Cuba - Day 1 Havana - Cars, Old Town and Che

I found myself unemployed in November 2019, and like any true travel junkie, I immediately called my retired sister, and said “Where can we go?” We quickly settled on a 3-night tour of Cuba. Neither of us knew anything about Cuba, and neither of us had ever been there, so Why Not?

We found that to travel to Cuba from the United States, at least in the fall of 2019, you needed to be there for a purpose. We found a group trip that met the requirements of our government’s restrictions and signed up. We were on our way in less than two weeks!

The group we were with consisted of 10 women – 7 of women were traveling together from the New York City area, one was a young lady from New Hampshire, then the two of us. The guide was a mid-30’s woman from Cuba, and an assortment of taxi drivers that she apparently has known for a long time.

Our accommodations worked out well. The guide had rented two Airbnb’s in a high-rise apartment building. The seven women shared one unit, while my sister and I, along with the lady from New Hampshire shared the other unit. Our unit was a 4-bedroom large apartment on the 23rd floor of the building. The 4th bedroom was occupied by the live-in caretaker for the unit. She made us breakfast every morning and cleaned while we were gone. It was incredibly posh for what we paid, but not “posh” by United States standards.

The first thing you notice in Cuba are the cars. This is mainly because when you step out of the airport in Havana, there are a line of government owned taxis waiting for people to pick up. Many of the taxis are refurbished cars from the 50’s. The reason for this is that no American vehicles or parts were allowed to be imported to Cuba from 1959 to 2011. The old cars were kept running with Russian engines and parts. And now, no typical Cuban can afford to purchase a new car. Most newer model cars are owned by the government for government businesses, like taxis or government workers. While going around Havana, old cars comprise of about 40% of the cars on the street, but in the countryside, it is much closer to 99%. The thing is, in the countryside, there are many more horse and buggies than there are cars.

The next thing you notice about Cuba is the disrepair of the buildings. It seems as if the entire beautiful city of 1959 is frozen in time, but that time has slowly eaten away at the bricks. It seems like that because that is essentially what has happened. We were told that most Cubans cannot afford maintenance on their homes, and the government takes care of maintenance on the government and tourist-type buildings before anything else. The evidence for this is striking.

Our trip was 3 nights long. We got in very late on the first night, because our first connecting flight had been cancelled, and there are very few flights to Havana from the US. Rather than going through Atlanta, we were re-routed through Miami. We missed half a day, but we got there. Our guide ordered a take out meal for us from a local restaurant – it was DELICIOUS, and enough for another day’s of leftovers. It was rice and beans with chicken. We ended up eating a lot of rice and beans during the trip, always paired with some sort of protein. Chicken and beef were the most common, but there was a lot of fish as well.

Our first full day in Cuba was spent touring Havana. We explored Old Town and marveled at all the old cars. Each driver seemed prouder than the last, and they were all willing to show us the engines under the hood. These guys must be the best mechanics in the world to keep so many of these cars running so well for so long!

In Old Town, our guide was showing us all the important buildings, starting with the National Capitol Building. We were told that much of that building is a museum now, but we were not allowed to go in. It was unclear to me if it was because of our nationality, the cost of going in, or because it just wasn’t on the itinerary. Regardless, I was allowed by a guard to peak in the main door, and was able to see the large, golden Statue of the Republic inside. WOW.

We walked deeper into Old Town. We saw the cathedral and several other old buildings, all of which were closed. There were shops that were open, and all of them sold the same things. All of the shops were also owned by the government. I felt very safe. I did not see anyone with open alcohol, no homeless, and was told that there are no guns. I was told that the general population can not afford alcohol or guns, so it is a very insignificant problem. In Old Town, the shops are allowed to take US Dollars, and give change in Cuban currency, so that was helpful to get some spending money without paying a fee. The shop owners are very careful with the change, and make sure that you are happy, because they could easily lose their permit to work. Without work, they would not likely be able to feed their families or keep a roof over their heads. Most are living day to day. We saw how one store delivers new refrigerators, and my sister talked to one man for a bit that looked like he was still a part of the revolution! There are vets everywhere I guess.

Our next stop was the strange place of Fusterlandia. It is an entire community of art installations, by a local artist Jose Fuster. It was beautiful, and strange, and I am glad we went, but I am still not sure why it was there.

The next stop was Revolution Plaza. This is the location where, during the Cuban Revolution in the late 50’s, Castro would speak to crowds of people. Now, the buildings around the square have huge lighted sculptures of the faces of several of the revolutionaries. Including Che. Of course. Everywhere you look, there are images of Che.

After a nice meal at a local restaurant, we headed over to the home of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had two homes – one in Havana, and one in Key West. Prior to coming to Cuba, I had learned that after the revolution, Hemingway was chased out of Cuba, with nothing more than the clothes on his back. At the Hemingway house in Havana, we learned a different story. There were photos of Castro and Hemingway together, and they told us that Hemingway had to make a choice after the Revolution on if he would stay in Cuba or in Key West. He decided to stay in Key West, but several years later, after his death, his wife came back to Cuba, packed up one box of things, and donated the rest to the Cuban Government. These things included about 5000 books, art and manuscripts. Wikipedia says that the visit by Mary Hemingway was arranged by President Kennedy, and the price to pay for getting some of her husband’s papers was to give the rest to the Government.

When we were at Hemingway's home, there was another group there that kind of made the site a bit more interesting - a group of Hemingway Look Alikes! There were about 20 of them and they knew everything about Hemingway and his life, and were willing to share.

The official tour of Havana was over for the day, but my sister and I were both anxious to walk around without the tour guide and see Havana on our own. We were dropped off at La Necropolis de Cristobal Colon. WOW was that beautiful. It is a cemetery, but it consists of family crypts that are exquisite! I am so glad we stopped there. We walked back to our apartment from there and got some rest for our visit to the Cuban countryside the next day!