Second day - The Cuba Diary

Day two: Friends and police

Wake up at 7am, off for breakfast. Thank lord for no jet lag and an excited mood for the kick off of the first whole day in 'Guantanamera' -land. Yeah, that song could be heard three times a day eaaasily.

Met up with our tour guide to get some more info about Cuba, Havana and ask if Apollo -matkat (the agency we were traveling with) had any hotels in Varadero we could stay at for the last 4 nights of our trip. A lot of useful information was heard and our guide promised to find out about the hotel change.

So off we went - to explore what Havana had to offer!

Picture by Sanni

Didn't take long until we got company. First we felt annoyed but it all changed when suddenly we discovered magical areas of Havana that we alone would never have imagined to find - neither been capable of finding. This was when we realized that yes, you really do need to let the helpful, friendly Cubans come to you. Take them with open arms, don't be annoyed or afraid - just wise. If you do so and if you listen, the world of Guantanamera won't be the only thing you experience. The Cubans will open Cuba to you in a whole new way - the more real, authentic way.

We visited a salsa street, which was hidden and ten times easier to walk past than to spot. Once we got to the street a colorful path full of special decorations filled our eyes. All those bathtubs were part of the deco for example. On Sundays the street has a small carnival!

Local market, local gym, local pub.

And then what happens? The police stop by us and our basketball teacher friend gets put in and taken away. So we learn - locals are not allowed to help unless they have a tour guide certificate. Otherwise the police think they are trying to make illegal money by showing tourists around.

Hope you are OK our friend!

 

Picture by Sanni

We continued walking around. Found ourselves from a basketball court, watching a mattress get stuffed, talking and giving soap+pens to the cutest kids, spending time in a local poor area from where walking to the main center with the Capitolio for example.

We got a new friend. This time a very tanned Cuban-looking Canadian man who had been traveling in Cuba for four months already. He gave us some information about Havana, some tips. Also said we could easily go change our money from tourist pesos to the local one - apparently tour guides just don't advertise it as that way the country would get far less money from tourism. I don't know what's true and what's not. We didn't try.

Anyway, guess what happened again? The police came of course. They took our Canadian friend for a long long talk, thinking he was Cuban. We were told to leave, so that's where the story ends. Hope that this Canadian older man is all well, too. You do know of the famous American prison in Cuba, right?

Also bumped into some biiig tattooed Cali -gangstahhhs who had somehow made their way into Cuba. Now I'm not quite sure...how is it with US passports? I thought Americans can't visit Cuba. The gangstas themselves said they 'had their ways'. Weird. They asked us to join for a drink, we didn't really feel like it.

Sitting down by Paseo De Marti turned out to be the beginning of a new friendship.

School boys Lazaro and Jonathan (Fino) invited us to join them to Casa Blanca. Fino reminds me of Snoop Dogg. See any resemblance?

We told the guys about the previous happenings with the police but they said that the situation is different when it comes to students. The police would consider us as friends. We joined the guys to see a great view of Havana from Casa Blanca. For the first time a 'friend' of ours wasn't wanting money or drinks (like the basketball teacher that the police took, and Kike from the previous post) but actually being the one paying for us to join. No matter how we wanted to pay, the guys said the ferry ride was on them. Thanks for that!

Music students, Lazaro and Fino, played guitar for us and sang as we sat on the grass enjoying the sunny weather. They showed us some military bases, a fortress and their favorite view of Casa Blanca. We also went to view the sunset which was very poor due to the clouds that had appeared to block the view.

Lazaro asked if we would like to join for dinner at his house. He just had to call his mother first to make sure it was OK with her, the cook.

In Cuba mobiles are rare. So we headed back to the city-side of Havana to find a phone. People don't really worry about time in Cuba either. So we walked around without any hurry. After some time found a hotel that let Lazaro call home.

We were welcome for dinner.

First traditional Cuban meal. At a Cuban home! Lovely.

A traditional Cuban meal consists of: rice, beans, salad (cucumber, tomato and carrot), cooking banana and meat.

Lazaro's mother was the cutest thing. We were able to have conversations with her, no matter our limited Spanish. She showed us a new dress she was making, and tried it on. We also found out that Lazaro's birthday is just a day before mine.

The day had been so rich of activities that we were excited to see what the future trip would bring. At least the start was good, better, the best. We arranged to meet up and go to the beach with the guys the next day.

Hotel, sleep - we were knackered.

<3

Linda

xxx