Cuba Part 2 and Why I Fell In Love

Cuba part 2 is a continuation of our first few days in Havana this summer.  I fell in love with Cuba – it is hard to describe why or how it happened.  My first and main reason – the people – the Cubans.  As I mentioned in “My First Trip To Cuba and Why I Fell In Love”  the congeniality of the people is remarkable, especially when you consider their circumstances.  Cubans are not over indulged nor do they live in the conditions Americans are accustomed to.  No, the average Cuban worker brings home around $30 a month, an educated doctor, $50-75.  They are getting by and for the most part give the appearance of being content with their situation.  Anyway, let’s move on.  All those friendly faces spoke to me and I fell in love.

Breakfast, daily consists of eggs, cooked to your liking, ham, cheese, pancakes, and a brightly colored fruit platter of mango, papaya, guava, pineapple and watermelon, and toast or pastries in some cases.  Coffee is served with hot milk, and local honey or sugar.  You know I was all over that honey!  All for 5 CUC – that’s less than $5.00 US dollars! We only ate breakfast outside of our casas one time on the entire trip.

Most days began by strolling out into the residential street Compostela, where we stayed in Havana, turning one way or the other and allowing the city to open up and guide us to her sites.  We prearranged 2 experiences, one trip outside of Havana for dinner, and our transportation before leaving home.  Otherwise we went where our eyes and ears carried us.

We stumbled upon farmers markets, artists in the street or in the front room of their home, working and welcoming us inside to see their art, ice cream shops, shops selling bags, fans and handmade Cuban wares.  We visited the Museo de la Revolucion, (Museum of the Revolution) where my girlfriend and I noted how handsome the revolutionaries were or beautiful, as there were women involved in the revolution too. After touring the museum we grabbed a couple of CoCo taxis for a quick ride to Hotel Nationale for cigars and a cold beverage with a view of the Malecon and Atlantic Ocean.

CoCoTaxi Ride  

Click on the link above to see the fun CoCo taxi ride.  It is a quick and affordable way to get around town and the breeze in your face a nice way to cool off.  We grabbed these vehicles multiple times and even found ourselves with the same driver a couple of times.

On our second day in Cuba I arranged for the four of us, my man Dan, myself and our friends to travel about 30 minutes outside of Havana to San Jose de las Lajas to enjoy a private dinner with a local chef.  His name is Alexis Alvarez Armas and believe me setting up this dinner took some doing!  It was originally set up with a driver and translator and we were to not only have dinner but play in the kitchen with the chef – who by the way speaks NO English!  But as things would go, our plans changed.  This is a post in and of itself.  I’ll write that story next as it is quite a story!

If you’ve followed some of my other travel stories or photos you might know that I like doors and windows.  In Cuba often times doors are wide open, I’m sure to allow for air circulation, but when I found a closed one I couldn’t help but photograph it.  Don’t you always wonder who and what is behind those doors?  I do!