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Published: August 12th 2013
The Malecon
I walked and ran this 7-Km stretch several times. It's a special place, and the locals call the ledge on the right the "sofa," as thousands sit on it at night. Without aircon or cell phones or computers, this is where everyone goes to hang.When planning my trip to Cuba, I was concerned about spending too many days in La Habana. I don't care much for most big Latin American cities but my friend Tracy was pushing to spend three nights in Havana and then one more before leaving the country. We actually enjoyed the capital so much that we ended up leaving the Cienfuegos / Trinidad area a day early to get more time there. It might be the most interesting and entertaining city I've ever visited. We still didn't end up seeing everything we'd hoped to, so it could be necessary to spend about a week in Havana to do it properly.
What distinguishes Havana is that it lacks all of the qualities that make many Latin American cities challenging. Most are loud, dirty, dangerous, and difficult to get around, but like the rest of Cuba, the capital is stuck in time. The cars are mainly American classics from the fifties, or boxy, uncomfortable ones from Eastern Europe and Russia, and most buildings are as they were left in 1959. There are no advertisements anywhere aside from government propaganda here and there. Practically no one has a cell phone. Children sit on
La Bodeguita del Medio
The mojito was sort of invented here. It's expensive, but it's worth it for the ambiance. stoops throughout the day and play marbles and stickball in the streets. Most people walk everywhere. Blacks, whites and Latinos are evenly mixed throughout the city. In the middle of the day, locals stop to have a drink and dance in the cafes, or even to just dance outside in the street. There are very few cars and hardly any traffic, even during rush hour. In the old city, it is rare to see a car go by, and perhaps more common to have to dodge bike taxis and carriages. Unlike much of Latin America, it is guaranteed that you won't hear a truck with a loudspeaker advertising a radio station or miracle shampoo. Instead, the sound of chatter, music, and life echo through the streets and alleys. There are dancing parties in the streets some nights, and as a tourist, you're generally ignored and welcome to watch.
To fully enjoy Cuba, you need to get over your own politics and worldview and not feel threatened to celebrate that aspects of their culture are extremely valuable and well preserved. This doesn't mean that I'd rather live in Cuba than in the U.S, as there are plenty of problems with
Museo de Hemingway
It's just about what you'd expect his house to look like. Everything is exactly as he left it when he moved back to the states. Castro-led Cuba as well, but aside from the poverty, which is no worse than in most other Latin American cities, they shouldn't prevent anyone from enjoying how unique and special the atmosphere is.
Accommodations Stay in Old Havana. Most everything to see is walkable from here, it's as safe as can be, and the atmosphere is amazing. Stay at
Casa Mercedes Habana Vieja, but don't book it on a website, or she has to pay a fee. You can email her directly at jormer506@hotmail.com.
Mercedes can arrange to pick you up at the airport. She was booked for the first few days we were there, but she recommended another very nice house nearby - casa de Blanca y Juan. She then recommended other Casas Particulares - all in beautiful colonial homes - in other cities; it's common to get a suggestion from one house and have them call the next one you're going to. Mercedes is La Reina de Las Casas and has quite the business sense.
Almost all the places we stayed were like separate apartments or suites, with air conditioning, a refrigerator, and hot water. Mercedes' place was a bit more expensive (30 USD for two -
Puro
No, I'm not a communist. in the same room, but with two beds), but the rest of the casas were 20-25 and all were clean and comfortable.
www.cubajunky.com is the best website I've seen on Cuba --it gives info on anything you can think of.
Food We ate every breakfast and dinner at the casa particular. Breakfasts are 4-5 USD and usually there are prices ranging from 8-12 USD for dinner, depending on whether you want chicken, pork, lobster, fish, or shrimp. The food is delicious, and the portions are far more than adequate. Most of the cafes are reasonably priced and offer live music during lunch.
Don't drink the water unless you want cholera. Most casas have filtered water for you, but it isn't really isn't efficient enough to keep you hydrated while walking around in the heat all day. It's tough to find big bottles of water, so it's a bit disconcerting to waste so much plastic with small bottles.
Insurance If you're American, you're required to buy insurance in Cuba. Unfortunately, we couldn't find where to purchase it at the airport, nor anywhere in Havana. When we asked people, even government officials, they had no idea. It
Vendor
I did ask him before taking the photo; he chose that expression. was the 26th of July celebration weekend, and Cubatours was closed, and by the time we found another Cubatours in Trinidad, we were already 2/3 of the way through our trip, so we didn't bother. It's a risk to not have it, though.
Getting Around It's easy to walk pretty much everywhere. Taxis can be expensive for tourists, and the pedicabs aren't much faster than foot. Since there are few cars in the streets, you don't have to stick to the sidewalks, which makes it a very good walking city. To get to Hemingway's finca, I took a city bus, which was extremely crowded and hot, and required me to stand in a long line to get on. The bus driver didn't really know what to charge me, so I gave him a CUC (equal to 1USD). One woman on the bus seemed to be upset that I was taking the bus, since some were queueing outside and unable to fit. I decided to hitchhike the way back.
Here are reviews and explanations of the sights I visited:
Museo de la Revolucion This is a must-see no matter how much you know about the revolution.
Classic Cars
These were in particularly good shape, but I could have taken hundreds of photos of classic cars. I recommend watching Steven Soderbergh's five-hour movie
Che (or at least the first half of it, which is about Cuba - the second half is about Bolivia) before visiting Cuba; it definitely helped me piece together some of the things at the museum, which mostly consisted of photos and small artifacts. All descriptions are translated into English. The last rooms are laughable, as every Cuban scourge is blamed on the CIA. Still, if some entity tried to assassinate me perhaps dozens of times, I might become paranoid too. Don't miss the area outside that has tanks, armored vehicles, and airplanes from the Revolution and Bay of Pigs.
Casa de la Musica We walked here twice. The first time, the show didn't start till 11 and the cover was 25 dollars because the band was popular. The second time it was a matinee, but it was a mediocre, mostly disco band, with a five-dollar cover. We wanted to at least see it, so we went to the show, which was at least entertaining, and which was filled only with locals on a Sunday afternoon. The venue is interesting and prices are reasonable. Tracy danced while I sat and
Street Corner
This was the closest street corner to where we stayed, so we passed it several times a day. smoked a
puro in the back. There are a couple of other places nearby, like Neptuno, that are similar.
Museo de Hemingway Ernest Hemingway first lived at Hotel Dos Ambos in Havana where he wrote
For Whom the Bell Tolls and then eventually bought Finca La Figia in San Francisco de Paula, in the outskirts of Havana. At first I didn't have much interest, but then I read an excellent book called
Hemingway's Cuban Son, an account of the author's life there, written by Rene Villareal, Hemingway's former
mayordomo (butler) of the Finca. If you read this before you go, you won't need a guide. You can't enter the house, but all the windows are open if it isn't raining, so you can lean in and take photos, and see everything just as it was when Hemingway moved back to the U.S. It's basically exactly what you'd expect from the author, but if you don't know much about him or his works, it might not interest you.
The Malecon The water and city are magical at night, and there is something special about thousands of people sitting along the seven-kilometer "sofa," especially on weekend nights. This
stretch makes for a wonderful morning jog as well, as the sidewalk is wide and there are no roads to cross.
Plaza de Armas This part of the city is beautiful but by far the most touristy. Dozens of tour buses are parked nearby, waiting for tourists who have stopped in Havana from the resorts in Varadero. Nearby is an outdoor book market, which is impossible to walk through without being pressured by shop owners. There are dozens of small art galleries in the vicinity as well, and the paintings are reasonably priced.
Callejon de Hamel This alleyway is dedicated to Afro-Cuban music and art. The murals are impressive and the installations use everyday objects as materials. There are a couple of nice restaurants there as well.
Hotel Nacional It's absolutely worth visiting to walk through the impressive lobby and gardens, and for a drink and sit looking over the Malecon. I peeked in a watched a minute of a Cabaret show, which looked pretty entertaining, actually. Consider walking - the taxi back was very expensive.
Plaza de la Revolucion We stopped here for photos on the way back to the
airport, which was more or less sufficient. The enormous outlines of Che and Fidel are interesting, but we didn't get a chance to go up the Marti monument.
La Bodeguita del Medio It's expensive, but worth packing into the front bar area for a drink and live music. In the back, it's fun to look at all the photographs of 50's stars who ate or drank there.
La Floridita Drinks are loco-expensive at Hemingway's favorite bar. The waiters are rude and there is not a local in the joint. Still, they always have live music, and it's a beautiful bar -- worth a 7-dollar daiquiri.
I had also hoped to see, but didn't make it to, Museo Bellas Artes, the Tropicana Club, the top of the Marti monument at Plaza de la Revolucion, and the top of the FOCSA building (the tallest in Havana).
Getting Away from La Habana I had a pretty lousy experience with Viazul. The bus was older, slightly dirty, and crowded. While these are nowhere near as bad as chicken buses in Central America, Transtur is much better; the buses are new, spacious, and relatively comfortable. The prices
Lobster!
Ridiculously sabroso. are about the same, but Transtur picks you up at local hotels, rather than the bus station, which in itself can save you a few bucks. But it bothered me to be on a half-full bus as we passed dozens of people trying to hitch a ride under the overpasses.
Another option is to hire a taxi to the next city. Unbelievably, the cost is about the same, even if you have only two people. It's much faster since the above options drive very slowly and stop every two hours. And at least then you can tell the driver to pick up locals, which we should have done.
There are several more photos below.
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