Baden's Cuba Page - Habana _{(updated: 2008-05-03)}

Habana - Day 1 (2007-03-04)

The 757 landed on time at 15:35 in Habana, and after a short, but very thorough, trip though immigration and customs, I was able to get some Cuban tourist money (500 CUC) for a serious premium, 35% over the canuck buck. Actually, this was a smart way to implement a consumption tax, as it was collected with almost zero overhead nor evasion right at the front end. I then went outside, and was in the process of getting a real taxi, when a private guy picked me up for a $15 CUC ride to the city centre. Of course, he had to avoid the police, so after a circuitous route, surreptitious payment and cautious departure, I was left looking for my intended hotel, the Park View. That hotel was full, and so was the Caribbean, and I was on my way to check out the Lido, when a guy on the street intercepted me, and asked if I was looking for a place to stay. I responded that I was, so he told me to follow about 6 metres behind him, but when I passed a policemen on a run down corner on a decrepit Calle Consulado, he stopped me and asked where I was staying, so I responded at the Hotel Park View, then I stammered that I only knew English. After that, I walked down the street and met up again with 'José' where we then went into a house where the 'owner' phoned around and found me a casa particular right across the street for $25 CUC a night. The bedroom was nice with a clean and private bathroom. After I was settled in, I met José, and we walked a block over to the Prado, which was a broad boulevard with a tree lined, granite tiled, pedestrian mall down the centre. We ended up going upstairs to what seemed a private bar and restaurant near the Hotel Seville, where José knew the bartender and ordered some mojitos. After a few expensive drinks, we ventured off to look for a private restaurant. A few blocks away, where a barred and locked door was opened up to let us in, we each had an uninspiring chicken dinner for about $10 CUC, along with some Bucanero beer. Interestingly, most the beer in Cuba is brewed by Labatt's. Altogether, the first day was like visiting a different world, as the streets and buildings were in exceedingly poor condition, and the intrusive policia were lurking everywhere. All this, for a high price, left me wondering if there was any validity in visiting Cuba.

Habana - Day 2 (2007-03-05)

Afterwards, I walked further along the seawall, where I noticed the thick black oily grunge that coated all the rocks and walls along the shore. There was even a large sewer outlet, where all the sewer garbage was strewn for many metres each direction along the shoreline.

From the cruise terminal, I walked across the street into Habana Vieja proper, which is all designated as an United Nations heritage site. The oldest buildings were 500 years old, and most the others were at least several centuries old. There was a massive continuing restoration project, where the grand scheme was to renovate the whole old city, under historical auspices, but paid for by, and intended to promote, tourism. The main plaza (Plaza Vieja) was a good example, as there were some renovated buildings, some new buildings, and some that desperately needed renovation, all inhabited. I read somewhere that there are, on average, three buildings a day that collapse in Habana due to advanced deterioration. Many are still inhabited, as living space is at such a premium.

From the plaza, I walked back down the narrow streets to the natural history museum, where I was an almost solitary customer. I have seen better, but I was in a third world country. After, I hung around in the park out front, when I saw a policia arbitrarily stop and ask a guy for his I.D. and then radio in and verify everything. In Cuba, everyone must work and carry a book to show their employment record, and if it has a missing record or discrepancy, a visit to the police station is required. From the park, I went into the adjoining revolutionary museum, which was the old governor's mansion. After paying my 5 CUC, I went touring around. This was the first instance where I realised it was much more expedient and cheaper to hire a guide, as most the lady museum staff wanted to describe their section, which then necessitated a tip. The cubanas sure were not shy, and took me to see the ornate special chambers, normally closed off to the public, where they took several shots with me, which unfortunately did not turn out, as I had set my camera incorrectly.

After the museum, I wandered a lot through the old city checking out the many urban vistas. There was such an extreme juxtaposition between the recently restored and dilapidated buildings. An interesting sight were all the cannonballs and canons used for street posts. Horses and pedestrians could pass by and over cannonballs, but vehicles couldn't. Habana Vieja was somewhat unique as it was still a intrinsic urban part of the city, where people lived and worked. After touring the old cathedral a bit, I stopped for a few brew, where I was able to witness for the first time a sugar cane press, as a waiter made a glass of guarapo for a customer. I then wandered south down past the San Francisco de Paula church with its beautiful stained glass to the dockyards, and walked on a side street back to the Habana Vieja centro. Although Habana's whole eastern side between the Prado, Capitolo, train station, and the harbour is old, only central portions are significantly restored and touristy. After passing by the capitol building and Parque Central, I veered past the tiny "Chinatown" over to Avenida Galiano, where I could envision at one time a main and fashionable shopping street existed. Now, there were only a few shops with meager offerings. I walked back along the Malecón to my casa particular, and later went out for dinner upstairs at the Casa de Cientificos, which was antiquely ornate, where I ate a decent shrimp dinner for 10 CUC.

Habana - Day 3 (2007-03-06)

After settling in, I set out along the Prado, then I toured the neighbourhood around the Palacio Presidencial, before heading back into eastern Habana Vieja. At around 14:00, I got the inclination to cross the harbour and visit the Castillos, so I asked some coco taxi drivers, but they told me only cars could go through the tunnel, so a short time later, I was in a taxi, which took me under the harbour entrances, and let me off outside the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, the huge fortress guarding the harbour mouth. Started in 1589, it was impenetrable, and played an intrinsic part protecting the Spanish American's gold plunder until the English successfully seiged the fortress in 1762 by bombarding it from the high ground to the south, where afterwards the Spanish constructed the biggest fortress in the Americas. El Morro was an imposing structure, and it was unbelievable that they had armaments that could penetrate the massive walls. The cannon all over the fortress were also impressive, and in fairly good shape. I was able to get up and check out the harbour master's office on top, and then later, I also claimed up the lighthouse, which was completed in 1846. Below it, was a cellar housing large clay oil vases for the original lighthouse lamp.

After leaving El Morro, I walked across, in the rain, some empty mowed fields to the massive Castillo San Carlos de la Cabaña. Outwardly, it was not as imposing as el Morro, but it covered a broad expanse, basically the entire hill on the eastern harbour reach, and the interior was filled with buildings. After crossing a few moats to get inside, I toured around, and climbed the outside wall. There were very few tourists around, as possibly the weather wasn't that suitable. I stopped in the Che Guevara museum, where there were many artifacts from his life, and also his office set up, from when he was a Cuban minister. After that, I walked up and around the entire impressive fortress parapet to the opposite corner. I noticed a solitary man sitting below reading a newspaper, and before I got near, he rose and left for the gate, and it was near closing time. I was a few steps behind him, when I decided to quickly check out something else, and he turned around and expressed some frustration, and indicated to me that it was closing time. Apparently, he had been tailing me for the entire afternoon, and I hadn't noticed until then!

After returning to Habana Vieja, I walked back up the Prado before I went for dinner at a real score, Las Terrazas de Prado restaurant, close to my casa particular. The restaurant/bar was in a large open air area right on the Prado at Calle Refugio, and the manager lady was very welcoming and enthusiastically presented her menu. The fish dinner turned out to be surprisingly good, and only cost 5 CUC, so I ended up eating all my other dinners there. They had Becks for only 2 CUC, it was open late, and the waiters were also extremely attentive. It seems like you just have to know where to go in Cuba, as it can be good and cheap, even in the state restaurants.

After supper, I checked out some night shots along the Prado up to the Capitolo. In general, it didn't feel dangerous out at night, but a policia on every corner may have had something to do with that.

Habana - Day 4 (2007-03-07)

After walking through the old plaza again, I then walked south to return to the San Francisco church with its beautifully stained glass, but this time I stopped and had a look inside, where some musicians were practicing jazz at the front in an otherwise empty church.

From there, I walked along the road that followed the harbour with rather decrepit dockyard facilities until I came to the traffic circle that bordered the remaining original fortified city wall section. This was opposite the rail yards which had also seen better days. Just up the street was the train station where I had a look inside, where it was very busy with cubanos waiting for trains, mostly to the east. Outside, a block later, I came across a waiter outside a small bar, who chatted me up, as he had been a participant the Vancouver Jazz Festival, so I went inside for a beer.

A few doors away was a big market for the locals. Since only residents buy from the market, and they all know where it is, there are no signs or other outward indications what may be inside, except people congregating. Cubans get food stamps in a small book, and with those they can purchase their allocated and other goods with their local currency. With two separate currencies, the Cuban government can maintain two economic systems in the same country. Some cubanos may not have much expendable income, but then all their basic needs, such as food, medicine, housing and education, are provided for by the state. One result is that there are many highly educated people without any real or relevant employment prospects, more or less the opposite from other third world economies. The average cubano only works three hours a day, so my impression is that where market economies waste a lot through defaulting businesses and unaffordable consumerism, Cuban labour is underutilised.

I left that street to take the long walk back past the Capitol, through the Chinese Gate to Galiano, and then to the Malecón, along where I walked back into Habana Vieja for some twilight shots in the neighbourhood before another supper at neighborhood Terrazas.

Habana - Day 5 (2007-03-08)

After having decided to take the Hershey Train, I took the junky old harbour ferry, where they really searched everything, as the ferry had been hijacked several years prior to get to Florida, to cross the harbour to the train station. After disembarking early, and checking out the small station, I decided to walk up the hill where there was a big MF jesus statue, possibly the last thing completed before the revolution. I was pretty stoked about taking the train for the few hour ride through the cane fields along the north coast to Hershey, and the ability to see the countryside and small towns, so when the train actually did arrive exactly only two hours late, I was immensely disappointed to see how filthy it was. I wasn't even sure if I would have been able to see out the windows, nevertheless take photos. So, after another long wait during which they fixed some brakes, when they cancelled the run for 12:39, and said the next train was at 17:21, I sadly forwent the whole adventure, and returned to the ferry for the trip back to Habana. While waiting, the police watching the ferry thought I was taking photos of them (actually, the chica beside them , so they searched my camera to ensure I didn't. I had a hard time understanding how the authorities thought that it would help if tourists never had photos of the police state, but did witness it nevertheless. After walking back from the ferry terminal through Habana Vieja, I went all along the Malecón to Vedado, passing the USA embassy. The site was quite the sight, as the embassy looked like an imposing Darth Vader structure, all by itself on the point, and the Cubans have done their utmost to block and disturb the locale. There was a big Cuban police station nearby and I am not sure how many cubanos would be allowed to get close. I took some photos of nearby billboards, almost universally portraying dubya as the devil, etc.

Habana - Day 6 (2007-03-09)

After leaving the gallery, I walked north a block over to the Museo de la Revolución, which was in the former presidential palace. That day there were myriads of youth all dressed up in their uniforms and red bandannas touring throughout the complex, and attending a rally behind the palace next to the Granma memorial. Security for the palace was noticeably open, compared to the Granma which was housed behind bulletproof glass. (I wonder if they were more worried about someone sabotaging their revolutionary icon, or stealing a boat for Florida

The museum was organised with each room reflecting a period during the revolution, with educational displays along with the artifacts. The ballroom was huge, and I image that the palace must have been splendid at one time. The Granma building was surrounded by machines which were used in the revolution, including tanks and planes, and the red delivery truck used to initially assault the palace.

Habana - Day 7 (2007-03-10)

After leaving the aquarium, we walked up to a shopping plaza, where the grocery store was well stocked with different items for the CUC crowd, who would be mostly foreigners. José could gloat only at all the food for sale, including meats, which could be bought by cubanos with the correct currency. After, we went over to a little restaurant in the parking lot, where José had what he said was his first beef in months, and I had a few brew. I honestly believe that Fidel constructively manipulates the Cuban diet to be more healthy. They actually have all all the subsidised beans and rice they need, but I guess something different is appreciated once in awhile.

After we returned to my street in his buddy's car, I walked around the neighbourhood taking more street shots, including the Malecón, where swimmers jumped into polluted water, and buildings were falling down. I honestly felt badly that the Cuban experiment had failed, and I thought rather than cutting my trip short, I would give it another chance and travel out to the country in the morning.

Last day (2007-03-21):