Blogs from La Habana, Oeste, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 3

My second time in this Caribbean island! What can I say, sometimes I love it here and sometimes I feel so frustrated that I can’t wait to leave. But I keep coming back – can’t explain. Since my last visit here (last year March), things seem to have changed or maybe I just didn’t pay attention before. Seem that that are (1) more new car models on the streets; (2) more begging; (3) folks are more vocal about their dissatisfaction with the government; (4) Cuban men are way too sexual and direct. Don’t get me wrong, there are still lots of veryyyy old car model around, but more new car model as well especially Kia and Volkswagen are on the road. More begging in that once they know you are a tourist, they ask if you ... read more

12.10. Istun Air Europan B767-300 takarivin keskipaikalla matkalla Madridista Havannaan. Mukava yllätys oli, että mitään henkilökohtaisia leffaruutuja ei ole. Korvakuulokkeita kaupitellaan 2e hintaan ja niillä saisi sitten katsoa katonrajan särisevästä ruudusta Jim Carreyta dubattuna. No gracias....Koneen inflight-lehden etusivulla on vihaisen näköinen nainen(toimari), joka kehuu tämän yhtiön palvelua huipuksi. Sanottakoon nyt tässä, että kyseinen henkilö selvästi valehtelee. Ja on väärin johtaa kuluttajia harhaan! Muuntamatonta totuutta kertoessa hän voisi sanoa, että boardauksen sekoilun jälkeen sinut istutetaan täysin bulkkituotteeseen ja erittäin vanhaan koneeseen, jonka penkit haisevat todella vahvasti hieltä. Voi että... Valonhetki koitti kabiinin kuulutettua boarding completed ja edessä oli tyhjä paikka. Saisin siis istua ilman etummaisen sylimuff... read more

Not much happens on a Sunday in Habana. Most museums are closed by 2, if open at all. We wanted to do Casa de Africa – which isn’t even open on a Monday – and some Salsa. We did neither. Around the Plaza de Armas area there is a daily book stall selling all sorts of books in Spanish. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I bought a little present for Sparky while I was there; the book is over a hundred years old and I bartered the guy down to $10 from $12. I could have, and arguably should have got him down to $8 – just to make him think twice about capitalism – but what’s an extra $2 to a fat cat, like me? Right next to the Plaza de Armas, ... read more

La Esquina Caliente, at the corner of Parque Central, was buzzing this morning. This is the place Havana’s baseball-mad fans come to talk and argue about anything baseball. Last night, a nation hunched around their TVs to watch Cuba wrap up a comfortable 4-0 series whitewash against the USA in the World Series – baseball’s version of the World Cup. Although it’s mostly an amateur competition, with the MLB’s biggest stars staying away for insurance reasons, it didn’t seem to matter to these fellas; they’d got one up on public enemy number one. Completely out of our depth, we congratulated an old guy beaming into his plastic cup of rum and moved on. It was time to immerse. Cuba has hundreds and hundreds of art museums and galleries so we thought we’d start with the Cuban ... read more

Ignoring all advice to take a local (European) summer holiday we decided to make the most of free air travel for Heidi whilst we can and went long haul to Cuba! It is a destination we nearly visited during our Central America trip some years back and is somewhere we have wanted to go to for a long time. We cheated slightly by booking an all inclusive but compromised with a few nights in Havana and also some trips from our resort into the interior - not quite backpacking - but with Heidi in tow we needed a bit of luxury and organisation! So, in true form Sally spent several hours on trip advisor to work out which hotel did the best buffet, found a good deal, upgraded our flights to Virgin Atlantic - and we ... read more