Only a very brief four day stay for the Frosties here in La Habana Havana, the Capital of Cuba on our way home from Mexico, but long enough to have a taste of the culture and to admire the people. This was also our first visit to a socialist/communist country.

A society that is property less, classless, and stateless, where everyone works according to their ability and receives according to their need

…Bullshit! They may have started out wanting to live by the principles of Marxism-Leninism but in reality have failed miserably and do not represent what I believe is genuine communism, they are just corrupt and distorted communist ideals and all at the expense of a beautiful people…very sad! Anyway I’ll just pop off my soap-box and continue.

Immigration was intense and seriously lacking any friendly manner, the officers were hard core and it took ages to claim our luggage; it seems that each bag had to be ‘hand searched’ before being released onto the luggage belt, probably so they could liberate us from our valuables and redistribute them later in a fair and equal way… yeah Right!! I’m guessing we had nothing that was desirable and was left wondering if I should have been offended!

Customs was funny, dozens of bomb/drug-sniffing ‘guard dogs’ wandered through the large rooms; they were cocker spaniels in cute green jackets! Arrrrrrrrrrgh… seriously ferocious beasts, not! I couldn’t help but to have a cheeky giggle, however that was all that was funny about that experience and we were grateful to clear it all and escape the airport.

Arriving in Cuba really is unlike arriving anywhere else in the world, the old huge American cars, the cobbled roads, the crumbling architecture, its like entering a time capsule and finding yourself back in the early part of the last century. Poor old Havana, it really is falling apart, and I couldn’t help but to feel a huge sadness around the obvious neglect, not just of the city, but of the people too.

Its an amazing place, dilapidated yes, but still beautiful, and in a short period of time we fell in love with the people. They are survivors and amazing musicians, a melancholy reality of this weird world is that the more oppressed the people of a place are, the more compelling music they produce….the beat of the rumba will forever remain in my heart.

We stayed in the Hotel Plaza which was built at the turn of the last century, and in my opinion has had no work done on it since…unbelievably run down, and a bad smell of damp everywhere. Its location was cool though, located at the gates of the oldest part of Havana and from the outside the Hotel was pretty impressive with its opulent neo classical façade; plus we were very close to ‘Parque central’ which dates back to 1903 and is surrounded by Havana’s finest Hotels and restaurants.

There were definitely better hotels to stay in but as you have to book a minimum of three nights in a Hotel to gain access to the country, we were stuck with it. All I can say is do not believe every write-up on the internet as they can be very misleading at times, in my opinion anyway.
Walking around old Havana is like being on a film set, it’s almost impossible to imagine it’s a living, working city with industry, commerce and 9 to 5 jobs. It looks like life has been placed on pause… a perpetual Kit-Kat break with people lounging around dusty streets, children playing on old American cars, singing, dancing and the ever constant smoking of Cuban cigars.

It’s worth mentioning that buying cigars off the street is a very bad idea, they are very old and dry. It’s better to go to a reputable shop for the decent stuff and then also you get to see the good cigars being made.

While I’m talking of bad ideas I’ll also mention the possible confusion for travellers around the several currencies that are used in Cuba. The American dollar is now no longer accepted so that leaves two other currencies; the Cuban convertible Peso and the Cuban Peso. As a tourist you will mostly spend the convertible Peso as it has a higher value! The only time you will really need the Cuban Peso is for market food or perhaps public transport. It can feel some what annoying that to get into a club for example, you pay in convertible Peso and the locals pay in Cuban Peso which has a much lower value. Click here to view the different currencies. Of course I don’t blame the people; it’s the government milking the tourists that really annoys me. Anyhoo such is life!

There are some great things to see in Havana along with the wonderful people and excellent old American cars, I do like the look of them they are so cool! There are also lots of museums and art galleries, not to mention hundreds of wonderful streets and dilapidated buildings to look at.

One of my favourite buildings in Havana was ‘La Catedral de la Habana’ which is a fine example of ecclesiastic architecture and also where some of Columbus’s remains where kept. It’s location is lovely also, and we saw many characters on the street around this area.
Food was a bit of an issue here though, made Mexico seem like a culinary delight and that’s saying something!! Overall the quality of restaurant food was very low and access to wholesome food, fresh fruit and vegetables was near on impossible, even fast food outlets were non existent due to having no trade with America; no Coca-cola, or any other quick snack food that we are all accustomed to having, no western modern franchises at all. Unless you have seen a country without it, it’s hard to believe how much franchising has taken over the rest of the world; Cuba truly is stuck in the past.

What Gary and I found very amusing was entering a restaurant, being handed the menu, browsing like normal and then placing an order to hear the words “No, Sorry we do not have that on the menu today”, then choosing something else… “No, Sorry we do not have that on the menu today”, then again… Until finally it dawned on us to ask what exactly was on the menu, and to be told “crispy fried chicken”. Infact that seemed to be the only dish available at most places. The only snacks or food during the day that we could find was cheese toasties and greasy pizza slices sold from the window of some Cuban’s home.

I get the feeling that the best way to see Havana is to stay with a Cuban family, that way you will be given an insight into the city that we did not experience as ‘green’ tourists, and also probably access to some lovely Cuban food, I could be wrong though. Whilst on the subject of food I’d also like to comment on the quality of service in cuba, or should I say ‘lack of’. Cuban waiters for the most part appeared to have gone on some sort of anti-service course, a school for the ‘Basil Fawltys‘ of the world, and there’s me thinking only the British could be surly and indifferent… lol.

Another cool building is the ‘El Capitolio’ not only does it look pretty amazing from the outside, loved the huge statues on either side of the door, but it also houses treasures such as the statue that represents the Republic, which was made by Italian artist Angelo Zanelli and is considered the world’s third largest indoor sculpture.

There is so much to see and so many fabulous buildings and places of interest in Havana, to name just a few: ‘Rum Museum (Or Ron as the Cuban’s like to say…LOL), Christopher Columbus Cemetery, Lenin Park, National Museum of Fine Art, Museum of Antique Auto mobiles, Its just a case of putting on your walking shoes and taking in the sights.

There’s an old building in the Plaza Vieja that you can go to the roof and take some photographs across Havana City, that’s if you have large ‘Cojones’ like Gary and don’t mind peering off a high building that looks like it may fall down at any minute!!

Finally I’ll mention Havana’s statue of Christ blessing the city from the other side of the bay, much like another well-known effigy of Jesus that gazes down on Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. This particular marble sculpture is the work of Jilma Madera, and was erected in 1958 on a rise in the land that offers the perfect place to watch the sunset.

After schleping across Havana all day the best way to chill out is by having a wicked coffee at one of the hundreds of Coffee bars, or a nice cold ‘Cristal’ or ‘Bucanero’ beer which are the most popular of the local brews. Whilst having some refreshment you are sure to enjoy the music of any great Cuban band, there are hundreds of them.

Havana is a night city and when the sun goes down that’s when the real action happens, then it’s Salsa, Salsa, Salsa. Gary and I took a cab out to ‘Casa de le Musica’ which is a favourite night spot for the locals (be prepared to queue outside for ages and then pay over the odds to enter as a tourist). Fantastic live music that went on until 4am, dance till you drop!
Havana was a very interesting City and for the most part we really enjoyed the experience but in truth if we where to do it again I would do it very differently, starting by bring some goodies for the people who can’t even afford bars of soap, bottles of aspirin or baby milk formula. I’d probably have a few healthy snacks such as nuts and yogurt bars too, and would stay with a Cuban family rather than in a Hotel.

There are more Photographs of this trip in the main album if you should want to see them.