Blogs from La Habana, Oeste, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 27

Friday morning, jet lag awoke us atrociously early, but at least it afforded us a leisurely breakfast in the lobby before we left to drive the length of the northern coastline of Havana Vieja and Centro. The 8km Malecón (seawall) built in 1901 by the then American administration takes you past several interesting landmarks of Cuba’s wide-ranging history - from the Spanish era (grandiose), through American (largely utilitarian), British (global-colonial), Mafia (oddly communistic) and Post-Revolutionary (predominantly poor examples of 1970’s architecture - little seems to have been built since then). Along the way we passed the US Special Interests Office set up by Carter in the late 1970’s and the scene of laughably simplistic finger-pointing propaganda billboards from both sides of the ideological divide. Right opposite the b... read more

In February 2008, after 49 years at the helm of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro stood down as president in favour of younger blood - in this case, his 76 year-old brother, Raúl. Optimistically, George Bush welcomed the news by saying that Fidel’s departure “should be the beginning of a democratic transition in Cuba that should lead to free elections”. Equally fancifully, many less ideologically driven commentators have been expecting dramatic changes to take place ever since Raúl took over as acting president in mid-2006. Both the ideologues and the pragmatists are still waiting. The fact is that Cuba is the only truly communist economy in the w... read more

And it's like a movie! The first things that struck me: green vegetation, music, the number of black vs lighter skinned Cubans and the heat (it's 30C and so humid that I had to shower once I checked in). Flying in to Havana you can see nothing but lush green vegetation and then driving from the airport you see sign after sign of Fidel and/or Che. My hotel isn't what I thought it would be, it's like something out of a 1940s film. It's called the Hotel Sevilla. I took a walk down to the Malecon (boardwalk) and there were hundreds of kids swimming. A few of the olders ones asked me to join them, they're a friendly bunch. A little too friendly at times, one particular man followed me back to the hotel the whole ... read more

Hola! Well I have survived Cuba as well. I have just had 10 days in Cuba, and as you would expect I hooked in to the Cuba Libres everyday. I have decided that I may be a rum drinker after all. It was good training for the next 2 weeks. I was on a tour with about 10 60 plus year olds. Entertaining but not as much fun as the last group. No near misses with flights anyway. In the group we had a duck who is a travel writer and used to write for Gourmet traveller. I liked her the most!! Cuba was amazing and most of the time I thought I was in a movie from the 50´s. Everyone talks about the old cars in Havana, I thought I would see a couple but ... read more

is to start an animal sanctuary in Cuba. While communism ensures all the people here are healthy and safe, there is no such privilege for the animals. Cuba is full of stray and feral dogs and cats. While the people are often benevolent to the animals, leaving out scraps and leftovers for them, their lack of expendable income (and to some extent a very insensitive attitude) means that hundreds of animals are left to fend for themselves, suffering from skin diseases, festering wounds left open in the stifling heat, injuries and starving to death. It´s really heart'breaking. I want to do something about it. Maybe I´ll write to Brigitte Bardot :D... read more