Havana Vieja exploration

March 16 - 

We woke up after a LLLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGG sleep, which obviously was much needed.

We headed out in search of some coffee and food.  Ended up in a outdoor , sunny cafe that used to be a drugstore/pharmacy.  The coffee was awful, tasted like the water smells, highly chlorinated.  We ordered sandwiches that were on very crusty bread, but bread that shouldn't be crusty. 

Wandering

toward non-touristic Centro Havana and somehow got turned around so that we ended up at Plaza Vieja, which was gorgeous.  Wide open and lined with colonial buildings that are well cared for.   

It is difficult to tell, but the statute in the photo below is of a nude woman riding a giant chicken….doesn’t seem out of place here at all!  

All over Havana we have heard the sounds of construction.  This was

similar, but not equal to, China.  In China, the crane is the national bird, here in Havana everything is done by hand.  There is very little mechanization of labor.  There are wheelbarrows, small front loaders, ( they look like they are converted boxy cars on which a big loader has been welded).  But for the most part, all construction is by hand, demolition, and reconstruction.  Every block, almost every corner has some project going on.  In 10 years, no one will recognize the city.  Right now, Phil Li probably would not recognize Havana and he was here in 2003.

We tried to snag wifi in several places and were generally unsuccessful.  What access is available, is very SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWW and I get bored before the message or email has been sent.  You know there is a hotspot because there are clusters of people all staring at their phones all around a certain business or hotel.  Pretty amusing.

We wandered around Centro behind and to the east of the Capitolio hoping to run into El Barrio Chino, but we headed off too far north and missed it.  We had to backtrack and walked through it and there was no there there.  I saw a single Chinese shop, and that was it.  We kept walking south and ended up in a definitely non-touristic area.  We were trying to find out where we were, but we couldn't find the name of  the busy street we crossed.  We walked along this mystery street and found a local market that sells produce and various things to locals.  Bill had a very interesting experience, I waited outside.  He came back with the standard plastic bottle of water.  What he didn't notice was that the cap looked like it had been opened before and there was a paper label slapped over the bottle that said "Vinagre".  Bill had thought that it was water.  I should have let him take a big swig.  I smelled it, it was definitely white vinegar!

We were able to find our way back to territory we were familiar with and decided to head to the Hotel Inglaterra, one of the old "Grande Dames" hotels here in Havana,  which has  a bar on the top floor.  We ordered a couple of beers, which Bill proceeded to spill some of in various ways.  First the wind blew his can over onto my back pack, then he put his can over a hole (which was smaller than the base of the can) and it went over, and again when he was pouring one for himself.  He was quite paranoid after that.  

The space was very nice, tables and lounging chairs as well as a couple of chaise lounges for hotel guests (there was a hot tub there too for the guests). We enjoyed the view from the roof , overlooking scenic Parque Central. And .... there was an American flag mixed in with others flying.

The scaffolded building in the background is the Capitolio, the seat of government in Cuba.  The building in the foreground with all of the flourishes is the rooftop of the National Theatre, home of the famous Cuban Ballet which Alicia Alonso made famous.

Around 6 pm we decided that we should have something to eat and headed to a restaurant that was recommended in the Rough Guide.  Needless to say, when we reached it there was a line out the door.  We zigged and zagged our way back to Vieja and found a fish paladar, Paladar de Pescadores, and we went in.  The food was good and simple, but well prepared.

We capped off the night at Cafe O'Reilly, where I had a Rum Collins (here called Ron Collins, not surprising, all restaurants feature rum drinks) and had a night cap.  A good day of wandering around, my feet are telling me to type that!