First full day exploring Cuba

First full day exploring Cuba

Havana, Cuba, North America

I had a pretty bad night’s sleep, due to the ridiculous heat and humidity, but I guess that’s what I should expect when I come to Cuba in the middle of the summer. Not my smartest move. I got up around 8am and tried to find a towel so I could take a shower. I then had to try to find a shower that actually had a door on that room, because the only one I was shown was by the kitchen and there was no door. I had to wait for the old lady to get up so she could show me the other hidden bathroom that I could use. The shower had the lowest pressure of anything I’d ever seen, but at least it was something. And it was warm water, which is more than I had expected.

The casa lady offered me breakfast for 3 CUC and I took her up on the offer. I figured it’s another good way to give money to the local community. It was actually a pretty decent breakfast of one fried egg on a roll, some chopped up fresh mango and pineapple, and a glass of strawberry and rhubarb juice. That seemed worth it for a few bucks. The stay at Casa de Oralia wasn’t a complete disaster, but I’m glad I left there when I did. My new casa (Casa de Elina Maria) is like a five star hotel compared to the last one. It was just a two minute walk from my last casa to this one, and I got there right at 10am like I had told them I would. Elina Maria was there to greet me with a big smile and a hug. It’s like I’m staying with family, it’s really nice.

My room wasn’t quite ready yet so Elina had me wait in her house which is just upstairs and I sat with her mother. Her mom is this little old Cuban lady who doesn’t speak any english at all, but she was so nice! We sat in her living room for about ten minutes while Elina finished my room and we had a full blown conversation in Spanish. Granted, she did a lot more talking than I did, but it showed me that I can get by with this little Spanish if I really need to. She told me all about her family, and some of her friends, and then she told me about the cuban TV show she was watching which is filmed in Miami. It was a really cool experience. Elina and her family are really nice people.

Elina showed me my room and it’s basically a small apartment to myself. It has a full bathroom and bedroom, with a TV and refrigerator, and most importantly, air conditioning!! There’s no kitchen, but I don’t need one anyway, so this is perfect for me. And for 15 CUC (€12) per night, I can’t complain about anything. The apartment even has it’s own entrance down a little alleyway, so I don’t have to worry about disturbing anyone else when I’m coming or going.

I chilled out (literally) in the room for about an hour and then headed off to really explore Havana. It is unbelievably hot out there. And humid. It’s crazy. I walked into the old city and found the Hotel Saratoga, where I was able to buy a wifi card for 6 CUC for 30 minutes of wifi. It’s pretty expensive and annoyingly slow, but at least I was able to let the family know that I’m here safely. I left the Saratoga and headed north to get to the Malecon, which is the main street that runs along the coast.. It was a ridiculously hot walk, almost completely in the sun, but it was cool to see the old buildings along the way. It looks like they were beautiful buildings when they first went up, but they’ve almost all deteriorated and need a lot of work.

When I got to the Malecon I could see the lighthouse and right next to that was the house that Che Guevara used to live in. It wasn’t as impressive as I expected it to be, but I’m sure it’s pretty nice inside. I walked around the coast to check out a couple of the small parks around the city. I made the walk back through the city and ended up back at my apartment at about 7pm. It was a long day of walking in the extreme heat, and I was completely soaked with sweat. Not the most pleasant environment to walk around in, but there wasn’t much of a choice there.

I went out to a cafe for dinner around the corner from my apartment that was recommended by Elina. All the prices are in Cuban pesos, not convertible, so it was incredible how cheap the food was. They serve small six inch pizzas, so I had two of those and a drink, all for 1 CUC ($1). It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had, but it was pretty for good for such little money.

I went to talk to Elina about trying to get a scuba diving trip planned and she made a couple of phone calls. On Saturday morning I will be picked up by a taxi and go to a hotel where I can organize a trip for that day. Hopefully this all works out. I took Elina’s advice and stayed in tonight because she said it isn’t exactly the safest place to walk around on my own at night. Tomorrow I’m going to check out some other parts of the city, hopefully it’s a bit cooler than it was today, but I doubt it…

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