Saturday 23 November 2013
A
fairly lazy day today. We were
originally planning to get a hire car and drive to the country and stay one
night out of town; but there doesn’t seem to be any road signs here and we
figured in the end it was probably going to be virtually impossible to find
where we needed to go – and we have no maps, no internet, no phone coverage and
no GPS and no Spanish if we get lost. So
thought best stay in Havana.
Went
to the Napoleon museum. There was an
Italian diplomat who owned this gorgeous mansion who was a total
Napoleon-phile. Lots of stuff here
including some of his hair, toothbrush, death mask, his bedroom suite etc. It was nice to see one of the old mansions in
good condition. The government does use
some for museums etc and they’re in good condition; unlike the other 95% that
are rotting away.
Then
we went for lunch and sat around drinking cocktails and watching the world go
by. So many old cars. I started counting. With each light change, about 15 old fifties
cars would go by. We were sitting across
from one of the big hotels – the Havana Libre. It was originally a Hilton,
completed just a year or two before the revolution – so its got this amazing
late 50’s architecture (now a shadow of its former glory, of course).
Apparently it was one of the big mob hangouts in its day. It’s a very tall
building for this city, now the vultures have made it their home, nesting high
up on the roof, and using the updraft to glide all around it.
Walking
the streets we came across a very traditional Cuban thing – the celebration of
coming of age. Apparently, from the time a girl is born, Cubans save for the
day that she will turn 15. It’s the full-on
dress and hair thing, with a big, big party.
