3 Days in Havana
Friday – Arrival
“So we took a cab ride from the airport to our Airbnb which is where we got a mini-tour of the Revolution Square municipality and a little information about the history of it. After checking in and getting all of the amazing information that our Airbnb host shared we went across the street to eat. I had chicken with rice which wasn’t bad, there’s a lot of meat in typical Cuban food and it’s very salty which I’m not a huge fan of but this was pretty tasty.
The next stop was to find us some WiFi, we bought a WiFi card from a shop along the road and headed to the nearest WiFi park which was about a block and a half’s walk from the AirBnB we stayed in. While we were there we met a really friendly guy who asked where we were from, so I put on my Nigerian accent and told him we were from Nigeria, as I said before we were unsure of how people would react to us being American, and it turned out that his ancestors were Nigerian! He was telling us he listened to Nigerian music from an artist called Davido so we knew he was actually Nigerian.
He recommended a club-lounge to us in the city, he said that it was truly Cuban and not really for tourists so would be a great experience for us. So later, we went to the club he recommended and I loved it! People were up and dancing all night and the atmosphere was just so relaxed and happy and fun. People from the audience were just getting up on stage and singing songs – it’s like everyone in Cuba has a great voice! We had virgin mojitos and pina coladas. I also had Tostones, which are twice-fried plantain, as a snack. We were the only non-Cubans there but it didn’t matter; one of the things our new Nigerian friend said to us is that Cuba is very safe. No-one has guns and yes, Cuba has issues, but I personally felt nothing but safe since I arrived. Although, I’m sure if you’re an asshole you’ll get your ass smacked.
On our way back from the lounge, later on, we went by the WiFi park, of course, and met two men from London. They asked if we spoke English and then we ended up chatting for quite some time. They told us they were going on to a club called Fabrica de Arte Cubano (Art Factory) and they invited us along. We told them we’d meet them there, but we went home and went to bed! They’re probably still there waiting…
Now, about men in Cuba. They are complementary, they like women, but they are generally not disrespectful. However, one funny thing did happen. There are a lot of cats and dogs in the streets, so when we arrived we were taking pictures and I heard this kind of kissing noise. Later, when we met our Nigerian friend, he told us that men would make these noises at you if you’re cute! I honestly thought it was someone just calling their pet!”
Saturday – City Day
“We got up late in the morning after Friday’s traveling and went for brunch at this place around the corner, The Galaxy Café. It was really good food and we actually ended up going back there for dinner that evening.
Then we walked over to the capital which is Old Havana. We did lots of walking around, taking in the sights, took some pictures of and with the vintage cars. We then went to arts area where there was loads of amazing artwork, we thought about bringing some back with us actually.
The growing theme, even in our short time there, is that everyone in Cuba is nice. However, like our Airbnb host told us, we did nearly get scammed on this day. We came across this couple who told us to come to this café they knew where they would write down for us the best places to go in the city. The bar was nearby and we ended up walking there with them, there they ordered drinks and we clocked on, we told them that we were fine and we’d just explore by ourselves so we didn’t have to pay for anything.
We went on to a bar we liked and took some pictures, did some more walking around the city and saw a lot more art in the few dedicated roads to artwork shops, a lot was expensive but it was really amazing stuff. We went to the restaurant next to the Opera House (I’m guessing that Moet sponsored them as there were bottles of Moet and Hennessy everywhere). Here you have to get in the queue for the table, you can’t reserve but security will let you know when a table is available. There was a really good live band playing very jazzy music, but with a Cuban beat; again the Pina Colada was good but not as good as the ones in Cancun! After dinner we walked home – via the WiFi park obviously – and took a nap, thinking we’d go out later on. We ended up sleeping all night and waking up on Sunday morning!”
Sunday – strolling the city
“On our way out we met an elderly woman in the elevator and she had Givenchy earrings on. I had to say something, so I asked her “are those Givenchy earrings?” and she says, “Oh yes!” She told me she used to work for the company when they were here in Havana so I took a picture with her and we asked her where to go for breakfast. She recommended a place around the corner saying the food ambiance was good. After breakfast, we went to WiFi park and then took a cab to the Nacionale Hotel. From here we walked through China Town (which has no Chinese people by the way) and then took a Classic car back to the Airbnb. For dinner, we went back to the Galaxy Café where I had the beef that I’d been craving since we got there, followed by the flan. It was my birthday so I had a surprise candle which turned out to be one of those trick candles!
After dinner, we went back to our Airbnb to get dolled up to go to the Fabrica de Arte Cubano club which the people we’d met on Friday recommended. But, when we got there, it was closed! It’s normally open on Sundays but when we tried a couple of other places that were also closed we found out that everything was closed because of something to do with the President of Korea… All dressed up and nowhere to go! Instead of dancing the night away we paid 20 dollars to an American car cab driver who gave us a tour of the city on the way back to our accommodation.”
Monday – heading home
“I woke up at 3 am throwing up – turns out the beef wasn’t so good for me after all, I felt awful. For breakfast, we went back to a place we’d been before where we told the waiter what happened to me and he said “Oh, Galaxy is not a good place to eat.” I wish I had asked him before. At this restaurant, I tried to recover with a guava juice and some toast and made a last trip to the WiFi park before heading back to the airport.”
In summary fo our trip, three things I would say about Cuba are:
