Cropover Budget Breakdown (2017)

Let me preface this with saying that I’m honestly NOT trying to be an asshole in this blog post. I think this post in necessary because a lot of you want to go to carnival but seem to be completely oblivious to what carnival costs outside of North America. I give non-carnival goers estimates of how much it costs and they look at me with the most remarkable, confused and disgusted face.

Carnival is not for the weak.

Carnival is not for the broke.

Carnival will have you spent both physically and monetarily. 

In three weeks I will be going to Barbados for Cropover. This will be my third time attending the festivities, but I haven’t been since 2013. Back then I use to go for two weeks at a time and I always played mas and did a couple of fetes. This time around I am only going for one week and will be doing six events, j’ouvert (which is Foreday in Barbados) plus playing mas on Kadooment day in full costume.  

Although Barbados is still not as expensive as the grandiose Trinidad Carnival, I will say it sure is trying its best to compete in the category. Mix bigger popularity with a shitty Canadian dollar vs USD dollar and you’ll catch yourself suddenly working overnights on weekends just to afford it. (Me, currently) 

My trip to Barbados this year for Cropover is costing more than both previous times I went for two weeks at a time in 2012 and 2013, costing more than the 17 days I went to Europe in 2015 and costing more than the 19 days I went to Asia at the end of 2016.

One. Frigging. Week. 

This example of MY budget breakdown shouldn’t dissuade anyone from attending carnival. I may be bitching about the cost of it, but to me carnival is worth it. Carnival will always be worth it. Some of the best times in my life have been at carnival. I write this breakdown for all of you who complain about $50 fetes in Canadian currency. For all of you that think carnival is something you can plan last minute to attend. For all of you who had a # in your head for how much carnival would cost but are waaaaay the hell off.

This is for you.

This is my exact cost breakdown of Cropover this year.

Few things; I did not book my flight far enough ahead that’s why the cost is absurd (however, it was absurd for many people this year). I am not going as HARD as I could with the fetes. Yes I am going to six events within five days, but that easily could have been 7-9 if I wanted to go full pace. Also, I will not include the money I will be spending during my layover in St. Lucia because that is particular to just myself and how I arranged my flights.

Here we go – note, I will show you how much things are in USD and converted into CAD so you can cry with me.

Flight to Barbados = $396.17 CAD (had a 15% off coupon code to get this price)

Flight back to Toronto = $175.70 USD ($225.36 CAD) to St. Lucia, $339.46 USD ($433.28 CAD) from St. Lucia to Toronto same day

Flight total: $1,054 CAD

** At the time of booking this return flight, the ‘direct’ flights going from Barbados to Toronto on my desired day were $1300 one way. When I went back in 2013, my round trip was $550 CAD. This should teach all of you to BOOK EARLIER **

Hotel: $1049.89 USD ($1352 CAD) / 2 = $676.00 for one week

** I wanted to be in the Gap and beachfront, luckily I at least have my best friend to split this cost with **

Backline Costume for Kadooment: $455 USD ($585.93 CAD)

Backline for Foreday: $90 USD ($115.90 CAD)

Parties:

1) Wednesday: Fyah De Wuk = $50.52 USD ($65.06 CAD)

2) Thursday: Lush Cooler Fete = $50.37 USD ($64.86 CAD)

3) Friday: Candy Coated CropoOver Cruise = $106.49 USD ($137.13 CAD)

4) Saturday: Bliss All Inclusive Fete = $260 BDS ($167.47 CAD)

5) Sunday: Jalapeno Sunrise = $52.24 USD ($67.27 CAD)

6) Sunday: Soca Brainwash = $66.88 USD ($86.12 CAD)

Party Total: $587.91 CAD

Spending money: $500 USD ($643.88 CAD) 

** I assume this will be enough for liquor, food and taxi all week, pending I do not buy too much Mount Gay **

Total Cost of Cropover 2017: $3663.62

That is a lot of money.

I really could have done better by booking my flight earlier and maybe picking a different place to stay. However, these fete prices and costume prices are still the same for all of us. These shitty exchange rates are still the same for all of us. The spending money will be equal to or more for ALL OF US. Maybe others did it for much cheaper (more than likely did) but I wanted to give all of you an idea of what you’re up against trying to be an international carnival goer.

Whenever you do get the time off, the money together and some stamina – DO go to carnival! Plan accordingly and make an effort to attend one in the Caribbean when you can. It will change your life. Worth every penny spent. You will just have to cry through these extra shifts so that you can get the chance to sweat out rum when you get there! 

– Mirna 

Whose Mans?; My Cheap Travel Tips

So you’ve booked your trip, you feel good about it and then suddenly – you have a conversation with the person next to you on the plane about how they paid less (much less) for their flight. SHITTY. Or, as it has happened recently, you paid for your flight and went onto my Twitter page as I scolded folks for paying too much without adequate research. Yep, you feel shitty again.

‘You should have just asked me to help.’ 

I must say this line at least 10 times a week at this point on my Twitter feed. I do this for free, I’m always trying to help out and offering to do so – if you are so sure of the awesomeness of your flight price, does it really hurt to double check?

There isn’t too many ‘travel tips’ I can really offer up that most of you don’t already know via the other thousands of travel blogs. However, I would still like to offer up a few just in case you missed some. Also, I would like to offer a special travel tip that keeps happening personally to me as I went to book my flights for my 2017 travel. 

My first tip is – DO NOT WAIT TO BOOK. The days of that ‘last minute’ stuff are long gone guys. Let it go. The earlier you book the better the price will be. In a lot of cases I don’t mean necessarily book a whole year ahead, but definitely in that 6-9 month range is always great for flights. Yes, there is sometimes gems for last minute flight deals, but if you actually have a place in mind and aren’t flying by the seat of your pants? Book it as soon as you have the funds. Recently one of my followers (who shall remain nameless) asked me to help him find a flight for a carnival in the Caribbean. At the time I found him an incredible $427.00 direct round trip flight from Toronto for the exact dates he needed. It was actually an immaculate find given that carnival flights tend to be very expensive.

Did he book it though? No. He did not. He came back to me about six weeks later and asked me to look again. $800+ with layovers now for the same damn flight. Shame. He will no longer be going to that carnival this year. 

My second tip is to use Booking.com! This website has saved me money and headaches on so many occasions I cannot even begin to name them all. Not only does the site have really good prices for hotels everywhere you want to go, many of them have a ‘no prepayment and free cancellation‘ option. Therefore at the time of booking, you owe no money to secure your stay at the hotel and if you choose to cancel before the date they outline for you, this will also cost you nothing. To use a perfect example, when I was planning my trip to Chicago back in April for my boyfriends 30th birthday, I must have picked four different hotels. I would find one I like, book it and then a week later see a nicer one that may have had 40% off so I would cancel the first one and book this new one. No money lost. No penalties. No fuss. This is such a wonderful option for people who have ‘maybe’ trips coming up as well. Those who aren’t sure if the trip will go through but you see a great price for a hotel during the time you’d like to be there. BOOK IT! If it has those two options, what do you have to lose? Not all of the hotels on the site have that option, but it is nice that many have it available! 

As someone who must have about 9 travel-related apps on their phone, the one I use the most is Skyscanner. I do prefer the online interface for it, but the app also does this job just fine when looking for cheap flights. The reason I think this is a gem to constantly check for flight options is solely because of that ‘whole month‘ option they have. If you are thinking of going to Rio next year but aren’t settled on a date – go to the Skyscanner page, put in your departure airport, put in Rio airport as your destination and then under the dates put in ‘whole month + cheapest month’ and let it do its magic. It will give you a breakdown of the cheapest departure and arrival dates for the year and you can also move it around to see how it compares to other dates during the year. I have saved large amounts of money flying just because I used this feature to find out flying two days before I wanted to would cost me $400 less. Also, if you are just a wanderluster like myself, sometimes you just want to see your options and let your imaginations soar for that long weekend you have coming up. You can do that on there too! Put in your departure airport and put your destination as ‘everywhere’ and click the dates you have time off. The site will give you a list of all the places flying from your location and what price they are. The possibilities are endless. 

I would say packing light is another one of my travel tips because it will make it cheaper and a less fussy trip for you – but I already wrote a whole blog post about that. 

My final travel tip is the one I said I have been looking at since December. I recently also helped four different people use this information to find cheaper flights for their respective travel destinations. This one will save some of you a lot of money.

It isn’t a secret that flying in and out of Toronto is abhorrently expensive. Many of us have looked at the option of flying from Buffalo to get to many American-based destinations because 9/10 times this is a much cheaper alternative. But what do you do when it isn’t an American-based destination and flying out of Pearson to said location will cost you two months rent? AH HA! This is what I’m here to put you on. (I even have examples!)  

Do not ever accept the prices given to you only going from Toronto for flights. If you aren’t particular and like to save money flying, you should always look at the alternatives to Toronto. Furthermore, this does not only apply to Toronto. This can be used for other trips as well. I learned this personally twice this year, and just yesterday I proved this point with one of my followers. Here are the examples. 

**(all examples will be from Skyscanner since I am a member of Skyscanner Elite and it is the site I know best for use)**

Example 1) This year I am going to Barbados for Cropover. I made the mistake of taking too long to book my flight (clearly didn’t follow my own instructions) and was only able to book my flight TO Barbados.  The flights returning from Barbados were looking in the range of $1000-$1300 just to fly direct from Barbados to Toronto on August 9th. ONE WAY = Cost of my roundtrip to Bali last year? Absolutely not. 

So I began looking at alternatives one day and I found something awesome. 

Here is the cost of the ONE WAY direct flight home from Barbados on Aug 9th. Cheapest amount is $1,318

Here is the cost of the ONE WAY (with layover) flight from Barbados back to Toronto on Aug 9th. Cheapest amount is $681

Look at the difference in price. That is quite the sizable difference in price. 

I realize this requires a layover, but this means I also get to spend the whole day in St. Lucia while saving $637.00! All of this is just because I checked out how much it would be to fly Barbados to another small island and from there back to Toronto. Well worth it for me. Basically saved the cost of my costume for carnival.

Example 2) I am going to the Maldives this December with one of my best friends and the second I saw the flight prices going from Toronto to there I wanted to cry.  From December 19th to December 31st the price of the flight has been hovering around the $2,400 mark per person. I knew Maldives were expensive, but I was/am still refusing to pay this much for a flight there.

So naturally, again, I began looking at alternatives.

Here is the cost of the roundtrip from Toronto to Maldives, which includes a long layover in Frankfurt (somewhere I’ve been) and would require two stops on the way home taking 62hrs to get back to Toronto. Cheapest amount is $2,376

Now if you were to add those two up, that would give you a total of $1,788 roundtrip. Making it not only shorter travel time to get back to Toronto but also $588.00 cheaper than flying from Toronto. 

If these were small amounts like $100-$200 I would save myself the fuss and just fly from Toronto. But as you can see here, these are not small amounts being saved. These are entire/or at least half costs of hotel stays being saved in flight cost.

Example 3) One of my Twitter followers messaged me that she wanted to go to Dubai for a month. She told me the cheapest she was finding was $1600+ from Toronto to Dubai. 

Again, I went to look for alternatives to these prices just yesterday.

I realize the difference in these prices isn’t as large as the ones aforementioned, but this is still a difference of $295.00 just for flying out of Detroit. 

These three examples are tiny compared to all the combinations that I am sure exist. So wherever you live, make sure to check alternative departure places to potentially make your trip much cheaper. 

Also, just as an extra tip – never just check one generic site for your flights. There is Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak etc. Just the other day that SAME $681.00 one way flight I showed you above from Barbados was $2,639.41 on the Expedia page. 

Do your research.

Book early.

Don’t stick to one website to book.

Read reviews of airlines. 

Tweet me: @impatientourist or e-mail me from my contact page

I am here to help! 

Extras: If you plan on using AirBnB for the first time, click here for a free credit towards your stay OR if you choose Booking.com for the first time click here for a free credit. Also, if you plan on using Uber for the first time, click here for a free credit towards the ride.

– Mirna

4 Places That Didn’t ‘WOW’ Me That Everyone Else Loves

During my travels, not EVERY place was somewhere I fell madly in love with and hoped to return one day. I learned quickly that some places are like some men – nice to look at but lack the depth of wanting to ever see them again. They are like a geographical catfish, somewhere that looks so good in IG pictures but when you get there it just lacks the ‘wow’ you wanted.

For me? Those four places are Venice, St. Bart’s, Barcelona and Atlanta. 

Now before you attack me ‘OMGTHATSMYFAVORITEPLACEEVERHOWCOULDYOUNOTLIKEIT?!’ This is fine, shit happens. Not every place suits every personality or travel goal. 

Let me start with Atlanta.

During my walk home from J'Ouvert in Atlanta I walked by here, because it was a 40 minute wait for taxis.
During my walk home from J’Ouvert in Atlanta I walked by here, because it was a 40 minute wait for taxis.

 

I went to Atlanta back in May of 2013 for Atlanta Carnival. As a regular carnival-goer I saw the cheap flight and hotel opportunity if I flew from Buffalo to there and figured I’d go check out what an American carnival looked like. I really do not know what the fuck I was thinking. 

My understanding of Atlanta was based off too many rap videos that included Magic City and some sordid ‘this gonna be a freaknik type weekend’ ideologies. BOY WAS I WRONG. It was nothing like that. I found downtown Atlanta to be so quiet and peaceful. This really upset me. On the Sunday of our trip mostly everything was even closed downtown and people were out with their families in parks. Y’all got parks? Days off? WHAT? As a hardcore Torontonian this was completely beyond my mind. Although the people were probably some of the nicest I have ever met, the timidity was too much for what I expected Atlanta to be like ESPECIALLY since I was there for a carnival. 

The carnival itself was awful as well. The parade route was maybe 2 km? The men and the women didn’t dance on each other at all and there was children everywhere on the parade route. How am I suppose to get on bad at a family event? I’m not even going to talk about the fetes we went to, because that would require me to go to a worthless memory. Just not even worth talking about. 

Aside from the incredibly nice people, delicious food and some baddies at Magic City – I really have no wish to return there. That city is way too well behaved for my shenanigans.

Moving on to Venice.

Me, on a gondola in Venice. My gondolier was NOT impressed.
Me, on a gondola in Venice. My gondolier was NOT impressed.

People have this romantic and wanderlusting image of Venice, I can’t blame them. All of us heard about those winding canals, romantic scenery and the hopes that we would one day be with our love on a gondola being serenaded. Sounds so wonderful right? 

I gave Venice a big ‘meh’ – I found it overrated, crowded and very mean. I wanted to so badly fall in love with Venice as someone who had been dying to go there for a good portion of my life. It really did nothing for me. 

My best friends and I were in Venice in June 2015 and none of us left particularly impressed by it. (Full disclosure: we were only there on a day trip from Croatia.) To start, holy shit is it expensive. My mom had told me it would be as she is someone who still loves Venice after being there couple of times. But we were NOT ready.

Now when I say expensive I don’t mean the ‘I can’t afford this meal’ expensive I mean the ‘WHY THE HELL DOES SITTING AND DRINKING AN ORANGE JUICE HERE COST 21 EUROS?’ expensive. The scenery in Piazza San Marco is beautiful and cool to see, but do I have some deep need to ever see it again? Not really. 

We weren’t even there in the major part of tourist season as it was only the middle of June, so I cannot even imagine how crazy it is during July and August. As someone who walks like a maniac down the streets of Toronto, this just did not work for me. We did however manage to get cursed at in Italian by an elderly man because we weren’t aware of the walking rules. (Something about walking on the left? fungula?) 

We did the gondola ride, that was neat. Just to be able to say we did that. The odor from the water had already begun in this part of June, so I imagine in the hotter months it must smell even worse. The best part of Venice was looking at the local men in their suits. If you are into beautiful Italian men who wear the most perfectly fitting suits you have ever seen? Then YES do go to Venice. There is a plethora of them and if you stare hard enough, you may also see one get slapped by his girlfriend. Yes, that happened as well.

Same trip, Barcelona.

At La Barceloneta Beach, with the other thousands of people. 
At La Barceloneta Beach, with the other thousands of people. 

 When we went on this Euro trip that included Venice, we also had a couple of days in Barcelona. We had arrived in Barcelona after spending time in Madrid. The reason this is pertinent is we only went to Madrid because it was the cheapest flight into Europe at the time and we wanted to use it as a passage to the ‘more fun’ Barcelona. Again, WOW were we wrong.

I’m not sure if Barcelona would have come off more incredible if we had not gone to Madrid, but because we took that route, Barcelona seemed just OK. We had such an (unexpectedly) amazing time in Madrid that when we got to Barcelona to me it was not even close in comparison.

I get it though. Barcelona is beach, art and party. We spent our first day on La Barceloneta beach and that is probably where my annoyance took shape. Why is there like 40,000,000 people on one beach? Every five seconds someone is asking me if I want food, massage or liquor. I just want to rest and get rid of this hangover, why must you talk to me? On top of that, the annoying 20-something groups of Brit males that were drunk and everywhere on the beach ‘play-fighting’ made it even worse. 

The club scene was cool, I could see how that would be a draw for Barcelona. We went clubbing that night to some bar that had the back of it go onto a stretch of beach. The drinks were expensive, most of the crowd was kind of douchey but at least the music was good and so was the scenery. But again, not as good as the clubs we enjoyed in Madrid. 

If you want party and beach, Barcelona is definitely for you. Just do not go to Madrid before it because it will completely outshine it.

Finally, St. Bart’s. 

Nikki Beach, where if you play Future too loud someone will give you a mean look.
Nikki Beach, where if you play Future too loud someone will give you a mean look.

At the end of 2015, I took a trip to St. Maarten and was fortunate to be able to fit a day trip to Anguilla and St. Bart’s during that trip. While I absolutely adored St. Maarten and Anguilla, St. Bart’s was not my cup of tea at all.

St. Bart’s is one of those places you hope to be wealthy enough to see one day. Personally, I couldn’t in my wildest dreams think I could be NOT rich and get to this island. I was really excited to see it because all I ever read about was this place being the playground for the rich and famous. 

When we arrived in our boat, the FIRST thing we saw was about 15-20 yachts parked with those 1% people having their breakfast on it. For someone who was hype to see where these exact people come to hang out, seeing that imagery really makes you realize how NOT-rich you are. We had some quick conversations with the other people that had come on the day trip and they told us Russell Simmons had just walked by them and how a hamburger at a restaurant close by was 40 EUROS. Oh dear. We had arrived.

We were fortunate enough to befriend two girls on the boat that rented a Jeep to go cruise the island so we could see more of this beautiful and rich playground. As we were driving, we were quickly reminded of how French this island was. It was like Quebec Jr. I would assume that the people were more likely from actual France, but because I have never been to France I cannot comment on their locals. However, as someone who has dealt with ONE too many Quebecers in Canada and abroad, the attitudes and behaviours seemed to fit. My goodness were they crass and rude. They looked and spoke down to everyone there who was not wearing $400 Gucci flip flops. 

On the one side of the island we parked and brought our things onto Nikki Beach. Gorgeous. This beach was so clean and relaxed. I loved it. Then we decided to play some music and immediately the stares and dirty looks from the topless sunbathing French began. We had even found an area far away from everyone to play our music, and still, when they walked by the ces gens sont des paysans looks were evident. (Translation: These people are peasants) 

Between being expensive and full of jerks, I have no reason to ever return to St. Bart’s. I’m happy I saw it but I do not ever have to return. 

I realize many of my readers, my friends and even my mom love the places I mentioned. Some of you even live there and some of you have goals to travel there. I am not discouraging anyone from doing it nor will I judge if you liked it. They just did not do it for me. Whether my expectations were too high/convoluted (Atlanta and Barcelona) or maybe I’m not rich enough to enjoy them like I should (Venice and St. Bart’s) – I am perfectly fine with never returning to them ever again.

– Mirna 

 

Stop Telling People to ‘Quit Their Job and Travel’!

I’ve been travel blogging for about a month now. (yay me!)

I love blogging, I love sharing my travel experiences and posting itineraries so that others may find cheap travel options as well. People deserve to know that it can be affordable and accessible at whichever income you earn. However, is MANY people’s reality that even with the cheapest travel options they still may not be able to afford even a weekend trip somewhere close? Definitely.

I realize my privilege at being able to travel as much as I do, have a Canadian passport to do it with and a steady job. I don’t believe in being ‘lucky’ to travel because when I was working 50-70 hours every week to travel that was not luck, it was a lot of work. ‘Luck’ is when you win a trip for free, not work your ass off for it.

With this privilege that I acknowledge, I am VERY sick of how irresponsible some travel bloggers are with their suggestions. How dare you tell people to ‘quit your job and just travel’?? Where do you even come off with the audacity to tell those who are fortunate enough to have found work in these shitty economies to ‘just quit’? 

Although I am happy that some people were able to quit their jobs to go travel and are able to survive doing it – I don’t think it should be pushed so feverishly on readers. 

A day doesn’t go by without me seeing a fellow travel blogger telling people how they quit their job, sold their items, traveled, found odd jobs bla bla bla. Whole thing screams privilege. 

You good looking? You’re middle-upper class? Live at home with your mom? Live in a city that ISN’T expensive as Toronto/NY/LA? Are white? Oh — funny how it seems people who fit into these categories can’t wait to tell people to QUIT a job. Get the hell out of here.

I find this irresponsible and just reeking of social privilege. 

How can you tell a millenial living in a place like Toronto who may have a job to afford living in this expensive place to quit their job for travel? I love travel just as much as the next person, but seriously? I see the breadth that travel can bring to your life and contribute to your personal growth, but can I really put ‘was in 10 countries in 10 months’ on a resume? Will all those passport stamps mean a damn thing when I come home to Toronto at ANOTHER rent increase I can’t afford to pay?

Those of you who were able to quit your job and do odd jobs while traveling, I do salute you. This is a great accomplishment and you should be proud of yourselves. You can definitely talk about how YOU got there, but you have to recognize you may also be an anomaly. 

I recently read this piece on the webpage ‘The Observers’ that had a headline saying ‘BEG-PACKERS: WHITE TOURISTS WHO BEG IN SOUTHEAST ASIA‘ – pardon my Toronto vernacular but, ARE YOU DUMB? 

The gall to be a white person traveling to a foreign country and begging on the street so people can fund your travel? TRAVEL IS A PRIVILEGE. The people who are begging on the road alongside you need it for their families, for food, for medicine. It made me sick reading this. 

That story ties in with this whole ‘quit your job and travel’ B.S. because if these people were employed and accordingly planned their travel and budgets, this would NOT be a thing. (I realize medical and family emergencies happen while traveling – literally not one of these stories was about someone needing to beg to get home in case of those, just for furthering their travels.)

Share your experience if you were fortunate enough to quit your job and enjoy the pleasure of traveling. That is the whole point of blogging. Sharing. Giving people extended imaginations. Do not encourage actions that may be detrimental to peoples incomes and livelihood. 

 

– Mirna 

 

My Love Affair with Cuba

I have now been to Cuba five times. 

In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t THAT many times since I’ve met people who have been there on more than 20 occasions. However, those people only did resorts – I did not.

This post is about my love of Cuba. I am absolutely enamored with the country. It puts me in complete disbelief when I meet those who have gone and weren’t as enamored as I am. I just assume you did Cuba wrong, because Cuba can’t possibly do wrong to you.

The people who tell me they did not enjoy Cuba all revert to the same complaint – the food. This is where I will tell you, I ASSURE YOU THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF THE RESORT. The issue is that resorts are making Americanized food. That is NOT Cuban food. Actual Cuban food is freaking delicious. Ropa Vieja especially and that one coconut thing that’s ground up with corn and frozen. (No, I don’t know the name of this dessert but it is delicious) 

I first went to Cuba back in 2011 (I think?) with an ex boyfriend of mine. We wanted to relax, hang out on a beach and be away from civilization. We went to a resort in Cayo Santa Maria which felt like it was in the middle of no where. It was quiet, the seafood was delicious and the beaches were majestic. Vacation well spent sleeping and swimming.

The trip was enjoyable because the beaches were beautiful, but at that time, was Cuba particularly memorable to me? Not really. It was just somewhere I was lucky enough to go to relax for a week. 

In 2012 I was a second year student at the University of Toronto and one of my majors was Caribbean studies. During this time I had taken a class about the history of Cuba. The professor from this class was from Cuba and every year he had a competition for the two best papers in the class receiving a stipend from the University to go to Santiago de Cuba and present their papers at their annual Caribbean conference. 

Guess who had one of the two top papers? YES. I was blessed to get a chance to go to Cuba again, but this time to spend two weeks in a Cuban household, have my flight paid by the University and present an academic paper at a conference. Probably the proudest moment of my life up to this point. 

In July 2012 myself and another student were off to Santiago de Cuba – this is where my love affair began. 

Santiago de Cuba is NOTHING like those resort areas. There is a beach, but it’s kind of far away. This city is where all the culture lays. Although Havana is obviously the most major city, Santiago is where it felt like all the heart and soul was/is.

I stayed in a casa particular which is just a guest house run by locals. I made friends in the neighbourhood I stayed in that I am friends with to this day and regularly communicate with. While I was doing all the academia things preparing to present my winning paper, I was also going out EVERY SINGLE NIGHT to party with the locals we befriended. I’m not even talking about regular nightclubs, I mean those amazing street parties that if you didn’t know someone from there you would NEVER have attended nor even heard about. 

This was probably the most authentic Cuban experience one could have as a tourist. Not staying within the confines of a resort where the food is bland and you’re surrounded by people you just left your country to get away from. I got to indulge in the street food and the food cooked in Cuban households and maybe talked to one other Canadian during the entirety of the trip. Full submersion. 

The experience from this trip was so monumental to me, that in 2014 I went TWICE right back to Santiago de Cuba within a six month span. Still the same friends there. Stayed again in the same casa particular. Still went partying every day. I couldn’t get enough of the place.

My fifth time in Cuba was recently in September of 2016 for my mothers 60th birthday. She opted for all of the family to go to a resort she had fallen in love with in Cayo Guillermo. This place was drop dead gorgeous. Unlike Santiago, this place was all beach and all chill. A nice week of relaxing and spending time with family while trying to not bake from within because the sun was so hot.

I advise you all to go to Cuba. I also advise to try maybe doing it from a local perspective just once, not the resort life. Place a very sure bet you will get much better food and a better understanding of the country by doing so.

I will probably write a follow up post JUST about Santiago de Cuba because my heart flutters specifically thinking about there. Although I did love the beaches in Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Guillermo, there is unequivocally something so special about Santiago de Cuba. Hopefully in the next year you will also see a post about Havana too 🙂         

– Mirna