Meson De La Flota Boutique Hotel Havana

... you through the night. Now that sounds like my kind of dialectical materialism. For some reason Cuba imports Gallo Beer (that's a rooster, not an Italian) from Guatemala, reflecting new realities and trade relationships (ssshhh! Don't tell Uncle) that got severely severed in 1954 the year of my birth and my taxi driver's car. I thought about trying one for old times' sake, but... naaah. Beggars here are creative, freely offering to show you their ...

... Cubankind. As we sat drinking a Cuba Libre (also a common theme for our time in Cuba) and smoking our newly acquired Cohiba cigar, we had a good laugh and chat with the bartender, Alexandr, and the doorman nicknamed Reyes (the King) talking about Cuba, the Castro brothers, Salsa etc. And all this while not feeling threatened!!! We definitely would go back to do the tour through the factory.

As we walked out of the shop we noticed that the Havana City Bus tour ...

The bus back to Havana is supposedly full (or so Beatrice was told) but somehow we have 2 seats per person. I settle down into my 2 seats and and feel the pinch of the freezing air-conditioning. Turning off the air-vents doesn't ease the situation any and my solitary jumper which I'd hoped to use as a pillow isn't much help either. The 14 hour journey is cold, foodless and long. My 2 seats become one as more people join us at the first stop 2 hours after ...

... et Miguelito qui cuisine trop bien! et puis y´a la pizzeria du coin, la marchande de jus et de batido, de mani molido, de guarapo (pur jus de caña), le marché de fruits et legumes de la calle Blanco, la casa de la Musica, le Malecon ou la Havana Vieja à 5 min, bref c´est trop bien placé. Sylvain et Sophie, et Bonnie y sont restes et je crois qu´ils n´ont pas été décus! aussi si vous êtes un jour de passage à la Havane ...

... side of the story - which has become a prevailing theme to most of my adventures. After a few hours of walking about, we safely found our way back to our Hotel. We had a few minutes to spare before we were off to Varadero. So we decided to chop it up with some of the locals who owned the beautiful vintage cars that were parked right outside of the hotel. I asked one of the guys if I could sit in his car and he immediately ...

... still have ration books, a remainder from the Special Period after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Cuba lost 80% of its export market. There are stories of eating fried grapefruit skins for tea and cooking rice with 4 times the required amount of water. There are hundreds of bicitaxis around the city, and heaps of coco-mobiles: tiny open-air three-wheel taxis that look like giant motor bike helmets. We loved riding around in them. The highlight ...

Hey I'm back in London! Yay! But I thought Cuba deserves a decent write up....from day1. Day 1....arrived at the airport around midnight. I had arranged for a car to pick us up, but there was no car. After losing my wallet in peru, I only had my maestro card left, but the cash machine wasn't accepting it. luckily we had some euros with us, so that'll take us to our casa at least. So wandering around the airport, tried calling up the casa, no answer/wrong number ...

Great to speak Spanish again! People are so friendly and outgoing, you get into conversations everywhere. The people were generally well educated, knowledgeable about the outside world and well taken care of, in terms of basic necessities. There is an obvious lack of 'extras', though. They get basic food rations and medical care and education but don't have money for much else. Youth express the view that Fidel & Co. have done great things for ...

We were pretty stoked to get flights to Havana, Cuba for a week, especially as Fidle Castro had recently re-emerged with his first public appearance in over a year. Highlights - The cars!! Of course everyone has seen the photos of the old 50s American hulks that still cruise the streets of Havana, but it was still wonderful to see them- and they are everywhere too. Many a photo was taken, and we even had a ride in a ...

... its Karma or whatever but the next day we said we'd head to the bus ststion and hunt a bus there instead. There was no buses and a que of 10 waitin to go to Camaguey, so the 26th celebrations were out. However we did manage to bump into one of the staff in the waiting area who offered a taxi, then told us we could get a bus to Trinidad at that moment, so off we went.