Cuba Day 4: Exploring La Habana by Foot (Part 1)

Having still not properly seen La Habana yet, we chose to spend the day walking around the city.  However, before we set out, we had one last stroll around the grand Nacional.  Unfortunately, Kristin and I had to leave it for our new casa (Sergio and Miriam’s place was booked up for the next couple of days). 


A glorious view of El Malecon from the window of our hotel room.


The grounds of the Nacional.

The Nacional's patio that had a view of El Malecon.


One last look at a hotel that will forever hold a special part in my heart.

We started our walk at the place I was most excited to see, because of its political significance: the U.S. Diplomatic Mission, which is located in Vedado across from the Nacional.  In 2006, Castro erected huge flag poles with 138 black flags, each centered with a white star, that were aimed to block an electronic sign beaming messages from the facade.  It is basically Castro’s way of giving the middle finger to the U.S. while still “respecting” the idea of freedom of speech.  Cubans say the flags symbolize the people who have died as the result of violent acts against Cuba by Americans since its 1959 Revolution.

A view of the Mission and the notorious flags.

Another view of the Mission and the notorious flags.

A close-up of Castro's flags.

Propaganda near the Mission.  Bush + ? (no one knows who it is) = Hitler.  Only in Cuba!

More propaganda on El Malecon.

Because it was incredibly hot with 100% humidity, we decided to indulge by taking a taxi into downtown La Habana.  I love these photos that I captured from out of the window along the way... 




Once downtown, we all simply got lost in the colorful and rhythmic city for the rest of the day.  Here are the best photos from our walk (warning, there are a lot!).


Check out that pink car, aka my dream car! 

My most favorite photo from the trip.  This has been my screen saver for 2 years.
 
Un hombre enjoying his cohiba in the park.

Some friendly construction workers taking their break with me.

Parque Central

A statue of the beloved Jose Marti in Parque Central.


Capitolio Nacional

More fabulous cars in front of Capitolio Nacional.

Catedral de la Habana

We did get scammed though, which was totally my fault.  I am obsessed with the musical group Buena Vista Social Club and when 2 Cuban ladies approached us and said that they happened to be playing in a small courtyard in Chinatown I naively convinced M. and Kristin that we simply HAD to go! 

La Habana's Chinatown gate.

While we waited for them to perform, the Cubans asked us to buy them drinks and lunch.  After about an hour of waiting we sadly realized that this was all a ploy and got up to leave.  However, as we were leaving the ladies announced that they had cigars for sale in their casa.  M. and I decided to check them out.  Sure enough they had every cigar your heart could desire.  I spent some time trying to think how I was logistically going to smuggle these beauties back into the States without getting caught.  Finally, I decided I would take the wrappers off and hide them in my wallet, so that they just looked like regular cigars.  If I got caught with them I would tell security that they were cheap cigars from Mexico and if they wanted them they could have them.  M. thought I was a bit crazy to take this chance, but I welcomed the challenge.  I ended up leaving the casa with my fingers crossed and 30 cohibas for the bargain price of 70USD$.  My Dad would be very proud!

After our long walk was finished, we departed ways with M. to check into our new casa.  This one was also located in Habana Vieja.  It was a charming place, but not as intimate as the first, because it had a lot of guests staying there and the owners were not very talkative.


The view from our casa's roof.

To be continued...
Posted by Andi Perullo at July 30, 2009
Categories: Cuba
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

  • August 1, 2009 Kyle wrote:
    those are some insanely gorgeous photos! looks like blogging is not your only talent.
    Reply to this
  • December 14, 2009 T-roy wrote:
    you paid $70 for a box of cigars... man those ladies really did scam you guys. So did you get the cigars back in the US?

    I heard if cigars don't have a label on them that US Immigration will assume their Cubans and take them.

    Reply to this
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.