Havana, Cuba

Havana trip
April 27- May 1

To get to Havana from Cayo Largo seems to be very easy. We saw some airplanes and big catamaran ferries landing and departing almost every day. But, as turned out, to get the seats in these means of transportation is not so easy. After acquiring around we found out that ferry takes only trabajadores (the local workers), and tourists are not allowed on it. We had more luck with an air transportation - the manager of marina "pulled the strings" and got us two seats on a flight after three days (and, of course, for some extra friendly fee). In just couple of hours we had to move the boat to the marina and park our luggage. Our flight to Havana turned out to be a helicopter! The old, possibly repainted and rebuilt inside, army helicopter for 20 people. We felt like participants of the "Survival" TV show. The ride was very loud (we did not have any ear protection), and every part of this machine was shaking crazy. This amazing flight over nearby islands, bay of Batando, marshlands, villages and fields of the Cuba's mainland lasted one hour and 15 min, but it was very memorable.
 
Havana shocked us by huge contrast between old unkept buildings for general population and grandiosity of old beautiful hotels for foreigners. Taxi driver did a very good job helping us to find a place to stay at any casa particulares near Prado area (near Havana Viejo). We were surprised that nightly fee is not so cheap as we expected - it's $30 a night, and $40 with a breakfast. We slowly were running out of money in Cuba, starting with the expensive check-in in Las Moras. And, as US citizens we are not able to use US banks issued credit and debit cards. The accommodations were nice and clean, even had hot water. In the morning we had our first Cuban coffee (the best coffee I ever tried) with a Cuban sandwich (for Kevin), and cheese sandwich for me. This is seems like a typical local quick breakfast. Still, it was not cheap, $8 (who said Havana was cheap?). We slowly strolled along Prado, the grand street in Habana Vieja, packed with old beautiful buildings, like grand hotels Englaterra, Telegraph and Sevilla, theater, capitol and Museum of Revolution close by. These hotels are just for foreigners, and only money accepted around here are CUCs, not Cuban Pesos. In Nueva Gerona (the capital of Isla Juventud) we bought a lot of vegetables and fruits just for about 50 pesos, but we spent 5 CUCs on seven bananas in Havana (tourist tax?).


 
 Internet is still problematic in Havana. There are wi-fi portals around city where you can connect to the world, and one could recognize such place by the crowd with different electronic devices in hands. People hanging out in places like that all the day and night long, coming with whole families, having dates there, drinking beer, keeping kids in the strollers. Couple smart guys selling the Internet cards there (3 CUCs for 1 hour of Internet) and gladly help their customers to connect your electronic device to wi-fi.


 We loved Cuban coffee! The authentic coffee is served black, in small white cups and with a serving of raw sugar. It is very strong, but very small. In the morning, locals buy coffee and a Cuban sandwich at small stands in the neighborhood.
 We visited a famous La Floridita bar in the old city - the birthplace of daiquiri, invented by Hemingway. The drink is represented in a lot of variations, like strawberry, lime, etc. and cost a lot (6 CUCs). So, all day long, tourists show up in the bar to taste the original daiquiri for 6 CUCs and take a picture with the iron statue of Ernest. And, we did the same, of course.

 On the third day of our stay in Havana, we made it to Museum of Revolution, which is, of course, on the list of the places to visit in Cuba. To get there, we took a public bus, orange P1, from Vedado district (gastronomical district of Havana). As the bus station we joined the long line to the bus, got pushed in the bus, squished, stripped out of any personal space, and, finally, delivered to the museum near the Capitol. The entry ticket was 8 CUCs, and we got very disappointed with the museum. Even though outside the building which hosts this museum looks very grand, inside it is just very run down and dirty. Basically, there are no any artifacts presented there, just some stories printed in Spanish on the old fading photo posters. And, of course, a lot of stories and pictures about Che!!!! The hero. I guess, we just gave donations to Fidel's government.
 



 At the hotel Cevilla, we bought our return flight tickets to Cayo Largo for May 1. This is an International Labor day, and a big celebration in Cuba. We missed the huge parade on this day, but we were really happy to get back to our boat in Cayo Largo.