We found out that night before there was a tornado in Havana as my family was asking how I was. 3 people died and 172 injured. We are all fine, just clothes and shoes were still soaked and no hot water in the shower. Electricity came back in the flat in the early morning too.
After breakfast in a cafe near by for 5CUC each, we went alongside of the coast. The waves were tremendous. Road by the ocean was closed.
It took as awhile to get downtown. Locals kept asking where are we from. At some point it got really annoying. The buildings were really old and affected by erosion. If I wouldn’t have seen it before I would say it was a tornado!
Short stop at some corner cafe cost us 15 and we had to pay for toilet 1CUC.
We passed by Capitol, which was undergoing renovation.
First venture was to go buy Wi-Fi cards. We spent at least 1hour queueing just to find out that each person can buy only 3 cards of 1hr Internet. So we bought two each of 5hrs, 1 for each. We figured out how to discinect so that it doesn’t count time after yous stop using.
After we enjoyed 30min of Internet, we grabbed gyros at some local place, which was very good! 3CUC per gyros, which was quite big. They even brought spicy sauce, which is non existent here, so if you like spicy bring your own! Their spicy was a hint of spicy only.
With full stomachs we were strolling the streets of Havana. Then we saw a bank. We had to queue again for 30min. I managed to change half of the money that were rejected in airport exchange, but still the ones with writings on them were rejected. Also had to tell rental home address and give my passport. Exchange rate was higher than airport by 0.04CUC per pound.
Straight after we visited Revolution museum. 8CUC for entrance per person. They could have invested more into it, add some cinematographic material, even if it is recreation. Still hard to grasp the reasons of revolution and why it was so good. Also they charge 1CUC for toilet in the museum.
After walking all day we wanted to take a taxi home, but taxi driver asked 15CUC, we tried to bargain to 5, but he said 10 was final price. We decided to walk by the coast line – El Malecon. People were catching WiFi in some places, taking pictures of waves in other places.
After dinner we headed out with a taxi (we bargained from 15 with official taxu to 5CUC with unofficial taxi).
Once we arrived there was some demonstration, road closed and people marching with flags, torches and shouting Cuba libre revolution. It was a bit scary. The guards didn’t let us cross the street to go to that bar. Instead we headed to Jazz Bar. 10CUC for entrance and 2 drinks included. We stayed around 1hr until show was finished. It was interesting to see Cuban Jazz!
I tried to bargain with taxi to get home, but they kept 15CUC and went down to 10. We decided to walk. Then we saw a crowd of young people marching and a lot of police. Guys were carrying empty bottles. I’ve sensed something bad. The girls were watching at the guys shouting at each other and I encouraged them to keep going, to get away. Soon after those Cubans started fighting, throwing bottles at each other. We were a bit further away and managed to stop an old car that took us home safely for 5CUC. Then I remembered I didn’t disconnect my Internet, so I had to go back walking for 15min to President hotel to disconnect. It was a bit scary at night as streets are not very lit properly, but eventually I got home safe.