Cuba - Part 1 - Havana

I'm going to split my posts about Cuba up because there is so much to show you guys, I know you will get bored if I ramble it all off in one post.

We left the resort we were staying at and spent two nights at a Bed and Breakfast in La Habana (Havana). Here is a photo of the place where we stayed - that is our hostess Maria waving goodbye to us in the upper left balcony, that was our suite.

Here is a view of the street from our balcony. The streets were super busy and crazy. But at night everything totally calmed down and it was really quiet.

This is a view across the same street - obviously I was horrified to see that there were actually people living in that building.

So we checked in, met Maria and then went out to explore Havana. We walked almost everywhere because we were staying in Central Havana which is close to Old Havana where all the most interesting things to see were. Here are some typical streets in Havana.

....compared to a street that is fixed up for the tourists.....

The architecture is ridiculously gorgeous in this city. It's also really sad to see it all literally falling down around us.

The best example was this building - see the scaffolding they set up? Notice the amount of trees and bushes growing on the scaffolding? See how the building inside is GONE? There was just rubble with huge trees growing out of it. What the hell happened?!

Click on the video. DO. IT. (It's only 30 seconds!) Obviously no rules of the road in Havana.



We took a 3-wheel taxi and it was so fun! Here is a photo of the back of a similar taxi....

We visited this famous plaza and had lunch - we split a Cuban Sandwich - pork, ham and cheese. There was a local Cuban band playing here, they were great so we bought their CD.

Maria, the hostess of the B&B was lovely. Holy CRAP did our Spanish lessons ever come in handy! She knew a little bit of English so between us we were able to talk with her about life in Cuba - she used to be a physics professor!

She offered us breakfast ($5 each) and it was fantastic - fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee (Cuban style - super strong) toast, fresh squeezed papaya juice - there was so much food there was no way we could finish it off. She also offered to cook us dinner and serve it to us in our room - we jumped at the chance to try real home made Cuban food - roast chicken, black bean soup, rice, bread, veggies, beer and wine, dessert....$15. Again - fantastic.

Here are some shots of our place and the meals.

Again, more gorgeous architecture......


So overall Havana was awesome. Lots of history and interesting people who - by the way were super friendly. A bit of a shock for me - I didn't realize the people were so poor.....but all in all I would go back, it was an amazing experience.

The other thing it has left me with is how lucky I am to live in Canada. I mentioned the state of most of the buildings, lots of people unemployed...the sidewalks were totally falling apart, there are lots of old cars which was neat - but they are just that - old cars that spew out lots of exhaust. I can't think of the last time I was overwhelmed by car exhaust - even in Vancouver.

The day after we got back Brad was saying that he was sad to be back - I pointed out some random machinery noise outside and said "Do you hear that? Someone is fixing something."