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Christmas Day - Hola Havana!
Well, in the last 48 hours I have:
- Developed a look not too dissimilar to a lobster having sat in Auckland marina wasting time (with no suncream on) for an hour waiting to go to the airport. Yeah, yeah, I know. Brit abroad.
- Firmly established that the men in Auckland airport immigration are the friendliest and definitely the best looking in the world
- Spent the majority of an 11 hour flight with swollen glands and a fever but had 4 seats to myself so could have been a hell of a lot worse
- Gone forwards in time of day but backwards by a day having arrived in Santiago 4.5 hours before I left Auckland (go figure!)
- Experienced groundhog day and had 2 Xmas Eves – both were a bit crap!
- Established that nobody in Chile (even in the airport) speaks English and that all of the Spanish I learnt in Mexico a few years ago has well and truly disappeared
- Acted like a true Colonial and said ‘SHER-A-TON’ very slowly and loudly on numerous occasions trying to make myself understood
- Risked life and limb in a Santiago taxi
- Sweet-talked the nice man on reception to give me a free breakfast in the true spirit of Christmas
- Tried to pay for 5 pounds’ worth of groceries with the equivalent of a 10 pence piece
- Watched Bridget Jones in Spanish (not as funny when you only understand 1 in every 20 words)
- Taken 3 international flights, one of which I almost missed as my watch was wrong (too many timezones in 1 day!) and they were all waiting for me to board but I hadn’t understood the announcement – ooops!
- Been in 4 countries (New Zealand, Chile, Panama and Cuba)
My first impression of Santiago was pretty positive. I didn’t go into the centre but the streets around my hotel were lovely and there were some beautiful old wooden houses and tree-lined avenues. The surrounding mountains looked spectacular although the light was quite hazy. I wished I’d had my camera when we took off as the view was stunning. Looking forward to seeing (and maybe climbing?) those in more detail in a couple of month’s time.
Anyway, decided not to hide myself away so put my new dress on and headed to the restaurant down by the swimming pool. They were doing a special Christmas buffet with all inclusive champagne and wine and it was only about GBP35. Was shocked when they almost turned me away as they were fully booked. I must have given him one of my looks (ie about to burst into tears and cause a scene) as he soon found me a little table tucked away in the corner. The waiters kept calling me “m’Lady” but I stuffed my face and drank my money’s worth before getting a bit lonely and going off to bed.
Was prepared for my full day of flying on Christmas Day and must say thanks to American Express for giving me a priority pass that gets me into a lounge in every airport in the world. What a lifesaver, especially in Panama where I actually had no idea what the currency is or what it’s worth so luckily could stuff my face with cheese and wine for free! I’m all class me! Would definitely recommend getting hold of one of those passes especially if, like me, you’ve recently been demoted by all of the airlines and no longer have the magic gold status that gets you everything and everywhere!
So, finally made it to Havana at around 11pm that night. Was relieved to find that my bag had made its connection in Panama and turned up on the carousel. Got in a cab with a rather overenthusiastic tourist who turned out to be a surfing Brazilian who works for JP Morgan in Rio but was quite nice to have someone else in the cab with me. I’d forgotten how dark Havana is on a night as there aren’t any lights so wasn’t too amused when my taxi driver told me that the streets around my hotel were all pedestrianised and he would have to drop me elsewhere. Decided to go into the first little taverna I saw and asked them how to get to my hotel. They were very friendly and explained with lots of arm actions that I reciprocated with more arm actions and weird facial expressions and then the bellboy came rushing out and said he would take me there and carry my backpack. Explaining (well, by pointing at my pockets and shaking my head!) that I had no money to give him, he told me I was a ‘chica bonita’ and insisted on taking me. Finally got there, only to be told that my hotel was full but they would put me in a sister hotel. I wasn’t too phased by this as I seemed to recall this had happened the last time I was here (except that time we ended up in a hotel that had no running water for a couple of days – ugh!) but I was a bit miffed as it was a flamenco bar and restaurant with only 5 rooms upstairs and I had been looking forward to staying there for ages. Never mind, off we set again and I was taken to another hotel where we had to bang on a 12 foot high wooden door but were greeted by Michael, an incredibly friendly manager who spoke perfect English. The hotel is beautiful – an old Colonial building with massively high doors and ceilings and my room is huge with old fashioned wooden furniture in it - trunks and big grandma wardrobes etc. All of the rooms open out onto a balcony that overlooks an indoor terrace with tables set out for breakfast – just very ‘quaint’. This is what I remember of Havana. And BBC World to boot so I can finally catch up on what exactly is happening in the world!
Boxing Day
Set off at around 10am for a mammoth a walk around town. I’ve seen most of the sites here twice now but didn’t really have much recollection of them. Maybe this time I’m seeing them with different eyes. Walked through the old town and then onto the Capitolio which looks just like the capital building in Washington DC. Lots of old buicks around that area which I think is fab! Meandered down a few back streets which ended up being the real Cuba as I saw people wrestling to queue up for 100m to get into shops for their rations.
Got tired of all of the propositions today – men telling me they played in the Bueno Vista Social Club band (I seem to recall that only has a few members. From the people I spoke to today it must be an ensemble of a least 50!), to a guy asking me to give his little boy a Christmas kiss (said little boy had nose candles and ice cream all around his mouth and you know how much I just love grubby children!), to a woman asking me to buy her milk in the supermarket for her baby (because I can as a foreigner and she has to wait for hours in line) to men kissing at me as if I was a dog or rabbit, telling me their friend lives in London and then insisting I join them for a mojito....er no thanks! Still, despite all of this, I had a great wander around, went again to the Museum of the Revolution and had lunch outside a micro brewery in the Old Square – beautiful! Also went to the periscope building where you get a real time 360 degree view of Old Havana which is pretty cool. The only place I didn’t venture back to was Plaza de la Revolucion which is a pretty impressive, very Communist-looking square where Castro makes all of his speeches. It’s a bit off the beaten track and not walkable and to be honest, I couldn’t be bothered trying to negotiate a taxi fare. Maybe on my way back through after my Spanish course when I’ll be more capable and in the know!
Went for dinner to Meson de la Flota which is the taverna place I was meant to be staying at. Was shoved in a back corner (of course, what does a woman dining alone expect? A front row seat?!) and proceeded to stuff myself with some great tapas, an incredibly cheap mojito, some red wine and then a pina colada for dessert – yum! The flamenco entertainment was fabulous – so passionate. They had a band of around 7 people and 3 dancers. Maybe this needs to go on my list of things to learn!
The weird thing about today is that I saw very little evidence of Christmas. A couple of nativity displays outside churches and a few pathetic looking trees dotted around. Sadly, I think this is testament to the materialistic/ Capitalistic world we live in as these people are generally living on an absolute maximum of US$20 a month (and that’s even the doctors/surgeons), have to queue up to get mere basics of food but have an incredible enjoyment and passion for life. I’m not for one moment suggesting that I would prefer to live in a Communist society but there’s got to be something to be said about the way this country is run and the effect it has on its people. I think I’d rather live here than Vanuatu – put it that way!!!
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Greg So near to Cayman...are you able to pop over? I am away the entire of Feb so not sure when you are finished there...