Havana - A World Apart

Cuba we knew would be difficult, but it really is a different world. You stand waiting for your bags at the airport whilst many passengers and staff around you are busy smoking, At the airport we had to change money. We had been advised to bring Euros as US Dollars as whacked for much more commission and the cab ride to town was uneventful, and it is amazing how little traffic there is on the roads.

The best way to see real Cuba, is to stay in Casa Particulares – these are private homes with one or two rooms given over to foreign visitors. It is a good way for Cubans to earn CUCs and subsidise their state controlled wages. This is where we stayed most of the time.

Havana is a fantastically energetic / scenic / musical / falling apart / frustrating city. We stayed near the Malecon, an 8km long sea wall on the Caribbean Sea. A great place for a walk and to watch Cubans going about their daily business – be it fishing, dating, dancing, playing music, hustling tourists etc.

The old part of town is a UNESCO world heritage site and deservedly so. It is stunning and because of the embargo, pretty much unspoilt by and modern (post 1959) development. Tourism dollars have been ploughed back into Habana Vieja to renovate the buildings, which in turn brings more tourists and their cash.

Cuba has a well founded reputation for awful food (think a bad combination of school dinners and hospital food but the same thing 7 days a week). We did however find a great Italian restaurant near our Casa, and despite the interior looking a bit school canteen, the staff were friendly and the food not bad at all. We went back a few times and found a great bar nearby which had more Cubans than tourists and an entertaining band.

We did try a few other places for food but we found the food nasty and monotonous, exacerbated by staff who had no interest in what they were doing at all. This was a common theme throughout our time in Cuba. Even the incentive to earn tips form tourists seemed to make no difference most of the time.

We caught up with Chris and Jo, friends we met in Guatemala (from the other Newcastle), and had a great night in a local bar on the waterfront with a great waitress. Jenny did discover however that Mojitos do not agree with her.

We headed to the Museo de le Revolucion (you don’t need to speak Spanish to understand what that was about) which told of the various failed attempts of Fidel and friends to overthrow the Batista government, until he eventually succeeded in 1959. The grounds of the museum contain vehicles, tanks and other equipment including the yacht Granma that Fidel , Raul and Che sailed in from Mexico to begin the revolution – Power to the People!!

We also took the open top bus tour which we sat on for two circuits because you just kept on spotting new things all the time – be it dilapidated old buildings, ancient cars or queues for Havana´s famous Copelia Ice Cream Parlour.