Cuba was exactly what I had expected, but even more extreme than I could imagine. In the taxi from the airport, I saw more classic veteran cars than I had seen in my whole life! it seemed they had just stopped importing new cars in the 50s (which I guess is not far from the truth..). In Havana the buildings looked just as old as the cars, but they had got less (or not at all) renovations during all the years. It was not difficult to imagine how beautiful the streets must have been 50 years ago! Now the colorful painting were partly or completely off by the time and the small charming balconies rusty or detached from the brick wall. But then u think, all big cities have areas like that.. In Havana, all the streets looked the same, even the main walking street! Even though, if the buildings looked abandoned, the city was full of life, children playing around, women gossipping on the corners, old men playing chess and smoking big cigars while horse taxis passing by. All the impressions were very different from any city i have seen before!
The first day I did sightseeing in the city together with 2 other Norwegian girls. We had a guide from kilroytravels who guided us through the safe areas in the city. When we walked through the main street, which apparently was a "shopping street" it immediately reminded me of the dodgy shops in the underground in Budapest! (the main street in Lima were actually also very like that). But the atmosphere was completely different though, it was more intimate and charming like a small city, the sun was shining and the streets were busy. The guide told us he had a surprise for us, what would be a good surprise for 3 norwegian girls? A chocolate museum:-) we sat down and had some chocolate milkshake and homemade chocolate cigars, yummy! After cigars, what more is Havana famous for? Havana Club, Cuban rom, essential for Cuba Libre and Mojitos! So we went to the Havana Rom museum were we learned about the process of making the best quality rom.
Later on the guide helped me out with organizing something to do for me the next week, and I got to experience how difficult it is to get some cash in Havana, it was just one atm in a big area of the city, and it was out of order quite often! So we had to try several hotels before i could finally get some cash to pay for my bookings. The next day i experienced the difficulties with finding a place with Internet connection.. There is almost none cyber cafes, at least not that is working! Normally when I walk in a big city, my iphone finds like 10 wifis, but not even once did it happened in Cuba! I found 1 place with with wifi so I could talk on skype, and that was in the fanciest hotel in downtown, and it was like 10 dollars for one hour. Even if it felt like a big hassle at the time, afterwards its one of those experiences that makes me realize how far behind this country still is.. Just small things, like buying proper potato chips or tampons is almost impossible, while Havana club and cigars are sold on every corner! And still, I have touched just very few aspects of the difficulties people leaving here have had the last decades. Anyways.. That night, the Norwegian girls and I went to a Cuban restaurant for a 3 course meal and some real Cuban music! The food was okay, but not as impressive as the musicians! They were some Cuban stars from the 50s, tiny sweet old men that looked like they were about to get a stroke anytime! but together with a big band and guest singers they had a 1,5 great performance, with impressive strong original voices! It was all passionate old Cuban music, and there was a couple dancing salsa amongst the dining guests. One old singer got a crush on one of the Norwegian girls, and as we were sitting in the table at front, he tried to steal a kiss from here as he was singing by our table. She got very embarrassed and the 3 of us had a good laugh! it was a funny cultural night in Havana.
After spending some days in the busy city with streets drowned in the exhaustion from very old cars, I needed some fresh ocean air! And as I wrote in last blog, after all the hiking, trekking, cold sleeping bags, living in dorms with 5-9 other people, and crappy hostel breakfast for several weeks, all inclusive hotel in the Caribbean was (although though very touristy) very tempting! :-) I spent 6 days with a big hotel room only for myself, big buffet breakfast (and lunch and dinner) all just 50m away from the beach and the azul blue Caribbean sea:-) The days were all similar, it was actually a bit nice to have some kind of routine for a change! Just, sun, beach, pool, lunch, reading, evening run on the beach, dinner, Tv in the hotel room and so on! When I got bored I rented a kayak or a bike to see more of the shore or the city. After 6 days, i have had enough of the relaxing and lazy tourist life! I was well rested and ready for more adventure again! Aftyer one more day in Havana, I arrived to Cancun, Mexico couple of hours ago, ill stay one day or two to plan my trip further.. i want to do some diving and maybe go to a city called Tullum..ill keep u posted