All day in Havana

We had our last sea day yesterday. We’ve got quite a streak of trivia wins going, I think our team has won trivia 10 times now. Our best ever! Our best subject is geography. One quiz was to identify 15 countries by their shape. We completed 14 of 15 is about five minutes and then argued about the last country. We learned that you could turn your paper in and if it was wrong, you could try again. So we did, our best guess was Panama, and we were right. A few days later, the quiz was to identify the 49 countries from a map of the continent of Europe. We identified all 49 but got two countries in the wrong order. No one else had over 30 countries identified. The other highlight was our evening show, the Barricade Boys. These 4 singers had met doing Les Miserable on London’s West End. Their voices were powerful and brought tears to my eyes. I’d gladly pay to see these guys again, and bought their CD.

Today, we docked in Havana harbor. Currently only one of the three docks is active, so they can handle two ships. The other two are in total disrepair, with a plan to eventually fix them. Our tour is a nine hour bus tour of the city with a walking tour of old Havana at the end. Our first major stop was Revolutionary Square with tributes to Jose’ Marti', writer, poet, and Politician who fought for Cuban Independence from Spain. Our guide explained that in 1898, America joined the war against Spain with Cuba largely because of the USS Maine blowing up in the harbor (which at the time was thought to be sabotage but appears to more likely have been an accident). But Cuba didn’t get independence, instead they became a protectorate of the U.S. (This is when we got Guantanamo Bay Naval Station and the right to invade Cuba in the future). Restrictions were put on Cuba to only trade with the U.S. Cuba went from one colonial power to another.

Revolutionary Square

Our next stop was the Christopher Columbus cemetery the oldest (1871) Catholic Cemetery in Cuba. We found many interesting tombstones to bar tenders (the creator of the daiquiri) , businessmen, and baseball players as well as a monument for fire fighters.

As we went through the city, our guide impressed us with what as really been good since the revolution as well as pointing out how difficult life has been with the U.S. Embargo. A few highlights: The number one export from Cuba is medical services: either students from other countries studying medicine in Cuba or Cuban doctors and nurses going to other countries to practice and sending money home. The second most important is tourism (Canadians are their primary tourists). Cigars are fourth.  Education is free through University. Before the revolution, there were only three universities and most of the country was illiterate, today education is free and compulsory through age 15.

Lineup of Classic Cars

Cuba is known for its classic cars and they are beautiful, most have been retrofitted with diesel engines to keep them running. Of course, the U.S. embargo didn’t allow the U.S. to sell new cars here after the revolution. But when Fidel took over, there was no way to sell a car in the secondary market, so most of the cars, remained in the family for all these years. Today, most of these cars serve as taxis for tourists. Transportation is a huge problem for Cubans, there are not enough buses for the population and taxis cost more than your daily wage.

Famous guests at La Bodequita del Medio

We ate lunch at the La Bodequita del Medio, a famous haunt of Ernest Hemmingway and home of the Mojito, just off of Plaza de la Cathedral. We had a nice sampler plate of Cuban dishes. The spices were interesting and quite mild.

After lunch we had a chance to sample the 3 famous commodities of Cuba: rum, coffee, and cigars. There are 27 different brands of cigar produced in Cuba, we sampled Winston Churchill’s favorite: Romeo and Juliet. Well, actually only 2 on our tour tried the cigar, the rest kept theirs to take back to the U.S.

Our last bus stop was at El Morro Castle.  The large Spanish fort that protects the entrance to the harbor. This stop ended up being disappointing, it was primarily a shopping point to buy cigars, and we saw only a little of the fort. As promised, we ended the day with about 10 of us walking the old colonial city, seeing more of the key squares. Our guide seemed to get more adamant about how great Cuba could be if the U.S. embargo would come to an end. I’ll admit, it makes no sense why we’ve kept this embargo for 60 years, when we’ve made up with Japan, Germany, and Vietnam, but we did get tired of hearing the message. We were tired and happy to spend the evening on the ship, rather than go out to see a show. But we heard good things the next day about the show at the Tropicana Club. 

The Colonial City