07/04/2019 – Relaxing day interrupted, Havana, Cuba

We woke up after the best nights sleep so far, with the cooler settings on the a.c. helping, but also because today is quieter outside, it is Sunday, and this is a boring day for Cubans, according to our host Susannah. We start the day with grannys version of breakfast, it seems 0900 is early for the house today and everyone else is in bed. There is a noticeable absence of whistling and music in the street yet there is still the chant of the vendors outside passing with their vegetable carts. We plan on having a more chilled day today after walking over 24000 steps in the 30*C + heat yesterday. We head up onto the rooftop garden outside our room and use the washbasin to do some hand laundry. We use the corrugated wash stone and our trusty Dr Bronners soap – such a good recommendation from Emily! It has so many uses, apparently you can even use it as toothpaste (haven’t quite got there yet!). We peg our clothes on the line with confidence they will be dry soon, its another scorcher, must be over 30*C again!

First hand wash.

Then we slowly get ourselves together, Josh shaves all his body hair off and looks like a naked mole rat, but will hopefully be a bit cooler for it! We walk back to the café we ate in last night, as we spotted they sell Cappuccinos instead of the super strong Cuban coffee, which are one shot wonders but are gone too quickly. On the way we pass a small street vendor selling…puppies! Grouped together in tiny cages under an umbrella. After a little pit stop at the cafe we wander on past wine bars with salsa dancers and Cuban music, to Plaza de San Francisco de Asis. Susannah had told us to find the bronze sculpture and rub the beard and finger for good luck, so we did! Fingers crossed! Then we strolled along the sea front passing loads of the old-fashioned Cuban cars, and horse and carts. We stumbled across tourist information for the first time on this trip so popped our heads in to ask about public transport to our next destination in Cuba – Vinales. They told us we have to go to the bus station today to buy our tickets for Wednesday…the bus station that is on the other side of town, right next to the cemetery we walked to yesterday! We ask if we can buy them online and they start laughing, this is Cuba and the Internet is still very limited. So we trek back to our casa to get supplies (money and water). On the walk back I get distracted by the buildings and ruins that are so picturesque and I step on something. I know it doesn’t feel ok, so my initial reaction is to stop walking, close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears. I can hear Josh laughing at my reaction. Apparently I had trodden on the carcass of a cat, but I couldn’t look at it as it made me feel too weird.

The carcass that Jen came into contact with.

We get back and Susannah tells us how to catch the local bus to the bus terminal ticket office we are looking for. We find the P12 bus (1CUC) and hop on, hoping we are headed in the right direction. All the local buses are packed like sardines and we have many an armpit in our faces. We get stared at like we are complete aliens! We find the bus terminal and the ticket office, surprisingly without much difficulty (thanks to the map we bought!). In the bus station there appears to be a separate national bus service for tourists and Cubans. We purchase our tickets and are told to arrive half an hour before the bus leaves. (We plan to arrive at least an hour before as who knows where the buses even depart from?). Then we decide to head and see the huge Jose Marti monument as it is nearby. We welcome the huge raindrops that fall from the sky as light relief from the humid heat, although it only lasts about 10 seconds! Then we turn around and get lost in suburbia, not good for Joshs anxiety levels, but I am determined to see the paediatric hospital and see what their facilities are like compared to home.

Josh: ‘ What are you even going to do when we find it, go in and introduce yourself, hi I’m Jen from England, and I am a nurse?’

… We didn’t find it!

Then we think we have found the right way again but accidentally walk past the same monument on the opposite side to where we thought it should be. So we turn back through suburbia, back on track. There are tables of men playing dominoes down the pavements, perhaps a Sunday afternoon activity. It reflects the Cuban sense of community I think. We pop our heads into a huge and decadent church –Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, which looks beautifully maintained, the locals coming and going. I need to read more about the religion here and the story behind the people dressed in all white (I think its to do with the first year they enter a specific religion) but with no guide book and such limited Wi-Fi It has had to go on the to do list. There is so much I want to know about but it is so hard to find anything out without books or Internet access!

Next we head to one of the fancy hotel lobbys and buy a Wi-Fi pass each. We sit in a lobby full of tourists having their much needed screen time, serenaded by a Cuban band and with a view of rows of old Cuban cars waiting for the hotel customers to need a taxi to their next required destination. I login to sort some banking out but HSBC wont let me log in from Cuba, so I spend the next half hour whatsapping my dad who is trying to log in for me back home. Obviously I can’t remember any of my passwords so eventually my account gets blocked and then my internet runs out! Thanks be to monzo and to Josh for being able to log onto his accounts. (Also absolute win as dad transfers me a £5 to see if monzo is working… it is!!). Then we half heartedly faff about looking up some logistical stuff – i.e. where are we actually staying next and how will we get there from the bus stop etc., but the Wi-Fi is so slow we give up, more interested in what is for dinner. We walk back to the casa and chill in the living room with little William and some other elderly men (we think they may be family members, but who knows?) One gives us a mango each from his tree. They are apple sized and yellow skinned. Apparently they are the first type of mango that existed. They taste sweet but are really fibrous – so bits get between your teeth. We thank him and then talk at each other in our native tongues for a minute, smiling and nodding, but I think mutually having no idea what the other is saying! We watch some Cuban TV. – It feels very 80s and there are no adverts at all. Susannah makes us rice and gives us grannys black bean stew from the previous day, which is delicious, and we see it away very quickly. Then we wash up and head upstairs to chill and go to sleep. It is raining again this evening and it seems a bit quieter outside still.

Granny's black bean stew