Havana, Cuba
Cuba nearly didn’t happen on the first day. The flight from Cancun was delayed four hours, which sounds bad until you learn that the airline put us up in a hotel and gave us a free feed while we waited. Never one to turn down free food, I made the most of it. We didn’t end up flying until 9:30pm, and by the time I found the hostel it was 1am. Not the grand arrival I’d envisioned, but that’s Cuba for you - nothing goes according to plan, and somehow that’s part of the charm.
The next morning I set out to explore and Havana immediately delivered. First stop was the Capitolio Nacional, which looks a lot like the US Capitol building (the irony is not lost on anyone). From there I made a beeline for the Partagas cigar shop, because when in Cuba, you buy cigars. Picked up some Montecristo 2s - the real deal, hand-rolled in the same city they’ve been making them for over a century.
Lunch, however, was less of a highlight. We went to a restaurant that seemed perfectly normal, right up until the bill arrived and it was about four times what it should have been. Classic tourist scam. The food wasn’t even that good. Lesson learned: always check the prices before you order in Havana, and if the menu doesn’t have prices, that’s your cue to leave.
Over the next few days I fell into a nice rhythm with Francesca and Isla, a couple of other travellers from the hostel. We spent our time walking around the suburbs, which is where you see the real Havana - the crumbling buildings that are somehow still beautiful, the old American cars from the 1950s that they’ve kept running through sheer willpower, the music coming from seemingly everywhere. One evening we had dinner, drinks, pool, and cigars before heading to a local club. A perfect Havana night.
The absolute highlight of Cuba was the Partagas cigar factory tour. Watching the workers roll cigars by hand, with the same techniques that have been used for generations, was fascinating. But the thing that really stuck with me was learning that these workers make around 20 CUC a month. Twenty. That’s roughly twenty US dollars. And here I am, a twenty-something Australian who complains about his job. It puts things in perspective, to say the least.
We followed that up with a rum factory tour (when in Cuba, part two), and then headed out to Playa del Este to chill on the beach for the afternoon. That evening we watched Spain v Portugal in the Euros, which capped off a pretty perfect day of cigars, rum, beach, and football. Hard to beat, really.
On the last night we all had dinner together - Francesca, Isla, Jasmine, and me. Ice cream for dessert, then back to pack. Cuba was one of those places I was skeptical about before arriving, mainly because of the cost, but it was worth every cent. Frozen in time, a bit rough around the edges, but endlessly interesting.
One life, no regrets. Glad I listened to my own advice on that one.
