Megano Havana

... and made for one incredible night. People were just casually glancing towards the band whilst sipping their Mojitos and Daquiris.<br><br>The next we took the obiligatory city tour to see the environs of the whole city. This included the Plaza de la Revolución, a large open square and a favourite place for Fidel Castro to make inspiratational speeches. <br><br>Amongst other ...

... friend Catrina joined me. Catrina and I met in Bolivia in '07 (see my Travel Pod entries for that trip), and she now lives in Grand Cayman. We decided a couple of months ago to meet up in Cuba for this little adventure. After getting re-united, we headed back to the roof bar, and caught up over a couple of refreshing drinks, all the while enjoying the great view. <br>We decided to go explore a bit of the city. We headed out on the famous Malecon ("boardwalk"), the sea-side ...

... The police don't do much and his idea of Cuba has been affected by the experience. He is originally from Peru and has given me his card for advice if I decide to visit Peru which is on my list. He just bought a Spanish version of the Old Man and The Sea and is engrossed into it while I type this. He is off to see his girlfriend. Many singles have girlfriends (or boyfriends) here. He comes here every 5-6 weeks on business. I should have worked for a travel agency LOL.

... thus a luxury. In Avril and Nick's bathroom she displayed two rolls of pink toilet paper, not for use, only for display. In our bathroom three empty bottles of perfume was exhibited, probably also showing that they have travelled or had the means to obtain such luxuries. The most recent hurricane destroyed half of Cuba's agricultural crops so fruit and vegetables are hard to come by, but Rakhel's daughter did manage to get some fresh fruit every morning for breakfast ...

... we were keen to make use of what little daylight was left so we hired a guide to take us to the nearest place where we could have a quick bathe. The journey only took 20 minutes and gave us our first true introduction to what most Cuban roads are really like. A 4x4 would have been the vehicle of choice to overcome some of the rugged terrain we encounted but we had to make do with our 1.1 Kia Picante. Some of the holes in the road could have swallowed the car so we drove with ...

... difference. We went for a walk around and found pretty much everywhere except for the couple of plazas with churches and museums is falling apart. Every road, sidewalk, building, has holes, some are being fixed which is good but everything needs a paint and all have huge bars on the windows and mighty doors that wouldn't let a rugby league player in - union maybe - hehe, I know nothing about either so that could land me in trouble! I know Paul once told me the difference but when do ...

... that my time spent in Cuba was desensitizing me in regard to our "obsessive" American hygiene, evident in the fact that the pineapple I just consumed was handed to me with hands contaminated with raw pork. Arriving back at my room, I immediately take a swig from my bottle of Havana Club rum. I now consider this a cure-all for anything that may ail me. Breakfast is done, and it's almost 9:30 AM, so I hurry out and down the street with my backpack ...

... det var sikkert noe med melka som ikke er like god som hjemme. Vi spiste paa kinesisl restaurant som var det beste alternativet vi kunne finne her til julemiddag og spiste dessert paa "fancy" restaurant etterpaa. Dagen f0r vi dro hadde vi en speed-tour rundt i Habana for aa faa med oss litt av hva som skjedde her. Bla revolusjons museet og det gamle fortet. Naa gleder vi oss til aa bare slappe av uten kommunismen frem til nyttaar i Tulum :)

so, i set off to cuba feeling fairly confident, some nice dutch folk gave me a business card of a nice casa in the middle of tourist town in havana, got to the airport in havana (still optimistic) changed some monies, got a taxi agreed a price, gave him the card (with address on) and off we went, all was well, even broke into a little smile, then in the middle of nowhere we stopped, so naturally i got a little worried, and he said to me direcision which means address, so in my ...

... is somewhere 2 or 3 blocks away, but the ladies don't know the place, or feint not to know, until one of them tells us to ask a man coming. This guy knows the place, knows also the restaurants around here, but does not want us to go to the one we chose on our guide, he must have a commission if he brings tourists to another one... anyway, his excuses are dumb, says the restaurant is closed and so on, but he leads ...