When people think about Cuba, they think about Varadero. I have been in Cuba but not in Varadero. And in my next vacations to Cuba, Varadero won't be included*.

When my friends ask me what they can't miss from La Habana I ask them for how long they will stay in Cuba. For sure, five days won't be enough.

I went to Cuba for my 21st birthday; and I fell in love with La Habana. I did not go to the Rum museum nor to the Revolution museum. I did not take the ride on the red bus for tourists, neither. Instead, I took the bus to Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritu, Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Pinar del Río**. I did not stay at Habana Libre, El Nacional or any other fancy hotel. I stayed at a two-star hotel in front of La Universidad and at a ma'am's apartment in El Vedado. But the best of all, I make the three-hour line for a Cuban ice cream . It would have been much faster to accept my tourist status and pay 2 dollars for the same ice cream with no line needed. But lets face it: I have Laritza back home. So I made the three-hour line, payed two Cuban pesos and share the table with a total Cuban stranger. That has been the best ice cream experience in my whole life.

So next time your travel agency offers you vacations to Cuba, demand them to not include Varadero. If you want a really luxury trip and turquoise-water beaches go to Cancun, Jamaica, Santo Domingo or same place like those. Otherwise, you will just be one more blind tourist arriving to José Martí International Airport. And I am pretty sure Cuban people are sick of them already.

*Instead, I will like to go to Oriente, to the guajiro's land, to Guantánamo, to Santiago, to Bayamo, to Camagüey.

**I have to confess that it was the tourist bus, and after watching "La Lista de Espera" and "Guantanamera" I feel a little embarrased about it.