As we walked down Obispo towards the Capitolio, we were accosted as usual by many people trying to sell us things. We are getting better at refusing, but at the expense of not meeting their eyes, and not greeting anyone.
Darlene had tried to change some of her Moneda Nacional into smaller bills and coins, and discovered that the same bank which was happy to give her the MN money was not at all willing to exchange it for smaller denominations or even to take it back. So we added to our list the try to use up our pesos of Cuban money.
We walked to the Central park, and headed towards the Hotel Parque Central. I was stopped twice and called by name: Papa Hemingway! So that's it, I thought. A large cigar, and I have a job here in Cuba. But we went on the Hotel and checked out the Hotel rooftop, getting a wonderful look at the city from on high. then we decided to begin the Lonely Planet Architectural walking tour, which went along the Prada towards the sea, with some side trips. One of these took us into the Hotel Savilla, which turned out to be stunningly pretty place, and one we intend to go back to (apparently, it was also the favorite of the mafia back in the 1950's). Then again up/down the Prada, a wide avenue which was hosting on this Saturday a large outdoor art exhibition, and a group of others who seemed to be trying to trade accomodations (in Cuba, you cannot sell your house, only trade it).
At the sea end of the Prada, there is a monument to medical students who were killed in the 19th Century for supposedly sassing the Spanish (which they didn't do anyway). And then we crossed the five lanes of traffic to get to the Malecon, a wide walkway along the sea wall which has been there for most of the last century, and is the scene of meeting for poets, fisherfolk, lovers, politicos, and, now, tourists.
Turning off this onto Calle Italia, we went through a large (for Cuba) commercial area and into Chinatown (yes, in Havana, even though there are very few Chinese). And here we were scammed again, getting ourselves talked into stopping for a drink at a local outdoor tavern, buying them drinks as well at exorbitant prices, before heading off again into a chinese alley where we were talked into stopping for a meal. Too much food, but the price was at least reasonable.
From here, we walked through a very disturbing part of Havana. Disturbing because there are a lot of unusual and exciting buildings in this town which are in serious disrepair, and in dnager of falling down (some of them are actually falling down). Some of the less dangerous ones serve as housing for many of the Cubans, but the state of poor repair of many of the places is shameful. What a billion or two dollars could do here! the city is beautiful, but seedy at the same time. And while we might pretend that this has a certain charm, in reality it just is shameful. I don't know what the answer is, since the government just doesn't have the money. But there must be a solution.
At any rate, we needed a drink to get through this, so headed back to the Hotel Parque Central, went to the roof, and had a drink while cooling off.
And tonight we met up with some of the others for our trip and went to El Patio for a better dinner, and better it was. Tomorrow the trip begins in earnest, but not until after supper.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.
Location:Havana
No comments:
Post a Comment