It was a bit of a confusing start to the day today. We knew we wanted to get up at 7 am, but as we went to bed last night we realised that we’d skipped ahead 2 hours as part of our travels. Neither of us was 100% convinced as our phones don’t work here and the telco is usually the time source we work to. Deb set her alarm to 7 am, which of course went off at 5 am. So a few ZZZs later we were up at 7 for the buffet breakfast. My early observations of this hotel is that once you get past the stunning entrance, things do start to fall apart…. Sometimes literally. We have some powerpoints that don’t, the tap ware is worn out and the buffet was average. One of the things you find out about Cuba early on is that they have to be largely self-sufficient with food, so the variety is not always broad (think rice, beans, potatoes and deep fried banana, I will put on record that powdered milk does not make a coffee with milk.
Anyway, enough of that… we had a guided walking tour of ‘Old Havana’ lined up for the morning. Havana is built around the harbour and celebrates it’s 500th birthday on 16 November. It was originally settled by the Spanish as a trading port between Europe, Africa and the New World. The old town building were built from sandstone blocks out of the harbour which are quite coarse as the shells mixed with the sand to form the rocks. Much of this area is undergoing redevelopment to return it it its former glory. Being a Spanish settled city, there are many squares, some greener than others and some random objects lying around. I suspect the bells are too heavy to be stolen
October 28 is a significant day on the Cuban calendar as it commemorates the disappearance at sea of the Camilo Cienfuegos a key member of Castro’s revolution. It is believed he died in a plane crash on October 28, 1959. Childern go to the beach and throw flowers into the sea and then usually have a parade when they go back to school.
W wound our way through lots of the squares and our guide answered lots of our questions along the way… like ‘Can you buy a car in Cuba’ The answer was that most of the new cars are bought by the government and for normal people cars are generally out of reach, usually costing more than a house. It is cheaper to buy someones old american car. There are still some Lada vehicles here that are surprisingly still going. The old joke with those was that they had rear window heaters installed to keep your hands warm while pushing them. The old Chevrolets are amazing, some being beautifully restored and some that are real old clunkers.
When in Cuba it is impossible to avoid cigars and rum. Our next stop was of course a cigar shop. There is a whole show with this, they demonstrate rolling a cigar and then of course there is the smoking bit, which must be performed with an espresso and a rum. I also verified, that while women often selected the tobacco leaves, it is 100% true that Cuban cigars are rolled on the ‘thigh of a virgin’… Factcheck finds this claim ‘UNCONFIRMED’
This was okay for me, but Deb doesn’t often drink coffee and NEVER smokes…
Following the cigar smoking, which I quite enjoyed with the rum and coffee, we walked on finally arriving at the Havana Capitol Building. It has been restored, now with gold leaf on the dome. It’s design is inspired by the Washington equivalent, but it is 10 centimetres taller, thanks to a narrow spire atop of the dome.
We had some lunch and ten had a bit more of a wander around the streets. Like all old city areas, it is fascinating. The pace of restoration was quickened during the Obama years as American tourism ramped up. Many of the luxury hotels are now built where derelict buildings housed many families, most of which were moved out of the city area, unless they lived there legally. Of course, current American politics has restored all the sanctions, so tourists from other parts of the world are absolutely made to feel very welcome… It’s our dollars that pay for the restorations.
On the surface Cuba does seem to provide social programs missing in other parts of the world. They provide food for low income earners and have free public schools and hospitals. There are lots of stray dogs and cats that also looked after well, commonly fed by the community.
We came back to the room to rest out feet a bit and captured a few photo’s from the hotel grounds. Due to it’s proximity to the port, this site has been used as a defensive position with some old naval guns still on-site and additionally Anti-Aircraft guns were installed here during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
We went back up to the port area for dinner where we’d seen some privately owned cafes (much cheaper than the Government ones) and had a much more authentic Cuban meal of Avocado (huge) stuffed with Shrimp and fish Cuban Style which means served with a cooked tomato salsa.
I’ve been battling the intermittent internet tonight, but finally have the blog done for today. No guarantees tomorrow … but will do my best.
Until tomorrow!
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 
Nice timing with the old car passing the Capitol Building!!