Day 2: El Capitoilio - The Outside

During our time at El Baturro it rained heavily for a few minutes so when we emerged onto the street we were faced with walking through a very wet and soggy Havana.

There was a distinctly sour smell in the air and the cobblestone streets and muddy walkways had bits of litter in the gutters that made the trip a bit unpleasant. Not to mention the fact that the rain had added a bit of humidity to the air so it was also warm and sticky. Thankfully once we were out in the open air away from the narrow streets and run down buildings.

After a short while we arrived at our next destination the Capitol Building (El Capitolio). It was apparently modeled after the US Capitol Building.

The first thing I noticed upon walking up to this enormous building was that at the base of the staircase that went up to the main entrance were about 3 or 4 people taking photos for tourists using the oldest cameras I've ever seen!

They would wait for you to approach them and ask for a photo, then they'd have you stand on the staircase with the building behind you and take your picture and it would come out in black and white.

As we walked further up the stairs towards the building itself there we really got a sense of how large the building is. There were statues placed at either end of the staircase and very tall columns outlining the doors. Since the day was drawing to a close we didn't have time to go inside but it was definitely something we planned to do on another day.

Day 2: Restaurante El Baturro

Upon arriving at our final destination El Baturro we were greeted by a waiter wearing a tuxedo standing just outside the front door. This seems to be the standard for restaurants catering to tourists in Havana, the waiters wear fancy tuxedos and the tourists wear shorts and t-shirts.

The atmosphere was quite nice and the waiters were friendly and spoke at least enough English to understand what we wanted to order. They mentioned the specialty of the day and pointed out any items that they thought would be of particular interest to us.

From what I could see there were mostly European tourists in this particular restaurant and it wasn't too busy but busy enough that the place wasn't completely deserted. Each table was set with napkins folded into triangles and placed on the table with wine glasses each surrounding a large plate featuring the logo of the place, a man drinking from a water sack.

Once we decided what we wanted to eat the pretty plates and cutlery were taken away to be replaced by regular plates and cutlery once the food came. I found this to be somewhat of a standard in restaurants; the plates and cutlery on the tables are for show.

While I wouldn't say that the food at this restaurant was the best food I've ever had it wasn't too bad. Plus, while we were eating they had a band singing Cuban songs (or at least songs sung in Spanish with that type of style). After singing a few songs they would go around to the tables asking for tips which I found to be a little bit annoying, however they weren't pushy about it if you declined.

We passed on dessert asked for the bill (la cuenta) and headed back out to do some more exploring.

Day 2: A Walk in the City

Lunchtime was approaching and Craig and I were getting hungry so we decided to go for a walk in the city to a little place called Restaurante El Baturro, a very popular restaurant in Havana. It was only about a 10 - 15 minute walk away from the Parque Central.

As we walked through the streets towards our lunch destination we had a quick look at some of the real buildings in Havana, the buildings that people live in and use everyday. Paint was chipping off the walls of the run down buildings with bits of cement missing from some too. People were sitting on chairs in doorways just hanging around seemingly without a purpose while laundry hung in the windows above to dry; it was quite a sad thing to see really. People living in squalor as the tourism business boomed all around them, never seeing a single peso of it. Yet the people seemed happy, laughing and talking with each other like everyone was a friend.

Day 2: Down by the Bay

We decided to head down towards the water for our first trip out after breakfast. It was a short walk, only about 10 - 15 minutes or so. The Cuban waterfront is bustling with activity; the first thing we noticed were the cars. Both old and new cars can be seen parked side by side, it would seem as though there was a significant period of time during which Cuba was not able to get new cars. It is probably because of this that there are very old or very new cars and nothing in between.

There were a few activities going on down by the water. In the area many people could be seen fishing while sitting on the concrete walls that lined the bay area that opened out into the ocean.

And a small lighthouse and garrison could be seen on the other side of the inlet displaying a few cannons pointing enemy ships long gone.

There were also more cannons on the side of the bay that we were standing on, they were made of solid black iron and probably have not been used in years.

The weather was fairly nice during our trip, warm days with overcast so the sun wasn't beating down on you every second. There were also many other statues including one of Neptune and another of Jesus which was located on the other side of the bay.

Day 2: First Breakfast in Havana

We started off our second day in Havana with a buffet breakfast at the hotel which was included in the cost of our stay. The buffet included eggs made up any way you wanted, bacon as well as the usual North American type things you'd expect to find for breakfast. They also included a few Cuban/Spanish type foods including chorizos (pronounced chor-ee-thos) which are a type of spicy pepperoni-like sausage.

There were also a type of breaded, deep fried mashed potato that I'm not sure what the name was. They even had some sweet desserts, like cakes that looked like Nanaimo bars but just had regular cake as a filling; or rather, to quote Craig they were "Nanaimo bars without the Nanaimo", which doesn't make any sense but there you have it.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was quite nice, very bright and not too crowded, the waiters were very polite and proper as was the standard in most restaurants we went to in Havana. The main waiter was dressed in a tuxedo while the others dressed in a sort of colourful (but muted) vest, white shirt and black pants.

Day 1: Hotel Parque Central

Upon arrival at Hotel Parque Central we checked in and were told about the ammenities of the hotel including a rooftop pool and an in-room safe (very Vegas).

The first thing we noticed as we went around the hotel was the first two floors are inside the building and the other 6 floors are outside with a hollow center. So from the upper floors you can look down past the glass ceiling and into the hotel or look up to see the clear blue sky.

The rooftop pool on the 9th floor also featured beautiful panoramic views of the city and since El Capitolio (the Capital Building) was only a block away there was a clear view of it.


Down on the main level of the hotel are 2 restaurants and a bar. The main bar area is right in the lobby and during main eating/drinking hours musicians sing and play.

For our first night we decided to have dinner at one of the lovely restaurants at the hotel. The prices weren't too bad and since we didn't know the town that well we figured it would probably be best not to go walking around in the dark for our first night. It was a lovely restaurant and featured what I would soon find out to be a very odd thing about Havana; the restaurant was completely empty.

Yes, the restaurant was completely empty at around 6:30pm and continued to be so for the duration of our meal. It was a very classy restaurant, complete with piano player and lovely crystal glasses.

The piano player even came up to us and asked if we had any requests for a type/style of music for him to play. As for the food, it was great, we even got a little slice of pork with a light vinagrette served over shredded cabbage, compliments of the chef. Craig had the monkfish and I had a lovely pepper and beef roulade, all served up in a very classy style.

Day 1: Arriving in Cuba

It was early Thursday morning when we left our little apartment and made our way to the Toronto International Airport as a start to our trip to Cuba. Now, before the trip I had done a little research on various things about Cuba. One thing that surprised me was that in all the conversations that I had had prior to my trip no one had made mention of the fact that there are two different currencies used in Cuba; the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC) and the Cuban Peso (CUP). Convertible Pesos are used by tourists and the exchange rate is pretty much on par with the US Dollar. The CUP is worth considerably less than the Canadian dollar and is used by the locals to purchase everyday items such as groceries and toothpaste. Since tourists don't generally spend this kind of peso I would assume that most people either don't know about it or didn't bother to mention it for this reason, however it is good to know the difference, ESPECIALLY when getting change.

For CUC Notes (or bills) they will actually have the words "Convertible Peso" written on them. As for coins, CUC coins have national landmarks on them whereas CUP coins have people on them.

Once we arrived at the Havana airport we exchanged some money for a taxi and we were off to the Parque Central hotel, about 20 minutes away.