When we enter Matanzas by taxi, we immediately realise that we are in Cuba. The narrow, often one direction streets, are lined with small colourful houses with small shady patios where people sit to avoid the sun. Many walls have socialist texts on them that constantly remember the people how important the revolution was and what it brought for them. “Honour is better than money” is a popular one. The texts are often complemented by a painting of one of the two most famous heroes of the revolution: Fidel Castro or Che Guevara. The penetrant petrol smell in the narrow streets makes the picture complete. Old American gas guzzlers from the 1940s and 1950s are still prominent in the street and serve as shared taxis for the local people. We look at each other and without saying a word we know from each what we think: this is the reason we came to Cuba.

The taxi drops us at the central park called Parque Libertad (Freedom Park), from where it is only a short walk to our Casa Particular. A Casa Particular is a private home where one or more rooms are available for foreign travellers. This is a perfect alternative for the more expensive government-run hotels where the service is often poor. The increased number of travellers and the wish of the Cuban government to let local people profit more from the hard currencies that are brought in by the foreign tourists, they allowed families to rent out rooms to travellers. This is a great development, not only for Cubans families who have a room to rent, but also for travellers who like to spend their money directly at the families. Besides that, the experience of living with a Cuban family for a couple of days is unique. Rooms at a Casa Particular are also cheaper than hotel rooms and the family is often very happy also to cook food for you. And believe us, the food is better, more diverse and the portions are huge.

We stay two full days in Matanzas and have a great time. The city does not belong to the most important tourist destinations of Cuba and that means that you won’t see a lot of foreign travellers in the city. And that is also the main charm of this typical Cuban city. The tourist industry is still on a very low level and that means that there aren’t any annoying touts on the streets who want to earn money from you. And that is a big difference from the more touristy destinations in Cuba like Havana, Trinidad or Cienfuegos. Also the prices in the shops aren’t inflated due to the tourists. In Matanzas it is still possible to buy a 5 litre mineral water canister for less than 2 US-Dollars, while it is very difficult to buy a 1.5 litre bottle for the same price in for example Trinidad.

We experienced Matanzas as one of the most funny and interesting destinations in Cuba. And when we write this, we already visited places like Havana, Vinales and Trinidad. The churches, parks and buildings in Matanzas aren’t definitely not the most beautiful in the country, but the city does have something that is hard to find in the more touristy cities: pure Cuban charm. That does not mean that we say that you have to skip all the more popular tourist destinations in Cuba. All we want to say is that if you visit a city that is not on the beaten tourist trail (like Matanzas), you probably experience also a different Cuba; a Cuba that is not yet focussed on tourists. And that is why we liked Matanzas so much. It was for us the prefect introduction to Cuba.