Viñales to Havana

Lazy breakfast. Chatted to the English couple who then disappeared off horse-riding.

It was very cool when we had breakfast at 8:00 a.m. but by 9 it was already getting hot fast. We walked up the street and around town which was busy with people both tourists and locals, the latter buying produce being loaded off trucks and queueing at banks. There was a crowd at the Municipal Popular which Ridel thinks may have been something to do with a court case. We located (with a bit of assistance from locals) the polyclinic where Ridel works. We suspect he gets called in when required as he is at home a lot.

By the time we returned a bit after 10:30 a.m., it was very hot and we needed another shower. We packed and Ridel said we could stay and use the facilities so I am sitting on the top verandah or deck looking out over the rooftops and trees towards the hills - in the shade! It is too hot to do anything else. We will walk in later to catch our 2 p.m. bus back to Havana.

Ridel has given us a bottle of local rum! We now have 3 (!) bottles - a lifetime's supply. He exhorts me to do a review on TripAdviser!

We read for a couple of hours in the shade on the deck (I am still working my way through Gabriel Garcia Marquéz's book News of a Kidnapping which is a journalistic-style reporting of a series of kidnappings of high-profile Columbians (journalists, relatives of the President, etc) by the druglord, Pablo Escobar, that took place in the 1980s when the Extraditables were holding the Government to ransom over their demands to not be extradited to the US. Their demands included that if they were to be imprisoned that their prison was to be one of their choosing and that it should be in Colombia. The Government was not capitulating however so the hostages had a long captivity - and indeed one (so far) is killed. The book is quite engrossing.

When we decided we should make the walk to the bus station (early) we were lucky because it turned out coincidentally that Ridel was just about to leave for work and he offered us a ride in his taxi (the policlinico where he works is just down the road from the bus station).

It really was our lucky day as we were not looking forward to what is probably close to a kilometre walk in the hot sun - and dragging our 3 bottles of rum in our luggage to boot!

The staff at the bus station yesterday had said to arrive 30 minutes before departure but the ticket said 60 minutes and in fact there was a staff member there even earlier, so we had no queue and it was much more friendly and civilised than yesterday in Havana.

My Friend disappeared off to the exchange place to change more euros onto CUCs - hopefully for the last time! We have one more night here in Cuba - in Havana tonight. I have already put aside the CUCs we need for the taxi to the airport and the departure tax. He arrives back half an hour later because he had got stuck in a long queue.

A welcome stop once again at Las Terrazas enroute to Havana; we were more organised this time and got a coffee and a local snack of a block of nuts mixed with honey AND a 'loo' stop. A little rain here - the first I remember since leaving home!

It was easy to while away the time on the journey watching the various modes of transport as the bus overtook them. There were some bemusing (to us) spots along the autopista where there were overhead concrete bridges but they didn't have roads attached to them. And of course the banners everywhere painted on buildings proclaiming the Revoluciòn es Invincible. And I wonder when or whether the pictures of Fidel will ever disappear?


Well! Unbelievable! Just when you think the day is done and all we have to do is get to our accommodation, one episode after another unfolds.

First of all, the taxi experience: I (in my wisdom - sometimes I'm not so sure about my brainwaves!) decide that getting a taxi right outside the bus station when we arrive in Havana is NOT such a good idea, so I decide we'll walk a little further beyond.

We are immediately set upon by taxi drivers of course outside the bus station and so I ask "Cuanto?" which, by the way, you are told you MUST do before buying ANYTHING in Cuba as after-the-event is too late and you'll be charged anything and more-fool-you. I am told "diez" which is 10 CUC and I am quite sure that is rubbish based on previous rides into the Old Town which are longer and more complex when we were staying much further out. So I said "no thanks".

Next thing, we are approached by a guy who appears on foot and he says 8 in answer to my question of how much and I said basically rubbish and suggested 6 and we agreed on 7 and the next thing we knew he was saying to wait and he went off and did a similar exercise with another couple and I could hear them agree to 8 but I knew also they weren't going to the same place as us. Question was: where were they going? I thought this was all a bit cheeky and started to get my back up and then he said to follow him and across the road.

I could see a dilapidated vehicle and I thought "he wants to fit 4 people AND luggage into THAT?" So I said "no thanks" and the other couple seemed to be backing out also. I kept walking to pick up a taxi out on the main road - which had been my original plan - and Our Friend turned up in hot pursuit because he had by now lost both sets of customers. Despite my reservations, we allowed ourselves to follow him and he went up to his vehicle and popped a plastic black and white "TAXI" sign up on his dashboard (can you believe it!). Alarm bells rang again by which time he had opened the boot and I packed my gear into the back seat and said to My Friend not to put anything into the boot. We climbed in and he couldn't start the engine!!!! I tried to get back out but couldn't open the back door from the inside. Fortunately My Friend could get out of the front seat where he was and meanwhile the "taxi driver" asked us to wait indicating the engine would be started shortly. He tried several more times to no avail so I asked My Friend to help me get out and thank goodness we hadn't put the luggage in the boot or we would have been stuck.

The "taxi driver" was still desperately trying to start the engine while I had gone back to the main road and was trying to flag down a real taxi which didn't take long. I heard the engine start from Our Friend's vehicle and he shouted out to us but fortunately by now we were in negotiations with a proper taxi who without hesitation to the "cuanto" question had answered 5 (or "cinco") and I said "perfecto" and we were on our way. The driver was seriously ancient but he knew how to drive and he knew where to go and his dilapidated vehicle got us to our destination. I had no hesitation in tipping him.

We are staying in Avenida Los Presidentes and the apartment building is another one of those nondescript concrete Soviet constructions you see everywhere but, my goodness, on the 5th floor we are met by Staly and inside it is the most unbelievable haven. Nothing in Cuba compares! The reception area on the 5th level is decorated with the most fabulous antiques: furniture, glassware and porcelain.

It turns out that her father deals in antiques which must have come from Europe; her husband tells me pre-1959 (=pre-Castro). His father worked in the embassy in the UK for 3 years which is where he (Staly's husband) learned his English. Our hosts are both fluent in English.

Staly takes us up to the 11th floor with a sitting room and balcony and our room is exquisitely furnished with all modcons, the bathroom fitted out with modern facilities, aircon, hot and cold water and our windows on two sides look out to fabulous views of the city and the sea beyond. We can't believe it. We are invited back to the 5th floor for fabulous mojitos.


We ask about dinner and Staly uses her influence to book us into a nearby restaurant which had been booked out, provided we can be there by 7:30 p.m. Which we promise we will be.

We quickly power-walk down to the seaside promenade - the Malecón - several blocks away to see it in the late afternoon light and then power back again for a superfast shower and change of clothes and arrive at El Idilio for a beautiful meal. We both have lamb which is succulent and tender - cooked to perfection - after delicious starters, beers for My Friend and a glass of French red wine for moi. The entire thing including an expresso for MF is a shade over 32CUCs.

We count our remaining CUCs and shout ourselves another drink at the nearby Hotel Presidente which is very old world with a vast verandah where people are enjoying the cool breeze, drinks and a band.

We return to our casa and its fabulous views from our balcony and watch the world go by lit up in lights.

Staly has ordered our taxi for the airport for 9:00 a.m. in the morning.