Return to Havana
We have left Trinidad and our little house. We had a big breakfast for the last time in the kitsch kitchen. Another 7 hour bus ride, filled with inexplicable stops, like the driver purchasing a bag of mangoes, a string of garlic, a 5L water bottle filled with milk, finding his phone charger, picking up friends but ignoring hitchhikers (very common here – everyone tries to flag the bus down!) I needed to pee and the first stop wasn’t for 4 and half hours.
When we got to Havana, a million and one taxi drivers tried to board the bus, all selling their fares. We got two – one drove and the other was the hype boy, selling us tours, hitting on girls in other cars, turning up the music and pumping his hand. I was so relieved to get to our little casa with Mathiu, the most untalkative Cuban we’ve met. It was lovely.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant with really yummy food. I had chorizo pasta and tiramisu, plus a mojito. We walked back along the waterfront and bought some wifi from a dodgy guy in the park.
We slept in late – 8.45am – and woke to Mathieu cooking us breakfast. His one was slightly smaller but more delicious, scrambled eggs with lots of butter, banana muffins, cold salad, fruit, juice and coffee. He said to me that today was going to be hot, so I packed a hat. That was lucky, because it was Trinidad level of heat – absolutely scorching. We walked down to the ferry and Susie was feeling a bit unwell.
The heat was making my tummy cramp up a little bit, but I told myself it was all in my head. On the other side we bought water and walked up through the streets of Casablanca – not as romantic as the name would suggest. We went to the main Fort, an enormous castle built by the Spanish after a British invasion of Havana in the 1700s. It was also Che Guavara’s office after the 1950s revolution.
Susie had to find a toilet, so I wandered down to one of the walls in the heat, admiring the view over the city. Then once I found them again (multiple toilets were shut for fumigation) we bought more cold water and sat in a shady park within the fort, huge trees grew over the walls. Then we checked out the Che Guavara museum, filled with the story of his remarkable life and lots of personal belongings. We also saw the world’s longest cigar – 46 meters. Ridiculous.
Susie was really unwell by this stage – the 35+ degree heat with 100% humidity was not helping and she was very dehydrated. We tried to get a taxi back but the tunnel was shut. So instead we walked half an hour to a ferry, sat in the terminal for half an hour, had a brief bathroom stop in an ex-beach resort now rum warehouse, took the ferry for 15 minutes then a taxi to our house.
She slept for most of the afternoon. By 5pm I was bored so I went to the park for some more wifi, bought some water. Then as the sun was going down around 6.30pm
I went for a stroll (paseo) around Havana by myself with my camera. I love all the people wandering around, talking to each other, hanging off the balconies speaking to their neighbours across the street. I attracted lots of attention myself from men calling to me (mi amor, mi novia), asking me out, kissing my hand, and making that kissing sound as I walked past. At first it’s annoying, but by the end I couldn’t stop laughing, I was a digusting sweaty, sunburnt mess. With Havana, you know it’s safe because of the government repercussions of a citizen harming a tourist, so it doesn’t seem predatory like other places. Plus, there’s always about 100 people on the street at any one time, with 99% looking out for you, telling you when a car is coming to move out of the way, calling ‘hola’ to you.
I got back and Susie was awake but not well enough for dinner. Joao and I went to a place that had been recommended by Juvena and Jorgito (our first casa host). En del frente (in front of) was opened when the bar across the street ran out of space. We sat on the rooftop and enjoyed enormous Mojitos and some delicious tacos. Best food in Havana.
Joao had an early flight so we all got up for breakfast at 8am. We went to D-Next, a nightclub vibe American diner with crowds of men outside trying to watch a football world cup match through the windows. Susie and Joao ordered this bizarre ‘vegetable crepe’ which was like an entire lettuce and tomato salad covering two crepes. I had bacon and eggs.
We said goodbye to Joao, and apart from a quick trip to the ATM in the scorching sun, we both lay in our rooms in the cool aircon. My upset tummy was back again and I wasn’t feeling flash.
At midday we checked out, got a quick soft drink from the restaurant we went to on our first night, but left because there was a man smoking a cigar inside. We got a taxi to the airport where the engine was exposed inside the car, filling it with dirty smoke. Despite this, the driver insisted on having the windows up and using his weak aircon.
At the airport we found out that neither of our extra flights from Cuba could be refunded, except on email – ironic. We waited for our flight at 4pm – by then the plane still hadn’t turned up and our gat had changed. Finally we boarded, made our connection in Bogota (a really nice airport by the way) and arrived in Quito at 10pm their time.
When we got to Havana, a million and one taxi drivers tried to board the bus, all selling their fares. We got two – one drove and the other was the hype boy, selling us tours, hitting on girls in other cars, turning up the music and pumping his hand. I was so relieved to get to our little casa with Mathiu, the most untalkative Cuban we’ve met. It was lovely.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant with really yummy food. I had chorizo pasta and tiramisu, plus a mojito. We walked back along the waterfront and bought some wifi from a dodgy guy in the park.
Havana Day two, take two
We slept in late – 8.45am – and woke to Mathieu cooking us breakfast. His one was slightly smaller but more delicious, scrambled eggs with lots of butter, banana muffins, cold salad, fruit, juice and coffee. He said to me that today was going to be hot, so I packed a hat. That was lucky, because it was Trinidad level of heat – absolutely scorching. We walked down to the ferry and Susie was feeling a bit unwell.
The heat was making my tummy cramp up a little bit, but I told myself it was all in my head. On the other side we bought water and walked up through the streets of Casablanca – not as romantic as the name would suggest. We went to the main Fort, an enormous castle built by the Spanish after a British invasion of Havana in the 1700s. It was also Che Guavara’s office after the 1950s revolution.
Susie had to find a toilet, so I wandered down to one of the walls in the heat, admiring the view over the city. Then once I found them again (multiple toilets were shut for fumigation) we bought more cold water and sat in a shady park within the fort, huge trees grew over the walls. Then we checked out the Che Guavara museum, filled with the story of his remarkable life and lots of personal belongings. We also saw the world’s longest cigar – 46 meters. Ridiculous.
Susie was really unwell by this stage – the 35+ degree heat with 100% humidity was not helping and she was very dehydrated. We tried to get a taxi back but the tunnel was shut. So instead we walked half an hour to a ferry, sat in the terminal for half an hour, had a brief bathroom stop in an ex-beach resort now rum warehouse, took the ferry for 15 minutes then a taxi to our house.
She slept for most of the afternoon. By 5pm I was bored so I went to the park for some more wifi, bought some water. Then as the sun was going down around 6.30pm
I went for a stroll (paseo) around Havana by myself with my camera. I love all the people wandering around, talking to each other, hanging off the balconies speaking to their neighbours across the street. I attracted lots of attention myself from men calling to me (mi amor, mi novia), asking me out, kissing my hand, and making that kissing sound as I walked past. At first it’s annoying, but by the end I couldn’t stop laughing, I was a digusting sweaty, sunburnt mess. With Havana, you know it’s safe because of the government repercussions of a citizen harming a tourist, so it doesn’t seem predatory like other places. Plus, there’s always about 100 people on the street at any one time, with 99% looking out for you, telling you when a car is coming to move out of the way, calling ‘hola’ to you.
I got back and Susie was awake but not well enough for dinner. Joao and I went to a place that had been recommended by Juvena and Jorgito (our first casa host). En del frente (in front of) was opened when the bar across the street ran out of space. We sat on the rooftop and enjoyed enormous Mojitos and some delicious tacos. Best food in Havana.
The journey from Havana to Quito
Joao had an early flight so we all got up for breakfast at 8am. We went to D-Next, a nightclub vibe American diner with crowds of men outside trying to watch a football world cup match through the windows. Susie and Joao ordered this bizarre ‘vegetable crepe’ which was like an entire lettuce and tomato salad covering two crepes. I had bacon and eggs.
We said goodbye to Joao, and apart from a quick trip to the ATM in the scorching sun, we both lay in our rooms in the cool aircon. My upset tummy was back again and I wasn’t feeling flash.
At midday we checked out, got a quick soft drink from the restaurant we went to on our first night, but left because there was a man smoking a cigar inside. We got a taxi to the airport where the engine was exposed inside the car, filling it with dirty smoke. Despite this, the driver insisted on having the windows up and using his weak aircon.
At the airport we found out that neither of our extra flights from Cuba could be refunded, except on email – ironic. We waited for our flight at 4pm – by then the plane still hadn’t turned up and our gat had changed. Finally we boarded, made our connection in Bogota (a really nice airport by the way) and arrived in Quito at 10pm their time.
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