After I got up and packed all my things I had a bit of a chat with the old man - the owner of the casa particular.
He was a very hard to understand which was partly due to my small vocabulary but also his strong accent.
Soon it was time for me to go over to the bus station, I still didn't have my ticket and didn't want to miss out on my ride back home.
By now I sort of had enough of Cuba (although I liked it here a lot) and wanted to go home. I think it might have been that I had enough of being away rather than having enough of Cuba.
Anyway, I got my ticket at the station and had to wait around for an hour or so (time really does have a different meaning here) and could board my bus.
The bus 150 km ride itself was uneventful. Compared to some of the other roads I have seen the infrastructure between Varadero and Havana is quite impressive so we soon arrived back in the capital.
As we rode into town I realized we were passing Universidad de la Habana which was closer to Alex's house than the Viazul bus station and the bus stopped, so I got off together with some other people.
From here I took a taxi for only a few CUC and soon arrived at the place I stayed at the beginning of my cuban visit - Alex's Apartment.
He gave me a warm welcome and after a short rest I had a chat with him and told him of all the places I visited over the last couple of days.
As I was sort of lazy and didn't really want to go out, my plan for the rest of the evening was to hang around the apartment and relax.
Luckily he changed my mind and suggested I should go to El Morro, the old fortress which was built in the 16th century to protect the mouth of havana harbour.
I should be able to see the sunset and the firing off the guns at the Plaza de Armes.
A maquina brought me towards the city centre and for only 3 additional CUC he agreed to drive me through the harbour tunnel to the other side of the Canal de Entrada.
First I visited the more western part of the fortress, which also includes the lighthouse. It was 6pm now and I had to pay 6 CUC to get in but aside from me there were only a handful of other people visiting the place and all the little exhibitions were starting to close down. I walked a round a bit and ended up at the lighthouse. The door was open, so I went up the spiral stairs to the top of the 25m
Faro Castillo del Morro. As it sits on top of a cliff the focal height of the lighthouse (the height above mean sea level) is even 44m.
The man at the top spoke to me and I assumed that what he said means I shouldn't go outside - something because of his jefe (boss).
After showing quite a bit of interest in the top of the light house the man was willing to open the door just a little but, so that I could lean out but would still be covered by the door from the view of his boss (which I assumed would be somewhere in the main fortress "watching him" - or sleeping.
The man was really nice, although I still didn't understand what he was telling me. He then took out a large light bulb from the cupboard - it must be a spare for the big reflector light - and I think he doesn't show it to everyone. I really enjoyed the encounter with this friendly lighthouse guard.
Then some other fancy tourist came up and was outraged that he couldn't go outside and talked very rude to my new friend - he of course was not allowed to sneak outside and look at the light bulb. There you go, I'm not surprised that after a while in the tourist industry people are not as enthusiastic to help and talk to the visitors any more. Sometimes (or lots of times) friendliness gets you further than rudeness and arrogance.
After I went back down I could just about go into an exhibition of ship paintings but the lights main were already out. So I had to walk around and look at them with the little ambient light that was left.
Then it was time to head over to the other part of the fortress, the Plaza de Armes. This area was done up a little more and was certainly the main touristy area of El Morro. There were some street stalls and a few restaurants - but this place was also quite empty.
So I walked around a bit and enjoyed the setting and the atmosphere. Nothing really interfered with the thought of being set back to the age of discovery. There were canons with canon balls stacked up next to it, Spaniards with their iconic hats standing nearby while the sun was setting on the horizon.
There was still some time until the shots were being fired at 9pm, so I walked a little more, explored all the little accessible exhibitions, rooms and hidden gardens and then selected one of a couple of restaurants to have dinner.
I was, of course, sitting alone a one of the tables and a couple with their son invited me over to have dinner with them. They were very nice and had a little kid, Orlando.
After we finished we went to see the changing of the guards and the canon being shot - it was surprisingly loud, the canon that is.
On the way out it got a little strange because the family didn't leave me and walked with me back to the main road to catch a maquina back to town.
I was a little worried that this could again be some sort of scam, so I was on my toes but it only had the effect, that I paid local prices for the maquina back home 50 CUP (40 for me and the family to Havana Viejo and 10 CUP more for me back to Paseo).
I am starting to like and enjoy the maquinas now, once you get the hang of it - but it took some tries to get used to it.
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