Wed. 5th September 2012
If I was asked to name my highpoint of our trip to date, I’d be spoilt for choice and would have to give it some thought. Even my short list is quite long – diving, turtle watching, sunset dinner looking back over old Havana, cycling, meeting new friends. On the other hand, I’d be really pushed to name a low point. Whilst I don’t claim this to be a real low, today was one of those days where it just didn’t quite click.
First, I left my hat on the coach when we got off at Havana – a nuisance, and the cause of much kicking of self, but the first thing we have lost on our trip. We were dropped off close to our casa (one big advantage of the connectando over the Viazul bus) and trooped up the 3 flights of stairs – only to find that there was no one home. Hey ho! Better go get some lunch.
In the afternoon, we took a bicitaxi to the Museo del Ron as this would tick off two of the remaining items on our list of things we want to do in Havana. However, with hindsight, we should probably have picked a younger bicitaxi driver as it was a bit further than we thought to the museo.
(BTW – Museo del Ron is not a museum dedicated to Big Ron the former football manager!)
When we got there, not only was the museum closed because they were running some function, but the heavens promptly opened and it began to pour down. At least here in Cuba, it rains for a bit and then clears up – you don’t just get the endless drizzle that you have in the UK. We had just ventured out again though, when out of a nearly clear sky, there was a big flash of lightning immediately followed by the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard.
Taking this as a bit of a hint, we curtailed further sightseeing and headed to Parque Central hotel to get on Internet to upload some more blog posts and book our first couple of nights accommodation in Mexico. (We will go straight from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen where we have booked a hotel costing £50 for two nights – sticking to the principles of our trip!!)
In the evening, we took a new route through Havana Vieja and came across La Bodeguita del Medio – a small bar that claimed to serve Ernest Hemmingway’s favourite mojito (and seemed to charge accordingly!) They did however, have the best band that I had heard in Cuba – 5 piece band, including a guitarist playing with only 4 strings (top & bottom E and a double G string, for anyone interested). At least he had 4 strings until his bottom E broke and then he was down to 3! When I can, I will add a short video of the band in action (sorry, I only had my phone to hand so video quality is not the best).
Sitting in a cramped and tiny bar in Havana, mojito in hand, listening to some really good music – perhaps it was a pretty good day after all!