Havana again, after 47 years

[vinapu]

To start with this was NOT a guy hunting trip at all so if somebody is looking for juicy staff you can stop reading now. It was also completely unplanned but when accidentally while looking for something else I spotted very attractive package of flight , centrally located hotel with breakfast and transfer from and to airport, all of the sudden I had urge to see what changed in 47 years since my last visit there.

I was not planning to write anything but was encouraged to do so by few members and I yielded to pressure , lol,

And I’m glad I did although not entirely for right reasons – I’m great lover of ruins and sadly a lot of building stock in Havana are ruins or about to become ones and still plenty of them are inhabited.

 Still there are plenty of pockets of grand edifices already renovated or being in process of. Thus city is full of contrasts where  ruined or half ruined building is standing next to shiny place/ hotel / museum and often stretch of street with piles of uncollected garbage taking half of her width  after few steps  becomes clean, neatly paved block of cafes and restaurants.

Parts of city further from Old City  like Vedado and Miramar are much neater but also less interesting .

I felt in love with the city and chances are I will visit next year as well as week ( 6 full days, arrived late evening on day 1 , departed  early morning on day 8 ).

There are few paradoxes which ,make city quite unique.

 First , its dirty, streets are full of rubbish which is being collected but obviously not fast enough and still in all my day long walks here and there I did not see single rat while in Bangkok, shiny capital of much more developed country hardly evening stroll along Silom or Suriwong goes without spotting one.

 Second, despite police being rarely visible- I don’t think I saw 2-3 cops in my week there city is very safe and it needs to be said , more dark and uninviting street looked, more safe and undisturbed I felt. I’m not kidding you. Sure, it must be crime , one evening I noticed I’m followed but people on the street seem to ignore tourists passing by.

 Of course there are  bloody exceptions – Central Park, all 4 plazas in Old City and Obispo – pedestrianized street connecting Central Park and Plaza de Armas in old City. There one is harassed without mercy and Havana hustlers are among the worst and most persistent  I ever met and believe me , I was here and there . But as I said , solution can be relatively easy – use side street to reach your destination and you will be left alone.

 Few practical information :

 Internet – in hotel it was very poor and after day of trying without success I gave up. Simply because I had solution at had- SIM card purchased in the airport for 7$ for 7 days, worked very well without glitch. Of course because of idiotic American embargo certain sites were out or reach i.e. e-bay , but I could get to this forum without any issues, e-mail worked, Grindr worked  but closest profiles I could see were from Key West 90 miles away.

 Food- situation much better than I expected. Bangkok this is not but restaurants are in all tourist  frequented places and simple snacks and even pastries can be purchased almost everywhere. Quality  may not necessarily be highest and serving tastiest  but all  what I had was edible plus at least. Meal in private restaurant on one of plazas , count on 10 $, if you find government one , I will be half of that. No, I did not have any stomach problems.

 Breakfast in hotel was surprisingly varied, at least 4 kinds of cold cuts, delicious if one likes salt but beacon was excellent , so not for one second in my wanderings was I hungry.

 Beer was surprisingly good  for less then 1$ and can be purchased in myriad simple stores opened by everybody whenever aunt Rosita sends parcel from Miami.

 Best beer was Bucanero Max, quite strong one at 6.5 %, there were also lesser known Spanish and Dutch  beers for sale along with some of locally produced which I venture to say taste better than American or Canadian stuff.

 Stuff I did no see for sale  was toilet paper and tea so better bring your own. Apart from hotel room only toilet where I saw toilet paper was in the airport but public toilets whenever I went were reasonably clean and maintained. If there’s attendant  , she will expect some ‘donation.’.

 Money, official rate is about 120 peso ( CUP ) / USD but I doubt anybody is exchanging at that rate. Only exchange counter I saw was in the airport.

Street rate is slightly above 400, I was  exchanging at 435. If somebody quotes  you attractive  like 500 – be prepared you will be cheated.

Guy who  carried my suitcase to the room told me ‘don’t exchange money on street “ and he was right as I learned next morning to my peril.

 Best way is to find  driver or restaurant  proprietor, even better host of casa particulare (bed and breakfast ), in short some place where you can count your money.

 Another solution is to bring plenty of low denomination of USD and use it for payments, restaurants may give you change in local money – I paid 6000 bill with 20 $ note , they gave me change in pesos. Foreign coins are useless , euro often is taken 1: 1 with USD so not very economical.

 

Getting around:

 Local transport – there are local busses but I did not use one and while crowded , certainly not overwhelmingly so like sometimes shown in You Tube .

From Park Central  there are 2 tourist busses hop-on, hop-off type , one T1  goes around the city stopping at 20+ various attractions , another one T3   goes to Eastern Beaches and it’s handy to get to Morro castle on other side of Havana bay. Both cost 10$ for a day so you .

Bicycle taxis are everywhere and 2 hours city tour I took on 1st day  for 10$ was one of best things I did as I gave me great idea where various places of interest are.

There are regular taxis , fees negotiable.

 And finally crown of them all – classic  American cars from 50ties which can be renter for tour but also as ordinary taxi. There are tons of those and  if you are ancient car lover there’s no better place in the entire world than Havana  to indulge. 1 hr drive 25-30 $

more tomorrow, may be even it will be some gay stuff

[vinapu]

some city contrasts :

both pictures taken standing on the same spot - Christus and Che Guevara house, 100 m apart

Capitol and half ruin

again both pictures taken from the same spot - notice Capitol in distance and gay flag on restaurant

traditional Cuban dish called 'ropa vieja" ( "old dress" ), 4000 CUP=~9$

[10tazione]

One of the countries you can visit incognito (no KFC), unless you plan to visit Guantanamo.

[iendo]

@vinapu You beat me to it!

That food looked good. I remember that I've seen many boys on the app. Now, that must have been hornet then, otherwise that scene died? 

Looking forward to hear the rest. 

[vinapu]

38 minutes ago, iendo said:

@vinapu You beat me to it!

That food looked good. I remember that I've seen many boys on the app. Now, that must have been hornet then, otherwise that scene died? 

 

I'm not competitive and in the race with anybody, lol.

Mashed sweet potato at front was indeed extraordinarily yummy, res was good as well.

As for apps, I checked Grindr once, did not see anything of interest and gave up so can't comment. I did not go there for guys. 

[floridarob]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

I did not go there for guys. 

But I'm sure you found some, at Central Park, La Rampa or Las Vegas bar.....can't bring them back to your hotel though 🙄

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, floridarob said:

But I'm sure you found some, at Central Park, La Rampa or Las Vegas bar.....can't bring them back to your hotel though 🙄

no, as you learn below I saw only one ( not even sure ) at Central Park, La Rampa I visited during daytime and there was none  and I did not even measure where Las Vegas bar is. Next time. 

Indeed hotel security seemed tight which restrained my adventurous side too.

[vinapu]

Tourist attractions :

 

My favorite was just wandering through touch looking but in fact friendly streets of Old City  with faded architectural beauty every several steps. There are several  churches and monasteries , unfortunately most of the  were closed , even on Sunday. Tourist life centers on one of 4 plazas -Caterdral,  de Armas, Vieja (Old) and San Francisco. Cathedral was opened during day and there’s very good view from it’s tower.  

Plaza Vieja:

 Capitol building , newly renovated and literally shining all over the city. It can be visited by guided tours only , hourly from 10 am to 4 pm and admission is 20$ . Tickets can be obtained in the building right across the Capitol – there’s signage.

Several castles , most impressive and worth visiting being Morro and St Cristobal across the Havana Bay from Old City. Easiest way to get there is by taking tourist bus T3 heading to Playas del Este.

Cheapest and more picturesque   is by taking ferry across the extremely picturesque bay to Casablanca, it takes 10 minutes and costs 2 peso although everybody paid either 5 or 10 and did not expect change and walking  from ferry landing by the Christ and Che Guevara house.

 Teatro Nacional beside Capitol , there are tours for 2$ but unfortunately I assigned for that Sunday and on Sunday there are none. Next time . Guys I went for tour to Vinales Valley  were impressed.

View from top of Jose Marti monument on Plaza de Revolucion, 120 pesos.

Colon Cemetery, vast expanse of funerary monuments

 Having ice cream in Copelia emporium across from Yara cinema and Habana Libre hotel.

 Stroll  along Malecon with accompanied ocean waves crashing, at one point one bumps into American Embassy.

 Monumental churches on Avenida Reina and Avenida Infanta are both in process of renovation and we not accessible and so was Central Railway Station.

Speaking about railways I wanted to visit railway museum in former Cristina railway station but while it looked maintained it was firmly shut without any signs about opening but a lot of stock can be seen from the street.

 

 

Gay stuff :

 

I did not go there for guys but upon learning that Telegrafo, Cuba’s only gay hotel is right beside mine I had some hopes of possible hookups but truth is  I saw only one guy , quite attractive , who could be looking for business opportunity, he even blinked eye and smiled at me but it seemed half hearted and I was not sure he meant what I did. Other then that unfortunately I did not notice anything of note but as I said , I did not go there for debaucherous entertainment so don’t feel disappointed

notice gay flag on top and also on 2nd floor balcony

[10tazione]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

Having ice cream in Copelia

Are there still separate queues/entrances for locals and foreigners?

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Are there still separate queues/entrances for locals and foreigners?

No, that was likely in times when they had convertible peso in circulation. I don't recall it either from my first visit.

In Havana you pay in local currency everywhere, only exceptions where hard currency was required  were SIM card in the airport ( 7$ for 7 days , card only ), admission to Capitol, (20$, cash only)  , day  tour to Vinales ( 72 $ , card only) and both tourist busses ( 10$, cash only ).

Visa and Mastercard worked , I was told American Express won't but not my problem since I don't have one 

[ShivRoy]

5 hours ago, vinapu said:

No, that was likely in times when they had convertible peso in circulation. I don't recall it either from my first visit.

Even when there were two currencies (CUC and CUP - one for foreigners, one for locals), Coppelia was local currency only, you couldn't pay in CUC. At that time, I always changed some foreign currency into local pesos to be able to go to Coppelia or buy local milkshakes (batidos) or sandwiches from local places run by local individuals and not from tourist CUC-denominated ones.

@vinapu thanks for a great report down the memory lane. I think I was last in Havana some 7 years ago or so. I still remember incredible lobsters that you could buy from local casas particulares in Havana initially for 10 CUC (like 10 USD) for 2 whole lobsters on the plate, then by 2017-2019 it was like 12 CUC, but when you drove inland to places like Camaguey or Las Tunas those same lobsters cost 6 CUC for two whole cooked lobsters. I think in all my trips to Cuba, I ate enough lobsters to last me a lifetime

[macdaddi]

@vinapu  thanks for the report and sharing these excellent photos. Brings back so many memories of time spent in La Havana and exploring the many barrios of the city. ¡Muchas gracias!

[vinapu]

muchas gracias tambien !