Gran Caribe Villa Los Pinos Havana

After an epic 20 something hours of travel we finally arrived in Havana. We spent 2 days exploring the city, 3 nights in total. We visited the cathedral, the capitolio, Revolution square, the Revolution museum, the Rum museum (awesome mojitos to accompany you on the way round), and Santa Maria beach.

It was probably over 30 degrees so we were very sweaty betties but walked everywhere and saw lots of the city. Che Guevara images (fit) and old 50s cars everywhere - fun!

... over the years. Wow - this was it! Havana - historical, fascinating, gorgeous in a faded, aging-former-beauty-queen sort of way...
I eventually engaged the taxi driver in a bit of conversation, and discovered that my Spanish wasn't too rusty. At least the listening and comprehension parts. The speaking, well, that would come back.
My driver gave me a mini-tour of Central Havana before dropping me off at the Hotel NH Parque Central - a great 5-star hotel, where, in ...

... the opportunity to film it but I did get a little piece to record. There is a cement step below the wall by the water that they have to have enough inertia to pass over and hence the crossing of the boulevard to pick up speed. It's the dodging of traffic and the climb up the wall without slipping to get a good jump that is the challenge. On the way back meandering through the streets I came across a fiesta with a stage set up and bands playing to a couple of ...

... Ryan and I had a lovely room with an ensuite bathroom and so did Nick and Avril. The house was full, very full of antiques from furniture, art, crockery, silver cutlery and glassware to books. It felt like walking into your grandmother's house - full of 'things'. Thank goodness Avril learned to speak Spanish; otherwise we would have had no means of communicating with our hosts. (Avril has inspired me to try and learn another language as she proved it's possible to teach ...

... the house was extremely friendly and we knew that we would not go hungry judging by the size of her waistline. We were not disappointed and became very fond of our hosts. The town itself was a complete contrast to Havana. It mostly consisted of residential properties where the locals sat on their porches on rocking chairs watching the world go by. Everyone appeared to know each other and there was a real community feel about the small town. We instantly liked the place. After our car ...

... to look inside and see it very sparse regarding furniture and decoration, but quite a lot of people dancing and having fun. Midnight Thursday night, then this guy gets in and becomes our new friend. He really did help us, as we may not have gotten in and been able to speak to the old ladies we met so that was good, though he kept on about a tip and told us we'll hang out tomorrow. Havent seen him yet, but not overly eager to. The house we are staying at is typical of houses here, but ...

... that was the animal's final destination I discover its demise. Spread out on a counter facing the street were parts and pieces of the now silent pig. In the sun, with eager flies landing on it, the animal was now being parted out for sale with a young couple in charge. The young man was diligently cutting the pig into sections with a large knife, his wife at his side dicing up a pineapple for a snack. I stopped to share with them my scary ...

... to help us were the tour guides, who obviously were working for the bonus of tips. This highlighted the fact even more that, without some element of reward for personal effort, there will be no improvement in general conditions in the future. Maybe the fact that Cuba has been invaded for hundreds of years by many other countries and the last brush with capitalism just enabled the rich to get richer, etc. and the forty plus years embargo from the USA, has created an ongoing siege mentality. I left sadder and not much wiser about Cuba.

... chill out and check out the street life. Walking the streets, you can witness many a discussion acted directly from the pavement to the balconies. The shortest ones are a call from the person downstairs, and a key thrown at him by the person upstairs. The century old wooden doors in the street open to marble or wood stairs climbing steeply to the first level. Sometimes when approaching a street corner, I can hear a whistle or hiss, or just notice a ...

Gosh, 40°C outside, a huge sun in the blue sky hitting and burning us!!! Anyway, we decide to walk and eat in the Vedado, close to the marketplace, among the only one in town, quite cheap as they say in the guides, and a good way to see the locals live.