Fabzgy´s Life

The Challenge:
Get from “Moron“, Ciego de Avila to “Caibarièn”, Villa Clara

It looks on the map as if it is less then 100 km. We, my travelbuddy Alex and me, wanted to make this distance with a low budget in order to figure out how the cubans mamage to get from A to B in Cuba. Thats means Taxis are not allowed and car rentals either!

So we had variouse options I would like to present to you.

Option 1: National Buses (Astro)
There is a bus which is going from Moròn at 1 pm to Santa Clara. One day it pases by Remedios, so it takes the north route and the other day the bus takes the central road so we would have to switch buses in Santa Clara (arrival 5 pm) to another bus which brings us to Moròn.
Problem: The woman at the counter says that she is not authorisized to sell tickets to foreigners. Not even in “divisas”. She is the one wh recomends us the oficial option 2.

Option 2: The oficial one
Go with a municipality bus to Ciego de Avila. Take a taxi or walk for 1 hour (in a unsuportable heat with all your luggage) to the Viazul Terminal. Hope that there is still a free seat in the only bus which is leaving Ciego de Avila at 4:40 pm and gets to Santa Clara at 7:30 pm.
Problems: 1. At the time we get to Santa Clara there isno connection bus to Caibarièn so we ve got to stay overnight in Santa Clara. 2. We don t know if the Viazul has space for us. 3. We can t make reservation for the Viazul, not via Inet nor via Phone 4. Thats the normal/oficial way and hardly payable for cubans.

Option 3: Hitchhiking and Local/Municipality Buses
We could try to get through with hitchhiking and trying to hop on local transportation. That would reqire us to use three local buses and the probability that these are leaving more then twice a day is close to cero. So you miht catch the first one but will me stuck in the next town maybe for a day…
Okay so we hitchhike if there is no transportation. The problem ith hitchhiking is that there are very few private cars in general and the drivers are afraid to get a fine if they take foreigners because as a tourist you are supposed to rent your own car or go by taxi. Aditionally there are a lot of cuban hitchhikers and drivers always ask for money -sometimes uite a lot if they figure out that you are not cuban. By the way I suld mention that the Tropical Storm “Fay” is over Cuba in that moment and heavy rain showers are very likely.

Option 4: Train & Bus
At 1:20 pm there is supposed to be atrain to Santa Clara which could drop us of close to Caibarièn. When we got to the train station the it turned out that the Tropical Storm “Fay” has washed away a bridge so the train has to go on another track but it still should arrive in Santa Clara around 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 and sth. pm.
Instead of 1:20 pm we left at 3:45 pm, so almost 2,5 hours after we should have left.
we ended up paying 10.5 Pesos Moneda Nacional which is around 0.40 € and this was still twice the price then cubans payed.
In the rain there are plety of people selling food, soaps, toothbrushes, cheesebatterys, etc. to the passengers. It s like alitle market. In the little villages we stop the local try to sell there products (fruits, cheese, eggs, …) to the passengers. before we left the train statio I was reading an article of the Granma about the punctuality of the trains. Accoring to the article 85 % of the trains were in time. Accorng to the cubans in the train the train has never arrive in time on this line.
Finally we arrived at 0.30 am in Santa Clara.
There people told us that at 2am a bus leaves to Caibarien from the train station. Allright .. we get some food and hopp on the bus - no problem. At 2 am three wasn t any bus. Then they told us that at 4 am another bus is supposed to arrive. Nothing happened. At 6 am there came finally a bus which brought us over to Caibarien where we finally git a 7.45 am in the morning the day after we left Moròn. The last bus we took was a bus which brings employees to the Cayos (touristic islands) and we ve had to talk the bus driver over to carryus because thats probably not allwoed either.

So finally it took us 22 hurs to figure out a way to go from Moròn to Caibarièn. A distance of probably less then 100 km. We could have just rent a car or take a taxi but then you wouldn t have anything to read …

I did it. I escaped Cuba by boat.
Alex, my travelbuddy and me came back on Friday night to La Habana. On Saturday morning I ve called the Marina Hemingway and they told me that there is a french guy leaving with his boat.
I couldn t believe it. A few days before I ran into a couple from Israel who stayed several weeks in the Isla de las Mujeres in Mexico to find a boat to Cuba and finally came by plane - Hurricane Season! Nobody wants to travel now on th Golf of Mexico.
So after I ve heared about the boat which was supposed to leave to Mexico I showereed brushed my teeth and made my way with public buses to the marina. Over there I had to wait like two hours before Gerome and his buddy Bill showed up. After a few sentences they accepted me as a crew member. I couldn t believe it.
After a last supper with my Cuban / English Family I came with all my stuff on Sunday morning to the Marina. After checking the last things we took off and with minimal problems at the Inmigration (I m impressed of the Cuban Intelligence Service) we took of - course South/West - Destination Cancun! During our trip I was steering the boat every two hours for an hour and it was exiting to be on this ocean with this tiny boat.
After 48 hours on the boat we arrived today (Tuesday) at noon in Cancun / Isla Mujeres. After we did all the migration tramits I took of to Merida where I am now…

If you ve heared nothing about that storm - ignore this message.

I f you ve heared or read about it and you were worried abut me - thanks but eveything is allright.

There was quite a bit of rain in the last few days but we managed more or less to be out of the worst areas when the storm passed.

In 4 to 5 days I m gonna be back in La Habana and check my possibilities for the hitchhike a boat from the Hemmingay Marina somewhere to the american continent.

So keep on rocking … more when I m back in easy InetAcessArea.

Like I wrote Inet is expensive here.
I m now in Cienfueos and this Computer does not work with my memory stick.

I don t have a flight out of Cuba so far … I m going to hitch a boat from the Marina Hemingway in La Habana in the end of themonth.-.. lets see where I m gonna end up …

Hope it s gonna work

Viva la Revolucion!

I m back from my Panama trip with Devine.
The last week we stayed in Cabo Matapalo where we camped without electricity or running water (despite a beautifull waterfall) and Dominical. We met up with Paloma and some friends of her. We sayed good by to the pacific ocean and surfed some waves. Very relaxed week!

Right now I m participating in the II Latin American Congress of Anthropology at the UCR.
Friday Night I m flying to Cuba. That means no Internet Connection for one month. I might check once or twice my mails for really important things but I can t promise you to respond on anything fast.

One year in Costa Rica / Central America is over. Tons of new experiences and friends. So many things I ve lear Today I ve been the last time at the University here. I ve ate the last time at the vegetarian restaurant run by a friend. In half an hour I m going for the lasttime to the bar we spend several nights and experienced great moments. Lots of the people I ve met here are not physically present to celebrate with me the last night in San Jose, Costa Rica. Some of them are already back in their home countries. Some are in other parts of Costa Rica or travelling/working abroad. Some simply don t know that it is my last night. Anyway I m greatfull to spent time with them and I don t need hundrets of people in the bar tonight. Whoever comes is the right person to spend the last night with.

Thanks to Plaoma I have a nice place to stay these days in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

I want to say thanks to all the people I ve enjoyed time with in the last year. Thanks!

BTW: There are new pictures in the stream …

Since the last entry we travelled to El Valle and stayed with our BeWelcome host Dave. We almost met up with an old friend I ve meet 3 months ago in Bocas del Toro but finally we could not meet.

On 16. we went to Panama City where we stayed at Zuly’s Backpacker. The hostal was technically full but they had a place for us to pitch up the tent so we stayed for 3 US$ each.
At 5 am the car/Taxi came and brought us for 25 US to Carti where we ot picked up to go to the “Hostel”.
We spent 3 relaxing nights in San Blas . We had lots of fish, lobster, beer, weed and sun.
Breakfast at 8 am 1,5 hours later with the boat to an island and at 5 pm back to the hostel. Lunch was served on the Island and bewteen 6 and 7 pm we got dinner served at the hostel. It was 25 US per day including food (lobster and fresh fish), excursdions to the islands and accomodation. I think one of the cheapest ways to discover the archipel of San Blas.

In the next couple of days we are going to discover Panama City and then make our way up north towards Costa Rica to meet up with some friends at the Peninsula de Osa.

Don t even try to translate that if you are not german speaker - it doesn ot make sence! I just couldn t find an adequate title for this entry.

Where I am? I m in Bastimentos (Map).
I know I didn t make it really far but who cares? I don t fell like spending lot s o f time in buses. I m not about to see the entire Panama. I love it here and thats why I m here since a while already. We have a very nice place to stay and we ve had great experiences here in Bocas del Toro.

A dream became true. When I arrived in Costa Rica I had the dream to sail on the caribbean. As the other students from my first semester know I ve already booked a sailboat for making a trip around San Blas but there were not enough people to go in the end. Now I did it!

Last week we went sailing with Stephen. He is a sailor who lives on his boat for 8 years already. A strong character and a very nice person. We sailed with him from Bocas del Toro to his farm on the first day. We stayed on his boat, played guitare and admired his book collection. He took us to his farm, showed us what he is growing there, we wentto the local school, realxed one day on the boat and snorkeled on a very beutifull coral reef.

Maybe we soon take off and visit BeWelcome Member Dave in central panama. A little Mountain town more or less close to Panama City where we didn t manage to find accomodations thourg Hospitality Exchange Networks.

PS: Devine cut my hair - finally!!!

Some pictures from my last weeks you can find here!

It s over. One year atthe University of Costa Rica is over.
I ve learned plenty of things during my stay here. I ve been studying the History of Central America, from Pre-colombian times until now. I ve got familiar with the Ethnology of Central America. I ve studied the Histroy of Africa, Arts and Politics of the 60s and french.
I ve started to dance, juggle, play the guitare and surf.
I ve made tons of new friends. I ve got familiar with the spanish language. I ve made my family come over and visit me in thos paradise.

I ve lived the first time in my live in a shared flat. I ve had the opportunity to cook for myself. I ve got to know people from all continents here in Costa Rica. Had a great time with the Local Couchsurfers.

I ve participated in the process of creating and managing BeWelcome. Started to write articles on the german and spanish Indymedia. I ve been in the local radio, published an article in a local newspaper.

Over all - had the time of my life - again!

Whats the plan now? Good question.
I ve got 3,5 months of absolute freedom. The rough plan is to spend one month in Panama with Devine. Then I m going to attend the Latin American Congress of Anthropology in the end of July and on the firt of August I ve got a flight to Cuba.
In September and beginning of October I m going to travel arround Mexico and Guatemala, maybe Belize. and on the 9. October I m flying from Cancun to Madrid. From there I m going to make my way back to Germany…

So … lets take off and enjoy the freedom!

I m seriously concerned about my future travel to Cuba.
After my first two visits I ve felt that Cuba is the most secure country in Latin America (that I ve visited so far).
This night everything changed. I went, like almost all wednesday to the free movie theater provided by the Videoteca del Sur.
The Movie today: Historia de un hombre: Phillip Agee |1|

Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (July 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008) was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer, best known as author of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C., Ecuador, Uruguay, and Mexico. After resigning from the Agency in 1968, he became a leading opponent of CIA practices. He died in Cuba in January 2008.

Source: Wikipedia

This guy tells you in half an hour why you should be afraid to go to Cuba. There are several organisations who are training terrorists in Florida (USA) in terrorist activities against Cuba. Proudly supported by the CIA. In history these guys have blown up hotels, airplanes and corner shops in Cuba. Some of them were arrested in Venezuela and Panama for terrorist activities. Since the cuban recolution 3500 Cubans died in consequences of these terrorist activities. 2000 cubans are disabled for livetime.
So I m seriously concerned about these people. I m going to Cuba to relax, dance, play music and dive into a social experiment.

I really hope the USA will successfully win there self-declared War on Terror.

I m just a bit confused about this “War on Terror” because Wikipedia tells me that:

The War on Terrorism (also known as the War on Terror) is the common term for the various military, political and legal actions initiated by the United States government, stated to be a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On the other hand the list of “acts of state terrorism, as well as funding, training, and harboring individuals and groups who engage in terrorism” the USA have been involved in the past ist quite long if you can trust this article on Wikipedia.

Who is fighting against whom here? Why don t we all let others do what they and the people in their country think is the best for them?

Justin, is a guy I ve met in Costa Rica on his bycicle trip from the U.S. to Tierra del Fuego.
About a month ago he got back to the U.S. and today he wrote a very interesting post about getting back from a trip.
You can read the entire entry here.

I m refering to Justin here because I don t think that I could express any better the feelings I m facing when I m comming back.
I ve had very similar feeling slike Justin when I came back from my first Backpacking trip in Southamerica in 2005. From there on I tried to integrate my feelings into my life. I try to avoid television. I take my time to read the Newspaper in the morning. I do not try to be on every single event because I m not afraid anymore that I could miss something. I m taking the time to use my bycicle or public transportation to move around. I m trying to listen to myself, ask myself what I really want. What really makes me happy or satisfied with my life.
I try to get rid of most of the plannings and bondages. I try not to be seriouse and responsible all the time. If I don t feel like having senseless conversations about nothing I don t participate. I rather back out of this group of people who desperately try to kill time while playing card games or talk about tv shows and play guitar, juggle, read a book, work for BeVolunteer/BeWelcome, etc.
Everytime I move somewhere new I see a new chance to change my life. When I first got out of college and worked on my civilian service in Freiburg I became vegetarian and stopped drinking alcohol for 8 months. I had crazy experences with meditation, yoga, fasting, etc. Afterwards the South America trip - a 100 % change of lifestyle. Then I began to study in Freiburg - University, an entire new world. Lot s of new people with lots of interesting stories ideas. During the vacation I moved a lot. Bike trips in France and Italy, trips to Portugal and Spain, escaping the winter in Venezuela and Colombia, etc.
Then finally I ve made it here: Costa Rica. It is a kind of new compromise for me again. New people, new University, new language, new culture, new impressions almost a hundred guests from Couchsurfing, Hospitality Club and BeWelcome. A two months trip in central america. From July on again 3,5 months of travelling.

There is a lot to think about when I m hitting Europe again. I m going to be different again. Hopefully I will find the strength to understand the changes I ve experienced and life the changes in the new life (re-) starting in Freiburg.