Our bus driver's ride to work broke down, so we didn't have our normal ride to the lecture venue. So our tour guide drove his own Daewoo Tico (and commandeered a Chinese taxi) to pick us up at the B&B.
I took a shot of this gas station along the way. My tour guide was apologetic, but I told him riding in his car was a great way to start the day.
Our morning lecture was by a historian and editor of a leading Cuban magazine. We then went to the suburbs and watched Habana Compas, a percussive dance troupe. They were very entertaining.
Next up, we went to Fusterlandia. An eccentric artist decorated his entire neighborhood with odd, bright, pieces of art.
I bought a few cheap souvenirs for the kids, including a wooden car and a pencil.
Lunch was at Vistamar in the Miramar neighborhood. I had the swordfish and it was delicious. We did have to wait an hour for the meal though.
My liquid intake alternated between mojitos and coffees.
Our afternoon lecture was by a journalist/political commentator. She was Cuba's Katie Couric/Megyn Kelly. Though she is a supporter of the government, she was very open about the problems and the government's failings.
Dinner was at Cocinero, an abandoned cooking oil factory. The meal was fantastic, of course. The staff simply did not understand capitalism. Our meals came with two drinks. We wanted more. They have an extensive bar. "Not possible." It was possible. We were willing to pay for the drinks. The staff did not understand why we would want to spend money to buy more drinks when we already received the two free drinks. And this was a fancy restaurant where they interacted with Americans, Canadians, and Europeans all the time.
Next door to the restaurant was Fabrica de Arte Cubano, the hippest art space in the country.
I was tragically unhip so I stepped out and just people watched at a nearby interaction for 30 minutes while I waited for the bus. Two black E-Class Mercedes and some kind of black Peugeot sedan waited outside for VIPs. Young people dressed for a night out waited in line. A taxi tout started a conversation with me. A lady sold strong coffee out of a cart, serving the drinks in tiny plastic cups. None of the cars had pollution control, so the air smelled awful. What a place!
Cuba had never been a bucket list destination for me. It might be because it is so difficult to reach. Traveling to Mexico first just seemed like too much of a hassle. But when my local bar association offered a government-approved trip to Havana, I jumped at the opportunity.
Just before boarding in Miami, a Cuban official standing next to the American Airlines gate agent stamped my boarding pass.
It was a short hourlong flight to Havana. There were hardly any lights on. Approaching the city of two million at night was more like approaching Maui.
While taxiing, I lost my mind when I saw an Angolan airliner. I did not whip out my phone fast enough.
On the first morning, we got a tour of the old town. It was led by an architect who had not led a tour in over two years. Covid shut the entire country down, including the vital tourism sector. He apologized for his rusty English. I'm not a big architecture buff so I was distracted by other things, like this car.
Or this stray dog.
This mosque was interesting.
We had a mediocre lunch in a touristy part of town. Thankfully, it was our only meh meal.
In the afternoon, we were going to have our first lecture. This was supposed to be an educational trip. Unfortunately, our lecturer had just fled to Nicaragua (visas are not required for Cubans) and was walking to the Texas border. The substitute was a law professor from the University of Havana who discussed the new law allowing private entrepreneurs to hire employees and form LLCs. The gist was that the Cuban economy needs major changes quickly but the new law may not be enough.
After the lecture, I waited outside for our bus to take some of us to our B&B. This Volga was parked outside.
I shot this photo from the bus. The city is crumbling. One in three buildings has completely collapsed, with rubble strewn everywhere. The other buildings are barely hanging on. Nothing could withstand a moderate earthquake.
Before dinner, we went to a nightclub where a music professor and three musicians went over the entire 500 year history of Cuban music in an hour.
For dinner, we went to La Guarida, where the famous Cuban movie Strawberry and Chocolate was shot.
This AMERICAN van was parked outside. The only other post-revolution American cars I spotted during the entire trip included this van, a Dodge Neon, and an early 1980s Dodge Charger with yellow racing livery.
Every lunch and dinner we had included two complimentary mojitos.
A few of us ordered Old Fashioneds with rum. They were each served inside a smoke-filled glass cake dome.
Welp, Twitter is a complete shit show now. So I am back here, again.
My trip is coming up. I originally chose a home stay instead of the soulless Western hotel. For some reason, that fell through so the travel agency got me a room at the small boutique hotel seen at the 1:00 mark. It's just a few blocks away from the Malecon/corniche.
While we were at Concorso Italiano, I wanted to show my son the weird engine doors on the Mangusta. At the same time, a photographer for Sports Car Digest was shooting the car. I found the article and bought the photo from her.
With Cuba three months away, I thought it would be a good idea to read some Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea won him the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prizes! This is a fun summary of the book.
It always blows my mind seeing a non-Chinese person speaking perfect Chinese. This man was raised by Chinese parents in Malaysia. His Mandarin has a Cantonese accent and his Cantonese I assume is perfect.
