3/10 - day 1

Note: I am having difficulty uploading pictures to the blog using the Havana hotel's wifi. I don't expect it to get any better when we leave Havana. I will keep blogging, but you may have to wait until I return to Syracuse to see the pictures that illustrate the narrative.

UPDATE in EWK: WiFi!!!

We're here!

Cuba is unlike any country we have visited on our bike trips. It is a developing country, made so in part by US foreign policy.

That said, with countries opening up to tourism in a post-COVID era, Cuba wants to get in on that revenue stream. 

The airport could be any international airport in the world.

We were met outside of customs by a woman in a red blazer with our names on a clipboard. She got us to the front of the lines at passport control and brought us to a VIP lounge. This is the kind of treatment that would piss me off if it was happening for other people. I guess we are the a*** now.

One interesting difference is that we went through a screening AFTER we got off the plane. (I assume we'll get the usual screening when we leave Cuba.)

Here's what we saw when we left the airport. As I said in the previous post, it was a little bit of a shock to the system.

We met our Cultural Cuba guide, Jose, outside the airport, again with a sign with our names. He took us to our car for the day, a state-owned taxi. Jose would stay with us the rest of the day and the driver was assigned just to us. All of this was part of our Cultural Cuba pre-trip package.

Here he is playing pied piper.

Jose is informed, personable and funny. It is always impressive to me when someone can make people laugh in a second or third language.

Our first stop was Revolutionary Square. Here are a couple of Commies in front of a 3-D image of Fidel.

From Revolutionary Square, we went to the area where our hotel was located. There were a couple of other new hotels and plazas there too - clearly the tourist area.

Here is the front of our hotel.

Here is the view across the street from our hotel.

Here is a plaza to the right of our hotel.

And here is a smaller space with a monument to the left of our hotel.

While everything within a block or two of this spiffed up area looks ready for tourists, here is a building just on the corner of this block which is much more representative of what the rest of the city looks like, at least from what we have seen so far.

Our guide took us to lunch, a short walk from the hotel. The lunch spot had a nice roof-top terrace. That means climbing stairs. It was not the only time we had to climb stairs to get where we wanted to go. In fact, the only elevators we saw were in the Havana hotels.

This mural was opposite our table.

Here's Walter with the first of our tropical drinks.

We walked back to the hotel where our car was waiting with our luggage and we were able to check in.

One of the things we had to remember is that the water is not potable. It is easy to forget that you're not supposed to brush your teeth with tap water because it looks like any other top-tier international hotel. We had to follow the same rules as in China: don't drink the water out of the tap and don't eat anything that hasn't been cooked or can be peeled. We've already done it a couple of times and we haven't died yet. It may also be the case that the hotel treats the water for foreign tourists.

The boys went out for a short explore while I fiddled with the wifi. Mike was on a mission to find a Cuban Coke.

Eventually, I went out for a short stroll too. I headed to the right where there was a large park with music. One restaurant had a live band.

At another corner of the plaza, a woman played music on a portable PA system. I didn't take a picture thinking she'd probably ask me for $. 

Nonetheless, it didn't take long before another woman came up to me and very politely asked me if I needed a ride. When I said no, we actually had a nice conversation about US-Cuban relations and agreed that the problem was our governments. Finally, she asked me if I would like to meet her friend. She told me she was very pretty. I replied, "yo tengo una esposa". And even though that was a lie, Duolingo served me well.

Dinner was at another walkable restaurant from the hotel on a rooftop terrace.

After dinner, we walked back in the direction of the hotel and stopped in to El Floridita, the bar that Hemingway made famous. 

Here he is.

And here is Mike going off the rails with a daiqueri instead of a beer.