First, I describe how the people are currently doing, what I have seen and experienced, and then later I try to show a little bit of what has led to the current situation in Cuba through an insight into history.
I got a first idea of the situation in Cuba before I arrived in Santiago de Cuba in the south-east of the country. I had written to some hosts on Couchsurfing beforehand and got more answers than usual. But most of them wrote that they were not allowed to host travellers. In Cuba, only those who officially register a hostel are allowed to do so. So I was only left with a hostel run by a Couchsurfer (really not the idea of Couchsurfing). Shortly before leaving the Dom Rep, I got a message offering accommodation in Santiago. But I had already booked the hostel and didn’t want to get the family into trouble. Margarita (name changed) had replied to me on Couchsurfing and immediately made it clear that she saw me as part of her Cuban family – the family was as hospitable as that sounds and I felt very much at home there, even though I wasn’t staying in their house. Nevertheless, I spent a lot of time with and at their place.
Even before I arrived, Margarita asked me to bring her some things that she doesn’t get in Cuba. These were mainly spices like curry, vegetable broth and bay leaves, but also medical products. I was happy to give her this pleasure and I also took some pencils and balloons for the children in Cuba, as I had read that they were very happy about them and this was indeed the case. Often children arrived and asked for money or sweets, and they were very happy to receive a balloon.
So I travelled to Cuba with about 3 kilos of presents in my luggage and wondered whether I might have problems at the airport. But when I saw the baggage carousel in Cuba, my worries disappeared, because apart from me, there were only Cubans on the plane, each with 3 – 5 huge suitcases. They probably travel to the Dom Rep to bring back things for their families and to sell another part. A way to make money in the crisis.

Cuba and the crisises

But what exactly is the current crisis? I’ll go into the background a bit more below, but in a nutshell, an embargo by the US and other Western countries and dependence on the Soviet Union as a communist partner contributed to Cuba’s severe economic crisis after the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s and its increasing dependence on tourism. Tourism came to a standstill for a long time during the pandemic. As a result, a large part of the income was lost and the next severe economic crisis followed in the last few years.
That it’s not only Margarita who feels this way, that some things are inaccessible to her and her family (they are still relatively well off compared to other Cubans), was something I quickly realised in conversation with the people – especially through my street music. Santiago is the home of the Cuban Son (similar to Salsa) and the melancholic guitar music Trova, so music played a big role there. I was all the more pleased that I got a lot of positive feedback when I went through the streets with my guitar. From hardly any other people is that a greater compliment.
Since Santiago de Cuba is less touristy than other places in the country and I walked more through the side streets than played in the main squares, I got to talk to many Cubans. Many told me the same phrase that stuck with me: “In Cuba we don’t live, we survive”. It is worth mentioning that the region around Santiago in the south-east of the country, far from the capital, is probably the poorest region in Cuba. Hennoch, I observed similar problems in the other places I went to.
Just getting food in Cuba is not that easy, not to mention other everyday things. Since the revolution and the official introduction of communism, Cuba has had the so-called Libretta. By the way, whether Cuba is really (still) a communist country is a subject of much discussion and debate. I would rather describe Cuba as a socialist country, but I don’t claim to be right in any case.
In any case, the Libretta is a small booklet that every family has and with which they can pick up food several times a month at a very cheap price from government distribution points. A pound of rice, for example, currently costs about 7 Cuban pesos – about 4 cents. But you only get a rationed amount of this, which is not enough to get you through the month. The same goes for other food.
To get more food, there are currently the following possibilities: you go shopping at the market or in private shops (these have recently been allowed, before there were only shops run by the state). Then you can pay with Cuban pesos, but often some things are missing and/or you have to queue for hours. If you don’t have the time because you are working or something similar, you can buy the rest of the things in government shops, but there you can only pay with a card. This card contains Convertibles Cubanos (CUC), a new currency created by the government at the beginning of the pandemic. One CUC can be bought with one euro or one dollar, but not with Cuban pesos. Incidentally, it is therefore advisable to take dollars with you to Cuba instead of euros, as they are treated as equivalent.
Since you cannot buy the CUC with Cuban pesos, Cubans have to exchange money with tourists or others. This has created a black market in money: When I withdraw money with my credit card from a Cuban bank, I get about 120 Cuban pesos for one euro. But on the street it’s 170 – 180 Cuban pesos – that’s 50% more.
By the way, there are no credit cards in Cuba, so when Cubans travel (which very few can do), they have to travel with cash.
A really difficult situation and unfortunately partly caused by the government, even though I don’t want to take the USA out of the responsibility at any time.
In Santiago, I ended up spending a day longer than originally thought because I felt so comfortable with Margarita and her family and wanted to watch the semi-finals of the baseball world championship with friends. Unfortunately, Cuba lost badly to the USA, but the semi-final was a surprise. Baseball is the number one national sport in Cuba, as it is in the Dom Rep and Puerto Rico.
Apart from the people and the music, which I liked very much in Santiago, I was especially enthusiastic about the exciting rum museum and a trip with my friend Rauber to the fortress “Castillo del Morro”. I had also met Rauber via Couchsurfing and only found out afterwards that we have a mutual friend in Cologne.

On the way to Havana in the west of the country, I made a stopover in the cities of Sancti Spiritus and Trinidad. In Trinidad, I stayed with a Cuban family again, but this time in their hostel. Trinidad is a classic former colonial town, with beautiful buildings in the centre and a wonderful beach off the coast, which I visited for snorkelling. In the evening, I went to a disco in a cave before continuing on to Havana the next day.

Havanna and Cuban elections

In Havana, I stayed in a hostel for the first time with many other travellers and met cool people with whom I also went on some excursions. In Havana itself, the highlights were again the Havana Rum Museum, the many good cocktails, the huge fortress with a wonderful sunset and the Fabrica de Artes: a large, old factory building that houses several exciting art exhibitions and at the same time opens a disco with several floors and live music in the evening.

But contact with locals was not neglected in Havana either. Once again, Couchsurfing and my guitar gave me the opportunity to talk to many Cubans. The highlight was when a group of about 20 children listened to me. Of course, they were also very happy about the balloons I had brought with me from the Dom Rep and gave them afterwards.
Before the short time of 10 days in Cuba was already drawing to a close, there was one more absolute highlight:
With the travellers Kaelah, Arsenna and Mario, I visited the valley of Vinales, which on the one hand offers wonderful views of a unique mountain landscape with high but flat mountains and on the other hand is the home of Cuban tobacco, so we were able to visit a tobacco farm.

There we learned how and where Cuban cigars are made and learned that the tobacco farmers have to sell 90% of their harvest to the government at ridiculous prices. With the remaining 10%, they still earn more than they get from the government for the other 90. The dissatisfaction with the government is noticeable in every part of the country, as is the resignation: I only found out two days earlier from a friend from St. Maarten that parliamentary elections were taking place in Cuba.
When I asked my Cuban friends about it, they said that they don’t vote anyway because nothing changes. I then did some research and indeed there were exactly 470 candidates for the 470 seats in parliament. The candidates have to get more than 50% yes votes, but otherwise they are elected from the communist party, there is only one party in Cuba anyway. But I also found something positive during my research: Cuba has quotas for parliament and therefore more women than men and a large number of people of colour.
But how has this country developed? I would like to give a brief overview here. It is important for me to emphasise that while I write such history or politics digressions to the best of my knowledge and belief, I do not want this to be understood as a scholarly essay. I’m just trying to summarise what I learn from locals, tours and my own research so that you have a bit more background. However, if you want a more detailed history summary, there are many alternatives, one of which is the Netflix series “Secret Cuba”, which I am currently watching and highly recommend.

Excursion to Cuban history

But let’s get to Cuban history: the largest island in the Caribbean was discovered and conquered by the Spanish at a similar speed as the Dominican Republic, and due to its geographical location with the Dom Rep, it became the focal point for further conquests and slave trade during Spanish colonial rule in Latin America. And this despite the fact that the clear instruction of the Spanish crown had initially been that slave trade was forbidden. Columbus and Co disregarded this instruction from the beginning and oppressed the indigenous population that remained. Within a few years, 90% of the Cuban population had been wiped out – by the Spanish weapons and, above all, the diseases they had brought in. You may be familiar with this part from other countries and maybe even from other blog posts of mine. As on many other Caribbean islands, the Spanish needed labour to grow sugar cane and other goods and found it in African slaves. Over the next few centuries, slaves sometimes made up over 90% of the population. After the revolutionary slave uprising in Haiti in 1791, many slave drivers fled to Cuba and expanded sugar cane and coffee cultivation on the island, so that the island became richer and richer, especially in the 19th century. A wealth from which only a few obviously profited.
The discontent among the population was understandably enormous and there were many slave revolts, but all of them were unsuccessful.
Cuba was one of the last countries to become independent from Spain. And the revolution then actually started from a slave owner who felt disadvantaged in the east of the country. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes kicked off the revolution in 1868 with the “Grito de Yara”, but it was to last for 30 years. A story that particularly stuck in my mind from a guided tour in Havana tells that shortly after Céspedes proclaimed independence, the Spanish captured his only son and threatened to kill him if the revolution did not stop immediately. Céspedes is said to have replied that he saw himself not only as the father of his son but of all Cubans and that the revolution had to continue at all costs. The Spaniards then executed his son. It is also because of this story that Cubans call Cespedes the father of the homeland.
In 1878, Spain made some concessions to the Cubans, and the revolution came to a halt for the time being. After another unsuccessful attempt at independence under Antonio Maceo in 1879 – 1880, it took until 1895, under the leadership of the poet and journalist José Martí, for another attempt to achieve complete independence for Cuba. In 1898, when Spain was already talking publicly about withdrawing from Cuba, the USA interfered in the conflict, provoked the American-Spanish War and took control in Cuba. Now Cuba was independent from Spain, but the USA ruled instead.
Before allowing sham governments, the US secured the right to intervene militarily in Cuba at any time, which it did several times in the following years. They also secured the bays of Bahia Honda and Guantanamo, the second of which is still used militarily by the US today.
In the first decades of the 20th century, Cuba had a wide variety of governments that were influenced to varying degrees by the USA, but until the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the influence of the USA remained enormous. In particular, the two dictators Gerardo Machado and Fulgenio Batista were strongly supported by the USA in their election campaigns and when they took power, and in return granted them great influence in Cuba.
A young lawyer named Fidel Castro indicted Batista for his military coup in the Supreme Court of Cuba. After the case was dismissed, Castro declared that the right of resistance enshrined in the constitution, having exhausted all legal means, was now taking effect and prepared the revolution. On 26 July 1953, he and a guerrilla force carried out an attack on the Moncada barracks near Santiago de Cuba, which failed. After Castro had been imprisoned for two years, Batista had him pardoned because he feared the reactions of the population. Castro fled into exile in Mexico where he met Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
In December 1956, he returned to Cuba with Che Guevara and 82 guerrilla fighters and started the revolution from the east, which led to Batista’s overthrow in early 1959. Castro took power and ruled until 2008.
There are many theories as to why Fidel Castro and his people turned Cuba into a communist country. What is certain is that Castro was not originally a communist. I found a plausible theory from a guide that by breaking with the USA, which the revolutionaries wanted to do, he wanted to get closer to the other world power at the time – the Soviet Union – because he saw this as a way to stay in power for a long time. Whether or not this was the reason for communism in Cuba, it worked: Fidel Castro built a dictatorship in Cuba that also outlasted the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union saw Cuba as an important base in the immediate vicinity of the enemy, they supplied the country with everything it needed, which unfortunately also led to Cuba cutting back its production capacities for many products enormously – dependence on the Soviet Union was born and its collapse plunged Cuba into the first severe economic crisis I write about above. The second followed with Covid and the previously created dependence on communism. But that Cuba is only partly communist and socialist can also be seen from the fact that Castro and the country’s elites enriched themselves greatly from the wealth of the Soviet Union. Today, Castro’s sons and daughters are the richest people in the country.
It also fits into the image of the dictatorship that Fidel Castro was succeeded as president of Cuba by his brother Raúl in 2008. Miguel Diaz-Canel has been in power since 2018.
While the public image of Fidel Castro is that of a dictator, Che Guevara is still revered today and seen as a symbol of left-wing groups and revolution. His likeness can be found on countless T-shirts and in many other places. And there is no denying that his ideas were revolutionary. He wanted to bring about a revolution similar to the one in Cuba in Bolivia, but with less success.
But if you take a closer look at the person of Che Guevara and talk to Cubans, a different picture quickly emerges: that of a brutal murderer who mercilessly kills not only enemies but also friends who do not behave according to his ideas and who walks over dead bodies on both sides to get his way. A friend told me that his grandfather, who knew Che personally, always spoke highly of Che when he was sober and praised the revolution to the skies. But when he was given alcohol, he spoke the truth about what happened during the guerrilla period and talked about Che as a cruel person. The same friend, by the way, was tortured by the Cuban army a few years ago because he wanted to get out of the military service after 10 years.
After all I have heard and read about Che Guevara, I have become very sceptical about the public image of this person and doubt whether Che Guevara should be portrayed as a hero. However, I do not doubt that his likeness has served and can still serve as an important symbol for many a revolution.
And my impression is also that another revolution in Cuba – of whatever kind – is urgently needed. After all the conversations with the people, I think that they actually wish for it, but nobody dares. Probably also because many still have in mind what the last revolution led to in the end.

But the Dominican Republic is much more than just its beaches full of palm trees (which, by the way, do not originally grow in the Caribbean, but neither do sugar cane and many other plants).
The country is also extremely exciting from a historical and political point of view! I’ve already come from an island that is split into two countries – St. Martin is even the smallest. And on the island of Hispaniola there is also the country of Haiti, in addition to the Dominican Republic. However, the relationship between these two countries is infinitely more complicated than on St. Martin. As you can imagine, things were different before colonisation. As on many other Caribbean islands, the Arawak and Carib tribes were the main inhabitants of Hispaniola when the Spanish conquered the island in the 1500s and quickly reduced the number of indigenous people through warfare and, above all, the introduction of diseases.
In fact, Hispaniola was the first island on which Christopher Columbus founded a colony. On his first voyage of conquest, he had a small settlement called La Navidad built from a shipwreck of his fleet with the help of the Arawak, and 40 Spaniards stayed there. Through violence and looting, they turned the Arawak against themselves, so that La Navidad was wiped out when Columbus and co returned. After Columbus’ second voyage, his brother Bartomoleo established the settlement of Santo Domingo, today the capital of the Dominican Republic. Because of its geographical location, Hispaniola remained the most important hub for further conquests of the American continent and is still the largest city in the Caribbean today.

During my stay, I was able to explore Santo Domingo and also visited some colonial buildings and museums. While in the small museum Cazar de Colón not a word is said about the exploitation by the Spaniards, in the Casa Reales you can read clear criticism in some places, for example of Columbus’ character. Overall, however, my impression was that the perspective of the indigenous people is rather neglected in this museum as well, and a large part of the space is used to show some colonial objects.
Otherwise, I had a great time in Santo Domingo. Everywhere in the Dom Rep you can feel Latino vibes pulsating in the form of music, dance and noise, and the capital is clearly the heart where all these currents converge and are pumped out again.
In addition to reggaeton, the new music genre of dembow, which originated in a ghetto of Santo Domingo, can be heard again and again, especially in the capital. While the middle class celebrates this success from the ghetto, the upper class keeps its distance – which makes Dembow super likeable for me.
But not only the old town, the nightlife and the cool hostel (with its own bar, darts and billiards) where I stayed have something to offer. Just outside the city there is a small park with the underground caves “Tres Ojos”, which are really impressive and recommendable.
But what is it about the division of the island?
Soon after the oppression of the indigenous population, trade began to flourish on the island. The Spaniards exploited the remaining Arawak, had them dig gold and grow sugar cane. As the population rapidly declined due to the introduced diseases etc., African slaves were brought to Hispaniola to replace the labour force.
The many expensive goods such as gold or sugar attracted countless pirates in the following decades and centuries. From 1625, a handful of them settled and asked France for support. After some military conflicts and back and forth, the Spanish crown finally ceded the western part of the island – today’s Haiti – to France in 1697. Spain, however, kept the much larger part. In the following centuries, the population of the island suffered from constant attacks by pirates, wars within the island and changes of ownership due to attacks from outside. At times, the island fell completely into French hands without losing Spanish influence.
At the end of the 18th century, the island gained quasi-complete independence, only to join forces with the French against the English and Spanish a short time later. Shortly after slavery was abolished, Napoleon’s troops invaded and reintroduced it.
In 1804, Saint Domingue (now Haiti) achieved independence. Throughout history and through the many exploitations and wars, the eastern part in particular has been enormously battered. The fact that Haiti was isolated from the USA, together with other reasons, led to the fact that Haiti is now in a severe crisis and poverty is rampant. The earthquake in 2010 did the rest. There are many gangs and a very high crime rate. The German Foreign Office currently strongly advises against travelling to Haiti and has temporarily closed the embassy. I therefore decided not to travel to Haiti. I would have liked to visit the country myself and would have had a shorter trip to Cuba from there, but the warnings are so insistent that they are hard to ignore.
Time and again there have been wars between different population groups or different parts of the island.
Then, in 1844, the eastern part proclaimed its independence with roughly the borders of 1697. The Dominican Republic was born, but it was constantly attacked by Haiti, especially in the first decades. For a few years in the 1860s, they aligned themselves again with the Spanish crown in order to repel the attacks with its support.
Then, at the beginning of the 20th century, the nearby USA intervened in the Dom Rep because of an increasingly complicated economic situation and had the country under its control from 1916 to 1924. In 1871, the attempt to annex the country to the USA had narrowly failed in a vote in the US Congress.
After a few years of democratic leadership, General Rafael Trujillo established a military dictatorship in 1930 and ruled the country with a hard hand. In 1942, he introduced women’s suffrage, but other attempts at modernisation failed.
In 1937, Trujillo carried out mass executions to “cleanse” the country of Haitians. In the so-called Parsley Massacre, potential Haitians were identified by how they pronounced the Spanish word for parsley, “perejil”.
After Trujillo’s death in 1961, political unrest ensued, which the US ended by invading in 1965 and leading the country to democratic elections. Since 1965, the country has had 12 democratic presidents and has been a reasonably stable parliamentary democracy ever since.
Besides the history of the country and the island, I found it totally exciting to understand the culture of today and to talk to the locals. Visiting my friends Sabiel and Helena was particularly helpful. A few years ago, Helena did voluntary service in San Cristobal west of Santo Domingo, where Sabiel grew up. They now live together in Germany, but were visiting the Dom Rep in March and I was able to drop by San Cristobal and stay with Sabiel’s family. Sabiel and Helena showed me around San Cristobal, I picked numerous fruits in their garden that I had never tried before, Sabiel’s mother taught me the popular card game Casino and Helena’s host mother showed me various dances. Dance and music are enormously important in the Dom Rep. The dances are mainly bachata, merengue and salsa – I tried my hand at all of them.

This gave me a really authentic insight into the life of the Dominicans. Part of it is also that we thought carefully about when we took what with us, because it is not uncommon for people to be robbed, especially in the regions around Santo Domingo. This has also happened to Sabiel. But if you know what to look out for and follow the tips of the locals, the Dom Rep is a pretty safe country, that was my impression.
Especially in the more touristy regions it is even safer, like in the north in Cabarete, where I spent 3 days surfing. Cabarete is known as a wind surfing mecca. Unfortunately, there was no wind during the days I was there, so I “only” surfed waves. But I made good progress 🙂

On the other hand, Cabarete is also known for its nightlife, which I immersed myself in! The music in the clubs, however, is really extremely loud. And not only in the clubs: Overall, the Dom Rep was the loudest country I’ve been to so far. In most colmados – these are small shops on practically every street corner – speakers are set up and it is not uncommon for the music to be turned up so high that the shop assistants can hardly understand you.
Of course, I couldn’t miss a visit to a rum distillery in the Dom Rep, so I visited the Casa de Ron Macorix in Puerto Plata before leaving the north.
All in all, I had a very intensive time in the Dom Rep, during which I got to know different regions and habitats of the country and was thus able to get a good impression of the country. I remember the beautiful beaches just as much as the loud, happy music and the people I was able to get to know. I would have liked to stay longer, but I also wanted to visit Cuba before travelling on to Mexico.
I will gladly come back and can only recommend the country! By the way, I don’t give any specific travel tips in my blog posts because I think that not all readers will be travelling to the Dom Rep any time soon and I simply want to describe impressions from my visits.
But if you are travelling to the Dom Rep or another country I’ve visited, please feel free to write to me. I’m happy to give you tips – also personalised depending on what you’re looking for.

I sailed from St. Martin to the Dom Rep on the Aracanga. During the three-day crossing, I collected a few thoughts and try to bring you along a bit.
Let’s start with the crew and the boat. Martin and Riki know each other from home, they both come from southern Germany. Martin is 38 years old, has been working on boats for many years (often as a skipper) and has already sailed around the world once between 2010 and 2013. He has many exciting stories to tell about this time in particular. After his circumnavigation, it doesn’t take long before there is a spark between him and Riki. He has known the now 29-year-old for some time, but now things are getting serious and a few years later they get married and decide to sail around the world together, starting in 2018. They interrupt the journey twice and come back to Germany for 12 weeks where their two daughters Kira 2020 and Naia 2022 are born. They have been in the Caribbean for 2 years now and want to head for the Pacific in the summer.
But now to our trip together:
From St. Martin (we started on the French side) we sailed past Anguilla after a few hours. The island, which can be seen well from St. Martin, seems inconspicuous, but is supposed to be beautiful!
During the first night we pass the British and American Virgin Islands. Very touristy on land and even more expensive than other Caribbean islands, it must be beautiful by sailboat on the coasts with crystal clear water. Finkbeiners (that’s Martin’s, Riki’s, Kira’s and Naia’s surnames) decided that we’d go straight through. I wouldn’t have said no to a stopover with snorkelling, but it’s not bad for my tight schedule in the Dom Rep. After about 24 hours we are already at the height of Puerto Rico and making good progress.
The Aracanga lies very pleasantly in the water and the quite mild weather does the rest. It’s rocking as usual, but it’s pleasant, even for the kids 😊.
I am happy to have another sailing experience with the Aracanga. Like the Julie Marie before, the boat is a monohull, i.e. with only one hull, but she is much longer: 48 instead of 31 feet. So we have a lot of space below deck and I even have my own bunk. We also have a large sail area.
We steer most of the time with the wind vane, a quasi analogue form of the wind pilot. With a wind pilot, you set on the display which direction the wind should come from and then it steers the boat accordingly.
The wind vane is connected to an extra rudder in an analogue way. We set the wind vane so that it points in the direction or better the angle from which the wind should hit our boat. If the wind shifts, the wind vane is also turned and automatically moves the rudder so that our boat is again exactly at the set angle to the wind. Very practical and workable (uses no electricity 👍).
We divide the shifts here on board a little differently than on the previous boats, where I had 2.5 or 3h shifts. During the day, we are in the cockpit most of the time anyway and are kept busy by the kids. We always make sure that one person keeps an eye on the course and the surroundings. And for the night, Martin came up with the following:
Since I’m more of a night owl and he’s more of an early bird, I do a 6h shift from 8pm – 2am and he does from 2am – 8am. Since Riki always has to take care of Naia at night, she doesn’t have a fixed shift at night, but takes some of the load off us if it works out with the kids. But since Naia slept rather restlessly during the crossing, that didn’t work out – not bad.
I think 6 hours in a row is a long time, but since I rarely go to bed before 1 or 2 o’clock anyway, the shift actually suited me quite well and I could sleep for a long time afterwards. Since the kids are fit as a fiddle in the morning anyway and were in the cockpit with their parents, I was able to stay in bed until 9 or 10 o’clock 😊
I have a lot of respect for the way they rock it with the two kids on the boat. They say themselves that a lot of things get left behind, but you don’t see much of that because the boat is in great condition!
On a boat, there is no kindergarten or grandparents nearby, so they have the kids all day. On the one hand, this is of course very nice, but on the other hand, it is of course exhausting. From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., they keep an eye on them almost all the time, Naia even at night. From time to time, however, they create space for each other by having one person take both kids. Mostly so that the other person can work.
During sailing manoeuvres, Kira sits in the Maxicosi and Naia is strapped in with Riki, who steers the boat while Martin handles the lines, anchor and sails. A well-rehearsed team and it works really well!
Martin also said that he notices that it is much more pleasant to have someone with him, especially for the night shifts.
I get on very well with the kids and have a lot of fun with them! Kira was shy for the first 5 minutes, but since then she has grown fond of me as a play partner. She likes to show me everything she owns and is very proud of: her books, her bike, her room. Kira usually announces what she’s doing beforehand and then tells me afterwards. “I’m going in my car now. I’m in the car now.”
In the harbour we couldn’t play shop enough, on the road it’s more driving and excursions. When I come into the cockpit in the morning, it doesn’t take a minute before she sits on my lap and wants to be driven somewhere by the quay car. Since the sailboat is normal for her, it’s other things that are special for her: Driving a car, snow, etc.. These are things she hardly knows and finds exotic.
Naia also likes to ride in the quay car on my lap. She likes to hold something in her hand, for example my glasses. Whatever she has in her hand, she likes to hand over to you, but only to vehemently demand it back 5 seconds later.
It’s really fun with the two of them, but it’s also exhausting, because you never really have a moment’s peace on the boat. (Of course I can go to my bunk, but I only do that to sleep, because I want to be involved in everyday life).
From daybreak on the third day, when we enter the bay of Samana in the north-east of the Dom Rep, everyone is on deck: we are on the lookout for whales! Humpback whales come here at this time of year to give birth, and several other sailboats we know have been able to see the whales up close. But no matter how hard we try, we unfortunately have no luck, only Riki & Martin see two whales jumping on the horizon once. It’s a pity and everyone is a bit disappointed, but somehow it’s good to see that you can’t force nature and that the whales can’t simply be ordered.
After 3 days of relaxed crossing we arrive in the Dom Rep and finally I have made it: hitchhiked from Germany to Latin America! This is where I wanted to go!
The first impressions on land are brilliant. Everyone speaks Spanish, there is a lot of fresh fruit, the empanada, which I try right away, tastes great and the prices are much more affordable than on the other islands. But more about the Dom Rep will follow soon in an extra article. It will be exciting 😉

At this point, I would just like to say a huge thank you to Martin, Riki, Kira and Naia! It was an honour and a great pleasure and I am already looking forward to our reunion! We hope that will be in Chile.

On 21 February, I arrived with Simon on his windsurfing sailboat off St Martin towards evening.
The island is the smallest territory in the world that is shared by two states. For a long time, this was France and Holland, who conquered the island in their colonisation mania and divided it between themselves in 1846. According to legend, one soldier from each nation was sent in opposite directions around the island to determine the border, and the border was then set where they met. Allegedly, both were properly influenced by rum, but since the Dutchman staggered more than the Frenchman, the French part of the island is larger.
Since 2010, the Dutch part, called Sint Maarten, has been independent, but remains part of the Dutch kingdom, so the Crown continues to look after St. Maarten’s military and foreign affairs. There is therefore a different currency, the Gildern, which also exists in Curacao, another former Dutch colony. Since on the French side you pay in euros and the island is haunted by an enormous number of US-Americans who don’t want to give up their dollars, the supermarkets have prices in 2 – 3 currencies – complicated…
The capital on the French side, where there is more beautiful nature and beaches, is called Marigot. Marigot is a dreamy little town, overlooked by a fortress with a French flag. Apart from a few restaurants and shops, there is a tourist market that pretends to be local and traditional, and otherwise there is not much going on in Marigot. The Dutch side, which is in the south, has less spectacular nature, but the party: in the capital Philipsburg, a bit bigger but still a small town, sometimes up to 10 cruise ships dock a day. Then the city and the whole island are flooded with tourists for a day, but by late afternoon they have to get back on the ship. It’s hard to imagine that they could miss their all-inclusive buffet and the musicals on board. So Philipsburg is empty in the evening and many bars and restaurants close before 6pm.
Those who want to experience something in the evening do not stay in Philipsburg but go to Simpson Bay. The border runs through the bay to the west and on the Dutch side there are many bars with live music, restaurants, nightclubs and a few strip clubs. When I write Dutch side, it is because of the continued strong Dutch influence in language, military, etc. Right next to Simpson Bay is Mahau beach, one of the island’s tourist hotspots, because the airport runway starts right behind the beach, so that the planes sometimes fly only 10 to 20 metres overhead. Admittedly a spectacle. But if you look at the frequency of the planes on this small Caribbean island, it makes you sick. Private jets in particular take off and land here with a frequency I have never experienced. In the first hour when Simon and I arrived, I saw at least 10 private jets…
The harbours on the Dutch side look similar: one motor luxury yacht lines up next to the other and you could almost think there is a competition to see who has the uglier boat (somewhat coloured from my sailing glasses) and who pollutes the environment the most with their boat. I didn’t like this side of St. Maarten at all and wished myself back to the sailing port of Le Marin in Martinique, where such a motor yacht always looked out of place. For my street music, all the money that undoubtedly comes to St. Maarten was not so bad. So I was able to raise quite a lot of money in a few afternoons/evenings and found two local projects to support with it. I write more about this in my post about street music.
When Simon and I anchored in Simpson Bay on Wednesday, I was able to meet Riki and Martin, who had contacted me through a Facebook ad, just a few hours later. The two of them have been sailing around the world since 2018 and have been joined in the last two years by Kira (3) and Naia (1). They moved in on their boat Aracanga just over a year ago, as the previous one was too small. I got on very well with all four of them straight away and they quickly agreed that I could sail with them to the Dominican Republic – ideal for me, as that was exactly where I wanted to go next and so I didn’t have to spend any time looking for a boat, but had more time to explore St Martin.
After moving into my bunk on the Aracanga and spending a nice evening with the new crew and some friends, I moved out again for 3 days to stay with a couchsurfer. Marlov was born in Curacao, grew up in the Netherlands and has lived in St. Maarten for about 10 years. He kindly made several trips with me and showed me around the island in his car. In 44km we drove once around the island with several detours. Marlov told me a lot about the different places and the history of the country. During a hike, we were able to observe monkeys three times, which are actually rarely seen on the island.

The Hurricanes Irma and Luis and it’s consequences

One topic that you inevitably come across again and again on the island is hurricanes. For anyone living in the Caribbean, hurricanes are part of life and everyone experiences several in their lifetime. The last two major hurricanes to devastate St. Martin were Luis and Irma. Luis caused 3.3 billion US dollars worth of damage in 1995. 9 people died and over 20,000 were left homeless. Most of the damage from Luis is no longer visible today, but in one place on the island, you can still see the aftermath: La Belle Creole. The former luxury resort, which resembled a small village, was completely destroyed by the hurricane and never rebuilt. The ruins can still be seen today. Construction of La Belle Creole, located on the French side of Simpson Bay, began in the 1950s. But several times the money ran out and well-known investors like Hilton bailed out. It was not until 1986 that the resort was completed, before it was razed to the ground again 9 years later. Several migrant workers are said to have died during the construction.
Many locals say the village is cursed and avoid it. Some say it was built on a former Arahawk cemetery, the first settlers of the Eastern Caribbean islands. Others claim that an offshore island was once used for the exile of lepers and that the village is therefore cursed. Either way, a troubled history for such a small village. Hurricane Irma in 2017 was far more monstrous than Luis and caused more damage: over 100 people lost their lives, thousands were left homeless and the damage amounted to around US$77 billion across the Caribbean. While the luxury resorts were rebuilt at lightning speed to quickly bring tourism back to the island, many of the local people’s homes have not been repaired to this day. Many of them were not sufficiently insured or not insured at all – here you can see again the strong contrast between rich and poor in St. Martin and St. Maarten.

But what is it actually like to be in a hurricane? I heard some reports from Marlov and others about what happened with Irma. Such a hurricane doesn’t come out of nowhere and so the inhabitants are warned a few hours or even days in advance. The super-rich then leave the country in droves and come back after the storm to see what has been broken. Some of those who can afford it go to a hotel for the time of the storm. But you only find out after the storm whether you’ve put your money on the right card. Some were injured by debris in the hotel and then found their own house intact later.
Most people spend the hurricane in their own house and look for a place that is as safe as possible. I heard of a man who had a neighbour lock him and his children in the shower so that he would not be tempted to come in before the hurricane was over. A great danger is the eye of the storm, as Marlov explained to me. The hurricane starts with rain, a short time later the pressure increases and the windows really bend inwards, making it harder to breathe. And only then does the real storm come, sweeping around at speeds of up to ??? and smashing many things to pieces.
After several hours, the storm suddenly decreases and some think it is over. But when the eye of the storm is over, the second half starts and the wind comes from the opposite direction. Whoever then went out because he or she thought it was over is in grave danger.
After the time with Marlov, I went back to the Aracanga, spent a few more relaxing days there before we sailed off. I was able to play a concert in the Lagoonies sailing bar and now I’m looking forward to moderate prices and speaking Spanish in the Dominican Republic.

It is shortly after midnight on the sailing ship Julie Marie. On the horizon I can see the lights of the Caribbean islands of Antigua, Montserrat and Nevis in different directions.
I’ve taken over from the skipper Simon and now I’m on shift for 3 hours: that means I steer and keep a lookout. Simon has been sailing for many, many years professionally and has mainly sailed small and medium-sized ships, mostly pleasure boats. He therefore knows a lot about sailing in particular and I was able to learn a hell of a lot from him. Especially because he is a very calm and even-tempered guy who has worked a lot with volunteers and newbies and stays calm even when making unnecessary mistakes, first saves the situation and then explains to you what you should have done differently. In addition, Simon is a gifted free diver and dived with fins and without tank without any problems 10, 15 meters deep and underneath fully equipped divers.
If there is another boat nearby, the wind shifts, increases or decreases, etc., I see if I can handle the situation on my own and otherwise I wake Simon up. There are two of us. So after a 3-hour shift I have a 3-hour break and then have to get back to work. I’ve just had 2 hours sleep and feel fit. While I switched on the autopilot, which automatically holds the course, I have time to write these lines and put the many thoughts of my shifts into words. By the way, many boats now only use the autopilot, as was the case on the previous catamaran. It’s very comfortable, but if you steer it yourself, you feel the boat and its movements better.
I, for one, philosophise to myself. Sailing means freedom. That’s it.
That was always clear to me. Probably because you can slow down on a boat in the middle of the sea. And because you can go anywhere. And because you have a seemingly endless expanse around you. Starry nights without light distortion. You’re just so far away from everything else and it’s incredibly quiet:
I mainly hear the waves and the wind blowing into our sails. Now and then there is the creaking of a line and the clacking of a door that cracks on its hinges in rhythm with the rocking.
You can hear everything. When I wrote just now that I keep a lookout, I did not focus on the most important sense: listening.
That’s what makes me feel so free on a sailboat. Or rather liberated?
Because there are some doubts gnawing at freedom after all.
The first time I started to think about it was when 11-year-old Stella told me on the Beso Del Viento that we were not free when sailing because we had nowhere else to go.
She was right. Most of the time I don’t want to go anywhere else when I’m on a sailing boat, but you can’t get bread in the morning, go to the pub in the evening or go for a jog in between. (Exercise is particularly lacking during several weeks at sea, and afterwards walking is suddenly much more exhausting).
Except, of course, for good-weather yacht charter trips where you sail for 4 hours on one day and are then in the next harbour.

But even near land, you are somehow tied to the boat. You can only move along the coast of a country. Bolivia, which has no coast, is so hard to visit 😃 If you anchor, you need a dinghy to get ashore. Day trips are possible, but for longer trips you have to think about who will look after the boat, where to leave it, etc. And you want to be off the boat for too long.
And you don’t want to be away from the boat for too long, either because you’ve just paid a lot of money for chartering it or (if it’s your own) you have to ask yourself what you have the boat for if it’s just lying around. In addition, there are repairs that often mean that you can’t go where you want to go when you want to go there.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in seafaring, it’s that a boat is always a construction site. Something is always broken and the list of things to do rarely gets shorter.
So all this should be considered when you buy a boat. Somehow you are free and somehow you are also bound.
But I totally understand that it is worth it, because the feeling of being on the ocean with a boat and dolphins swimming around your boat is indescribable (among so many other great things you experience). The fact that it is an absolute privilege to own your own boat should not go unmentioned at this point. I’ll write a separate article on the ecological aspect of sailing.
At any rate, I am currently happy not to own my own boat, but simply to jump on other boats and accompany them for a while. Then I’m happy to put up with not being able to go ashore for a few days and see it more as an expression of my current freedom ☺️

Old acquaintances and new faces

Like Dylan, I get to see many other Hitchhikers again that I’ve met during the trip and it’s a huge joy every time! “We made it!!! The last time we saw each other was on the other side of the Atlantic and now we’re actually in the Caribbean – hard to believe!
Not only do I meet other hitchhikers again, but also some other sailors I know from the ports of the Canaries or Cape Verde. So after only two days I have the offer to sail to Colombia. Even though I really like Carlos and Liliana, it goes too fast for me and I thankfully decline – which is not easy for me, because many hitchhikers look for a long time for a way to get to the mainland. Good decision I can say in the meantime! Because the time on Martinique was fantastic. Besides, I would not have liked to say goodbye to Jakob so soon and I know by now that I would rather travel to Mexico first and from there to Chile and not the other way around.
And I met many new faces on Martinique. Most of the hitchhikers have already heard about me and that I always have my guitar with me – a nice feeling that is obviously told very positively about the many cozy guitar evenings! Also in Martinique I played a lot of guitar and was able to raise some money for a local project. More details soon in my blog post about street music. But most of all, I met a lot of cool people with the music, with whom I also did something a few times. How many great encounters and acquaintances I made in Martinique, showed at the latest on my last evening.
I invited everyone I knew on the island. First we met for happy hour in the harbor bar “L’Annexe” and later I set up my amplifier including microphone and we started a small open stage in the harbor. After I had given a few songs to the best, the most different people grabbed the guitar, the microphone or brought other instruments into play and an incomparable atmosphere developed. I will certainly not forget the evening and am grateful for the many great encounters and experiences!

Arriving in the Carribean Paradise

But again from the beginning: What did I experience in Martinique? Arriving alone was a great experience. We arrived at night and when we woke up we saw a hilly, green island with paradisiacal beaches! Jacob’s and my first shore leave was on a beach where we picnicked with some French people.
When you’ve been on the water for 16 days, everything is an experience: the first beer, fresh bread with cheese, and feet on solid ground in general. The wobbling on board never bothers me, but running along the beach and getting some real exercise was awesome! And then I ran into Jack and Jill, with whom I almost crossed the Atlantic – the sailing world is small! Probably because I just don’t move far away from the boat when you already have one 😀
In the following two days Jakob and I helped family Baici to clean up the Beso del Viento and found a round end on the catamaran, which had carried us all the way across the Atlantic. After all we had experienced with Baicis and Peter, a worthy farewell gift was of course a part of it.
From the boat we went directly to the local Hitchhiker camp, where Dylan and a few others had already prepared some things. In the middle of the jungle about 10 minutes from the port of Le Marin we could pitch our tent and hammock and had a base for the next two weeks. At the beginning we were a small group and with time more and more hitchhikers arrived. Together we made the camp more and more comfortable and polished it up. So there is a big living room in the middle, where tarpaulins are stretched, chairs, a table, shelves and a cooking place are placed or improvised. Since the place was remote, no strangers came by.
I have never slept in a hammock so many nights in a row, but it was fantastic. I found it super cozy and fell asleep in the middle of the jungle between chirping crickets and the sound of the sea. So the hammock was packed up as I started a road trip for three days around the island with Jakob, Sarina, Clara and Remi. On one evening we treated ourselves to an Airbnb, on the others we slept in hammocks right on the beach! However, always covered, because it rained every day several times. Only briefly, but unannounced and abrupt.
I spare you the exact route and the names of our destinations – both on the road trip and the rest of the time, in which Jakob and I still made some trips. There are enough travel blogs that give tips about Martinique. If you ever come here, feel free to contact me and I’ll send you personalized tips!
Anyway, we did a mega cool hike through the jungle and saw the most beautiful plants. We smashed coconuts, saw lizards and tarantulas and were on countless, paradise-like beautiful beaches with crystal clear water and could easily see 10 meters away. So while snorkeling I saw an incredible amount of beautiful fish and corals in all shapes and colors.

Rum, Rum, Rum!

Always a highlight were the rum distilleries on Martinique. Jakob and I visited a total of 4 of them with Sarina. On Martinique and some other Caribbean islands sugar cane was grown for a long time to produce sugar and export it. Mostly or actually always through the exploitation of slaves who did the extremely physically demanding work. But I’ll write an extra post about colonialism and slavery soon.
When the sugar beet became widespread in Europe and the demand for sugar from the Caribbean collapsed, many redisposed and began to distill rum on a larger scale. And what rum!
We, of course, diligently sampled at each distillery. I liked the rum from JM in the north best, the most exciting visit was at Clement incl. museum.
What I didn’t know before is that sugar cane doesn’t originally occur in the Caribbean or even close to it. Sugar cane comes from the Asian region, probably China. There it first found its way to the Persian Empire and from there to Europe. The Spanish then brought sugar cane to Central and South America only with colonization.
Another highlight was the visit to the capital Fort-de-France, where we took in some carnival. Since I unfortunately missed the main carnival in Martinique, I was able to get a good impression of the carnival a week before. We saw the election of a “carnival queen” as well as some parades through the city. Music and also just noise are important elements in the carnival of Martinique. So some people had souped up their cars in such a way that incredibly loud explosions were created at the exhaust. At first, this annoyed me very much and even with some distance I still find it strange, but I understand that this noise simply belongs to it and have heard that the cars are specially checked and approved beforehand.
Overall, I had a great time on Martinique, am very grateful for the many experiences and have the feeling to have found a good time for the jump north. With Simon I had a wonderful crossing via Guadeloupe to St. Martin, but that’s another story.