Havana Daydreaming Part 2

[Bartolomeo]

Moderators please feel free to edit out anything that shouldn't be here as far as peoples names, etc, most of it should be no problem and I don't want to cause any trouble for our worldwide friends

Purpose: Went to Cuba back in May for first time and this was a return visit to meet up w online friends from around the world for 5 days

**Forgive me in advance for my spelling, lack of certain details or facts and enjoy my 5 day bender summary in Cuba

Day 1 Fri Nov 14

-Miami to Havana on a full flight in early AM

-Immigration asked if I have been to Dallas or Africa lately due to Ebola issue

-Catch a cab to Hotel Nacional, breaks down half way and then we are on our way again

-Check into the famous Nacional, room not ready, meet my local driver and off to shopping we go

-Visit Club Habana and meet Jorge for first time and say hello to Leo again, store is empty so I have time to chat w them and take my time w my purchases, probably my favorite Customs on the island ranging from $5-8 a stick, pick up Monsdales, Behike 58 and Robusto Largo, Jorges favorites are the Monsdale and Corona Especiales

-Off to 5y16 to meet Carlos Robaina for the first time, store is empty and am told the roller has no leaf to roll Customs, hasn’t had leaf in weeks, something I hear on and off from various stores during my stay, also heard rumors of Robaina Padrinos being sold here since they could get more money than on the farm but none were there, off to next LCDH

-Arrive @ Hotel Commodoro to pick up rolls from Alex, who replaced Santos some time ago, enjoyed these from last trip

-Arrive back to Nacional to check in and hang up clothes and to relax on back patio with a smoke and a drink, one of my favorite spots to do so in all of Habana

-Purchase some Milagro customs and a Hotel Nacional marble ashtray as a back up to my one at home, $35CUC and 9lbs later I got myself a good one

-Meet up with Habana Mike from Atlanta, we smoke and drink for a while then off to dinner then back to Nacional to continue drinking and smoking

-Meet up with lots of friends from the Internet and around the world including Rob Ayala, Amir, Nino, etc. Stay on back Nacional patio awhile before heading to El Gato Tuerto, a dingy Jazz bar down the street from the Nacional and a favorite of mine that week, smokey, small, great music and a host of locals and tourists mingling like we have known each other for a while, birthday drinks w Amir and meeting his lovely lady was fun, second time meeting him and he’s a very special person, wrap up the night around 4AM and stumble back to Hotel

Day 2 Sat Nov 15

-Meet the FOH crew in lobby to take bus to Vinales and Cayo Julia beach for the day, stop to piss and grab drinks for the 4 hour bus ride, and get to know the group on the bus ride there

-BBQ at the beach w fresh lobster, red snapper and roasted pig beachside while sipping drinks, soaking up rays and smoking Havana’s finest, this was a real treat to have the water roll over my feet, sand in the toes and fantastic conversation with people I felt I have known for a lifetime but only meeting them hours earlier, we stay here for 5 hours while the band plays

-Off to Vinales for the night, we all stay at different Casa de Particular’s and meet for dinner @ 8:30 @ Olivos

-My house is clean, nice and the owner is a Divorced female dentist with a hot 19 year old daughter and her parents also live there,, very common in Cuba, I asked her how much she gets a night and its about $20-25/night, cheaper than Havana which can be $30-40 a night, I feel safe and welcomed, all I can ask for in a new environment

-After a dinner w/ friends learning how the Jinetera make their trade in Havana from one of my unnamed dinner guest we head over to the Cave, where a fantastic Salsa band greats us. Vinales is a smaller town outside of Havana but to me seemed like the real Cuba whereas Havana is more like New York City, both great but both different.

-After getting my Rum on, Rob Ayala, Rob Fox and Andrew head off to a smaller bar to shoot the **** for 3 hours in a more relaxed atmosphere, I learned more from that conversation in 3 hours than I have over 1 year on the web on how the Cigar business works. One of the coolest things is that both Rob’s have their own cigar business to run but they are best of friends, don’t care about competition, bust balls with the best of them and seem more like brothers than boys separated by continents, very cool my friends

Day 3 Sun Nov 16

-Wake up to take tour of a farm just outside of Vinales, hung over and hot, it was fun. Black Peas was the crop of choice currently growing along with some Corn, Bananas and Sugar Cane, Tobacco seedlings were in the ground here at this farm but if I remember correctly it was more of a produce/vegetable farm than Tobacco but I am may be wrong

-Then we head back on the bus for an hour to Pinar Del Rio to Luis Hector Prietos farm, one of the more famous Tobacco farms you see discussed on the internet. We are greeted by wood tables set for a terrific lunch of Pig, Yuca, Salad, Beans and Rice and Mojitos from a fairly new bar that was installed there, told to me from previous visitors.

-They are just finalizing villas for tourists to spend the night in, kind of cheesy if you ask me but I understand it’s Cuba and they have to pay the bills. Meet Hector and chat briefly, man of a few words and lil English but we were on the same page. Pig was roasting across the rickety bridge you see in everyone’s pictures and I wonder across the stream to where Andy Ryan and Rob Fox historically were farmers for a day a year or two ago, spoke w Rob about that and his eyes lit up, told him he’s probably the only Irish guy in the world to ever plow a Tobacco field in Cuba, he agreed

-I checked out Hectors shade grown leaf surrounded by cheese cloth, it was the only Tobacco growing at the time I could see and ventured in to his drying barn, Chemicals from Brazil, China, etc……tobacco from last harvest months ago curing in bundles, destined for cigarette tobacco is what I was told…..wild Turkeys, chickens, horses, dogs, cats really run the farm and Habana Mike caught two horses having sex on video, I will let him post that video but it’s quite a sight to see

-After acquiring farm rolls, we were off back to Havana on Sunday night to catch a late night dinner at a very trendy restaurant at a former Embassy, dinner ran long and then off to Cohiba Melia Salsa show which was great but we ended up back at the Gato for another late evening, can’t beat the Gato w your mates, cold drinks and loose women, good times

Day 4 Mon Nov 17

-Wake up feeling like **** and meet group in lobby to run around Havana cigar shops, started with Partagas where Hamlet was running point as usual, picked up some special cigars and hung loose until our next adventure to 5y16, where I was already on Friday….Back at 5y16, I saw Carlos again and still no leaf but I did learn a lot about Santería, the alternative religion of Cuba to say it nicely, where 70% of the island are Catholics and the rest is Santeria typically, very interesting

-We then head to the party of all parties at Rob’s house, his crib was sick! It overlooked the water, pool, huge deck and staff. It was catered, full open bar, a DJ to start, then solo guitarist then Salsa band to finish the night. The party started around 12:30 and wrapped up around 9pm where then headed out again to another place, more on that place in a second. There was about 30 of us on the Tour there along with local friends of Rob’s from all kinds of back grounds, very cool. Weather was perfect, pool felt good, drinks were cold and everybody seemed like they were blitzed by running out of beer then replenishments arrived soon after, food was awesome again and it was one big fiesta, very nice to see the sun set at one location, fun had by everybody and plenty of stories

-Off to a discotheque later that night where for the first time in my life I walked into a place where I was surprised by the people there before us ….and I will leave it at that…..We danced, drank and smoked our ways thru the night then headed back to hotel, I set up camp for a late night on the Nacional patio with some friends reminiscing my time in Havana, I ended up staying up all night since I had a 10AM flight on Tue AM and had to be at Terminal 2 at 7AM so it was worth it

Day 5 Tue Nov 18

-Flew to Miami then to Raleigh

Random Thoughts by Ryan:

-So many great people I met this trip that I am sure I will forget some names so please forgive me but the Canadians including Keith and Tom, Australians of Rob, Rob A, Chunk, Nate, Americans like Dana and her hubby,Habana Mike, Andrew, Nick and his boys from LA, Irish boys of Rob and Yiorgos, Nino from Germany, Amir….I am sure I am leaving others out, please forgive me, I remember you

-Felt great being disconnected from the rest of the world w regards to Internet and Cell Phone, didn’t miss TV, it was great

-Learned that its very typical for every neighborhood in Habana to have a “Neighborhood Spy”, one who listens to the vibe of the community, what they are talking about, their actions and overall behavior and then report that back to the Cuban government and I assume for some kind of kickbacks, very interesting

-Having our “Fixer”, a great guy named Machine, was essential in making the trip run as smooth as it was, this guy was shaking hands, kissing babies, greasing palms with the best of them…..also a pretty cool guy, English was perfect and learned a lot from him as well as Jose, Jose is a character, ball buster and not a nicer person in Havana.

-Was told that Israel leases most of the Citrus farms in Central Cuba, interesting……

-My money conversion was 95 CUC per $1 USD, transaction was done in Jose Marti airport in a trunk of a car with my guy before, like something out of the movies

-Asked Immigration to not stamp my passport and they again obliged

-Had my private driver on Friday again, he’s a savior to say the least

-I would definitely stay at the Hotel Nacional again, my room ended up around $85 a night, clean, safe, great location from Gato J, history of that place speaks volumes, lots of Cuban Propaganda bullshit around the lobby but I wouldn’t expect anything less

-Most helpful person in this second adventure was my friend in Miami, thank you very much Sir!!!!!!... You know who you are and couldn’t have pulled a lot of these insider things off without your help

-Seeing things for the second time was really cool, able to see some things from a different perspective, especially with the crowd I ran with, we did things most will never do or see, that was very special

-Some recent pricing I saw was HU Royal Robustos for $68, PL Pans for $40, HUHC for $65….most of the stores had 12-14 stock and no EL on the shelves, but since I was only looking for customs I didn’t buy boxes but some singles to smoke like 13 Cohiba Espys, and Siglo 6 from 09

-Learned that each individual tobacco plant gets “touched” over 140x over the life of the growing season which I believe to be 8-9 weeks if I remember correctly, lots of attention paid obviously

-Abel Exposito has a new restaurant in town

-The way Rob Ayala had the tour set up w the help of Toby was fantastic, not a hitch to be seen on the surface but I know there was some behind the scenes magic going on, thank you Rob and it was a real pleasure to meet you finally and look forward to our next adventure, learned more from you in 5 days than in 5 years I think, both personally and professionally

Conclusion:

-I had a blast and can’t wait to go back, but having been 2x in 7 months has been a real treat, most people never experience Cuba ever, let alone 2x. As a cigar smoker and a lover of experiencing new Caribbean cultures, I have found me a home in Cuba……

WILL POST PICS LATER

[pbibby]

Sounds like an incredible experience, Ryan!! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I hope to get there someday! Awesome purchases! Enjoy man.

[Rye]

Awesome write up of what sounds like the trip of a lifetime!

[...]

Thanks for sharing, I'll make sure to tag along if Rob keeps going every year

[NJP]

Good form, thanks for day dream it was magic..

[Optic101]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing !

[Jeremy Festa]

Great insight! Cheers!

[Franko]

Great time brother, can't wait for my dream to come trew...Realy can't wait any longer....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fuzz]

Fantastic write up! Can't wait for the next Cuba trip in 2016, but in the meantime, here's to Havanathon in 2015!!

[RijkdeGooier]

Great write-up ryan!

[AbuAmelia]

This was a great read Ryan. You summed up everything perfectly, especially the knowledge learned on this trip. It's safe to say, that unless you go to Cuba and experience everything first hand, you will never know Cuba. There was not much time to sit back and relax, seemed like we were always on the move, which I loved. Rob and crew did an amazing job! The people we met were equally awesome as well, can't think of a better group of people to travel with. I will remember each and every one of them, especially the Australians. My wife asked me when I get back why I'm talking with an accent, and why I've used the word "Brilliant" 3 times in 10 minutes. I'm going to miss those guys.

Can't wait for 2016

For those who want to see who Hector, Hamlet and Carlos are.

Hector... He Doesn't talk, only nods his head yes or no.

Hamlet.... Love this guy.

Carlos... Reminded me of my Grandpa.

[subport]

Many thanks for your time to share your lovely days in Cuba.

[Hash]

Sound like you had a good education about Cuba , and a great time, a very interesting read.

[Duxnutz]

Fantastic write up! Can't wait for the next Cuba trip in 2016, but in the meantime, here's to Havanathon in 2015!!

Is that the plan going forward?

[IPORTER]

Very Impressive write up mate. Really want to get to Cuba soon after taking all of this in. Well done again!!

[Stoyan]

Thanks for sharing. Glad that you had a great time. I missed it this time, but I hope there will be another FOH meeting in Havana soon.

[Ryan]

Great stuff! Thanks for all that. Heartbroken I couldn't be there this time..

Looking forward to the pictures.

Just one thing..

..Habana Mike caught two horses having sex on video..

Horses don't 'have sex'.

They make love.

[alloy]

Great writeup! Thank you. Sounds like you had a "brilliant" time!

[ZAZ]

Awesome read Ryan. Thanks for sharing. I learned a lot about Cuba just from your write-up. Hope to experience the next time around!

[cigarsmoke]

Looks like you had a awesome time Ryan.....Thanks for the great write up......

[Arkay]

Great post!

[PuffDaddie]

Great report thanks for sharing.

[LordAnubis]

Awesome write up mate !!! Totally jealous !!!

[AbuAmelia]

Horses don't 'have sex'.

They make love.

Oh there was no love about this video. I think the female horse felt violated. lol...It's too bad we will never see this video again. I'll let @habanamike explain that part.

[habanolover]

Wow!!! Sounds just like I have imagined! Thanks so much for taking the time to share...I sure hope you have pics of the dentist and her hot daughter!