we enjoyed a really nice breakfast served to us on the rooftop, although it was already very hot outside at 8 am! the outdoor breakfast was definitely the only nice thing about this
casa other than the location which is right in the heart of habana viejo.
we had a guide booked for the day so we met yaniet in the lobby and she
was just lovely. we decided we would try to book her for the entire week to
show us around. this turned out to be money well spent since she spoke great english and could
help us communicate with taxi drivers and explain to our current casa owners
why we were leaving the windowless room. the story had a twist here as
the owners asked us at breakfast "how was our stay so far" and we just shook our
heads to say the lack of windows was not ideal. when we came back later to
get our bags to move to our 2nd home, they had a ‘surprise for us’ and were
moving us to another room that had a window and terrace! a day late and a CUC short, we are moving on. (more
about the CUC money later) note that we did see the other room which was
definitely more pleasant, but not nearly as nice as the boutique hotel, so we
dragged our bags down the cobblestone streets for what would equal about 10
city blocks to check in. mucho sweating ensued during this move and it is
definitely a theme of the week. it is hot. it is humid. it’s
constant sweating so I don’t even know when I’m having a hot flash because it
is one long and continuous hot flash. I brought along one muthership
scarf which is made out of t-shirt material and this turned out to be the best
idea and probably the most crucial item I had with me for the entire week.
it was my sweat rag, with me all day and got washed out each evening and
was dry and ready for the next day. (I wished I had brought a few, but hellooooo I did not think I would need a scarf in the caribbean…)
circling back to the morning with yaniet, we started with a classic
car tour which we loved. the cars here are one of my favorite things - so
colorful and old school cool! it gives the city it’s unique vibe and is
exactly how cuba is portrayed in movies. driving around here and there
we saw the sights of central havana which had more of a typical city vibe,
having a few high rise hotels and office buildings - then we went to a
beautiful forest that has giant trees that reminded me of the tree of life from
the avatar movie. after lunch we walked the streets, amazed at the way
people live in slum-like homes right amidst the shops. we stopped in a few
small art galleries which were so unique. in one, there were multiple
artists at work and we could literally walk among them watching them, but this
was not “a tour”, it was just real work going on. one artist was a young
guy who made some pop art pieces from nails in wood boards, in a style that
reminded me a the old lite brites toy, but without the lights :) he had
also cut a rhinoceros shape in the wall as a work of art. so cool.
in another gallery we met the wife of the painter whose work is represented
there (she runs the gallery) and tom managed to chat it up enough to get an
invite to his home studio to see where he works which we set up for the
following afternoon. we took a ride to see the famous hotel nacionale
which has a hall of fame celebrating famous people who have been there
(recently madonna and beyonce). after walking our feet off we took a break in our nicer
room and we enjoyed another night out exploring more on our own. dinner was in a local palador which yaniet suggested, called reilly 304 –
not to be confused with reilly’s which is down the road apiece, and not
surprisingly, the road’s name was reilly street. #onlyincuba
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| rooftop breakfast - 85 degrees and climbing |
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| central havana - cool car |
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| selfie time with our guide, yaniet |
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| cannon at the hotel nacionale |
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| hall of fame - hotel nacionale |
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| hotel nacionale decor |
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| modern art in cuba |
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