Communist Cuba

The long awaited trip to Cuba finally happened last week! Booking the flight with Cubana airline was a total bitch. Rogie tried booking it at 1st but the transaction was over before he could even type in his credit card no to pay. The next thing we know, the price rose from US$250 to US$312. Feeling extremely disgusted, we decided to head down to the airline office to book the ticket. It turned out that the rate at the office was a flat rate of US$312 the whole year round. When we asked if she could help us to look through the internet, her reply sent us walking down the streets in search for an internet cafe - there was no bloody internet in the airline office!! When we finally settled down in the internet cafe, the Cubana website continued to irritate us further. Nyan and me wanted to try booking for a flight that comes back a day earlier than Rogie but the stupid airline only has flights that cost US$250 if we were to come back the same day as Rogie or 2 days earlier so we had no choice but to book for flights that come back on the same day as Rogie.

So off we went to Cuba - Me, Nyan, Rogie and Gustavo (from Chile). Air Cubana was an interesting plane to be on.. We could literally see the smoke of the air con just by sitting in our seat.. when it was about to take flight, there was so much smoke anyone would have thought the plane was on fire.. but no matter how bad the plane is, no plane can be as bad as Viva Aerobus. I swear thats the only plane where the pilots smacks the plane on the ground while landing. Having safely landed in Cuba, we thought everything would be fine from then on.. Never did we expect to be stopped by this black custom officer. He was just plain weird - took our passport and stared at it for what seems like hrs, refused to open his freaking mouth to tell us what´s wrong and started walking off with our passport. Thank god Gustavo came to our rescue and the black guy finally stopped harrassing us. Once we pass by the customs, it was Rogie and Gustavo´s turn to get into trouble - they were suspected of taking drugs purely based on the fact that Rogie was from Holland and Gustavo was from Chile. So they conducted a check on them before we finally got out of customs. I´ve never had so much trouble in a single day of travel before!

7 days in Cuba was all i need to have a basic idea of how a communist state is like.

1. The government knows everything - there was once when the cab driver took us to club to see if we wanna go in and when we decided not to, he had to get the guard outside the club to sign on his card. We were guessing that´s how the government keeps track of everything.. haha

2. They are not allowed to buy and sell their cars which is why they are still driving the antique cars we see during our parents´ era.

3. They are not allowed to buy and sell houses - houses are passed down from generations to generations. For people who do not have a house, here´s the way to get one: get married to someone who has a house and get him/her to give u the house and then get a divorce.

4. Tourists are only allowed to sit in tourist taxis although we ALWAYS take the illegal ones - the driver usually tells us not to snap any pictures when he drives pass the police checkpoint in case he gets stopped and checked.

5. The only thing they ever eat is pizzas and bread with ham and cheese. Their pizzas are called pizza with cheese which is weird for us cos pizza naturally should have cheese in it.. so basically we have been eating pizzas with no ingredients for a week..

6. Cubans survive on rations from the government. Medical subsidies by the government is very good cos medicines are really cheap there.

7. Any job can easily be better off than working as a professional in Cuba. Professional salaries are like shit in Cuba.

8. There is no internet access in Cuba. If there is, its 56k modem.

9. There is a song in Cuba which contains a word that sounds similar to the pronounciation of ¨Singapore¨ and the meaning of that word is to have sex. Everytime we tell people we are from Singapore, they laugh so now we know why they laugh.

10. Cubans rarely smile and stares more often than ever.

Not sure if i missed out anything.. haha.. but all i can say is that a week in Cuba is really a unique experience which i will never forget! Haha.. too unique to forget......

Yvonne

Toga Party

If there's anything that i've done the most here, i have to say its partying... haha.. there's always a party going on.. so all we need to do when we're bored is to ask around.. So this time, we were invited to attend a toga party. If u do not know what is a toga party, go google toga.. u will know what i mean instantly. I was actually getting quite sick of all the house parties because they were all about the same.. people just go there to drink and get drunk so its kinda boring for me cos i don't like beer.. So as usual, i was contemplating whether to go for this one as well.. Eventually i decided to go since most of my friends are going (peer pressure.. haha).. So we got the cloth and strings that we needed to make a toga and wait for the time to leave.. An hr before, everyone in the house were cracking their brains over how to make a toga out of that piece of cloth and it got me really excited about the party.. I guess i've never really been to a party where i had to dress up for a particular theme.. no.. i should correct myself.. i HAVE been to parties with themes but i never bothered to dressed up.. haha.. so i got all hyped up with designing myself an outfit and i really enjoyed myself a lot!

My toga gown!

Nyan's toga. He insisted he wanted purple and Rogie got him a shiny purple cloth.. haha.. no matter how he dresses himself, we all agree that he looks like an Indian selling snacks in the mama shop.. (we refers to me and vanessa.. haha)


Isn't he the most blissful guy on earth? 5 girls fawning over him.. haha

Rogie insisted that he's a monk for the day and so we have to respect him, don't we?


Nyan and guapo! For those of you who don't know any spanish, guapo means handsome. Guapo is Carla's friend and when he 1st came to our house, Nyan called him Guapo and so from then on, we never bothered to ask or remember his real name.. He adopted a new name on the day we met him - Guapo.. Haha..

Kiss with Mahsa from Sweden! Oops~

Show some sexy legs, baby! Uh oh.. sorry for the unglam shorts.. hehe

Nyan and his newfound interest, Soly!! This guy has 2 paintball fields behind his house in the states.. Now u know why he's Nyan's newfound interest..

Polish girls! They take very beautiful pictures!

Chips, soft drinks and alcohol

Psychology classmates from France

Nyan daring Vanessa to down Vodka for 5 secs.. Rogie was the accomplice..

Can u believe it?! They brought their mask to the party! Haha..

As usual, Carla got really drunk and slept on the couch.. we had a hard time waking her up..

Picture before leaving for supper!

Taco Felix - Our favorite taco place for supper!

~Yum yumzz~

Posted by Yvonne

Lucha Libre!

Despite the huge amount of pending homework, projects and readings, we decided to go and take a look at the famous Mexican wrestling that everyone has been talking about - LUCHA LIBRE!! Those who has watched Nacho Libre will know what i meant.. haha.. and we got to watch it live this time! I never like wrestling because i couldn't understand why people would see in front of the tv to watch 2 or more ugly and muscular (sometimes fat i think) guys fighting one another. In fact, i never understood why there was such a show in the 1st place. But now i know. People pay to watch WWF for its entertainment value. Here i am, watching it live and i have to say that it is really an interesting experience that i will never forget! Another thing that amaze me is the fact that this is a family activity. There were kids who look as young as 3-5 years old watching it. Also, i heard from Arturo that on some days, the women fight too.. haha..

They already started when we went in. We bought the most expensive ticket which is 100 pesos (13 SGD) so that we could get the front seats. It was worth all our money when u get to see them fighting right in front of you. Slamming each other with boards and rubbish bins, jumping off the stage onto the other guy, spitting at each other and once in a while, flying towards the audience. It was kinda hilarious to see everyone running off from their seats and yet frantically trying to get a good picture of them flying towards the audience.

One thing i find amusing about them was how fake some of them looked when they were hitting one another. Like the way they shake their hands and legs to portray the pain when the opponent was on top of them and they couldn't move. I couldn't stop laughing.. haha.. But some were really good and i just stared at them in awe. But there were some,

Emo Lucha Libre.

I don't know what he is. Batman? Haha.. but he was really happy to pose for a picture for our camera.

Skeleton man!!

This match needs parental guidance cos there was this guy who was a gay wearing pink outfit and a flowery scarf. I think he's just portraying himself as a gay for entertainment sake but who knows, i might be wrong.. haha.. But he was touching the privates of his opponents all the time during the match. He kept kissing them too. Needless to say, u should know who won this match. Haha..

They fell from the stage. Two obese man flying from the stage, imagine the impact. Haha..

Preparing to jump off the stage onto his opponent

Ultraman assault!

Slamming the guy with a board

And then a rubbish bin

But he eventually won!

The audience went crazy when the whole thing ended. All of us started climbing up onto the stage to "fight" and take photos. So of cos, Nyan was one of them. Looks like he can be a wrestler too! Haha..

Poor Siv..

Mask for remembrance sake! 80 pesos each!

Posted by Yvonne

Puerto Escondido

The bus ride from Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido was a ride to hell. We took a night bus, hoping that we could catch up with some sleep and that time will pass faster.. Halfway through the night, the bus started making turns every 3 secs.. The road became winding from i dun know where (Pochutla i think) and it went on for 2 hrs straight.. It was as torturous as you can imagine it to be. We didn't get much sleep and the ride felt like it was going to take forever.. Nonetheless, the hell we went through were all worth it when we got to Puerto Escondido!!

Breakfast! Free flow of toast with butter before our main course arrives! Yum yum~

Sitting in our favorite cafeteria.. it has the tastiest cinnamon buns i've ever tasted and we couldn't resist the temptation to buy it each time we walk past the cafeteria.. Best of all, it has stir fry! Haha.. And the food here is really cheap as compared to all other restaurants along the stretch of road..

Vanessa and her scooter. She almost got into a couple of accidents on the road!!

My 1st time on an ATV!! Ok.. i wasn't as brave as Vanessa so all i did was to ride it in the empty carpark outside the bus terminal.. after that, i let Nyan do the driving.. haha.. Even so, i think i almost killed Nyan and some pedestrians cos i changed the wrong gears all the time.. lol..

Some castle looking structure at the end of the beach

All of us tried surfing while we were there!! It was really fun at 1st and then it got really tiring.. haha.. but still all of us enjoyed the experience!

People parachuting!

Posted by Yvonne

Places around Oaxaca City

During our 2 days stay in Oaxaca City during spring break, we went to a couple of places outside the city for some sightseeing.. here are the pictures!

A glimpse of our messy hostel room.

Common area in the hostel

The 1st place we went to - El Tule. This is where the world's biggest tree is located in.. Apparently, it has been entered into the Guinness World Record as the largest tree! No wonder they brought us here to see this famous tree.. haha

Son of the big Tule tree.. The guide said that they planted a grandson tree but it was destroyed by lightning last year. It died..

They have bushes trimmed into many different kinds of animals. Here is one of them - an elephant!

2nd stop was Teotitlan del Valle, a weaving village.

Materials for making the strings needed for weaving

The spinning wheel where strings are made manually

All the different rugs and mats done through weaving.. they were very pretty but the price was on the upper end too.. so we just feasted our eyes on it, took many pictures and left empty handed.

3rd stop was Mitla, another ancient ruin which is of a smaller scale than Monte Alban in the previous post.

Vanessa, Nyan and me on the top of the pyramid

Nyan inside the tomb. It was so short and tiny!

Yoga position 1

Yoga position.. ermm.. 2? Is this yoga? lol..

4th stop was Hierve el Agua where we got to see the dried up waterfall and swim in the pond. This place is really beautiful!

View of the entire place from the top

Dried up waterfall

Everyone soaking themselves in the pool and enjoying the view

Tanning under the sun!

Last stop was the Mezcal factory. Mezcal is an alcoholic drink which is similar to Tequila but distillated only twice (6 times for Tequila) so basically it is very strong in the taste and i didn't quite like it..

Shelves full of different kinds of Mezcal.. the tourists went crazy trying out all the different flavours.

Sunset

The night before we left Oaxaca City, we visited the famous church. Its called Santa Domingo. As they were having some ritual that night, we were unable to get any proper pictures inside of the church. All that i can say is that the inside of the church is extremely intricate and grand.. =p

Posted by Yvonne

Cuatro Cienegas

Went over to Cuatro Cienegas over the weekend. It's about 4 hours drive from Monterrey and we went cos we heard about how beautiful the place is. A oasis in the middle of the desert, how often can we see that? Haha.. So off we went!

Memo! Thanks to him volunteering to be one of the drivers! Else we probably wouldn't have been able to get to Cuatro Cienegas..

Carla caught by the ranger for drinking beer in the water.. Haha.. After that, a few others were caught too.. What can i say? Beer is more important than anything else.. lol..

Picture in the lake!

Group photo! A total of 15 people went!

Rogie with a view of the mountains in the back

Taken along the stream.. Looks like we're in the middle of a jungle..

Sunset

As usual, partying in the night with lots of booze, food and loud music.

Another beautiful lake. Unable to swim here cos its really cold as compared to the other lake.

Sea kayaks! I miss kayaking!! Haha..

Nyan making Rogie do a funny pose beside the signboard.

We were to help a friend with his flat tyre but we ended up taking lots of photos along the road cos there really wasn't much cars passing by the area..

Nyan sprawled on the floor..

Me doing CPR for Carla in the middle of the road

Funny poses with the signboards along the road

Nyan and his favorite naked pose.. Haha..

That's all for Cuatro!!

Yvonne

Where should I start?

Hi People! Sorry for the long hiatus. I was so busy and SO LAZY that I didn't bother to upload or blog. But those who have facebook will know that i am pretty consistent in uploading my photos as it has a far easier interface to use and is a quicker medium for me to update my friends. Anyway thanks to my dear yvonne for updating everything so we will go on to talk about our Semana Santa holiday(its like called Holy Week but its our spring break).

This time we went down south to the beautiful and earthquake prone state of Oaxaca and its coast. First stop was Oaxaca city and its beautiful colorful architecture. The Mexicans sure have an eye for color as the streets(calles in spanish) were spread with color little terraces and houses and cobblestone pedestrian streets.. I love the place as it is so cooling and just so nice and relaxed. We found more people speaking English speaking here than most parts of Mexico that we have visited so far and Oaxaca City has the best collection of English books on Mexico. Its an artistic place and one can observe it through the flood of shops selling artistic wares, elaborately designed zocalo(something like a city square) and it just bursts into life at night when they close up the roads and destine some streets to be pedestrian only.

We explored the markets around and it was filled with weird looking stuff together with the colorful art wares. We were told by many to look out for the fried grasshoppers and even armadillos. We didn't find those due to our short time but we did see a lot of weird meats, a drink that is amazing disgusting (imagine grass jelly looking like leeches from a pot of water that looks like drain water) and this, mezcal. Mezcal is an spirit that is distilled up to 3 or 2 levels less than tequila. Its extremely strong, and has a mealworm in it. It comes in many flavors like mocha and strawberry but its strong alcoholic taste is just overpowering... u get the idea.. sucks.. We were supposed to eat it with sal which is salt and fried mealworms ground together, which i didn't know that i was eating it until the lady told me afterwards.



Then after exploring alittle of city and being amazed by its market, we decided to explore it more the next day(which we didn't, and thank god because i would have bought a shitload of stuff from there). So we went to Monte Alban, one of the most amazing and well preserved ancient city ruins in Mexico. Its pretty high up on a mountain, almost 3000 plus metres, and thank god we didn't cycle up as recommended by our hostel owner.. THe view was amazing and we got a nice old and knowledgeable Mexican guide who spoke perfect english to give us a low down on the place for 200 pesos. What an awesome deal! Thus, we went off into a trip back into time with the people of the area, the Zapotecs who were eventually chased away by the Mixtecs and then they buried up the whole place with its accompanying treasures when the Spanish came. This move of hiding their beautiful city was a good one as it is one of the few cities that were not pillaged by the Spanish and many treasures and jewelery were found here.....
So let's us let our pictures speak for themselves!



Together with us was Sam from Australia, who joined us for this trip..... This vannessa, our fellow Singaporean from NTU and her future self.. MUAHAHAHA
Our guide!
The ball court! This is where ancient Zapotecs settled their disputes and competed for certain stuff. U can only use your shoulders, elbows, knees to hit the ball into holes in the walls that were previously on top of the steps.. What a hard game!

This amazing structure can observe certain celestial phenomenons at certain times of the year.

Ok that's it for now folks! Blogging is tiring.. Yvonne or me will talk more about the rest of our trips... We will see whether we can let non facebook users see our photos too!