Varadero to Havana
Trip to Havana
After breakfast our driver and classic 1953 Chevrolet are waiting outside our hotel to take us to Havana for our two night mini trip.
I am very excited to drive in the car which is much older than me…however the lack of seat belts is a bit disconcerting. The car can go at speeds up to 120 km per hour.
Our driver, Endry speaks a bit of English and between that, Graham’s Portuguese and John’s and my Spanish, we communicate well.
We drive through the city of Matanzas before stopping at the lookout of a gorgeous bridge for 
pictures. The guys notice an iguana chomping on some grass below us.
Continuing on to Havana, the car lulls me to sleep with its vibrations.
Hello Havana
Once in Havana, our driver needs to ask directions a few times to get us to our Airbnb located in a maze of streets in Old Havana.
Our Airbnb host meets us and takes us up 2 long flights of stairs to our two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. There are a 
lot of problems getting the internet however eventually we get it…more or less…probably more on the side of less. It is very slow and spotty.
My initial reaction to the city is that it is utterly charming with such an abundance of gorgeous architecture.
We are near the beautiful Plaza Vieja with its very unique (and amusing), naked women holding a trident sized fork, riding a gigantic sized chicken.
We walk around the Capitol building and the opera house, making or way to 
Chinatown…where there is not a single Asian person to be seen.
Unfortunately many of the buildings are crumbling due to lack of upkeep. Many times we see just the outer skeleton of once very beautiful buildings.
Scammed
A guy comes up to us saying that he works at Cuatro Palmas (our resort) and recognizes us. He says he is here on a day off visiting his girlfriend. We chat and he takes us to a cigar merchant…in hindsight he probably recognized our resort bracelets which we forgot we were wearing. Cameron did buy some cigars. The guy’s girlfriend then tries to take us to a restaurant but we end up eating at a place near where we first saw them….sure enough, the guy is back there looking for more tourists.
Crumbling Glory
The more we walk around, the more we notice the deterioration of the beautiful architecture. Havana must have been stunningly gorgeous before communism.
Time seems to have halted in the 1950s.
On the Malecon, the seaside promenade, we meet a man who tells us a lot about the local peoples living conditions. How they are rationed beans, rice, chicken, soap, toothpaste etc. He says that people are thrown in jail if they protest and are even charged fines for talking to tourists. He says that the country exports most of their agriculture, leaving nothing for its people. I had noticed at the hotel they don’t serve bananas, oranges, apples or any of the fruits you would expect a tropical country to have in abundance.
There are people fishing but the man tells us that they all got there fishing poles from friends or relatives visiting from another country. The man shows us tickets for fines that he has to pay for talking to tourists.
I have brought all kinds of things from home (candy’s, pencil crayons, a few stuffed animals, notebooks etc.) which I give to kids who are with their parents. Both parents and kids are delighted with one little girl and her father coming up to me and blowing kisses. Another father took pictures of his son waving his candy and Christmas stocking around.
Only government stores and high end hotels take credit cards. Everywhere else takes cash – Cuban pesos but Canadian, US, British Pounds or Euros are preferred. Everyone wants to exchange your money. We are offered between 40 and 140 pesos for one Canadian dollar so you have to know the market.
After resting up a bit, we head for supper. Afterwards we walk around the city but the streets are not well lit so we head back to our Airbnb.