Havanas Capital Building
As seems to always be the case when you return to a city once again, you grow to know it a little more and the peculiarities and commonalities become second nature to you. Upon my return to Havana I have a little more savvy about what Havana is about, where to buy things I need, how to get around and of course what parts of the city had I missed before I left to see the rest of Cuba.
The buildings in Havana range from ‘In Disrepair’ to ‘Recently Renovated into a Hotel or Restaurant’ with the often narrow streets of the old town winding through the city and coming to dead ends with pillars in the road and the malecon stretching out along the front of Havana.
The women of Cuba in general are beautiful and here in Havana they are in their element, dressing in often simple but stylish clothing, walking with an air of grace and confidence but still remaining friendly and approachable. The men are a little different, tending to be just as approachable but tend to dress a lot more casually than the women and spend most of their time whistling or tooting their car horns to attract the attention of the women, which is often greeted with a smile of ‘yes, I know I look good, thank you!’.
Some tips to eating in the city would be to eat along the malecon if you wish to pay local prices in the local peso and not the CUC but ensure you speak Spanish well enough to ask for what you want, or head to the side streets or the old town for affordable eating but in CUC. If you wish to eat lobster then I would suggest not eating in the old town where you will be charged as a tourist and to head to either the side streets or to the more local restaurants, however you pay a lot less than in Europe that’s without a question.
When staying in Havana you can either stay at the high end hotels (some of which are not really high end just the pricing), or rent an apartment via a contact within Havana which is not to difficult to do, knowing that many Cubans make their income form renting their places, or rooms out.
Buses in and out of the city from the local districts or to the beach are from 1 local peso for a single journey or 3 local pesos for a return journey to the beach. The main train station is also within the main city area with a small selection of the old trains fenced off for the public and tourists to see along with one of the main old city walls from when the Spanish would close the city at night and lock the doors.
Try not to forget the closing of the city which is still done via a ceremony of firing a canon at 9pm each night only now the city has just parts of the wall still erect for tourists and a sombre reminder of what Havana was once like under the Spanish rule.
Most Cubans will tell you that they are awaiting a serve change in the way of communism finally departing from Cuba and the Cuban people being able to freely do things without the police or military taking acceptation to driving down a road for instance. The power does need to be given back to people after all that Che Guevara fought for; it seems that the Cubans were freed from the US but in turn subjected to communist rule under Fidel Castro which is different from China’s communist rule but still has it limitations on the Cuban people.
A single currency would possibly assist in moving towards a new era for Cuba along with freedom to openly meet and talk to foreigners without looks and questions from the police or immigration officials who seem to often misuse their power as and when they wish to.
Jay
