Havana – A journey into the past
After we get back into the year 2017, we can now update our homepage…it was just impossible to do it in Cuba, internet connection is not easy to get and are very slow and not stable…but now some impressions from Cuba…
Mery already flew to Havana from Quito when I was still at the Galapagos Islands. My journey from the Galapagos Islands to Havana was a bit more complicated. First I had to fly from the Galapagos to Guayaquil at the mainland of Ecuador. From there I flew to San Salvador and had to change the flight again to get to Havana. It was a long journey with some delays but at the end it was not too bad, I get to Havana without any big trouble.
When I arrived in Havana, Mery picked me up at the airport with an old-timer taxi, she did already manage some organisational things in Havana, amongst other the friendly and reliable taxi driver Pablo, we drove with him a couple of times. At the airport we met two Japanese guys and we asked them if they would like to share with us the taxi to go to the city to split the cost. Mery is absolutely enthusiastic about Havana, she had an intensive Salsa dancing course for one week and met already some nice people. In Havana we stayed in a small apartment which we had for our own. Here in Cuba people rent their apartment or rooms to the tourists, these places are called “Casa Particular”. Our lessor lady Regina is a very nice person, we went a couple of times to her apartment and had dinner, she cooked for us very delicious meals à la grandmothers’ style, it was really lovely.
On the same evening at my arrival we went with a couple from Martinique for a dinner in a restaurant called Biky. Mery already made an acquaintance with them through her Salsa dancing, very nice and lovely people. The restaurant Biky is just across our apartment, it was very easy for us to get there. We went there very often for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we can really recommend this restaurant, it´s not expensive and the quality of food are good. We had here for the first time in our life lobster, it´s affordable for us, the lobster are fresh and taste good, you will see the pictures under Merys food corner.
On the next following day we made a daytrip with the two Japanese people we met at the airport. We hired Pablo with his old-timer taxi to take us around Havana. He showed us the different hot spots of Havana, amongst other the revolution place, an artist house, a nice beach outside of the city, to La Cabana, rum museum, market hall, etc. It was a wonderful and individual day trip for us, we really enjoyed the 8 hrs roundtrip with Pablo and his old-timer.
I also visited the museum of revolution, a very interesting place to learn more about the revolution history of Cuba. We also spent half a day at the beach to enjoy the lovely weather and to relax. Furthermore we walked a lot through the old town, you can see plenty of nice old-timer cars, old historical buildings and other old machines or other stuff. I really enjoyed to take some pictures of the old cars, they really are feast for one´s eyes. Here in Cuba it feels a bit like you are back in the 50s and 60s. The things here are not really working as we might get used in our countries. In most of the shops here you find empty shelves, sometimes you can´t even get a bottle of water in the local “supermarket”. Imported products are hardly to get if you don´t have any connections to some local people. I think it´s time for this country and the people that the embargo ends. We made good experience here in Cuba with the people, most of them are friendly and nice.
We really enjoyed our stay in Havana, we hope to come back again someday in the future.
