I had to start my day now, so I walked down to the sea front and picked up two more street maps ( he liked the one that I got for myself there yesterday) and waited for the sightseeing bus.
The Hotel Riviera was just out of a 50s film (the cars around it made the atmosphere perfect) and I would not have been surprised if Harry Belafonte or Frank Sinatra would have walked out of the front door. Very much the same as in many European or North American cities this was a double decker bus with an open top, that drove a route through the city stopping at all the major attractions. You could hop off and check out the sight and jump on the next one.
The bus was relativly full but I did find a seat upstairs and enjoyed the tour (with English and Spanish commentary).
We drove along the Malecon (the sea front Promenade - 4 lanes each way) for a little while and passed the "plaza de la revolucion" - somehow this sounds more fascinating when you are in Havana than in a normal Spanish City... we passed the Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón (also sounds cool) and passed some more Hotels from the good ole times. Havana was as you may know the holiday destination of choice for the US jetset of the 50ties until the US imposed an embargo over Cuba in 1960 but you can still see (and feel) how it must have been in high times in some places.
On the way back from our most western point of the trip I stayed on the bus when we passed the Plaza de la Revolucion once again and we were heading towards Havana Vieja, the old town of Havana. We drove past the old train station, the Artisan market and the Havana Club Rum Factory - the bus stopped for 30 minutes here (probably to draw people into the rum factory), so I had to get off anyway.
Havana Vieja is a great place, the essence of what we consider Havana is here in every street, people roaming past, cafe, little bars and shops that sell all sorts of things, old maquinas (the rusty, banged up, old 50s chevys and buicks that have not been fully restored to drive tourists around town but are being kept alive with creative ways of creating spare parts that you can't get here) were parked here and there along the disintegrating cobble stone streets. Havana Vieja is the place to see when you can only do one thing in Cuba.
Unfortunately many of the little shops were closed today because it was Easter Monday but I did find a little restaurant (just for wealthy tourists) where I could get a plate of freshly made Pasta Carbonara for 5 CUC. It is quite strange (and a little uncomfortable), how restaurants are working over here. There are the state restaurants where the locals go (and you pay in CUP or Moneda Nacional) and the tourist restaurants where the tourists and the well off Cubans go (and you pay in CUC). There is a very strong separation between the two - not just in the restaurants but in pretty much every aspect of life in Cuba.
I only had CUC, the convertible Peso that is died 1:1 to the US dollar but I wanted to be able to use some of the more local places, so I needed to get some CUP (Cuban Peso - also called "Moneda Nacional" - these are also tied to the USD but in a ratio of 25:1).
CUC are for purchases that tourists make, like food in a restaurant, drinks in a bar, Casa Particulars, Hotels or a ticket to a sight or a trip on a tourist bus (yes, tourists are not supposed to share the buses with the locals). Cubans can also use CUC for hard purchases, such as TVs, Phones, or other bigger items, that can usually only be afforded by the higher class Cubans. CUP are for the every day purchases of the every day Cuban, such as coffee, a glass of rum, groceries in one of the state run shops or food in a state run restaurant.
I was not able to exchange these in a Bank or at some of the little bread or food shops I tried. Now, I tried it at a little dingy Bar in one of the back streets towards the train station... I have to admit I was a bit scared/excited. The only drink in the Bar, which was essentially a large open garage with a counter and a few tables, was white rum and water. One little Glass of Rum was 2 CUP (0.08 USD). So, now I had 23 CUP as change for my 1 CUC when I paid the Rum. Now, it would probably not be a good idea to keep ordering little glasses of rum until I had enough CUP in change, so I had to actually change some money without buying something.
First I asked another guest, who also sat at the bar if he could change my CUC against CUP. He wanted to change 20:1 but when the bar man saw/heard that, he said something to the man and told me he would do the official price of 25:1. I was happy with that and even gave him 5 of his CUP back for his honesty and friendliness.
I had one more rum off him and I saw him add a little extra in my glass than the measurement :-).
After this, I felt energized and happy to have done something good for the bar man who also did something good for me.
I walked around a little and passed the El Capitolio, that was currently being renovated and surrounded by scaffolding.
Another reason, why I was happy, was that I was able to get out of some of the gentrified areas of Havana Vieja and have a real Cuban Experience... Somehow, it seems much harder to do this here than in any other country I have been... another reason for me being happy may have been the two rums.
While in the flow, I also bought a coffee from a guy who was selling them out of his window towards the street. One coffee for 1 CUP - 4 US cent, you can't get that at Starbucks - and the coffee was better! Very strong thick espresso with loads of sugar - I loved Cuban Coffee from the start. When I am back home I'll have to make these and also Vietnamese Coffees (maybe I just like communist coffee?). To continue the feeling good wave, I also gave him 1 CUP propina (tip).
I kept walking around Havana Vieja for a bit and soon found the Camera Obscura that Derek had told me about. I went up the many stairs to the top floor and had to pay 2 CUC entrance, I still didn't know what exactly it was. From up here I had a nice view over the roof tops of Havana and soon we were all called into a the dark room, where a man moved the periscope on top of the roof around and projected the incoming light on a concave white table. The light that came in through the periscope drew an incredibly sharp picture on the table and with an array ropes the man could even zoom in , refocus and spin the periscope. He zoomed in on different buildings and explained bits and pieces about them. He also told us that Aristotle and Leonardo Da Vinci proposed the use of such devices but it was not until the 18th century that actual models were built.
This visit was well worth the 2 CUP and many steps.
On the way out I ran into the two Spanish guys from the Taxi yesterday and we decided to get some beers in a little bar across the plaza for 3 CUC.
After this we went on and tried to find some Famous Mojito Place that Ernest Hemmingway used to drink at: La Bodeguita del Medio
On the way there, the guys picked up two Cuban girls like real professionals, just a quick, confident chat and the girls were on to them.
I followed the four to the Mojito Place but this was really not the place for me on my own. The Mojitos were 5 CUC, (more than 50 times of what I paid for the glass of Rum in the the little bar earlier place), it was full of tourists and my Yuni was 12500 km far away in Seoul.
So I said thanks for the time to them and left - and was happy to be out of there.
By now it was already late afternoon, so I went back to the place where the Sight seeing bus should be picking me up and waited for a while - I was unsure if the bus was still going, so I asked a guy if he knew if the bus was still going. He didn't but told me to wait here.
Two minutes later he arrived with a little car and we waited for his colleague, then he drove me home. They spoke a little English, so we could exchange some stories about Cuba and Germany/Ireland along the way.
After this busy day I had a bit of a rest in my room with the Aircon on and a big bottle of water next to the bed.
I did some reading but was not really hungry yet, although it was already Dinner time.
I started thinking about this place a bit - Cuba - a lovely place so far, but I really felt a bit uncomfortable since there is such a strict separation between where tourists go, where they eat, what they pay and what the local people do. We are not allowed to take the same bus, we should officially not take the old maquinas as taxis, like all the locals do - only the well restored ones for 60 $ for an hour.
I hadn't realized it through the day but there were not even shops where I could see that I could buy a bottle of water. Just in restaurants or in a Government controlled shop.
We should not even be using the same currency in many cases. In some respect, this is what makes this country attractive, because it is unusual, but on the other hand it felt wrong. Maybe I need some more time to get used to it.
I realized, while lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, Cuba is not really a country to be travelling alone on a budget, there are no hostels where you can meet like minded people and if you stick to the touristy places it is not a cheap place either. For example, 25 USD for a room for a family of 3 is good value, but if you are travelling alone it is a lot of money.
You can easily spend 100 USD per day here. These were just some of my thoughts while lying in bed.
I was a bit sad to be here on my own, I could imagine it is a very different experience if Yuni was here as well. It's only two weeks to go until I get back to Ireland and so far I did not feel much of homesickness but now it was crawling up a bit.
Maybe it was because the trip was coming closer to its end? You know how you are looking forward to your couch again, on the last two days of you two week holiday? Proportionally, this could be the same effect?!
I was not sure if I should go out alone and get some food - I wasn't really hungry. But what does it help to be lying on the bed being sad? I had to do something - It was already 10 pm. So, I asked Alex for a good place for some food. Talking to him a little and sharing my thoughts about Cuba, but he seems to be sharing the idea it would be good to keep tourists separated from the local people a little. They even have a name for it "Tourist Apartheid".
I feel I may be in between chairs here, I am more adventurous than the "normal" tourists that walk around the tourist spots but maybe not adventurous enough to go dive full-on into the Cuban live of the common people. It's hard to explain...
Enough of my thoughtfulness in this blog post - I did go to get some food, on advice from Alex, to "La Cathedral", which was just around the corner.
Alex called it a nice place with cheap food - 6 CUC for shrimps. Cheap compared to Europe, but not cheap for Cuba, or many other countries I got cheap food over the last couple of months.
No need to worry about that now (luckily I don't have to worry), so I guess I'll try it out.
And indeed, it was a very nice restaurant - but sooo much different from the ones that most cubans would go to. I was glad to see some affluent locals in there too, though. Even a BMW Z3 was parked outside.
Who wants to eat in style has to wait... I had to wait 30 minutes to get a table.
I had some nice Bruschetta, a beer and a huge plate of pork shichkebab for 9 CUC including tip. So not too bad after all.
According to the statistic of 20 CUC monthly average salary for a Cuban, this an average Cuban would have to nearly work two weeks to be able to afford a dish like this, so I left another CUC as an extra tip. I felt a little happier again :-).
One last thought: It really seems an unfair discrepancy between tourists and wealthy and the general population here. I've been to many countries, some of them quite poor, but here it was different, as it is not due to open market, that tourists could afford more than the local population but it is supported by the government.
Back home and happy about being in Cuba again - It's like a roller coaster of emotions here... Up and down!
To move my thoughts away from such serious topics, I watched Oldboy on my laptop and read my book until I fell asleep.
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