Hello all,
I’m writing to you from the balcony of our guesthouse. There’s a rocking chair and a great view of the Capitol building – it’s probably the best blog writing view I have ever had!
I’ll start off today by saying if you ever stay in Havana, please make sure you stay at the guesthouse ‘Casa Yaque’. We’ve paid $35 Australian per person per night, and we are smack in the middle of old town. Our room is clean, we have air con and a fan, our balcony has an awesome view and our host Riccardo is lovely. This morning we paid 5 CUC ($7.50) at our accommodation to have breakfast and what followed was a feast. Fruit, scrambled eggs, bread, pineapple juice, coffee, a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese and pancakes. Such good value because we then didn’t need to eat lunch today! It was hilarious because the two ladies making our breakfast started translating words into English on their phones. We were sitting there eating and all of a sudden heard Siri in the kitchen going “eggs, eggs, eggs”. We both laughed and then told them scrambled was good. They laughed too!!
We set off this morning to the Revolution Museum. This building was constructed between 1913 and 1919, and served as the Presidential Palace from 1920-1965. Since 1974 it has served as the Revolution Museum. Out the front, we saw a tank used by Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and a portion of the old city wall.
Once inside, we were very impressed with the interior. The inside of the dome in particular was really impressive, but a fair bit of paint was chipping off. There was some restoration work going on, and we were pretty shocked to see a worker sitting on top of 15m high scaffolding in the Salon de Los Espejos (Hall of Mirrors, meant to mimic that of Versailles) with no harness. Some of the other rooms were very beautiful too, and were apparently decorated by Tiffany’s. The last president to live here, entertain here etc. was Batista before the revolution.
We started on the top floor and worked our way down. It was very full of propaganda but was interesting nonetheless. We were glad we had already been on our tour though because the information was fairly jumbled and would be hard to make sense of if you didn’t have a background of the revolution already. We read that Batista was responsible for the deaths of 20,000 Cuban people, and saw photos of people gathered in the Revolution Square for various protests. Out the back of the museum we saw planes, converted tractors, tanks and other vehicles used in the revolution or against the US. Encased in glass and surrounded by guards was a replica of the Granma Yacht that Fidel Castro, Ché Guevara etc. travelled in from Mexico in 1956. Some of the vehicles had many bullet holes in them. We noted that inside and outside the museum there was no mention of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the missiles that the Soviet Union stockpiled here against the US.
During our time here we’ve learned a lot and have been presented with a lot of information, but it’s important to note that it’s mostly been from a Cuban perspective. Carlos was great at telling us about everything that happened from a pretty neutral perspective, and we have started to form our opinions about it all. It seems to us like both sides have fought, killed, committed crimes etc., however, one can’t help but feel like Cuba was forced into communism because the USA owned so much of their national industries, land etc. It was almost as if a radical change was needed to shake them off and break free. While I can understand why the USA felt threatened by having a communist country so close to them (just 150km away), they don’t impose nearly as many sanctions on other communist countries like China and Russia. In the end, the everyday Cuban people are the ones who suffer due to the blow to tourism and difficulty importing goods into their country. Back in the 60s when everything was really tense I fully understand the embargo as the USA had to protect themselves as well, but that all happened so long ago now that it just seems a shame that people living in Cuba who weren’t even around during that time are the ones affected. Hopefully one day a change for the better can occur. How much better would the world be if we all just got along?
After the museum, we headed to the main street to get some money. I had to queue up because there was a delivery of money to the ATM coming in. I was third in the queue, but by the time they had finished loading the ATM up, the queue was about 20 people deep. Rob went and got us some soft serve while I waited in line, and when he came back we were both thrilled that they had given him change in pesos (there are two currencies here) and they had given us a 3 peso coin which had Ché Guevara on it. I am keeping that one! Some tourists pay money to buy them as souvenirs.
We then caught a “taxi” to the Revolution Square. I say “taxi” because it was a mix between a motorbike and a taxi, and it looked like the Little Mermaid clamshell ride at Disneyland! We felt every bump and laughed the whole way.
The Revolution Square is where many protests were held back during Castro’s time, with up to a million people filling the square at times. There are still lots of gatherings, festivals and more held here nowadays. Tourists come here because there is a famous Ché monument here made out of metal on the side of a building. We checked it out as well as the José Martí monument and then went for a walk to the nearby Cemetery which we looked at from outside the fence. Then we caught a taxi back, had a gelati near the main square and went back to our guesthouse for a shower and a rest.
At 4pm, we met our vintage car tour. Often referred to as “Frankensteins” due to being done up with different parts from different cars and living for a long time, these cars are an integral part of Havana’s image today. There were six of us including Rob and I, and we rode across two cars. Rob and I rode with a lady from Brisbane in a bright red 1955 Chevrolet Belair which was beautiful. Our guide Lazaro told us that the reason all of these old American cars are in Cuba is because when the more well off Americans fled after the revolution they left them behind. Today, Havana in particular is full of many of these beautifully restored, colourful old cars. Ours was a convertible and we had the roof down so it was really nice driving along with music playing and the wind in our hair. Some of the songs playing were Spanish versions of classics like Michael Jackson!
Along the way, we saw a bus full of motorbikes which we were told was so they could get the tunnel under the river. We drove past the Spanish Embassy where we had seen hundreds of people queueing earlier in the day. It turns out they were queueing for visas. We drove past the Capitol building and then headed back to the Revolution Square where we stopped for a few minutes. Apparently the tower there is 142m high and is the tallest structure in Havana. We also found out that the other face in the square is Cienfuegos. We didn’t think it looked like him at all!
We passed the cemetery from earlier in the day, and our driver told us that it’s 2 square kilometres in area and has over 1 million graves. Apparently whoever dies on the same day are just buried together, and after two years the remains are dug up and then put in the family mausoleum.
Our second stop was the Havana Forest, which was a beautiful green park outside the old part of the city. It was really lush and green, you wouldn’t have thought you were in Havana. Lazaro told us that weddings happen here, as well as Santeria religious animal sacrifices. As if on cue, a man walked past with a dead chicken towards the river. Yikes!
We then drove through the affluent Miramar neighbourhood and then the Malecon, but part of the road was closed as it was windy and the waves were smashing into the wall and flowing onto the road! We ended our tour at the famous Hotel National, the closest point in Cuba to Key West in the US. It’s a huge, very expensive hotel built in 1930 that many celebrities have stayed in over the years including Al Capone, Walt Disney, Frank Sinatra and many more. We had our included drink in the Fame Bar that had photos of all the famous people that had stayed there.
Once our tour was over, we met Sarah and Alex from our G Adventures tour as they were staying at the hotel. They gave us a quick tour outside where we saw the entrance to some tunnels and we could see Old Havana in the distance.
The four of us caught a taxi into the old part of town and had a really lovely dinner. I had lobster in garlic sauce which was delicious. Then we had a few drinks at a bar in a very cute street. We’ve found it strange in Havana – there’s hardly anybody around at night. In the smaller country towns there was so much life at night despite what day it was, but it was much quieter here where you would expect it to be busier. But nevertheless, it was great to meet up with Sarah and Alex and we really enjoyed spending our last night with them.
So this is my last post about Cuba, and I would like to urge you to visit. Not only does it have a fascinating history and way of life, but the people here are beautiful and need your business. I’ve bought so many more souvenirs here than just my usual fridge magnet, and it’s because I wanted to support the people here as much as I could. They’ve been so friendly and welcoming, and even the people that haven’t spoken English have greeted us with a warm smile, a handshake and a huge effort to try and communicate with us. This country is unlike any I have ever been to before and we have loved learning about its history, culture and experiencing the salsa night life as well. A huge thank you to Carlos and José for making our tour great, as well as our tour group for being so awesome. If a change ever occurs with the US I think it would be very interesting to come back and see how much things change. But if you can, come and visit now while it is free from McDonald’s, Starbucks and mass tourism. It’s been nice being off the grid and off the beaten track.
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox
I’m writing to you from the balcony of our guesthouse. There’s a rocking chair and a great view of the Capitol building – it’s probably the best blog writing view I have ever had!
I’ll start off today by saying if you ever stay in Havana, please make sure you stay at the guesthouse ‘Casa Yaque’. We’ve paid $35 Australian per person per night, and we are smack in the middle of old town. Our room is clean, we have air con and a fan, our balcony has an awesome view and our host Riccardo is lovely. This morning we paid 5 CUC ($7.50) at our accommodation to have breakfast and what followed was a feast. Fruit, scrambled eggs, bread, pineapple juice, coffee, a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese and pancakes. Such good value because we then didn’t need to eat lunch today! It was hilarious because the two ladies making our breakfast started translating words into English on their phones. We were sitting there eating and all of a sudden heard Siri in the kitchen going “eggs, eggs, eggs”. We both laughed and then told them scrambled was good. They laughed too!!
We set off this morning to the Revolution Museum. This building was constructed between 1913 and 1919, and served as the Presidential Palace from 1920-1965. Since 1974 it has served as the Revolution Museum. Out the front, we saw a tank used by Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and a portion of the old city wall.
Once inside, we were very impressed with the interior. The inside of the dome in particular was really impressive, but a fair bit of paint was chipping off. There was some restoration work going on, and we were pretty shocked to see a worker sitting on top of 15m high scaffolding in the Salon de Los Espejos (Hall of Mirrors, meant to mimic that of Versailles) with no harness. Some of the other rooms were very beautiful too, and were apparently decorated by Tiffany’s. The last president to live here, entertain here etc. was Batista before the revolution.
We started on the top floor and worked our way down. It was very full of propaganda but was interesting nonetheless. We were glad we had already been on our tour though because the information was fairly jumbled and would be hard to make sense of if you didn’t have a background of the revolution already. We read that Batista was responsible for the deaths of 20,000 Cuban people, and saw photos of people gathered in the Revolution Square for various protests. Out the back of the museum we saw planes, converted tractors, tanks and other vehicles used in the revolution or against the US. Encased in glass and surrounded by guards was a replica of the Granma Yacht that Fidel Castro, Ché Guevara etc. travelled in from Mexico in 1956. Some of the vehicles had many bullet holes in them. We noted that inside and outside the museum there was no mention of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the missiles that the Soviet Union stockpiled here against the US.
During our time here we’ve learned a lot and have been presented with a lot of information, but it’s important to note that it’s mostly been from a Cuban perspective. Carlos was great at telling us about everything that happened from a pretty neutral perspective, and we have started to form our opinions about it all. It seems to us like both sides have fought, killed, committed crimes etc., however, one can’t help but feel like Cuba was forced into communism because the USA owned so much of their national industries, land etc. It was almost as if a radical change was needed to shake them off and break free. While I can understand why the USA felt threatened by having a communist country so close to them (just 150km away), they don’t impose nearly as many sanctions on other communist countries like China and Russia. In the end, the everyday Cuban people are the ones who suffer due to the blow to tourism and difficulty importing goods into their country. Back in the 60s when everything was really tense I fully understand the embargo as the USA had to protect themselves as well, but that all happened so long ago now that it just seems a shame that people living in Cuba who weren’t even around during that time are the ones affected. Hopefully one day a change for the better can occur. How much better would the world be if we all just got along?
After the museum, we headed to the main street to get some money. I had to queue up because there was a delivery of money to the ATM coming in. I was third in the queue, but by the time they had finished loading the ATM up, the queue was about 20 people deep. Rob went and got us some soft serve while I waited in line, and when he came back we were both thrilled that they had given him change in pesos (there are two currencies here) and they had given us a 3 peso coin which had Ché Guevara on it. I am keeping that one! Some tourists pay money to buy them as souvenirs.
We then caught a “taxi” to the Revolution Square. I say “taxi” because it was a mix between a motorbike and a taxi, and it looked like the Little Mermaid clamshell ride at Disneyland! We felt every bump and laughed the whole way.
The Revolution Square is where many protests were held back during Castro’s time, with up to a million people filling the square at times. There are still lots of gatherings, festivals and more held here nowadays. Tourists come here because there is a famous Ché monument here made out of metal on the side of a building. We checked it out as well as the José Martí monument and then went for a walk to the nearby Cemetery which we looked at from outside the fence. Then we caught a taxi back, had a gelati near the main square and went back to our guesthouse for a shower and a rest.
At 4pm, we met our vintage car tour. Often referred to as “Frankensteins” due to being done up with different parts from different cars and living for a long time, these cars are an integral part of Havana’s image today. There were six of us including Rob and I, and we rode across two cars. Rob and I rode with a lady from Brisbane in a bright red 1955 Chevrolet Belair which was beautiful. Our guide Lazaro told us that the reason all of these old American cars are in Cuba is because when the more well off Americans fled after the revolution they left them behind. Today, Havana in particular is full of many of these beautifully restored, colourful old cars. Ours was a convertible and we had the roof down so it was really nice driving along with music playing and the wind in our hair. Some of the songs playing were Spanish versions of classics like Michael Jackson!
Along the way, we saw a bus full of motorbikes which we were told was so they could get the tunnel under the river. We drove past the Spanish Embassy where we had seen hundreds of people queueing earlier in the day. It turns out they were queueing for visas. We drove past the Capitol building and then headed back to the Revolution Square where we stopped for a few minutes. Apparently the tower there is 142m high and is the tallest structure in Havana. We also found out that the other face in the square is Cienfuegos. We didn’t think it looked like him at all!
We passed the cemetery from earlier in the day, and our driver told us that it’s 2 square kilometres in area and has over 1 million graves. Apparently whoever dies on the same day are just buried together, and after two years the remains are dug up and then put in the family mausoleum.
Our second stop was the Havana Forest, which was a beautiful green park outside the old part of the city. It was really lush and green, you wouldn’t have thought you were in Havana. Lazaro told us that weddings happen here, as well as Santeria religious animal sacrifices. As if on cue, a man walked past with a dead chicken towards the river. Yikes!
We then drove through the affluent Miramar neighbourhood and then the Malecon, but part of the road was closed as it was windy and the waves were smashing into the wall and flowing onto the road! We ended our tour at the famous Hotel National, the closest point in Cuba to Key West in the US. It’s a huge, very expensive hotel built in 1930 that many celebrities have stayed in over the years including Al Capone, Walt Disney, Frank Sinatra and many more. We had our included drink in the Fame Bar that had photos of all the famous people that had stayed there.
Once our tour was over, we met Sarah and Alex from our G Adventures tour as they were staying at the hotel. They gave us a quick tour outside where we saw the entrance to some tunnels and we could see Old Havana in the distance.
The four of us caught a taxi into the old part of town and had a really lovely dinner. I had lobster in garlic sauce which was delicious. Then we had a few drinks at a bar in a very cute street. We’ve found it strange in Havana – there’s hardly anybody around at night. In the smaller country towns there was so much life at night despite what day it was, but it was much quieter here where you would expect it to be busier. But nevertheless, it was great to meet up with Sarah and Alex and we really enjoyed spending our last night with them.
So this is my last post about Cuba, and I would like to urge you to visit. Not only does it have a fascinating history and way of life, but the people here are beautiful and need your business. I’ve bought so many more souvenirs here than just my usual fridge magnet, and it’s because I wanted to support the people here as much as I could. They’ve been so friendly and welcoming, and even the people that haven’t spoken English have greeted us with a warm smile, a handshake and a huge effort to try and communicate with us. This country is unlike any I have ever been to before and we have loved learning about its history, culture and experiencing the salsa night life as well. A huge thank you to Carlos and José for making our tour great, as well as our tour group for being so awesome. If a change ever occurs with the US I think it would be very interesting to come back and see how much things change. But if you can, come and visit now while it is free from McDonald’s, Starbucks and mass tourism. It’s been nice being off the grid and off the beaten track.
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox
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