| Tuesday, April 5, 2005, 6:00 pm, Hotel Havana | | | | he´s been very gracious in taking me |
| Libre | | | | around and explaining things to me. |
| | | | |
| Thanks to a severe case of the Revenge of | | | | After I dropped off my suitcase and refreshed |
| Montezuma (or Ricky Ricardo?..,) I am sitting | | | | myself a little, we hopped into a private |
| here in the Hotel Havana Libre and I finally | | | | individual's car (a practice extremely common |
| get around to create updates from my first | | | | in Cuba), he paid a few local pesos and we |
| 4.5 days here in Cuba. The Internet | | | | were whisked downtown in a very old beat-up |
| connection is definitely the slowest I have | | | | Lada which ended up picking up various other |
| ever seen in my entire life, (15 minutes to | | | | locals along the way. |
| access my messages at Yahoo..), but I am | | | | |
| giving it a shot anyways. | | | | Habana Vieja is a fascinating colonial city |
| | | | and the age and beauty of the building is |
| Friday morning I arrived at the airport in | | | | astounding. Of course I saw the Capitolio |
| Toronto at 5:30 am since my husband gave me a | | | | (very similar to the Capital in Washington), |
| ride before work. The plane was scheduled to | | | | several of the big museums, the Hotel |
| leave at 10:30 and several transfers with | | | | Inglaterra and some of the bars that |
| public transport would have taken me 2.5 | | | | Hemingway frequented. |
| hours anyway, so I decided to head there | | | | |
| early and read a book. | | | | I also saw the big spider exhibit of 2 |
| | | | metallic spiders that are located right in |
| Air Canada was delayed after all (due to a | | | | the heart of downtown, an exhibit by a French |
| problem with the water supply on the plane) | | | | sculptress that will stay in Havana until |
| and we had to wait for a substitute plane | | | | April 28 and then apparently move on to New |
| from Winnipeg and finally got off the ground | | | | York. |
| at about noon. 3.5 hours later we arrived at | | | | |
| the airport Jose Marti in Havana - a | | | | We walked around and chatted about life in |
| reasonably modern airport. However, it took | | | | Cuba and I started to learn a few things, |
| me and the other travellers almost 2 hours to | | | | about some of the practical consequences of |
| collect our luggage and finally hop into a | | | | the revolution (e.g. blacks have it much |
| taxi. | | | | better today than before, and there is |
| | | | relatively little racism according to Pedro), |
| On the way in from the airport I noticed that | | | | and the double economy, where locals receive |
| there was a mixture of industrial | | | | their salary in Pesos Cubanos, (around US$8 |
| developments and agricultural areas, right up | | | | to $30 a month), which is not even close to |
| until the centre of the city, which is | | | | enough for living, so everybody participates |
| strange compared to Toronto, where there is | | | | in the underground economy in some way. |
| no significant agriculture until way outside | | | | |
| the city. The older gentleman driving the | | | | We had a reasonably expensive meal in a |
| taxi was very friendly and explained a few | | | | downtown "Paladar", a private restaurant in a |
| basic things to me, e.g. that most of the | | | | private home with a maximum of 12 seats, one |
| area is industrial and agricultural. He also | | | | of the few official private enterprises |
| showed the National Sports Centre to me. Of | | | | allowed. When asked about the future of Cuba |
| course you see old cars from the 50s and | | | | after Fidel, both my new-found friend and the |
| earlier as well as beat-up Russian Ladas | | | | old man running the Paladar indicated that |
| everywhere. Old sidecar motorcycles are also | | | | they thought not much would change after a |
| a popular way to get around. | | | | future passing of Fidel. (Actually the |
| | | | mention of Fidel´s passing often makes |
| I finally arrived at my hotel at about 6 pm | | | | people pull up their hands in front of their |
| where my brand-new friend Pedro (a connection | | | | mouths and start to speak very quietly...). |
| through a friend in Canada) was waiting for | | | | |
| me. I had told my friend that I wanted to | | | | After the meal, Pedro again flagged down a |
| really spend some time with locals to learn | | | | private vehicle, we hopped in and I got |
| about Cuba, its customs, its way of life etc. | | | | dropped off at the hotel, dropping into bed |
| | | | like a tired sack of potatoes. But I |
| Pedro is a brown-skinned black man in his | | | | definitely had a great introduction to life |
| late thirties with a common-law wife and a | | | | in Cuba on my first evening.... |
| young daughter. An extremely nice person and | | | | |