La Habana, Cuba

28th January – 31st January 2010 - Cuba – La Habana

We applied for our tourist entry cards about six weeks before leaving for Florida. One of the stipulations, on application, is that at least the first three nights accommodation is pre-booked; failure to do this would result in a booking in a Government run, five star hotel in the capital costing far more than we were prepared to pay, particularly as we are intending to stay in Casa Particulars which are similar to the English Bed and Breakfast – only breakfast is extra.

Arriving at Jose Marti Airport in La Habana was strange, to say the least. We are used to the unfriendliness of arrivals and passport control but in this big empty space all airport personnel were wearing facemasks (as if they might catch something from one of us) and not only was there no welcome I felt positively unwelcome. Once the passport is looked at and one continues, one has to go through a door and wait on the other side for any travelling partner. Then an immigration card has to be completed, including the name and address of the accommodation, administered again by unwelcoming personnel wearing facemasks. Luggage was collected from the usual carousel but when we got to it the luggage had already been taken off and sniffer dogs were, doing what sniffer dogs do, over everything.

The arrivals section is not really very large and we managed to find the toilet almost straight away, luckily I was prepared and carrying my own loo roll. Finally we visited the ATM for some much needed cash which dished out our $300 cuc in $50 cuc notes. An enterprising and well dressed gentleman came over and asked if we needed a taxi which we did as there is not public transport between the airport and Havana. Paul did his best to negotiate on the price given but the only taxis allowed at the airport are the government run Cubataxi the price is non-negotiable; but at last we were on our way heading for our next adventure.

At long last we have reached the country I have been looking forward to for so long. Havana was clearly once an incredibly beautiful and elegant city with many stylish buildings. Sadly, 50 years of communism, nearly 20 of those without the patronage of Russia, and the destructive natural force of the hurricanes have left the city looking much like a war zone. Luckily, the Direccion De Proyectos have now taken the decay in hand and are ploughing the profits earned by certain of the tourist hotels back into the city in a program of restoration; even so, the restoration is not restoring the properties back to their original glory, but it is restoring them to a more habitable and aesthetically pleasing state then they had fallen into. This programme has a very long way to go, but at least they have made a start.

We took a guided horse drawn carriage tour of the old part of the city. Our guide was interesting, informative and very amusing. One of the points on the tour is a small ferry used by the locals to cross the harbour, tourists are not encouraged to use it although if one has National Pesos to pay, I don’t believe it is illegal; anyway, this tiny ferry has been hijacked, twice, by Cubans wishing to escape Cuba and take advantage of the US ‘wet foot – dry foot’ policy applying to Cuban Nationals. If a Cuban can actually set foot on dry American soil – Florida is only 90 miles away – that Cuban is welcome to remain in America. If they are caught and stopped whilst still at sea, they are returned to Cuba immediately. The first hijacking, according to our guide, was successful, the second was not – our guide was on the second! He was not punished but he now has a criminal record and he did have to fight to keep his job, but he said he managed to keep it because he was the best guide they had!

One of the reasons why people want to escape, apparently, is that no matter how hard you work you still earn the same money. If I remember correctly, a cop will earn $40 cuc a month, a doctor $20 cuc – a cuc is a ‘convertible peso and is worth around one American dollar; there are two currencies here though, the convertible peso and the national peso (which the Cubans use) and $1 cuc is worth around 24 national pesos. A small can of beer costs $1 cuc if bought from a shop and around 1.5 cuc if bought in a restaurant, we have no idea how much a Cuban has to pay for a can of beer, but they do seem to drink a lot of it. Another reason for their discontent is that foods are rationed. They are issued with coupons to buy meat, rice, sugar, milk and coffee.

As I understand the situation, the state owns everything and everyone works for the state and the state shops have to be seen to be believed. We thought that China, Laos and Cambodia had it bad but their shops are truly western compared to a Cuban state shop. The first couple we went into we wondered where the goods were. Everything on sale is either locked in a cabinet or out of arms reach and so the Cubans have to queue for more or less everything; very similar to 2nd world war Britain, or at least the ww2 Britain that I have seen on the television! And the staff! I have not seen one smile yet! They are even less interested in the customer then at home, maybe it’s because there is just no incentive to do better; maybe they just hate their job – who knows – maybe they are not allowed to!

Twice we have been befriended by Cubans who have showed an interest in us, they all know someone in England – usually Ali G! Having taken the time to ask us enough questions about us, they then go into details about how their ration for milk is not enough to feed their children and that we, as tourist, are not rationed. They then make us feel so bad for them that we have ended up going into a ‘shop’ and buying some powered milk for them.

They have not had any new cars in this city for a very long time and, as you can imagine, some of the vehicles are death trap rust buckets; we even saw one car that was so old it didn’t appear to have a speedometer! On the other

hand, they do have some exceptionally well maintained cars from the 1950’s – Chevies, MG’s, Pontiacs, the list goes on and on; but the streets were not built for the modern age anyway. Most are very narrow and can only support ‘one way’ traffic and street names are very difficult to read, unless one goes right up to them, or maybe that is just old age blindness. We shared a dinner table with a young German couple on our first evening who had hired a car; they told us that road signs were almost non-existent. Driving in Florida was bad enough for me, I’m not sure I would like to attempt it here in Havana.

We have visited the Capitol Building which is a close approximation to its American cousin in Washington DC. Known to Cubans as El Capitolio, it was inaugurated in 1929 and built to be the seat of government, which it remained until 1959; it is a combination of neo-Classical and Art Deco styles. Currently, the building houses the ministries of Technology, Environment, and Science.

The building makes a good landmark for those wandering around Havana; its 92m / 300ft is visible from almost anywhere in the city. Some of the key sights are a majestic library, the Presidents office, the debating chamber, and more famously, the acoustically unique Salon de los Pasos Peridos, and the gold covered Statue of the Republic, reputed to be the largest bronze statue of Pallas Athena in the world.

Another place we have visited was the Plaza De La Revolution (Revolution Square) and the tower built to honour Jose Marti (1853-1895), a Cuban poet, journalist, revolutionary philosopher and political theorist; he was shot and killed on the 11th April 1895 during the invasion of Cuba; to stop the US taking control.  The 139m marble tower was planned in 1926 and was completed one year before the second revolution, Castro’s revolution; the views of Havana from the top are exceptionally good. The museum on the ground floor only has the information printed in Spanish and although we try our hardest to work out the stories it does get a little wearisome.




To find out more about Marti visit http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/cuba/history2.htm .

Other than those two places we just seemed to have wandered round the streets looking at the buildings and the cars, but most of all the people and the streets they live in. Clearly, we have stopped in several places for either coffee, beer or, the favourite drink of the Cubans, the Mojito, made with lime juice, sugar, fresh mint all pounded together, then they add about the same amount of mineral water and an equal amount of white rum, the glass is then topped up with as much ice as they can get in – de-li-ci-ous!

It is now time to move on and our next destination is Cienfuegos. Our host has arranged for her next door neighbour to take us to the bus station in his car, a little extra money for him, a small saving for us. She has, also, arranged for a ‘friend’ of hers who has a Casa Particular in Cienfuegos to meet us at the bus station there.




For more of my photo's of Havana Click Here