After leaving Cuba, the next stop of the adventure was 11 days at Buena Onda Surf Camp in southern Nicaragua. Blessed with warm water and a swell fetch that stretches over 15,000km to the south of Australia, it is a pretty good place to go to get some waves. However it's best asset is not the Pacific Ocean, but Lake Nicaragua (it's actually the 19th largest lake in the world), which delivers offshore winds to the isthmus we were on for over 330 days of the year. It was this detail alone that meant we were going to spend some time here.
Most of the days were spent being up before dawn, and either 4wd'ing the coast or checking the more out of the way spots from the boat. Being offshore all day, meant the only real factor to worry about was the tide, and once the swell settled in (it was actually too big for a day or two) and we got to know the area (with the help of our guides Paul and Brandon), the only thing stopping us from surfing all day was our own exhausted bodies - and the fact that we had unlimited free food and drink whilst staying there. Hell some of our "surf trips" ended up being beers on the beach - thanks to some persuasion from Brandon and Paul and a beer/ice filled esky in the back of the truck.
Here are a few photo's from one session the local photographer got of us at the wedge out the front of the resort - it was a little cloudy, and a little bit of morning sickness was on it, but there was no one out and there were plenty of waves to be had!
Me reversing.
Heerey
Fun little backdoor section
Wedge
Sunset around the corner
Fun river mouth wave, blowing about 40kts offshore this day made it hard to get in to.
After a dawn surf in the boat, Brandon thought it was time for a beer.
Another be achy, this was taken after 3 hours out there (we got out when it started to go shit)
The local bull riding comes to town for about a month every year, luckily we were there for it, it was a spectacle and a good afternoon to be had with the other kids at the camp.
Some bulls would buck around for 2 seconds, then just stand there, so everyone would start running around to get it angry, eventually the bull would start to buck again with the rider on it, once he was off, everyone would start to run around like they were at Pamplona, until eventually the cowboys would come in and lasso it to get it out of the arena.
When I say everyone, I mean all the town drunks and any other guy stupid or macho enough to step in to the ring. A few guys got absolutely belted and trampled, and there was word that one of the bulls (one of the smaller ones with only one horn, had previously killed 3 people).
Sometimes if things got too predictable with one bull in the ring, they would let another one in unannounced - just like the old pinball machines when you start mastering it and the "Multiball" comes in to play.
Complete with their very own Latin band to bring in the next bull rider.
The following photos are from one afternoon when the surf wasn't very good - instead we sat here for a few hours with beers and a camera.
Paul in the photo was spending 3 weeks here and on his 2nd day hurt his ribs - he was forced to watch for the rest of his time there. Poor bloke.
Not where you want to be
The balcony of our adobe
Me afternoon wedge.
Helen and Hannah
Helen and Hannah, watching Mark shoulder hopping, like a typical pom.
After leaving the beauty and wildness of The Galapagos Islands, it was time to hit the beauty and wildness that makes up Cuba (albeit a different kind). As with most travel, we thought we would go with the flow for our time there, usually checking the internet for things to do and places to stay at on a day to day basis, however after walking in to a few cafe's and bars asking if they had wi-fi, and getting "this is Cuba" as a response, we soon realised it wouldn't be that easy.
Ears: Buena Vista Social Club
Like everything in Cuba since the trade embargo was enforced (which started in 1960), Cuba has been somewhat frozen in time. This is the reason why all the cars are Classics, there is no internet available, and the standard cost for a Cuba Libre is at an impressive $1.50.
To me the most impressive thing about Cuba is the fact that people are outside hanging with friends and family, playing cards or dominos, kids playing marbles or football/baseball in the street. There is not a single iPhone to be seen, no one is taking selfies, updating there status or even thinking about jumping on to Tinder - in this regard it truly is a paradise and seeing a lot of the kids in the street took me back to my childhood, something I feel a lot of kids these days will never experience.
Street book market in the Plaza d'Armas, Old Town Havana.
Heerey getting all Cuba Libre
View from our Casa, these guys played domino's for about 5 hours one afternoon, a typical scene anywhere in Cuba.
Monument to Che in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion.
Hannah getting taken to the Buena Vista Social Club by Marcelo
One of the issues with no internet, was sorting ourselves out with where to go, doing minimal research on Cuba prior to landing (as is usually the case anywhere), I remembered that Trinidad was one place we wanted to go to for a few days (about 4 hours drive from Havana), however we didn't really know how to get there. Enter Marcelo, as seen below........
Marcelo saw us wandering the streets during our internet searching phase (it was actually legit as we needed to send some information to the place we were staying in Nicaragua about our airport pick up or something). He, like many of these Cubans, are your best friend and come across way too eager that you know it is a scam or something is up. Sure enough though he lead us to the one place in Havana that has internet that you can use without actually staying there; there is internet, but only in the big "American Style" hotels.
After doing our business on the net, we walked back outside to find him waiting for us, "here we go" we all thought thinking he was gonna try and scam us of something. Sure enough he says come to the Buena Vista Social Club tonight, tickets are this much, I will take you there now. We sit down and they are setting up for the night to come (it was about 3pm), we buy a few mojito's and buy him one hoping it persuades him to not kidnap us tonight, and to our surprise within a few minutes we have the tickets and it is all dandy.
Doing the small talk we ask him about how to get to Trinidad, (we got a price off another bartender earlier in the day and though we would compare). Marcelo says he has a friend who will get us there in a big American car, he names the price, quite a good price too) and asks where we are staying (another possible dodgy thing to tell him, but by then we started to trust him a little). Then he says he will pick us up from the house at 8am the day after tomorrow.
That night we had a pretty nice night listening to some amazing Cuban music at the Buena Vista Social Club (it is a pretty famous thing and no doubt many of you have heard of it).
Two days later we find ourselves in this car, being driven by this wrecking ball looking guy with Marcelo riding shotgun.
Hannah still dodgy, an hour outside of Havana.
Plenty of places to run, but nowhere to hide out here.....
Turns out Marcelo's parents live out in the bush somewhere, he was visiting them for a few days, our driver then took us the rest of the way - he spoke no english, our spanish is limited to greetings, small talk and how to order food and beverages. Next thing he pulls over for a piss, and asks us if anyone wants to drive, Heerey puts his hand up for is and drives....... for all of 90 seconds before the Wrecking Ball decides it better if he drives.
Still got this shot though.
We made it to Trinidad, it was #2 or 3 in places to visit in Cuba on TripAdvisor, needless to say, we were actually a little underwhelmed when we went there.
Our host family in Havana told us to ring them when we got to Trinidad to make sure we were alright (they we obviously dodgy on the car ride too - which heightened our worries!). When we found somewhere to stay, the new hosts rang up our Havana friends (the phone number was all of 5 digits), and spoke to them for about 20 minutes, laughing like old friends. Turns out they don't know each other, it is just how Cubans are!
We were walking around, and I could swear the photo's I had seen had some beach or something in it (Trinidad was actually about 10km inland which is where our initial disappointment came from). Then in a bookstore I was flicking through a Cuba tourist photo book and saw a photo of Playa Ancon - Trinidad. I asked the lady where it was and she said 10 minute taxi ride that way.
Within the hour we were here.
After a few days on the beach drinking Mojito's, Cuba Libre's and having cheeseburgers in paradise at Playa Ancon, we found our way back to Havana and back at our original Casa and Host family. They and the hosts we had in Trinidad are still probably the nicest people we have met on the trip.
After travelling through the rest of South America, heck most of the world for that matter, we were surprised at just how happy the people were. All the propaganda about Cuba and Communists and all that seems to be completely false when you get here. There is no one in poverty, no one begging on the streets, the streets are clean and safe, and everyone just seems to be happy. Everybody seemed to have time for people, kids actually playing in the streets, parents sitting on the front steps talking with their neighbours. Sure there are always people trying to scam you because you are a tourist, but generally people were happy and helpful.
There is a bit going on here.
Not sure what to make of this statue?
Typical friend when having food at a street side cafe/bar in Cuba
Overall, Cuba is probably one of the highlights of the trip, we didn't really know what to expect here, but the music was good, drinks were cheap, the people were fun, the beaches were amazing, the city was unlike anything you would ever see and there was not one iPad, McDonalds, GoPro or Facebook mentioned the whole time.
