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We were going to take the local bus & waited at the stop for a few minutes. There didn’t appear to be a bus coming any time soon, so we started walking into town. We walked along the Malécon – on the dry side – for quite a ways. The buildings were impressive. Tall apartments, hotels, fancy waterparks – but sadly, most of them were in need of repair, paint & some TLC. As we rounded a curve, we realized that we were still a fair distance from downtown. We hailed a ‘huevito’, a little yellow eggshell of a cab/scooter & he took us to the Capitolio. Bearing a strong resemblance to a certain building in Washington, DC, we discovered that Capitolio was closed. We tried, in broken Spanish/Spanglish, to ask the guard when it would be open. Tomorrow? Reparacion. Hmm. It’s under repairs. Okay… Eventually we find out it will be open in 2020! Come back in 9 years! There was a little old lady next to the guard selling peanuts & she had joined in our conversation. I told them I would be her age when it reopened & would most likely need a cane by then! We had a good laugh & carried on.
Kim knew of a cigar factory behind Capitolio and she wanted to take a tour, as she had missed it 2 years ago when she was here. Guess what?! It was closed too! We’re on a real streak! We went into the cigar shop & looked around. All I wanted was a box & the nice man working there managed to find one for me! For free! I then bought my brother a Cohiba for his birthday. (Although, as I type this 3 weeks later, I hear he’s quit smoking!)
We left the cigar shop & headed towards China Town. Kim wanted to check it out & I was seeing everything for the first time, so away we went. We stopped en route to photograph a train graveyard. They had all these old engines & track & cars in the middle of downtown. I have no idea why.
Carrying on towards China Town, we were photographing along our way & I came to the corner of the block. While waiting to cross, this man starts talking to me. He’s with his girlfriend & they ask me where I’m from, wish me Happy New Year, is it my first time to Havana, etc, etc. Me, being the friendly person that I am, tell them all the answers they want to hear. They proceed to tell me there is a Salsa Festival in town this weekend & there is a free show at a nearby restaurant starting soon & did we want to see it. As they are telling me this, Kim walks up, having missed the earlier part of the conversation & I ask her, she says, ‘Yes.’ Away we go. They take us to this little café filled with locals. There are no salsa dancers & no place for salsa dancers to dance. We sit down at a table & the guy eagerly writes down all the ‘must see’ spots in Havana. Oh so helpful. He orders some variation of a Mojito – Compais Segundo – or something like that. I realize when the bring the drink(s) that I need a non-alcoholic one. They return with a non-alcoholic one shortly after. We chitchat & visit about life in Cuba. The woman shows us her Ration Card – the monthly allowance of food. 2.7 kg of rice, so much of beans, chicken, etc, etc. She then proceeds to tell us a sob story of how they can’t get milk easily for their baby. Meanwhile, the guy is trying to get us to buy cigars on the sly from some non-store place. I had just spent money on cigars, so I wasn’t interested. I thought I could be nice & buy them some milk, so the lady took me to a little booth outside the restaurant. The booth sold various goods & she asked the guy for milk. He puts a plastic grocery bag on the counter & there are maybe 4 bags of powdered milk in it. He punches the total into the calculator & shows me ‘24’. I am thinking it’s 24 moneda nacional (local currency), as 24 of them make 1 CUC (the tourists currency), which is about $1.10 CDN. I dig out 1CUC from my wallet & put it on the counter. The guy shakes his finger at me. I am thinking they don’t accept CUC. Then the lady tells me it’s 24CUC. I laugh at her. Is she crazy? $24 for 4 bags of powdered milk! I tell her I’m not that wealthy & I’m very sorry, but I can’t give that much money for milk. She looks miffed & we head back to the restaurant.
Somewhere in this drama, the guy spilled his drink on himself & orders another one.
When we return, all hell broke loose. We asked for the bill so we could go & do some more sight seeing. When the lady brought us the bill, it was a handwritten note scribbled on a blank piece of scrap paper. No business name, nothing. They wanted $30 for 5 mojitos. The maximum you should pay is around $2. We were clearly being ripped off. I could tell the couple expected us to pay & neither Kim or I wanted to cough up that much for drinks – that we didn’t even want or order! We both agreed something wasn’t right, so I got up & went over to a table of tourists that had come in & asked them how much they were paying for their drinks. Boy! Did that start a commotion!
I had barely spoken the words, ‘Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but…’ when I suddenly had about 3 staff around me. They were right in my face saying things like, ‘Lady! What you doing at this table?’ ‘Do you know these people?’ ‘Are these your family?’ ‘That is your table. You need to sit down at your table.’ Then the Manager shows up & starts barking at me. I got a little nervous when she asked for my passport! The people seated at the table didn’t know what they were paying for their drinks, so my efforts were futile. I reluctantly went & sat down.
I told them this was ridiculous & we weren’t going to pay $30 for 5 drinks. The waitress got up in my face & started ranting away at me. I told her I didn’t think my drink should be the same price as the others, as it didn’t even have alcohol in it. She looks at the empty cigar box I’d been given & says, ‘Oh, you don’t drink, but you smoke?’ I saw red instantly. How dare you judge me!?
Thankfully, Kim was the calm, quiet & thoughtful one in all of this. She took the words of the Manager & fed them back to her. ‘You drink, you pay’ the Manager had said. So, Kim says, ‘Okay, we drank 2 drinks, so we will pay for two drinks.’ We ended up giving them $15CUC for 2 drinks. What a rip off. Luckily the Japanese lady from the other table came by to check on us & stayed with us until we all left the café. We walked with them for a few blocks to make sure we weren’t being followed & then said ‘Thank you’ for the 30th time & went our separate ways. What a day.
Kim & I strolled down Prado, admiring the artwork of many talented Cubans. There was an amazing photographer & one artist in particular who caught my eye. We walked past several museums, through a monastery & eventually down one of the main pedestrian/touristy streets. We wandered past Floridita, the home of the first daiquiri, we walked past an antique market & Plaza de la Catedral. Finally, we ended up at an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had another mediocre meal & enjoyed the live band that played during our meal. I was rather amused by the fact that they played Andrea Bocelli during their intermission on a DVD projector. (The standing joke in Cuba is – the three biggest failures of the Revolucíon are breakfast, lunch & dinner. Not too far from the truth!)
There was a cute little kitty trotting between tables meowing for food. I took to flinging shrimp nonchalantly off my knife & launching it onto the ground for the calico cat. I think he was most grateful.
We stopped at the Hotel Parque Centrale on our way back for dessert. We were one of only three tables in the upscale restaurant. Our waiter started visiting with us & lo & behold, he & Kim shared the exact same birthday! She even demanded ID & sure enough! 08January! What a coincidence! That was pretty neat! He was off to the clubs in a few short hours – in Vedado, funnily enough!
Kim & I made our way home & crashed. It had been a long day, with much excitement! Tomorrow we are going to walk to the bus station to get our tickets for Varadero. We’ll stop by the cemetery to check out the elaborate tombs.
I love Havana.
xxxxMaria & Kim
I'll post photos one day... In the meantime, check out Kim's work from Cuba. She's organized & edited! I'm not!
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