Collecting our luggage involved a long anxious wait as cases went by without any sign of ours. I had visions of being in Cuba with only the clothes I stood up in and NO TOILET ROLL, copious amounts of which was packed in the hold luggage. After all these travels I really should always pack a change of clothes and underwear in my carry on luggage and, for places like Cuba, toilet roll. With sighs of relief we finally sighted our luggage and made our way to the main Arrivals Hall where an Intrepid representative was waiting for us. I notified her of Charlotte and Sarah's change of arrival time to ensure that they would get a transfer on arrival. Our first aim was to change some Euros into CUCs (Cuban Convertible Pesos) but the rep said that the queue at the currency exchange was so long it would take at least 2 hours. She suggested that the taxi driver would stop at an exchange en route. This he did and after a bit of a wait we had just over 200 CUCs each. Euro and CUC are round about the same value. The second legal currency in Cuba is the Cuban Peso (CUP) . Most tourists only ever deal with CUCs. You get about 24 CUPs for 1 CUC. CUCs have pictures of Cuban buildings on them and CUPs have pictures of Cuban heroes. It's useful to know this for when you are getting change from a purchase.
Our first B&B was Casa Alexander in Old Havana, 3 blocks from Obispo, the main shopping street in Havana.. We were met at the door by a handsome young man who proceeded to heft our large suitcase onto his shoulder and to climb the 3 flights of stairs in a narrow staircase up to a kitchen living area. Jim followed, struggling with the small case and his rucksack and I puffed and panted my way upwards encumbered only by my large handbag, my only carry-on luggage. From there we had another flight of stairs up to our bedroom. To get to the breakfast area necessitated a further 3 flights of stairs. I can understand now why the Intrepid notes emphasised the "need to be in good physical health" and advised undertaking "regular aerobic exercise in the weeks before you travel" and I regretted all the missed walks with Vivienne since Christmas! Our bedroom did not have a window but a kind of door that opened onto an area of emptiness that ran from the ground floor right up to the top. The bathroom had a high window that opened also onto this emptiness.
The orange door onto the "emptiness".
View out onto the "emptiness". That ledge was narrow but shortly became very important to me!
Quite an arresting choice of toilet seat! To my surprise it was possible to flush down toilet paper, something I had not expected, prompting the expectation that Cuba had developed somewhat since my guide books had been written. Sadly this was the only location where the sewage system could accommodate toilet paper. In all others we had to be happy with a bin for it. And that required a concentrated effort to change the habits of a lifetime!
Our hosts, Alexander and brother, explained that Intrepid had left a note for us with our guide's phone number and information about the location of our welcome meeting which was to be the following evening, Saturday, at 6pm. I was rather confused as I had expected the meeting to be that evening, Friday and if I had known I would have planned something for our first full day in Havana. A call to Alexis, our guide, confirmed what they said but also allowed me to find out that Charlotte and Sarah were staying quite a distance away from us and meeting up this evening was not practical.
The view from the balcony outside our living room.
The kitchen area which we did not use . Obviously this section of the B&B can be let out on a self-catering basis.
Having negotiated so many sets of stairs I was in dire need of a change of clothing so immediately set to getting the cases opened in search of clothes more suited to the heat of Cuba. While I was doing this, Jim decided to seek out Alexander in order to get our passports back. In Cuba passports are documented in all B&Bs as evidence of the number of guests staying. This, in turn, is evidence of the supplies needed by the B&B. I closed the bedroom door as I changed. Jim returned and tried to get in but the door was locked. I tried everything to get the door open but without success. Jim had no option but get Alexander to the rescue. The rescue was effected by him entering the bedroom next door and exiting the corresponding orange door onto the tiled ledge around the "emptiness" and edging round to enter our bedroom via our orange door! I had inadvertently locked the door. Needless to say locks in Cuba were approached with caution for the rest of our time there.
After further conversations with Alexander (very broken Spanish on my part and not bad English on his part) we set off for Obispo for a look around and in search of somewhere to eat.
This is a sculpture of Sancho Panza on Obispo with a typical Cuban in the foreground. He saw no reason to move when Jim was taking the photo.
As we walked on Obispo we were time and again accosted by people trying to get us to go to their restaurants. Some had menus without the price - Alexander had warned us to avoid those as they are invariably over-priced. Our first stop was for a beer for Jim and a mojito for me. Then we went into La Calesa Real having had quite a chat with the girl trying to attract us in. We were shown to a table on a type of balcony from where we could see the diners below and the Cuban musical trio.
Jim got a beer and I ordered a marguerita (in mistake for a mojito) which I hated - too much salt. I returned to the mojitos! On the menu was several lobster dishes at 12 CUC which I thought was really reasonable. I ordered lobster thermidor. I don't know what they did with it but it seemed to me to be reconstituted and really overcooked. (In the light of the food we got during the week this restaurant wasn't bad.) Jim had a tuna type fish which he said was fine. Anyway the ambiance was nice and the music was good.
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