24/04/2019 – Travel day, Varadero to Havana, Cuba

Our alarms woke us up at 08:00, ready to get up and finish our packing. Once we were mostly done, we headed down the street to our usual, for the usual. Josh had to waddle back to the casa for an urgent toilet stop so I paid up and walked down the road to the usual local coffee haunt. I got my fix and wandered back to meet Josh at the casa. It’s probably the longest Josh and I have spent apart. (Not ever, although it may be close! I mean the longest time apart since we have been in Cuba.) The vibe was noticeably different almost immediately wandering along the street as a solo female. There was a lot more open male attention, heckling, stares and Holas thrown my way than when I am with Josh. At the same time, it in no way felt threatening or scary, I think tourists are pretty safe in Cuba. We have been told that because tourism provides so much income here, the police deal with crimes involving tourists much quicker and with more serious punishments than within Cuban communities.

We finished packing and then walked down the road to find a taxi. Finally in need of that taxi that we are constantly heckled for, it actually took us at least 3 minutes to secure one! We drove up to the bus (Viazul) stop and checked in and waited in the waiting room with the other tourists. Our bus came (in Cuban/Sudell time, at least 30 mins late) and we boarded. Our usual tactic – I hop on with our hand luggage and secure 3rd row Right hand side seats, and Josh waits until last to load our luggage under the bus so we can be first out at the other side. Josh read his book, he is getting very absorbed, and I listened to a podcast (Yotam Ottolenghi on Jessie Wares podcast: Table Manners). We both fell asleep until the bus pulled in at another overpriced tourist service station and the bus driver shouted ‘10 minutes’. So all the passengers piled out to use the bathroom and grab a snack. I managed to negotiate a sandwich without ham in Spanish which I was very proud of! (The ham here is weird and I try to avoid it at all costs!) My Spanish is coming on slowly but steadily I think, as is Joshs. (We also smile and nod quite a lot, seems to work for us though?!) Then we got back on the bus and we did some duolingo before watching the start of the new Sabrina the teenage witch series on Netflix downloads. It is so dark! Josh is frustrated because it is too scary for me to watch before bedtime or I will get nightmares! Thankfully about 15 minutes in to the episode we pulled into old Havana and it was our stop to get off. As we got off the bus we literally had to swim through crowds of people trying to get us in their taxis or to stay in their casa. It is very full on! It is also really hard because they are also genuinely friendly so Josh and I find it a difficult balance to not be rude but also to be nonchalant, so as to not waste their time and efforts! We got our bags and got sorted and then Josh managed to negotiate a cheap taxi to our casa. It was a rickshaw! So we hopped on and piled our big bags on top of us. It must have been quite a weight to peddle. I gave the driver my big bottle of water because it seemed like thirsty work in the heat! We got to our casa, knocked on to no avail. I wandered up about 5 flights of stairs and eventually knocked on a random door, they told me it was the ground floor flat that we needed. We knocked a bit harder and eventually the door opened (it was perfect siesta time to be fair). The building is on the ground floor, with really high ceilings (over 15 foot high Josh reckons!) It is beautifully grand but rough around the edges, like a lot of Cuban buildings. It has brightly coloured walls and old mid century ish furniture dotted around, with DIY light fittings and sockets. We went in and our hosts made us a coffee whilst we waited for our room to be made up. Our host speaks no English but we managed to get through a conversation ok and we felt very welcome. She took our passport details and then we were shown to our room. It’s a beautiful en suite with a.c. and all the essentials. All the casas we have stayed at have had very similar facilities – en suite shower/toilet/sink with soap, toilet roll and towels provided, double bed and single bed with linen, mini fridge, and a clothes rail with about 3 or 4 old hangers on them. Casas have been an absolutely beautiful way to experience Cuba and I would totally recommend! They are generally fairly cheap, very comfortable and the bonus is you get to see the authentic life of local people, and eat their homemade food.

We got sorted and refreshed before heading to our known and trusted El Dandy café. Our spirits were high, we were elated to be back in Havana, I think Josh and I both vote Havana as our favourite place in Cuba. As we were walking along the very familiar streets of Havana (no map required, we have walked all over this part of the city!) a lady bumped into us and started chatting away. She spoke to us in Spanish and then when we looked a bit puzzled acted surprised and said ‘I thought you were Cuban’ (bear in mind we definitely in no way look more Cuban than we did 3 weeks ago, plus Josh had his ginormous camera in hand.) She asks us where we are from, tells us her sister lives in London and that she is going to visit etc. Josh and I get sucked in and then she asks if we want cigars, cheap price for us only, today only! Josh and I politely decline and laugh all the way to the café – this is definitely Havana! We go to the café and have some nice dins (Josh carbonara, Jen veggie tacos, shared sweet potato chips and alioli, plus a mojito each!) before using the wifi park outside. We were trying to suss out check in for tomorrows flight, but Wingo (very budget airline) make it difficult to understand anything it seems! We also messaged our casa for tomorrow to try and organise an airport pick up. Then we went to a few souvenir shops as Josh wanted to upgrade our Cuba cigar magnet. He found a more solid one and the shopkeeper didn’t have enough change so we got a key ring too, which is a brucie bonus (It’s a hat painted with the Cuban flag and now hangs alongside my thermometer on my bag!). We went back to the casa for some more dosh, and then walked to Malecon promenade.

Sunset looking down our street, walking towards Malecon Promenade

We flagged down a coconut taxi (cool little scooter taxis that look like coconuts) and whizzed down the prom to try and go to a warehouse cinema/bar/restaurant called Fabrica de les artes that we had read about for a mojito/dance. When we got there the driver asked what day it is and then said oh its shut on Wednesdays (He had definitely known that when he drove us there and absolutely mugged us off!) so he took us halfway back and dropped us outside a random bar. I wasn’t best pleased so Josh paid up and then we tried to figure out what to do next. Our enthusiasm was wearing thin, so we got back onto the prom and got onto a little train/taxi thing down the road and back to our casa. Oh well, maybe that saved a sore head/tired Jesh in the morning!