Rent Car

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Published on Tuesday, 11 June 2013 14:17

Written by Super User

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Economy class (small car) Types: Hyundai Atos, Daihatsu Cuore, VW Golf, Peugeot 206, Tata Indica, Kia 1300 Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 2-3 people with 2 big pieces of luggage.

example of economy class

 

Tourist class (compact car) Types: Toyota Yaris, Kia Rio 1500, Peugeot 307, VW Polo, Skoda Fabia Hatch Equipment: air condition, radio Attention: Only available from/to Havana! Suitable for 3-4 people with 2 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of compact class

 

Medium class (medium-sized car) Types: Hyundai Accent, Skoda Fabia Sedan oder Kombi, Kia Rio RS-1500, Mitsubishi Lancer, Hyundai Matrix Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 3-4 people with 2 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of medium class

 

Higher medium class Types: Kia Optima, Toyota Corolla, Kia Carens, Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Santa Fee, Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 4-5 people with 2 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of higher medium class

 

Category Jeep hard top Types: Suzuki Grand Vitara, Isuzu Trooper Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 3-4 people with 2 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of category Jeep

 

Deluxe class Types: BMW 5er serial, Mercedes E-200 or E-220 Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 3-4 people with 2 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of deluxe class

 

Mini van and Van (familiy class) Types: Hyundai H-100, Kia Carnival, Peugeot 807, Hyundai Trajet, Hyundai H-1 Equipment: air condition, radio Suitable for 5-6 people with 4 big and 2 small pieces of luggage.

example of category Minivan

Typical Cuban Food

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Published on Thursday, 30 May 2013 13:07

Written by Super User

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Typical Cuban food, amazing for the variety of dishes, the good seasoning and the amounts served, is usually saved for Christmas' Eve, New Year's Eve or big family occasions.

It all begins drinking iced beer, Bucanero or Cristal, with crisp pork rinds. Women are in charge of the black beans, yucca with a garnish of chopped parsley and onion with lemon; plenty of white rice, malanga or corn fritters, fried banana patty and tomato salad with lettuce. Men, gathered at the courtyard, see to the roast pig, which is placed on a spike above the charcoal fire, covered with leaves from a guava tree and sprinkled with sour orange juice from time to time. This can take several hours but, meanwhile, they keep on talking and drinking beers. Everything is served in dishes, except the pork, which is placed on a tray at the centre of the table. Cubans like to eat everything together, usually on the same plate. During dinner, beer and cold water are the beverages. Typical desserts are guava marmalade with yellow cheese slices and yucca crullers in anise-flavoured syrup. Having eaten to the point of contentment, they drink rum and dance till daybreak.

Typical Cuban dishes are: Black beans and rice, fried sliced banana, garlic marinades, rice dishes, boiled Yucca plant. Olive oil and garlic marinades are using used as sauces on most dishes. Meat is usually prepared roasted or in a marinade "creola" style.

A Cuban celebration in a family atmosphere begins with iced beer, accompanied with crisp pork rinds extracted from the fat. The women are in charge of preparing the black “asleep” beans, the yucca with “mojo”(garnish chopped parsley and onion with lemon), malanga or corn fritters, abundant white rice, chatinos bananas (fried banana patty), tomatoes salad adorned with lettuces. Men, grouped at the courtyard, are roasting in spike a pig leg, or an entire pig that is covered with leaves from guava tree and from time to time it’s sprinkled with sour orange juice. This can last hours, but meanwhile, they keep on talking and taking beer. During the meal, beer and cold water are the beverage. The typical desserts are guava jam with yellow cheese slices, or yucca crullers in anise-flavoured syrup.

From its origins, the Cuban cuisine has been the result of the confluence of the same factors that allowed the formation of the nationality in the XIX century: The melt of the Spanish, aboriginal, African customs and the later influence of the Asian immigration and from the Yucatan peninsula. The Spanish introduced in Cuba products as rice, lemons, oranges, the bovine and equine livestock; the African slaves contributed with the yam (Tuber similar to the potato) and the quimbombó, and both of them mixed in their diet the typical food of the Cuban natives as yucca and corn

Already on the XIX century the typical cuisine begins to differ from the Spaniard, up to the point to acquire its proper characteristics. Back them arise dishes that later would integrate the typical Cuban diet like the rice with chicken, the rice with red beans (also so-called " Moors and Christians " o " moor rice "), the oriental congrí (rice with black beans).

The Cuban national dish is a so-called Ajiaco Criollo, a set of vegetables and meats of diverse types cooked together with a large diversity of ingredients. In the Ajiaco cannot be missing Yucca (cassava), Malanga (sweet potato), boniato (yam), potato, green (unripe) and ripe bananas, corn and pieces of dry and salty meats. But in a celebration or in an important date it can not be missed on the table the roast or fried pork, tostones (slices of green banana squashed and fried), crisp pork rind or the ground meat (this plate is very well-known as Habanera ground beef).

 

Scuba diving in Cuba

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Published on Thursday, 30 May 2013 13:20

Written by Super User

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The reefs and walls surrounding the Cuban maritime platform offer, to the beginner as well as to the advanced diver, as much if not more than any scuba diving area in the world. We currently offer 31 scuba diving centres at 18 different zones with 100´s of scuba diving sites, and new areas are being developed everyday. Cuban diving waters are pristine, with very little pollution or coral destruction, perfectly preserved, and providing an underwater paradise of more than 50 species of corals and 200 species of sponges. With average normal visibility of 30 to 40 meters, divers will find an abundance of hard corals such as brain, pillar, stag horn and Elkhorn, and among the soft corals, spectacular gorgonians, sea fans and plume worms.

Barrel and tube sponges, sea urchins, spiny lobsters, coral shrimp and crabs are also widely present.

Dozens of species of fish, including brilliant tropical species, swim among the reefs in undulating schools or wait in solitary patience for their next morsel. Moray eels peer from their caves, an occasional squid or octopus drifts by, and not-to-be-feared sharks, barracudas and rays often appear. Many sites include diving to wrecks and in caves of the marine platform. Normally the centers provide two dives per day and night diving is available at most. The centers have fast, modern dive boats for swift access to the sites, and all have on-board oxygen and VHF communications.

Instructors are certified by PADI, SSI, ACUC or CMAS, and centres can usually provide multi-lingual instructors. All areas have 24-hour medical care. Beginners at all centers can qualify to dive with a few hours of study and training in a pool. Cuba has five hyperbaric chambers dispersed regionally, and the centers can provide an unlikely emergency evacuation by helicopter if ever needed. And to preserve our sites, we practice a "Look, but don´t touch, and don´t take" policy. Diving is a year-round sport in Cuba with water temperature varying little from the yearly average of 24 C (76 F). Wherever you dive in Cuba you will find modern, comfortable accommodations to suit your budget with plenty of interesting activities for you and members of your party who do not wish to dive.

If you have never scuba dived, consider entering this incredibly beautiful world just beneath the surface of the sea, an experience that will surely change your recreational priorities for a long time. And if you are an experienced diver, come to Cuba and try its challenges for the first time. We are here to help you plan your trip, and we can easily arrange diving at different areas and centers for you during the same trip. Experienced divers should remember to bring their C-Card with certification level along with their logs. NAUI safety standards are applied at all centers, and all dive areas have sites for novices as well as for intermediate and advanced levels.

 Next to: Scuba Diving Centers in Cuba

 

Currency

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Published on Tuesday, 28 May 2013 13:25

Written by Super User

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What money to take to Cuba.

As of November 8, 2004 free circulation of US dollar in Cuba has stopped. Cubans, as before, can hold the American currency, but for payment in shops or restaurants only "convertible peso" is now accepted.

 

The cuban currency was revaluated to 8% starting April 2005

As a general view the new changes are the follow:

-- American dollar is not accepted on government business from Nov 8 2004 on (99% of Cuban places)

-- all stores that used to sell in American dollars changed to PESOS CONVERTIBLES (see below for the explanation of this term)

-- pesos convertibles now cost the equivalent of $1.18 American Dollars (if you exchange dollars into pesos convertibles) because of the 10% penalty to USD and 8% of the revaluation of the CUC

-- if you trade Canadian dollars or euros or any other strong currency into pesos convertibles the exchange 1.08 taking as reference the American dollar for example if 1 euro is 1,30 USD. So taking the 8% of the revaluation 1 euro is about 1.20 CUC

In Cuba exist two kinds of peso: "Cuban peso ", used by citizens of Cuba in shops (except for so-called "divisas" or "currency" shops) and "convertible peso" (“CUC”)

Convertible peso (“CUC") is accepted for payment in currency shops instead of US dollar. It is used for all transactions involving tourists, including payment for hotels, taxi, restaurants, etc. Any payments from a credit card are also made in convertible peso.

 

There are places that accept only Pesos Convertibles and other places only Cuban pesos.

So US dollars are not any more freely circulating in Cuba from November 8th, 2004. The National Cuban bank has released the so called 'PESO CONVERTIBLE' in substitution of foreign currencies. You can acquire 'pesos convertibles' at the airport, banks and at the Money Exchange Offices, called "CADECA" (you can find these offices everywhere in the city). In addition, the exchange of US dollars to 'Pesos convertibles' will not be more one-to-one (as before), but 1 US dollar = 0.87 Peso convertible .However, the penalty of 10 % IS ONLY APPLIED TO US-dollars and NOT for any other foreign currencies such as Euros and Canadian dollars (among others). Other currencies than US-dollars will be exchanged according to the daily exchange rate of the international currency market. Taking into consideration the 8% of revaluation of the Cuban Peso Convertible

Information for tourists that are going to be renting a private room, house or apartment: Private owners of “casa particular” specify all their rates in convertible peso, but you can also pay using any foreign currency accepted in Cuba, based on the current exchange rates. The most popular currencies in Cuba are the Euro and the Canadian dollar.

Tourists are recommended to bring to the country not US dollars, but Euro. The Euro has free circulation in Cuba and is accepted as a payment as if it were convertible peso. Canadian can bring their national currency and at the time of exchange no taxes are imposed, but Cubans prefer the Euro. The Swiss francs and the English pound are also free of the tax penalty at the time of the exchange. Be aware that only the above listed currencies are the only ones that can be easily exchanged in Cuba in the so-called places of exchange CADECA in Havana and other tourist centers.

Consult your bank for the daily exchange rate. For 1 Euro you will get the USD daily exchange rate in CUC. Before you leave the country we advise you to change back the left CUC to Euros or USD.

You should know that most of the foreign currency trading (forex trading) websites provides the exact exchange from any currency to peso convertible.

 

Accepted Foreign Currency

Canadian Dollars (CAD), Swiss Francs (CHF), Mexican Pesos (MXN), Japanese Yen (JPY), British Pound Sterling (GBP) and the Euro (EUR) are all accepted. Exchange rate is based on 1 Cuban Convertible Peso being equal to 1 US Dollar.

 

Cuban Convertible Peso

These are easy to difference. All Convertible Pesos have the phrase "convertible pesos" both in the front, and the back.

 

 

Coins:

These are a problem, there are not any specific distinction of the convertible from the not convertible coins, the main difference are that all convertible coins have a representation of different touristic/historic places of Cuba. The not convertible ones have instead an image of some Cuban patriot/historical personality in the front.

5 cents	10 cents	25 cents	50 cents	1$

 

The Cuban Peso

The national Cuba currency, the Cuban Peso, is equivalent to 100 centavos (cents). Notes can be of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pesos. Coins can be of 1, 5 and 20 centavos, and there are others of 1 and 3 pesos.

At the Money Exchange Offices (CADECAs) created for the population to sell - buy USD's or Cuban Convertible Pesos, the exchange is $24.00 Cuban pesos to the peso convertible

There are different emissions of the bills; we will show only the latest version because currently are the most used. You will only need pesos to access to a limited number of products/services: Take a public transportation (guaguas), buying market food (vegetables and fruits), perhaps some juice or a pizza in the streets.

	Front	Back
$1
$3
$5
$10
$20
$50
$100

 

Credit cards in Cuba

You can use any credit cards in Cuba (Visa/MasterCard/Euro card not from an American bank), as long as they are not issued in American (US) banks. There are however limitations regarding debit cards and lots of them are not accepted nor work in ATM machines. Visa Electron is widely accepted.

American Express and Diners Club are not accepted. Traveller cheques from Thomas Cook are the only travellers cheques accepted in Cuba.

Do not assume that every commerce / shop / supermarket / entertainment / etc. will accept payment by cards, usually they do not, and some times their terminals are out of order. So you will use your cards mostly to get cash (now in Cuban Convertible Pesos) to use everywhere.

There are plenty of ATMs and banks, especially in the big tourist areas like Havana, Varadero and Trinidad where you can withdraw money free of charge. Hotels usually accept card payments.

 

More about ATMs in CUBA

Often will MasterCard's only work inside a bank?

You must show passport to get money if you get into a bank.

Often have foreign banks put some restrictions on use their cards in some foreign countries like Cuba.

If you contact your bank, can they easy and normally fast open up your cards so they can work in Cuba?

If your cards or bank are connected to a US. bank will they seldom work in Cuba, because of the blockade.

It is no problem to use visa or credit card in Cuba, but it is smart to check in advance

if your card is connected to a US bank and also call your bank in advance and ask if your cards are valid in Cuba, so they can open up any restrictions they should have on your card.

If a thief steals your card and misuses it, would you get your money back, is they steal only cash, will you maybe not get money back.

It is a 3 % commission if you change or take out from a ATM.

And some banks only charge a very little commission to use their cards.

Finances Bank is the most international bank in Cuba, and where it is best change your cards will work. They has a branch at the Havana Libre Hotel complex, on the end.

Asistur is a Cuban company that helps foreigners with different problems like getting money from abroad.

Head office is in old Havana.

Link. http://www.asistur.cu/index.php

Yes, Western Union has branches in Havana.

Here is some adresses.

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, CENTRO HABANA, TIENDA PANAMERICANA, NEPTUNO ESQ. A SAN NICOLAS. Phone 5378660120

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, CENTRO HABANA, TIENDA PANAMERICANA, AVE. SALVADOR ALLENDE CARLOS III e/RETIRO Y ARBOL SECO. Phone 5378730116

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, CENTRO HABANA, CADECA, GERENCIA BELASCOALIN NR 308 e/SAN RAFAEL Y SAN MIGUEL. Phone 5378790446

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, HABANA VIEJA, TIENDA PANAMERICANA, MONTE 613 EL CARMEN Y FIGURA. Phone 5378604946

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, HABANA VIEJA,CADECA, OBISPO 368 ESQ. COMPOSTELA. Phone 5378664152

-- CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, HABANA VIEJA,CADECA, CUATRO CAMINOS NAJASA MONTE e/ARROYO Y MATADERO. Phone 5378736973

 

Airport tax

Every passenger leaving the country will be charged airport tax 25 CUC. The tax is only payable at the airport and can not be paid in advance.