As soon as I heard that flight from the US to Cuba were scheduled, I began thinking of an excuse to go! Commercial flight began in Late 2016, so with our anniversary in early March, that gave me just enough time to start planning and booking. Traveling to Cuba from the US for the sake of tourism was illegal however, the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued general licenses for 12 categories of travel. We traveled with a People to People educational visa.
I mentioned to Mike the idea of going to Havana for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary and he was all for it. I booked our flights from Southwest out of Fort Lauderdale and our Casa Particular and we patiently waiting for March.
Because of limited flight to and from Havana, we had to stay the night in Fort Lauderdale. I booked the cheapest room I could find since we would only be there for 8 hours or so. FYI, the cheapest room in Fort Lauderdale is still about $170/nt. I expected it to be a decent hotel for the price. I was wrong. We got an Uber to the hotel and when we arrived at 10pm, the lobby was FULL of people trying to check in with only one lady behind the counter. Turns out everyone booked this "cheap" hotel for one night that was leaving on the cruise out of Fort Lauderdale the next morning. We finally got to our room and showered and settled in to the noisy and not so clean/updated room. We figured we would fill up on the complementary breakfast before headed to the airport, but the lobby/breakfast area was again packed and the breakfast consisted of toast, cereal and a couple left over oranges. We called our Uber and picked up a little something to eat at the airport. We were pretty nervous about picking up our visas at the airport without a hitch, but it was a pretty easy process. They asked us a few questions and we were on our way to security and our terminal. After we got through security we dedicated to get our US money changed into Euros, since the Cuban government puts an extra 10% tax on US dollars. However when we asked where the money exchange was we were told there were none in this terminal. We were flying Southwest and they have only limited international flights, so they didn't have a money exchange counter. So we decided to take out a bit more money from the ATM and just eat the extra fees. US ATM/debit cards do not work in Cuba, so you must bring cash and exchange it once you get their. We were a bit concerned that we were bringing enough money. We were only staying 4 nights, but what if we ran out of money? What would we do? We split our money between the two of us and said a quick prayer while we waited for our flight.
Our flight was quick... only 40 minutes or so until we landed in Havana. We got off the flights with our carryovers and made our way to exchange some money. It was kinda shady the way the money was exchanged so we decided to only exchange half of it at the time. With our Pesos in hand we went to find a taxi to bring us to our Casa Particular. After about a 30 minute drive and a bit of confusion and my VERY broken Spanish, and our drivers a LITTLE better English, we made it. We decided to say in the Vedado neighborhood of Cuba rather than in Old Havana after doing some research. Vedado is a large, mostly residential neighborhood a few miles west of Old Havana. Luckily, our host Ida was there to welcome us. She rents out half of her home as a casa particular to earn extra money. We had our own entrance and the place was NICE. I had done a lot of research on where to say and places to stay. We could have easily rented out a single bedroom for only $25 a night, but I knew Mike was already a bit creeped out about saying with someone, so Ida's place gave us a living room, dining room, bedroom (with A/C), bathroom and balcony. We paid $50/nt, but was well worth it. She even cooked us a full breakfast each morning for only $5/each with eggs, fruit, toast, juice, coffee, and whatever else she found at the market that morning.
After we unpacked our things and freshened up a bit we hit the town. We walked the streets of Vedado until we reached the famous Malecon and then finally the Hotel Nacional. A national monument, the Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a beacon for Cuban history as well as culture. Opened as the National Hotel of Cuba on December 30, 1930, the hotel was built and operated by Americans as a hotel and casino for American tourists. The hotel was home to many famous and prestigious guests. The lobby of the hotel is quite ornate with hand painted ceilings and huge chandeliers. After the Cuban Revolution gambling was made illegal and all casinos were shut down.
We walked through the lobby then grabbed a mojito and headed to the terrace overlooking the Malecon and watched the waves crashing as Mike had his first Cuban cigar. We sat next to a nice couple from Chicago that were on a group tour and staying at the hotel. We talked about each of our travel plans and enjoyed their company for an hour or so.
After Ida's breakfast the next morning we walked until we found a Coco Taxi. We took the taxi to Old Havana. We stopped for a coffee and watched as street performers did a routine in the plaza.
We walked several blocks in Old Havana visiting the Plaza de Armas, the Plaza de alt Cathedral, We tried to take a tour of the Museo del Ron Havana Club, but all of their English speaking tours were booked. So we settled for sitting at the bar and enjoying a mojito. We then visited La Bodeguita del Medio. From the outside this looks like a tiny ordinary bar. However you can tell from the crowds that this is no ordinary bar. Legend has it that Earnest Hemingway enjoyed their mojitos so much he made it famous. We ordered their famous mojito, but didn't hand around for long because the place was tiny and the crowds were huge.
We also had to make a stop at La Floridita. The establishment is famous supposedly creating the daiquiri and for having been one of the favorite hangouts of Ernest Hemingway in Havana. Luckily when we got there we found two bar stools open. The place was crowded and we had lucked up. When we sat down the bartender gave us a plate of fried plantains to munch on while they made our daiquiri. We took a quick photo op with the Ernest Hemingway statue and were on our way.
We tried to go on a cigar factory tour, but it was closed on Saturdays. However, they still let us buy a couple. We headed up to the rooftop of the Saratoga Hotel to enjoy the views of the capital building, relax and Mike could enjoy a cigar.
We found a small strip of shops and restaurants and did some browsing and a bit of shopping. We enjoyed people watching and dinner with chocolate coconut ice cream we bought from a street vendor then called it a night.
Se decided to find a breakfast spot rather than eat at Ida's. We quickly found a place a couple blocks away from our Casa Particular. We had a nice breakfast using my little bit of Spanish and a few pointing gesture since the waitress didn't speak English.
We quickly realized we were running out of Pesos quickly. We decided it was time to exchange the rest of our US currency. We found a bank with a line that wrapped around the building. We tried asking everyone in line if we could exchange money here and they all looked back at us with blank stares. They didn't even try to listen to my "Spanish." We waited in line for about 30 minutes and finally made it to the line inside the bank, when I realized that neither of us had our passports on us and we needed them to exchange money. We went back to our place to get our passports and on the way back we met a guy on the street that spoke pretty good English. Turns out hes a security guard for one of the business buildings in Vedado. He informed us that the line we were standing was in fact not the right area to exchange money. He escorted us to the currency exchange and within 10 minutes we had money to spend! We tried to give him a couple pesos for his help, but instead he wanted to to purchase milk for him with that money. He had already received his ration of milk for the month and wasn't allowed to purchase any more. We tried our hardest but none of the places near us had any milk left to sell. Hearing his story really broke our hearts and made us realize how lucky we are as a US citizen.
We decided to walk to Callejon de Hamel. This is an alley that bears the name of a wealthy trader Fernando Hamel who maintained the entire district. Today it has become a place where the Afro Cuban art and Cuban traditions are practiced. The surrounding houses and buildings are covered with large murals and sculptures in vivid colors. On the way to Callejon de Hamel we met a gentleman and lady while asking for directions. They were locals and spoke decent English. They joined us as we walked the streets admiring the art and they were able to explain some of the history to use. We then bought them a mojito and shared a table in the shade.
I was determined to eat at La Guardia while we were in Central Havana. We took off to find it. We did however quickly found out that you needed reservations and we didn't have any. A lady we met outside the restaurant told us about a new restaurant that opened just down the street called La Concordia. We decided to check it out. Luckily there was no wait and we had the whole rooftop to ourselves. Check out these views.... The owner even came to our table to introduce himself and talk to use about his restaurant. This was the best meal we had our whole trip!
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| La Guardia entrance |
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| La Guardia entrance |
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| Central Havana |
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| Views from La Concordia |
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| Views from La Concordia |
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| Views from La Concordia |
We headed back to Old Havana to hire a classic car for a tour. Some of these classic cars were in MUCH better shape than others. I knew we could take some cool photos, so I wanted one that was in good shape. We had several guys try to talk us into using them when they saw us scoping out the cars. I felt bad, but didn't want to hire a beat up car. Luckily (for us) we saw a nice lime green car parked with one one around. We decided to take a pic with it, then we noticed that the owner of the car was actually getting a ticket. Because of my lack of spanish, we still didn't figure out what he got a ticket for but, he was happy to make some money on us. We negotiated on the price of $40 for a couple hours around Havana. He took us all around and we got to see some sights we would have never had time to see like the Revolution square, Plaza de la Revolucion, Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, the Parque John Lennon, and of course a ride along the famous malecon. We also witnessed a lot of the crumbling mansions that Cuban people can't afford to repair. You can read more about the history of the crumbling buildings here.
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| waiting while our driver gets his ticket. |
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| Sunset on the Malecon |
We checked our left over funds and realized we were running low again. I was keeping a running tab on my iphone to keep track of where we were spending our money. Man, it really adds us quick. Ten dollar taxi ride, couple (or so) drinks here, coffee there, cigar here, a small souvenir every now and again... I felt so helpless not being able to just swipe my card. I started to panic a bit and we decided we needed to be on a budget for our last day. We had set aside $30 for our taxi ride back to the airport and realized we didn't have much more left after that and had a whole day of activities we wanted to do.
In order to save money we decided to walk everywhere on our last day. We figured we could save some money and get to see some cool sights in the process. We decided to take off walking in the opposite direction of Havana and see what we stumbled across. Well we walked, and walked and it got hotter and hotter in the blazing sun. After about an hour or so of walking we found a restaurant with a cute deck overlooking the Malecon. We stopped for lunch and a drink. Because we were on a budget, we only had a drink each. And a water... which was usually more expensive than a beer, because it was imported from Italy! We headed back on the Malecon and kept walking. We found a cute little open air bar that advertised one dollar beer. Jackpot! We splurged on a couple beers each as we watched locals come and go. Then on to the next. We found another little outside bar... with one dollar beers again. We were on a roll! Mike and I were having a blast people watching and enjoying our drinks and amazing view. This went on for quite some time until we decided to find a place for dinner. We walked a long way... I kept thinking we would hit a patch of restaurants I thought I remembered. Next thing you know, we are in Central Havana a night with no street lights. It was just like a scene from a movie...right before someone gets mugged. Luckily, we found the restaurant deep in Central Havana. We went in and it was beautiful... and we immediately realized that we probably couldn't afford this place. Mike went to the bathroom while I looked the menu over. As Mike came out raving about how nice the bathroom was (we didn't find nice toilets at the local bars... no running water and no toilet seat and when you paid for toilet paper they only gave you two squares.... who only uses two squares?!?!? Luckily I had stolen some toilet paper from the Hotel Saratoga the day before ;)) So I had to break the news to him that we couldn't afford this place and we left. We felt silly, but what can you do??? We went back to the sketchy street and felt it was best to splurge and hire a bike taxi to take us out of the hood and back to Vedado where we found a more suitable restaurant. The restaurant even had cheap drinks and a live band. We enjoyed our last night there.
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| Central Havana at night |
The next morning we had an early flight back to Fort Lauderdale and our instructions from Southwest were for us to get to the airport at least two hours ahead of time because the airport is usually chaotic. So we packed up and left our Casa Particular at 5am with no plan to get us back to the airport. We usually just walked the streets until we found some sort of taxi, but at 5am, we didn't have much luck. So we figured we would walk toward the Hotel Nacional. We figured they would have taxi's in front waiting on guests. On our way their, we were hounded by a man driving a white car. He kept telling us he would bring us to the airport (we were pulling our luggage), when he slows down and rolls his window down, we realized he has a friend that is passed out in the front seat and he kept pointing for us to get in the back seat. NO SIR! So we ignored him and kept walking. He made another couple attempts, but we just kept ignoring him. We finally made it to the Hotel Nacional and found a taxi. The driver was sleeping in the front seat, but it was a legit taxi nonetheless. We settled on a price of $30 to the airport (exactly what we had budgeted thank goodness). We get to the airport with just enough time and only a few dollars left in our pockets. Then we realize that the Southwest terminal is at a different airport just a few miles away. We were able to scrape together about $3 to hire a taxi to bring us to the correct airport. We finally arrived and used the last bit of change to order a coffee and two grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast.
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| Our taxi to the "other" airport... this thing was falling apart! |