Havana

Havana was the launching and departing site for our Cuba trip. We opted to stay in hotels, rather than casas, during our time in the capital which basically dictated our activities. For the first two nights, we stayed in Palacio O'Farrill, which I pre-booked using cubatravelnetwork.com. Although staying in casas is the recommended/preferred method of lodging, we decided to stay in a hotel the first night because we arrived into Cuba around midnight and wanted a "safer", guaranteed place to lay our heads. Inevitably, the majestic experience of staying in the beautifully restored hotels in Havana justified the cost and we later stayed in the Hotel Raquel.

There are 3 main areas in Havana: Habana Vieja, Habana Central, and Vedado. Both Hotel Palacio O'Farrill and Hotel Raquel are located in Habana Vieja so we concentrated our walking tour primarily in this area. Compared to Habana Central and Vedado, which are more residential/"local", Habana Vieja is far more touristy and feels a bit like Disneyland. Since neither of us are architectural buffs, we just wandered around visiting each of the plazas, taking pictures of old cars and ornate buildings and getting acclimated. I don't know the names of all the places we saw so I can't be much help!

At some point during our first day, 2 friendly locals- a man and a woman- approached us and unassumingly asked us some typical questions. They seemed so warm, genuine, and so Cuban; I will admit I was flattered by their attention and opportunistically thinking that this exchange would make for a "great travel story!". So, against my better judgement, when the woman told me that the famous Buena Vista Social Club would be performing an underground performance at a "locals only" bar located upstairs in a remote clubspace, I allowed her to drag me along with Jason uneasily trailing behind. Walking up the darkened staircase I was thinking, " The Buena Vista Social Club! And WE were the special tourists that would be able to see them!...What a "great travel story" this would make!!! Man, were we lucky!!"

The four of us sat down at the bar. The Cuban Duo encouraged us to order mojitos. They only ordered 2 colas. The man got up and claimed he wanted to give us something leaving the woman and us to chat enthusiastically at the bar. The man eventually returned with some cigars and some "very special Cuban coins" which he handed to us, saying it was a "gift" from Cuba. Pictures were taken with our new bff's. Cigars were puffed. I was about to ask the woman to teach me how to Salsa dance.

"Man, were we lucky!!"

Somehow, the conversation between the four of us managed to disintegrate from the excited staccato of a bumblebee to the sludge that is unbaked cake batter. And that's when The Cuban Duo began to tell us their sad story:
- We cannot afford to get married, it is very expensive in Cuba (I later learned this was a complete lie)
- We have a young daughter, we cannot afford to give her milk
- Cuban cigars are very expensive if you buy them in a store. My husband works in a Cuban cigar factory and will give you a good price
- Will you help us buy milk for our daughter? Can you give us 20 Cuc?

Jason and I quickly realized we just got Punk'd by our new friends. We eventually were guilted into giving them 10 Cuc and also paid for the bill which was 20, which seemed really high for 4 drinks. It wasn't until walked back into the Cuban sun, bewildered and disoreinted from the past 30 minutes that we realized that the bar tab was 20 PESOS, not CUC.

"Man, we are such idiots."


The rest of our time in Havana was uneventful and pretty idyllic. The city is impressively well maintained and it just seems that Cubans live fairly Spartan existences (not necessarily out of choice) and are pride themselves in cleanliness. On our last night, we made like Romans in Rome and paid the driver of a cherry-red convertible Tbird $10 Cuc (this is a lot of money) to drive us the 10 minutes to the famously beautiful Hotel Nacional. Although this national monument is undeniably grand and historic, I would say that our 45 minute walk along the ocean back to our hotel was equally beautiful and cherished :) (sorry if that is uber cheesy)