, I had brought paper, markers, crayons, coloured pencils, regular pencils, tons of colouring books (nothing too Capitalist!), and some foam cut-out flowers, animals and letters. When I pulled out a bag of metallic pipe cleaners in hot magenta, gold and royal blue, the two oldest girls SQUEALED with joy. I will never forget that sound – the sound of little girls who can’t wait to make something beautiful! Next time I will take scissors, staples, staplers, art paper and paints and brushes, and sparkly things! We left clothes at the school for the teacher to hand out as she has the best idea of who needs what. They were thrilled with a pack of Christmas paper with a snowman. We took pictures which I mailed down to them. When you leave Cuba, you pull up to the Antonio Maceo airport, and you will see people holding “VIP SERVICE” signs up. Go with them. They will take you to the VIP lounge. The cost is 20 pesos, and you also pay your 25 peso departure tax. This has a separate security area which they take you through quickly, and then they take your passport, plane ticket, fees and tourist card (I was nervous but other travelers assured me this was safe to do), and do all the processing, while you relax in a nice lounge. It is air conditioned, has an outdoor garden for smoking, and a free bar with Cristal beer, rum, vodka, etc. You also get a plate of appetizers. The sofas are huge comfy leather ones. Once your passport has been returned to you, a special assistant will take you to Duty Free. After I tried my new Spanglish skills, she replied in perfect English, “I hope you will visit us again! And do bring chocolate, I just love your Canadian chocolate!” It made me laugh. I found the Duty Free Prices were higher than at the hotel for cigarillos and rum. However, they did have a nice selection of exportable black coral jewelry – bought a black coral bracelet for mom for $31 – 10 mm beads on a 925 gold plated bracelet. Bought Cubita coffee for 2.25 – tshirts were 9.45. You will see the main airport lounge which is noisy and crowded and comparable to a cattle-holding pen. Why not spend 20 bones and relax in peace, while the drinks keep a-comin’? We found that the flight home was particularly excellent as we were full of rum relaxant. The drunker we got the more we tipped the attendant, who was our new best friend.
What to take:
For YOU: Greatest tip from Deb’s site was to take an insulated mug. Smartest thing we did! Leave it behind for the Cubans as these are real treats for them. Another Cdn couple promised to give their Imperial Oil mugs to the bartender who works at the Santiago Carnivale in July after the resort closes, where it can be 37-40 degrees C in the direct sun. He was so pleased and grateful. When K and I gave our mugs to the people on the Cuban beach, there was a little squabble over them. I tell you, these mugs are GOLD.
Clothing to take: Daytime all I wore was my bathing suit, watershoes (a MUST – sand is HOT), towel, sunglasses, hat. For a city tour, I wore comfy shoes, sox, shorts, t-shirt and hat. Dinnertime I wore the same black summer dress every night. Didn’t need nightgown or robe in the room. It was 32-35 C in the daytime and extremely comfortable at night. I also coated myself in 50 SPF but still burnt even though under shade and trees all the time – the curse of WASP skin. Cuban sun is extremely strong. Take Imodium quick dissolve tabs – by Day 3, you’ll know why (all that fresh fruit and beans). Aspirin. Sleeping tabs if you don’t adjust well to new places. Gravol for bus trips/boat trips if you get queasy, like I apparently do.
Things I wish I had brought for myself: aloe spray for sunburn; a flashlight (power failures are common but when it happened at dinner just shout "Surprise!" and we’d all sing happy birthday – blame the rum!), a bigger-brimmed hat, more ziploc bags (great for keeping gifts in your purse, and keeping sand out of things) and of course, more gifts. Candles – never saw candles anywhere. Bring a drink tray from the dollar store cuz you’ll meet folks and someone always does a cerveza run to the bar. Then leave the tray behind. Bring binoculars as there are lots of birds and animals and vistas you won’t want to miss. For the ladies: Pack as if you are going to have your worst period ever, even if you think you’ll be safe. Tropical heat and travel can do strange things to one’s body. Whatever fem hy products are leftover make a great gift. They do sell pads but tampons are non-existent. Plan accordingly!
Gifts For Cubans:
Hit the dollar store with $20 – you’ll really spread some joy. Below are some ideas I had gleaned from this website and some of my own suggestions. Most requested: paper, pens, nailpolish, shampoo, soap. sunglasses – ones with uva/uvb Chocolate – Hershey kisses or nuggets baseball caps, bat, glove, balls, shirts – they are INSANE for baseball so anything like that would be fabulous
Practical stuff:
washcloths, whetstones, Spanish/English dictionary, or Spanish books/mags, Paintbrushes, Duct tape, Needlenose pliers, Wrenches, Small hand tools, little box of building nails, WD40 (things get mighty creaky with that salt air), fishing wire, fishing hooks, bike repair kit, bike baskets, horns, reflectors, donations of meds to hospital in Chivirico – Tylenol, aspirin, penicillin, polysporin, cotton, q tips, tensor bandages. Burn your favourite cds and give them copies, Music sheets for the pianist. Clothing – shoes are expensive – ask at your work if anyone has kids’ shoes to donate – I left them at the school and the teacher knows who is in need. When I say you can give them anything, you can give them ANY thing because if they don’t need it, they know someone who will. Cubans are very charitable to one another – if I gave a kid a pack of gum, he’d instantly give half to his friend. No thinking twice. If I gave a pair of shoes that were too big, they knew someone who could use shoes. I thought a whetstone (a small one) would be a nice gift for a fisherman – to keep their knives and hooks sharp. They have basic food, etc. and they have excellent medical care & schools, but a pair of blue jeans is about 3 month’s salary. A girl at work gave me some of her jeans and I gave it to our taxi driver for his granddaughter with a matching Gap t-shirt – she just about lost her mind. I gave my water shoes on the last day to some kid in the water who was thrilled.
In short, I had one of the best times of my adult life, and met some great people: Karen and Jim, Peter and Graciela, Irene and Gilles, Atso and Linda. On the last day, I walked into breakfast and burst into tears, because I did not want to go home. Felt like a little kid. Maria, one my favourites, came over and hugged me, “Mi amor!” So sad to leave, but I learned to say, “Proximo ano!” which means, I’ll be back next year, baby, come hell or high water!