Havana

I am in Cuba! The way here was a bit tough and not what I would call smooth but still…it was better and easier to cope than expected. In the end I was only worried about how to find my home stay. But it turned out that I shouldn’t have stressed myself with that. It was past midnight when I arrived in Vedado where I’m staying. But as soon as my taxi stopped in front of the house my host was downstairs and let me in. He showed me around and then I guess he was happy to finally go to bed.

The place is a comfy home stay. Home stay or what they call “casa particular” is the typical accommodation in Cuba. I’ll explain a little later how it works.

Balcony of my casa

The next day I slept in. Oh how I was looking forward to that!!! No alarm for nothing, no sunrise, not even breakfast.

I took everything a little slower, took a long warm overdue shower, enjoyed the juice and fruit which my host had put into my fridge and watched Havana lifestyle from the balcony.

When my host, Javier came back home he was very kind and took his time to explain the first essentials to me. His English was very good and his explanations helped me for the first day. I now knew where to get my bus ticket to Santiago which was the big to do for the day. After I got that sorted I got a taxi to old Havana. Yes, it’s a little time machine. The big cruise ships don’t quite fit into the scenery but apart from that: welcome to the America of the 60’s (or at least what it looks like in the movies).

Taxis

I didn’t do or see too much that day. I found a barber and finally got my hair cut. I was walking around in old Havana but it was almost impossible doing this by myself. The locals aren’t shy at all. That way I found a typical local treat (coconut caramel ball) and a local restaurant without any tourist.

Plaza Vieja

Church near Plaza Vieja

Still being a little tired I went to bed early that day. Which also wasn’t too easy because of course in Havana it’s salsa time at night and the locals don’t want to see a foreign single girl walking home without having a dance.

My to do the next day: find another casa. Unfortunately Javier was booked for the following night. And so I had to do the following: take your stuff and simply find a house with the particular sign somewhere at the entrance. Just ring the bell, hope that someone is home and ask for vacancy. Simple as that. I knew about it because several people told me. Still I couldn’t believe until I did it myself. It’s a great system though. Everyone who has a spare room can offer it for guests. They get a good amount of money out of it. And my experience so far is really good. The beds are comfy, the tons are clean, you have hot water and apparently it’s also common to have your own fridge in the room.

In Havana itself isn’t that much too see. So I talk a long walk from my casa to old Havana again, walking all along the Malécon which is the main avenue in Havana. Today it was closed for cars because there was triathlon. So you have 10 car lanes but not worry about crossing. (That changed on my way back and it’s different here from Asia…you shouldn’t simply cross the street 😂)

Along the Malecon

Old Havana is really beautiful. There’s nothing special to do. I just walked around and took tons of pictures.

Old Havana

Boulevard of Havanna

Old Havana

And I got my hands on a Wi-Fi login. Yeah! Wi-Fi in Cuba is not a common good. There are only few places in each city (mainly in parks) where there is public Wi-Fi. Before you can go online there you need to go to a shop and buy a login and a certain amount of hours of Wi-Fi. There don’t seem to be much sellers either…..I queued half an hour for my login.

Queuing though seems to be very common. In the park next to my casa is an ice cream parlour. It’s supposed to be good but seriously would you queue on the outside of the park with 100 other people for ice cream? I wouldn’t, Cubans do. 😂