Day 2 Havana
Leave in AM for Havana. Arrive in Havana.
At airport: Get room reserved at Hotel Deauville. Taxi to Havana, $18.
My first impression: Look, here are some great old cars! The exhaust
is horrible. I can't breathe. Here we passed several road signs expounding
on socialism and revolucion. "Socialism or Death" for example.
There are many people waiting on the side of the road, for the public
buses or a ride from a private car. Most Cubans would not be able to
afford a taxi. More on the currency differences later.
Arrive at hotel. Get a room with a great view. This seems to be a state
hotel (I read about these). The floors remind me of my junior high school.
Very industrial and ready to last for another 50 years, but not very
comfortable for personal. No one gets paid to build a beautiful hotel
here.
Since Cuba has essentially been in a dictatorship and under Communism
for 44 years and the tourist industry has only taken off in the last
ten years (since the demise of the Soviet bloc), there is very clear
difference between the "state and the natives" and the "tourism
and the tourists". After the Soviet bloc ended, Cubans struggled
to make ends meet and in fact, there was a "Special Period"
in the early 90's, where people could barely find enough food. Rations
were sparse. Thus brought the opening of Cuba to the onslaught of European
and South/Central American tourists. The country would not survive without
tourists.
As soon as Ronni and I have put our bags down, we trek back out on to
the streets to see Havana. We clearly stand out with our backpacks and
my dreadlocks (though there are a lot of men with dreadlocks here, not
too many women). People in doorways watch us. At some point, we sit
down in a doorway and watch other people. People watching is certainly
a sport here and there's a lot of people to watch. Bike taxis zoom by.
Big 50's cars careen past, emitting noxious fumes behind them. Tourists
buses. These funny looking taxis that are a moped with three seats behind
it with a yellow round fiberglass container around it. Ronni and I playfully
call these "egg taxis". Another traveler from Australia we
met called them "bean taxis". You get the idea.
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Havana
building.
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We head over to an address we have from Rough Guide for a casa particular,
which is where travelers can stay at a local person's house for about
$25/nite per room. Note: The state has let people do this recently too,
so that people can supplement there income or pension. The average amount
a Cuban makes per month is US$10! This makes it nearly impossible to
afford to buy things like phones, CD players and refrigerators. People
who work in the tourist industry as waitstaff, etc., typically make
more per month than doctors. The government allows a small amount of
"free enterprise" by allowing people to rent out rooms to
tourists and also open small restaurants called "paladors".
The government requires the owner pay a license per month which can
be quite high, but this allows a person to legally make a living.
At this casa, we are invited to have coffee. There is no room to stay
tomorrow nite, but there is room in a couple nites So here we meet Miriam,
who becomes our Cuban surrogate mom for our trip. Over the next week,
we will leave our big bag with her as we trek outside of Havana. We
will discuss our interests and she will be our listening ear. We will
discuss different tour options, buses, costs, and meet other tourists
as well as her family and friends. Since Ronni and I did not go to Cuba
to hide in the hotels from the locals, meeting someone like Miriam was
one of the best things we could have done. She and her family and friends
really enriched our trip and we would consider going back mostly because
of the people we met, including Sinai (Miriam's daughter), Ricardo(Sinai's
boyfriend), and Jorge(friend). We met several more people, but these
are the ones we spent time with.
That evening, Ronni and I walked with Wilma, from Germany, who was staying
at Miriam's. We eat at Hanoi, a Vietnamese/Cuban restaurant. We hear
our first Cuban band here at this restaurant. My mojito is not very
good at all, but I add more sugar and smash up the mint more and I drink
it. Dinner and drink: $2.80. Walk by the Hotel Ingelterre and Parque
Central. We leave and Wilma goes to see the ballet. Ronni and I meet
some other locals and we take them to the Café de Paris for drinks
and music. We buy them a drink as there is no way a Cuban can afford
a drink in this place (even though it is only $1 for a coffee.). Jia
is an English teacher and his wife Sici is a salsa teacher.
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New
friends.
First
mojito in Havana.
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Day 3 Walk about Havana Vieja
Breakfast at the Hotel Deauville. We arrive rather late so much of the
food is gone. That will teach us to arrive late to breakfast buffet
in a communist country.
We go to the tourist desk in the hotel (Tip: All major hotels have these
desks that can help you arrange excursions). We sign up for a two day
trip to Vinales, including a hotel stay. This could be done in a day
trip, but we decide have a day and a half outside of Havana in the Vinales
valley will be worth it. $80 each.
Ronni and I are planning out our trip, realizing how limited the transportation
is here. There are only tourist buses that we feel we can count on (The
local transportation is not on schedule and people are packed in like
sardines. Might be fun to try if I have a couple extra days to try to
get 60 miles out of town, but I don't have that time.) Though we thought
about renting a car, it is about $60/day plus gas. Might be worth it
if we found two more people to go in on it. We consider a tour to Hemingway's
house, fishing village, etc. Its $44 each and that seems quite steep
for what it is.
Lonely Planet Havana Viejo walking tour:
O'Reillys Café- Listen to music and wait 1 hour for our food.
Palace where the Spanish Aristocrats used to live and party. Ronni starts
talking with a museum guard about where the current government operates.
Where does Fidel live? Ronni asks to which the guard replies Oh, no
one knows. No one knows where Fidel lives? You mean, no one in Cuba
knows? He probably has a couple places, but no one knows where he actually
lives. Probably best for him we discuss. But isn't that a little weird?
Stay at Deauville hotel.
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Road
sign (the only advertising!). Translation: The revolucion is made of
honor and principles.
Live
music at O'Reilly's Cafe
Palace
of the Spanish Aristocrats, now a museum.
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