We're back in Isla Mujeres, having spent 19 days in Cuba exploring the inland places not easily accessible by sea. The bookends of this visit was Havana because from Cancun, MX, Havana is the only airport the three airlines fly to / from (Cubana Air, Aero Mexico & InterJet). From there, we took Viazul, the best-class long-distance bus line, to Santa Clara, Camaguey, Holguin, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, and Baracoa. There were no seats available on the one Cubana Air flight, just 3 days / week, from Baracoa to Havana, nor on the daily flights from Santiago to Havana so we had to take the bus back (5 hours Baracoa to Santiago, then 16 hrs Santiago to Havana).

Planning resources included the travel agency (flight info), Real Havana [www.BestCubaGuide.com] a Full Compass guide (I highly recommend this guide), Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Cuba guide, Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide, Viazul's website [www.viazul.com] and www.bbinnvinales.com. Casas particulares can now also be located and booked thru airbnb. In addition, we have several cruising guides for Cuba however they're focused on anchorages, etc so were less useful for a land travel trip.

Money Exchange Rates run 3-4% for all currency exchanges to CUCs; US $ exchange still carries a 10% penalty (although we've heard & read that is to be abolished) for an effective rate of 87 CUCs for every US $100. Since we traveled from Mexico, we exchanged US $ for Mexican pesos then exchanged those for CUCs in Havana to get the better exchange rate however we were concerned that the smaller towns, especially as we neared the east coast wouldn't exchange Mx pesos so also took US $ to exchange.

Budget & Costs
Round trip plane tickets (InterJet) booked through a travel agency in Isla Mujeres, Mx was US $370 per person (pp) including visa & taxes for a total of $742 / 13,719.9 pesos.

Transportation on Viazul: Havana to Santa Clara 18 CUC / pp; Santa Clara to Camaguey 15 CUC / pp; Camaguey to Holguin 11 CUC / pp; Holguin to Bayamo 6 CUC / pp; Bayamo to Santiago de Cuba 7 CUC / pp; Santiago to Baracoa 15 CUC / pp; Baracoa to Santiago de Cuba 15 CUC / pp; Santiago to Havana 51 CUC / pp for a grand total of 276 CUCs. Note: Viazul has a 42 lb limit on checked luggage.

Transportation in taxis to casa particulares ran anywhere between 3 CUCs (bicycle taxi) to 6 CUCs. In Havana the standard airport taxi rate is 25-30 CUC depending on drop-off location. Taxis in & out of Havana were typically 5-6 CUCs (collective taxis would be considerably less at 10 MN pesos / pp but with 4 of us traveling together it was impossible to find 4 seats available on any one collectivo; they're packed with locals!

Casa Particulares in Havana were 35 CUCs / room / night for a private room in a family home (budget more for an independent room or private apartment). Casa Particulares in the other cities were 25 CUCs / room / night for a private room. Upon arrival, the host will enter names & passport numbers in their official book; we heard they also call in the information for all US visitors.

Meals: Cubans don't really eat breakfast so it was difficult to find restaurant options outside of Havana which had us paying the casa particulars for breakfast at 5 CUCs / pp / day. The typical casa breakfast includes freshly made fruit juice, fruit plate, small ham / cheese sandwich or bread, butter, ham & cheese slices on a small plate, small plate of eggs, coffee, milk & sugar; tea or hot water for same upon request. It's a lot of food however the hosts don't expect all that is served to be eaten by you; the family eats what is left so you're essentially subsidizing a family meal. Beers are 1-2 CUC per, bottled water / soft drinks .45 - 1.5 CUCs. Since we ate a large late breakfast we rarely ate lunch. Dinner with drinks generally ran 20 CUC incl tip (for both). Bottles of rum are 5 CUCs and up, up, up.

Outside of the plane ticket and speciality items you may want to purchase (e.g. cigars, art, gifts) and tours you may want to take, if you stay in casas particulares a budget of US $100 per couple / day is reasonable.

Misc:
The entry form asks for information on cellphones, satellite phone, GPS devices, radio & wifi equipment (prohibited) in addition to the usual items. Visitors can rent a cellphone sim for 3 CUCs / day however I doubt most people need to use a cellphone, we didn't. Immigration asked me if I'd like to have my passport stamped; recommend a no response at this time. They'll stamp your visa instead; this gets confiscated when you leave. Don't lose it!

If you arrived to Mexico by boat, take a copy of the check-in fees paid to the airport when flying out. We forgot to do this and were charged 740 pesos immigration fee (2 passports) at the airport because we couldn't prove we'd already paid this fee when we checked in. Argh!

Take all toiletries, incl extra toilet paper for your own use (not for gifts) and always have some with you. Toilets in hotels, bus stations, restaurants, etc have a person who monitors & cleans, who may hand out a bit of toilet paper or may not; either way you pay him or her 1 MN peso per visit. BTW public toilets will not have a seat and many will not flush in the usual sense. Casa particulars do not provide shower / hand soap, nor wash cloths. "Hot" showers rarely are and water pressure is almost always low; typically "suicide" water heater shower heads.

If you choose to take a gift for the casas particulates family, pencils (standard) and pens are often asked for. In fact, school children may ask for one when you're out & about. Cubans love baseball and soccer; we brought new individually wrapped Wilson brand baseballs and they were enthusiastically received.

OK, now going back in time to add a bit about each place we visited.