Trip to Cuba and New Orleans
Mike and Judy Henderson
January 25 to February 8, 2016
The Hotel Nacional is not one that I'd return to on any future trip to Cuba. It has a nice veneer of luxury but once you look deeper you see that it's tired and worn. The hotel was built in the 1930's and has been renovated but not even up to the standards of our hotel in Cienfuegos. We had to move from our first room because of electrical problems.
The mechanicals and electrical systems are worn. The elevators are old, the plumbing in the bathrooms is ancient (but mostly works) and the electrical outlets are so worn that a plug will not stay in the outlet. Power here is mostly 110V but some is 220V. And like Cienfuegos, they use the same 120V international outlets and label them for 110 or 220.
The Internet access at Cienfuegos was quite good and fast. The Internet access here is miserable. But I suppose I shouldn't complain - at least we can get Internet access.
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1/29/2016 Today we begin exploring Havana.
We had breakfast in the hotel - the spread was similar to what we had in Cienfuegos. The breakfast area was very crowded, as you can imagine from the size of the hotel. Hotel Nacional only caters to foreign tourist and all of them are on approximately the same schedule.
We began our tour day by crossing under the Havana channel, through a tunnel, to visit one of the four forts that guard the entrance to Havana bay - called El Morro. The fort offers a nice view of the channel and the Havana skyline. The picture is a panoramic view from the fort. In early times this entrance to Havana Bay was protected from intruding ships at night by tightening a cable just under the water line. The chain was lowered at 4:30 am to allow passage and was raised every night at 9pm, signaled by a cannon shot. There is still a symbolic shot each evening at 9pm.
Then we went to "old Havana" and started our visit at a square.
Two women in traditional Cuban costumes came by and gave one of our tour members a hug, and each planted a kiss on each cheek. Here's Joel after the kisses.
Then we went to the cigar store to buy some Monte Cristo #2 cigars for friends.
This mural, which is on the side of a plain building, was painted as a mirror image of the building across the street, with the addition of famous Cubans in 18th or 19th century dress. This is a panoramic view of the mural. The figures are actual representations of historical individuals, and they are made with colored sand rather than paint.
A short walk brought us to another square where the old cathedral is located.
We went inside.
Judy as she was entering the church.
Next we went to a graphic art studio that prints artwork from carved blocks. It was very interesting to see how they did it, and how they register the artwork from one color to another. Artists who work in this medium have to be both creative designers as well as technicians who can do the printing and understand what color will result when they print a color over an existing color.
Then we went to a store that specialized in guayabera shirts and similar type designs for women.
From there we went to a small cafe and most people had a piña colada. They bring you a glass with the fruit juice and crushed ice and then bring a bottle of rum and put as much rum as you want.
After we left the cafe, there was a guy posing as a statue. He was very good. Many people thought he was a real bronze statue so they'd get along side of him - and then he'd move. Usually, they would jump. But you can tell even the best by looking at their eyes.
For lunch we went to La California Restaurant.
They serve Italian food (of all things) and we had a pasta dish and pizza, served family style. However, someone needs to tell them that yellow cheddar is not the kind of cheese you put on a pizza.
I need to take a side track about here. A number of people in our group began to get intestinal upset about this time. It definitely was not due to the food that we had a La California because it doesn't hit you that fast, and some people had it before going to this restaurant.
[Written 2/3/2016 - after thinking about this for a while, my belief is that we were infected from the water in Havana. Even though everyone drank bottled water, there's so many places where we were probably exposed to the water, such as raw salad material washed in city water, having drinks (such as mojitos) that might have included some water, etc. Additionally, for me, the intestinal upset didn't clear up until I was back in the US.]
[Additional update 2/7/2016 - There's a medical term for what we had: Traveler's diarrhea. Search on the web for more information. On common suggestion is to take two to four Pepto Bismol tablets daily prophylactically. I have no idea whether it will work, but it probably won't hurt if you're in good health to start with.]
[One more update: Our doctor recommended that we take a prescription for Cipro with us in the future. Traveler's diarrhea is usually caused by a bacteria (generally a form of E. coli) and Cipro is effective against that.]
Our next stop was at Revolution Square (really a parking lot) which had this monument tower dedicated to Jose Marti on one side, with his statue in front.
There were two buildings on the other side of the square, one which had a picture of Fidel and the other of Che.
By then the touring day was over and we headed back to the hotel. Many people were not feeling well. Judy and I had dinner in the hotel cafeteria - a Cuban sandwich. We split it and half was too much for one person. The bread was very, very good - with a crispy crust that falls apart when you pick it up - like the French bread in New Orleans.
