El Paseo de Martí, Havana, Cuba
Greenery stretches as far as the eye can see in all directions toward the striking blue of the Caribbean as we descend towards the runway below. Small stone and wire fences cross the landscape until they reach the few narrow roadways. We’d arrived at what appeared to be an idyllic little farming village
We are greeted at immigration by stern faces and raised eyebrows. Winnie passes through without issue, while I get the rubber glove treatment. 3 interviews later we step out into the morning sun and humidity. The first interviewer was very friendly, even complimenting me on my Spanish. The other two were obviously just going through the motions
There are 3 different money exchange booths. We enter the one without a line, and the staff of 4 informs us that they aren’t open for business. Another money exchange booth ignores us completely. We go to the back of the line of 30 people and wait for the 2 cashiers to do us the honor of converting our funds into the local tourist currency, in between cleaning their fingernails and extended conversations with their friends.
Welcome to Cuba
“The cold front coming out of the north and west from the United States will result in lower temperatures and light rain this afternoon here in the countryside, but it won’t reach Havana. This will pass through in the next day and then it will be hot and sunny.” Our taxi driver fills us in on all of the regional weather details on our ride into town, in incredible detail. I assumed he had an advanced degree in meteorology, but it turns out that many Cubans are able to talk in depth about the weather with excitement
We arrive at our Casa Particular, a private room and bath in a local home, Cuba’s answer to hotels. It is a nice place on an upper floor of a beautiful old French colonial building, with a balcony and slight views of the Capital Building and towards the waterfront. Our host explains to us that the room we reserved is not available, because the previous guest is still there due to a nasty flu bug and “women’s problems.” No worries though, he booked us in a nearby home for 1 night. I didn’t sleep a wink on the last mattress purchased in Cuba before the Revolution, 55 years ago
We begin to explore town by foot around Habana Vieja and the Plaza de Armas, through the old stomping grounds of Earnest Hemingway, along the Malecon, and (ironically) past a copy of the capital building in Washington, DC. Like 100’s of buildings across the city, the Capital was covered in scaffolding while it undergoes restoration. Unlike 100’s of building across the city, it actually had people working on it… the others appeared to continue to rot and decay from the inside after years of neglect. If there ever was a city that could benefit from an outbreak of fire, Havana is it
Washington DC, circa 1955
A Grand Hotel in Any Other City
We stopped into La Floridita, famous for inventing the daiquiri and hosting long drinking sessions for Senior Hemingway, but were overwhelmed by the smell of mold and dirty ashtrays… only slightly worse than the smell of sewage and rotting garbage coming from some of the nearby streets
Typical Havana Side Street
A Local Park
After feeling the hustle and vibe of the local markets through other parts of Latin America, we were excited to come across a small produce market. Unlike the hustle and bustle of other places, it was eerily quiet, noticeably lacking in color, selection, and smiles. I guess it is hard to get excited about root vegetables. After repeatedly having our warm greetings returned with blank faces and glares, I began to reminisce about the time I asked for directions in New York City and was pleasantly told to go f#%k myself. The only people that displayed any sort of friendliness were receiving direct payment of some kind, or asking for it
Local Market
Around dinner time we stepped into the line outside one of the recommended restaurants from TripAdvisor. During the hour wait we enjoyed the various flavors of car exhaust from old buses and 1950’s era cars. God bless the catalytic convertor. Past the decrepit exterior, we stepped 100 years into the past with dark wood paneling, antique tables and silverware, and waiters in suits and ties. This is probably where the elite businessmen of Havana dined, back when there were businessmen.
“Why does our waiter hate us?” Winnie asked me. There was certainly a bit of forced politeness, as we dined on rabbit in a red wine sauce and fresh fish, washing it down with a delightful sangria. The only disappointing part of the meal was the salad with iceberg lettuce, sad tomatoes, and pickled green beans… this is probably where McDonald’s got their salad recipe. We later learned that our total bill of ~$30 was more than our waiter would make in a month. Queen Marie Antoinette would have felt at home here… speaking of which, we also ate dinner at a restaurant where Beyoncé dined (one of the worst meals ever)
We would have happily enjoyed more local fare and lower priced meals, but the dual economy structure largely disallows it. We did convert some of our tourist money to moneda nacional (the local currency) to get some street food, which consisted solely of pizza and sandwiches of artificially colored meat product and cheese food
Yum (?)
More of the same continued for the next week, as we waited to escape Havana. Instead of the nice young girl next door that was featured in her online dating profile, we found ourselves sitting across from an over-the-hill spinster with a failed face-lift, in serious need of a shower, an exercise regime, and prescription antidepressants.
We bought a bus ticket out of town at the earliest opportunity. “You want to leave today or tomorrow? Hahaha… the earliest bus seats I have available are in 3 days.” Ahh, communism… We briefly discussed changing our flights and leaving early, but we made the best of it.
We passed some time watching a friendly game of baseball…
The Cuban Sluggers
… watching a reenactment of the post-revolution firing squads…
Die, Capitalistic Pig!
… and we even tried a little retail therapy… but quickly discovered that there was nothing to buy… In the ideological battle of Castro vs. Costco, I’m pretty sure Costco won
Empty Market
Window Shopping for Cleaning Supplies
A local Bakery. Would you like a baguette, a baguette, or a baguette?
In the end, we resorted to the time tested method of frittering and wasting the hours in an offhand way… recreational alcoholism. At least rum is cheap in Cuba
Mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio
We eventually skipped town and made our way to Trinidad, Santa Clara, and Viñales.
Don’t worry, it gets better. Outside Havana is where the real beauty of Cuba lies.
Sunset on This Side of the Cold Front
Bicycle Taxis (A popular profession for college graduates)
“New Challenges, New Victories”
Beautifully Restored Exhaust Machines
“Guantanamera…” These guys once played baseball in Taiwan
$:
1 night for 2 in a typical casa particular: 25 CUC (~$25)
Taxi from airport to downtown Havana: 25 CUC
Mojito at La Bodeguita del Medio (a Hemingway favorite): 5 CUC
Mojito anywhere else: 2.5 – 3 CUC
750 ml of aged Havana Club rum: 7 CUC
15 minute ride across town on a bicycle taxi: 3 CUC
Artificially colored meat product sandwich: 10 pesos (~$0.40)
Taking Havana off my bucket list. You write well and I love the pictures.
Thanks Pops
Happy to have a Go Curry Cracker post!
Thanks Karen! We have reliable internet again so expect more regular posting
Wow. Fascinating look into a country I know and see so little about. Thanks for posting. I’m curious to know more about how you got in. A quick google search suggests it isn’t all that easy for Americans. Maybe you did the ‘Embargo-Flouting’ route?
Thank you for putting together such a nice post, the photos are beautiful. It’s unfortunate that Havana is still struggling so badly. Other countries, such as Dominican Republic, benefit a great deal from trade with the US and open tourism. I wonder if Cuba in general would look a lot better (or at least as good as DR) if it wasn’t getting strangled by an embargo. The ideological fear of communism is still strong, so I think it will take decades before the US comes around.
Looking forward to reading about your experiences in the other towns.
P.S. I got on Airbnb and tried to identify cheap places in SMA, but I’m having trouble finding rentals for less than $600/mo (even based on a 6 month rental). I think this time of the year is specially hard to find the megadeals because demand is so high.
I think it is more likely that the Cuban economy becomes less communistic… it is already happening
Jan – Mar are peak times in SMA, so expect to pay more. Plus Airbnb is generally on the expensive side, we found much better deals through other websites we just found via search
The friends we know that have studios or 1 bedrooms for less than $600 were found through word of mouth in Spanish
Wow, Havana looks like a shit hole. I guess we know how this particular social experiment turned out.
What was the best part? Cheap rum?
The best part was the education in economics. I was able to have many extended conversations with people about the economy and their thoughts on it
One of my favorite conversations was with a driver we hired for a day to take us around and see some sights. Overall it was about 10 hours of his time and we talked through most of it. It cost us about $70, plus we bought him lunch for about $3. You know what his day job is? He is a cardiologist, for which he makes $40 a month
I want to write a post solely on the economics… hopefully I get to it
Wow, I hope that is hyperbole! I have heard the tales of the medical doctor that makes $200/month and sells wilted vegetables illegally in the black market on the weekends to buy enough beans and rice to keep his family from starving.
But seriously, $40/month? We’ll drop that on a relatively inexpensive restaurant meal here in the states and not blink an eye.
The official vs. black/grey market economics also amazes me, so I’ll definitely be looking forward to your post on the economics. I know I’ve seen a really good article in the Economist within the last few years on the unofficial economy in Cuba (if you want to dig through their archives for reference material).
Doesn’t the sign say “New Challenges, New Victories?”
Yes it does. My jetlagged brain read it as Nuevos Retos but wrote as if it said Nuestros Retos… thanks for the correction
I never write comments on blogs, but here we go…
My experience visiting Cuba was radically different. Or better yet, everything that you mention sounds familiar but my take on it was different.
You don’t get smiles and enthusiasm from your waiter? That’s because your waiter, the people working in your hotel and in pretty much any store are public employees. It is like DMV employees being in charge of customer service of a whole country.
When i was in Cuba, I didn’t focus on the poor customer service, the crappy state of the buildings or the lack of good food. If you want good customer service, new buildings and great food you can go to pretty much any modern capital in the world and get that.
When I was in Cuba I found the streets to be dirty but somewhat romantic, great music was present everywhere (random bands playing beautiful salsa and son cubano), the streets of every city I visited were safe, unlike those of many other cities in Latin America (I am latin American and have lived in many cities in LatAm, so I know this well) and people are genuinely friendly and relaxed. For example, our airplaine was delayed in the tarmac (yes, flying with Aerocuba), and our flight attendant in decided to start dancing in the aisle with a passanger. To me those factors made Cuba unique and especial and I think it is very much a place worth visiting because for good or bad it is going to change soon.
Forgot to mention that your translation of the propaganda poster is off. “Nuevos retos, Nuevas victorias” means “New challenges, New victories”. Not trying to be obnoxious, just to make it accurate.
Not obnoxious at all, thank you for the correction
Excellent comment, Leo. Thank you for sharing your experiences
A lot of people like Havana, many of our friends included. Many people reading this blog would enjoy it as well. We found that for most people we talked to, the longer they were in Havana the less they liked it (many people said 2 days was enough)
I agree, I think Cuba is going to change soon, and it is precisely for this reason that we wanted to visit now. Raul Castro has already made big changes to the Cuban economy (laying off 500k government workers, allowing some people to open small businesses, making tourism more of a focus) and it is only going to become more open. He even went out of his way to shake President Obama’s hand at the Nelson Mandela Memorial, something Fidel Castro never would have done
I really like your DMV comment… employees that realize no matter how hard they work, they will never get ahead are unlikely to care about the quality of their work. It isn’t really a big deal if waiters don’t smile, but it was obvious that many of them didn’t like their job or people who could spend their whole month’s salary on food without even thinking about it
I have more posts on Cuba coming, and hope you will be able to share your thoughts on those posts as well
All the best
Jeremy
Why don’t you guys visit Cuenca in Ecuador, or Nicaragua near beach area, Chile, somewhere like that. I am sure that You guys could have a lot of more fun in those countries. I’m not a fan of south America, but it’s close and some countries are changing rapidly better for expats, also still cheap. Therefore, at least once, got to visit to check out. Pretty soon, we are retiring and thinking of moving to Thailand or Malaysia. We are just like you guys, Asian American wife with white guy as a husband, just older than you two. Have you two thought of visiting those countries? someday, I like to meet you two in Asian country. I already felt like knowing you guys well. People who are financially intelligent, usually a decent people to deal with. I admire you two on that subject.
Hi Young
We plan to tour all of South America, it is just a question of when
Definitely let us know if/when you are in Asia
Cheers
Jeremy
Always wanted to go to Havana… this is a depressing post :(
This is a lovely, honest, and well written post. Even the decaying buildings have a striking beauty which is revealed by your camera lens.
As I read it ( revealing my own values here) your observations are great argument for “the middle way.”
Removing human motivation is an obvious fail.
But I am also shocked sometimes walking through my birthplace of San Francisco by the stark contrast of the very wealthy and the desperately poor, with almost no visible middle class in between. There is a special kind of misery in that.
Looking forward to more honest reflection.
Alexi
Having second thoughts about visiting Havana after reading this post.
Some friends of our went recently and enjoyed it
They said having low expectations helped, as did going for just a few days. I don’t know if that counts as a recommendation…
Thank you for the detailed insight post on Havana. Havana is off my bucket list.
Be sure to check out our other posts on Cuba. Outside Havana is much nicer
I have enjoyed reading your blog posts. My husband and I want to go to Cuba soon before it becomes too “Americanized”. I have a couple of questions for you, if you don’t mind: 1) Did you plan your trip around Cuba before you arrived? 2) How did you figure out how to get around w/o a guide/where to go/stay/etc? Oh, and do many people speak English or do we need to brush-up on our rudimentary Spanish?
Thanks!
re: 1) we kind of winged it. We had a room in a casa particular reserved for havana, and then went with the flow from there
re: 2) we talk with locals and other travelers, and get it figured out. One of the cool things about the casas particulares is you are staying with a family, and everybody we stayed with was really helpful
We spoke (bad) Spanish most of the time. English was limited (language of the Imperialists…)
Just Wow! Cuba is off my bucket list as well.
Every other place you have written about has me saying yes, yes and yes! In terms of Cuba, I will pass on a scary entry, rude treatment, and a dual tourist system that punishes “imperialists”…
I think it is better now. And non-Havana Cuba was great
Interesting writeup and excellent photos. Recent events have delayed the opening of Cuba somewhat so I’m evaluating whether it’s still worth the visit.