Hi from Havana. I’ve come full circle back to the capital. It’s my last day in Cuba today, and I spent it seeing as much as I could before heading home.
Bay of Pigs invasion
I’d meant to take the bus back to Havana this morning, and spend the afternoon checking out the city. But instead, I opted to take a tour that travelled back to Havana the long way around, via the Bay of Pigs — the site of the infamous 1961 US invasion. I’ve never been able to resist seeing iconic historical sites.
We left Cienfuegos early on a Transtur coach. Our first stop was the Revolution museum in Giron dedicated to the history of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Now, for those who know their history, the Bay of Pigs invasion is considered a fiasco or catastrophe for the US. For Cubans, however, it’s a tragedy but also a major point of pride: A regime only two years old, with limited resources, defeated the mighty USA and dealt it an embarrassing blow.
The museum had monuments dedicated to the people who died in the invasion, and an exhibit walking us through the sequence of events. It was all in Spanish, but the guide translated and gave some background. It was really interesting to see it from the Cuban side; in hindsight, it was fairly obvious that the US plan would fail. The CIA naively believed that the Cuban people would rise up and revolt against Castro. But the the people in this area were poor, and Castro had given them land, food, medical care and education. They rallied to his support easily.
Next, we drove to a small beach area where there was the possibility to go swimming at a small beach or in a fish cave that reminded me of the cenotes in Mexico. They rented out gear for snorkeling or scuba diving, too. Despite the temptation of being able to say that I swam in the Bay of Pigs, I was feeling the full force of my cold, so I sat that one out.
Finally, we stopped off at a made-for-tourists coffee and bathroom stop at a small crocodile farm. I didn’t bother going inside. Seen one crocodile, seen ’em all. I didn’t think it was strictly necessary to stop there, but all the tours in Cuba seem to be organized by government companies, and they appear to have their mandatory stops. There was a government restaurant where we stopped for lunch; it had a rather grim buffet set out with non-exciting food options. I can’t wait to get home and eat good food again.
Havana, full circle
From there, the drive to Havana took another couple of hours on straight highway. The coach arrived mid-afternoon.
Since there’s not much internet or phone service in Cuba, it’s really hard to arrange to meet up with anyone or keep in touch after meeting people. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that Marie from Norway, who I’d met in Santa Clara, was staying at my casa, and we would be roomies. Not only that, but Megan and Sophie, the Kiwi girls living in Vancouver, were staying not far away, and had plans to meet up with Marie for dinner and a show that evening. Even better: The Kiwis had plans to meet up with the Americans from Los Angeles who we’d met at the rooftop disco in Santa Clara the next night for New Year’s Eve. Cuba receives over 2 million tourists every year, so the odds of this were surely infinitesimally small. It’s the type of thing that does happen on vacation, though. I should be used to it by now.
After checking into the casa and having a quick shower, I set out to see what I could in my last few hours in Havana. I walked up to the main square and saw the Saint Francis of Assisi Basilica, the Christopher Columbus Monument, and more statues and squares around Old Havana. I wasn’t sure what everything was, but it was fun.
I ended up back in Plaza Vieja, where I’d enjoyed a beer on my first day in Havana, and paid a quick visit to the chocolate museum, because, well, it’s chocolate. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a museum; just a shop and small restaurant selling overly sweet candy that they called chocolate. Since I hadn’t encountered any other chocolate anywhere in Cuba, I have to assume that it’s exceedingly rare here, and what does exist isn’t very good. But, of course, as part of my mission in life to taste chocolate in every country in the world, I dutifully bought and tried some.
I also stopped into a coffee shop on the square to buy some roasted coffee to take home. Now, the coffee in Cuba is very good, and since I’m not into rum or cigars, I figured coffee would make a good souvenir. Unfortunately, the line to buy coffee took absolutely forever. I got to chatting with an Australian woman in front of me who said that this place was known for having the slowest service in Cuba, which, judging by the service in Cuba in general, is really saying something. I wanted unground coffee, but if even one person in line wanted it ground, the guy would pour the coffee into the world’s slowest grinder and then refuse to serve anyone behind them until it was finished. It took me almost a half hour to move three places in line to buy a bag of coffee. It had better be good.
Dinner and a show
For dinner, I met back up with Marie, Sophie and Megan at a touristy restaurant on the square that had fairly decent food, by Cuban standards. The atmosphere was pretty good, too.
Then we went across to the Cafe Taberna for a jazz music show. It’s one of those tourist trap-type experiences that seemed a bit silly, but I figured I had to do it anyway while I was there. Not quite as glitzy or cheesy as the Tropicana show, the Cafe Taberna’s claim to fame is that it bills itself as “in the style of” the Buena Vista Social Club. The overpriced ticket included a few cocktails, and the right to listen to a lively band perform and bring up some tourists to dance conga-line style alongside them. To be honest, I’d seen better performances in the street for free all the way around Cuba, and the show was a bit boring. But we had fun anyway.
After that, we made our way back to the casa. It was nearing midnight, and I had to leave at a ridiculously early hour for the airport. I’d arranged with the casa to book me a taxi, and I spent some time re-packing my bag and sorting everything out. Then I set my alarm for the crazy hour of 3:30am, and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep.