This morning we had a substantial leisurely breakfast, then sat and blogged some. Needed to catch up on some writing because there are so many impressions that it’s easy to forget when you don’t stay on top of things. For today the agenda calls for sightseeing Havana’s waterfront and suburbs. We plan to do this by taking the double decker bus Habana bus Tours, from Parque Central along the Malécon Waterfront to the Miramar suburbs and beyond.
I walked around the house and gave Yasset a few pointers about where you could obtain certain things like thin box springs, placing a mirror over the bathroom sink and a few decorative ideas. He said his dad “Pedro” wants to replace the tile in the living room, but both Han and I hopefully talked him out of it. The tile makes it real Cuba and it looks cool.
Pedro (our host) picked us up at 1:30 to drop us off at Central Park square to catch the bus tour, but beforehand brought us a delicious piña colada to the balcony, we all toasted to Wednesday afternoon and took some photos. He makes an outstanding piña colada. Later I learned that his nighttime job is bartending at a Havana nightclub. He had taken a vacation from that for his son Yasset’s visit, but normally he works 6 days a week from 7pm to 4am at his regular job – for the last 26 years!!!
Havana Bus Tour
I would highly suggest the Jump On, Jump Off bus tour. You are able to see so much more of Havana and it was definitely worth the 10.00 CUC each. Han and I both took a bazillion pics again. I am not sure if we will ever get through all of them. There are two bus tours, the one we took and a 5 CUC one that takes you to the beaches. Our tour took us past many landmarks, statues, squares and buildings, important to Cuba’s past and present. From the top of an open tourbus you get a unique perspective. It sometimes feels a little like voyeurism.
When we got off the bus, I was in need of a potty break so we went to hotel “The Telegrafo”, used their facilities then sat on the terrace to have a drink and a small bite of food. Just enough to help us make the trip home by foot. It is a fairly long walk, even now that we know our way around the neighborhoods in Old Havana, China Town and Central Havana. It’s actually quite easy getting around.
Along the way through the parks and neighborhoods, I pulled out the remainder of pencils and pens I had brought with us, and started passing them out to school kids who were on the way home from school. Just a simple pencil earned me a beautiful smile and “gracias” from those cute kids and their parents. It made the walk home so much more enjoyable and fun.
We kicked back for a bit on the balcony, had a rum drink, then walked over to Loto in China Town and ate another rave worthy meal. Once again we brought some home. (This time we did not give it away since no one asked). As we sat in the restaurant, a nice man from Baltimore introduced himself and said he traveled to Cuba on his own, because his wife is the type that prefers to stay in the finer places and he likes AirB&B’s like normal people. LOL
Turned in early tonight, since we have an early wake up tomorrow for a scouting tour 100 miles to the west, to Pinar del Rio and Valle Viñales, that Yasset and Pedro invited us to join. They want to offer a variety of tours for their guests and visitors to Cuba.
Enjoy the slide show video for today, Sightseeing Havana’s Waterfront and Suburbs. It gives a good impression of the many faces of Cuba.
1 comments
Love the polka-dotted 1954 Chevy. I couldn’t do anything but look at the old cars. As I said before, the place looks so clean. Thanks