09-22 Havana 2002

On the bus ride from the Airport to the famous Hotel Nacional, we noticed there were no street lights and the city of Havana was in darkness. It was a one week tour of a wonderful old Spanish city.
We started to walk through old Havana, which is a world Heritage Site. It was an area that seemed to be in decay and was being massively restored by the United Nations. The photo of Mary is in front of the Catedral de Cristobal. The city is full of amazing buildings, all pre-revolution.
We checked into the Canadian Embassy and met a young woman in tears who had been injured in an accident. She been treated well, but was unable to use her debit card to get home to Canada. She had bought a one-way ticket not knowing whether to stay for a week or two weeks. I told her I would advance her enough money to buy a ticket home on the same flight as ours. She paid me back.
We met the man who was renting out her room for $20 US a night. His salary from the government was $260 US a month. More lucrative being a landlord. Cash of course.
Everyone has heard of how the only automobiles are old pre-revolutionary American cars which are upgraded and restored. Outside our hotel, which was considered five stars, were about fifty Mercedes Benz taxis.
Havana was an old drinking haunt of Hemingway, and the photo is in front of one of his favourite drinking holes. What fun talking to the owners of these bars. Did not meet one person that was not a joy to talk to. Everyone is highly educated and speaks excellent English, but they are all part of an economic system that does not work.
Despite the fact, the quality of the Havana restaurants was very good, the menus everywhere were the same – a great lesson in what happens when societies are centrally controlled. Could not believe they had to import so much pork from Canada. The other islands in the Caribbean operate pig farms using waste food from the cruise ships.
You never get sick of wandering around old Havana. There is so much festivity. Here's a fun photo showing clowns on stilts.
Had a long conversation with an engineering technologist who made double his income selling cigars to the tourists than working at his government job.