Back in Havana, Cuba

(I always saw photos of the vintage cars in Cuba but thought it was just a gimmick for photos. It was amazing to see that they actually did drive older model cars everywhere. This was a typical parking lot in Havana).



Day 6 in Cuba


Tad and I woke up early. We both liked Trinidad and could have stayed longer but I had to come back to Havana to pick up Stu who was arriving later that afternoon. We had an uneventful trip back to Havana. I really enjoyed driving through Cuba. We took turns driving and had some good conversations about Cuba. I think TAD was falling in love with Cuba just as I was. We arrived in Havana and I had to rush around and do some errands. I dropped TAD off so he could find a place to stay. I had to rush home and then meet this guy, Mark, that I met in Buenos Aires a few months earlier. He was in Buenos Aires staying at my apartment and needed to pay me for the rental. Rather than wire the money, he found out that I was going to be in Cuba as well so we decided to just meet. It was extremely nice of him to do that. I met him at the Ingleterra and he was with his girlfriend. She was a pretty girl that seemed intelligent.

Mark asked me to fib and tell her that I was a colleague from the States. No big deal to me. I hope he had fun with her. I had to rush and pick up Stu. As I was nearing the airport I got pulled over yet again by another police. I wasn’t doing anything wrong but he asked to see my driver’s license. Of course I didn’t have it. Remember to ALWAYS have your driver’s license with you if you rent a car. I think this is one of the easiest ways for cops to make money. I told him I wasn’t going to pay a fine. We sat there arguing for at least 20 minutes. He wanted a $30 fine. I told him I didn’t have that much anyway. I told him that I was going to be late and I was starting to get angry. He said that he would have the car towed away. I knew he was lying but I now running late picking up Stu. I offered him $10 and told him to take it or leave it. (Keep in mind the average salary in Cuba is like $30/month). He immediately started being nice and I called him a ladron (thief) to his face as I was pulling away. I picked up Stu and he wasn’t ready. He was up at the VIP lounge finishing his cocktails. It was good to see him again. We last saw each other in Rio de Janiero just a few months ago.

He activated his cellphone service and we were on our way. Of course we had to ask for directions on the way back to Havana. I think Stu got a sense of what Cuba was like when we asked this group for directions when we were on the road for only about 15 minutes. He forgot to lock the back doors and this group of drunken guys and one girl gets in our car! They were obviously drinking all day as it was Christmas Eve. Believe it or not, 4 of them fit in the backseat along with their 2 BIG bottles of rum. Stu and I were ok with it at first until after about 3 minutes they were obnoxious and I kicked them out. We make it to Havana and Stu gets checked in to the same apartment as me. We both showered and headed out and met TAD at the Ingleterra Hotel. We had a few Mojitos then headed to Casa de la Musica near there. There are two CDM’s. The cover was $15 but there were plenty of girls outside. I didn't feel like going in. Tons of girls were asking us to pay for them to enter. I went to the restaurant next door with this girl that I met. Her attitude was really horrible.

I am the least judgemental person in the world. I believe what two people do is their own business. As long as they aren't hurting themselves or someone else it's all good. I can't stand judgemental people so if you are one of them, please stop reading my blog now. I'm a young, single guy so I followed along with my "life is short and I have 3 years" scenario.

Stu and I met two girls that seemed nice enough. We invited them back to our apartment for some drinks and to listen to some music. Back at the apartment, the "nice girl" I thought I was with turns into this pyscho. I was just unwinding and offered her something to drink. All of a sudden she demands money. It was just a really horrible scene. I told her she could leave. She said she was leaving with Stu's girl and I told her to just leave alone. She went and got the other girl and we were all sitting in my room for a while. It was kind of awkward since the two old ladies we were renting the apartment from couldn’t sleep and they were in the other room watching TV at about 2:30 AM. They were open minded and didn't care that we had girls with us. They tried to call for a taxi but no luck. They just left. Stu and I joked around for a while after that in my room but we both decided to find a new place the next day. It was strange seeing two women in their 60's laugh at us for kicking the girls out of the place.


Day 7

Stu and I did our best to sleep in. He succeeded. I didn’t. The traffic noise from the street on Linea was a little too much to handle for me. Seaman had a guy from the UK staying next to his room (we were in a 3 bedroom apartment)and I guess Stu accidentally locked the bathroom door they shared so I had to wake him up to open it. We ended up all having breakfast together. Mitch from the UK was a really cool guy. This was his first trip and he had never been to Cuba before. He assumed Cuba was this easy place where model quality girls were willing to hook up with you for a Coke and a smile just because you were a foreigner. Everyone makes Cuba sound like this easy place with tons of nice, beautiful girls but it simply is not. Mitch had the same opinion as I did that the quality of the general population of girls here isn’t that great. He was dating a Brasilian girl in the UK so he was used to really gorgeous girls. He was also a younger good looking guy. Stu and I told him about some of our adventures and I showed him my travel journal and he was studying it like a good novel. It was pretty hilarious.

I told him maybe we’d hook up later in the trip and he did call a few times but I was always busy with a girl. Stu and I hooked up with Frank (the guy that picked me up from the airport) and took him to Ingleterra for a few drinks. I kept telling Frank I wanted to move to Miramar (nice part of town with big houses) but he said everything was full. After the drinks I told him that I just wanted to go to Miramar and we would find something. TAD bumped into us while we were having drinks so we all went together. We ended up talking to a guy that knew a guy that had a place. That is usually how it is when you’re looking for a place. All of the casa particular owners help each other with referrals. It’s a nice system of you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. We saw several nice apartments and we all decided to book our places. TAD had the nicest apartment but he was sharing it with a fruity looking gay Italian guy. My casa owners were by far the coolest. I was super happy with my place. We were going to travel in a few days and we negotiated a deal where we wanted them to hold our casas while we were gone. We paid about $35 a day while we were there and $25 a day while we weren’t. It was a good insurance policy for me. We were planning on traveling 3 nights and then coming back for NYE. At the Ingleterra we tried calling some girls that we met but couldn’t get through to many of them. I think I left a message at one of the girls place because she called me back. I asked her to bring a friend for Stu and they arrived shortly afterwards.

My girl was this super gorgeous girl and Stu's girl was cute too. His girl had an awesome personality. She was really funny too. I stayed in my apartment and Stu went over to his place a block away. TAD decided to take it easy and wait till the night. Stu and I had a great time with our girlfriends. After about 3 hours we called each other and decided to have dinner with our girls. I told Stu to walk over to my apartment. After a few minutes Stu calls me to tell me there is a problem. He was walking with his girl when they spotted a cop and they did something that probably wasn’t too smart. He walked away from the girl which probably signaled to the cop they were scared. I'm not sure why they did that but basically the local girls don't like being seen with tourists because the police think they are prostitutes even if they aren't.

Stu tells me the cop is talking to her and he asked Stu to go back and get his passport. I tell him to call me back in a few minutes with a progress report. He calls me back and tells me the cop says he is radioing for a car to pick up the girl! I figure it’s all bull and tell him to wait there. TAD comes over to my apartment and I tell him what’s going on. He hangs out with my girl while I grab my passport and head to talk to the cop. I arrive with Stu looking frazzled. I go over to the cop and ask him what the problem is and why he is harassing my friend. I told him Seaman flew here to spend NYE with his girlfriend that he has known for 6 months. The funny thing is he was probably like me and couldn’t remember their names. Stu tells me that he offered the cop a $10 bribe which he didn’t accept. Then the cop plays hardball with me asking me where I’m staying. I tell him the street but not the apartment # but he starts naming all the addresses on Calle 28 that rent rooms. I immediately call TAD and have him get my girl out of there as she didn’t have an ID on her and I didn't want to cause problems for her.

The cop asks who I’m calling and I whip out a business card of a lawyer I had met. I told him I have friends in Cuba that are lawyers. At this point I could sense he just wanted to get out of there too. The last thing these cops want is attention or to get in trouble. He tells Stu and I to go stand away while he talks to Stu's girl. I guess he demanded the $10 from the girl and not us. He didn’t want us to know he was doing that. Jerk! We all walked off together and got in my car and went to my place. TAD was alone and we drove around to find my girl that left after we called. We found her walking home alone a few blocks away. We all were in the car laughing and joking around. The girls wanted to eat with us. My girl suggests this restaurant but she was wasn't sure where it was so we end up driving around a good bit. It turns out it is right near our casas.

It wasn’t a cheap place (in fact maybe the most expensive restaurant in town) but we had a great time. It was hilarious in the restaurant because Stu and I were convincing TAD to ask one of the flute players (there were musicians playing music for the restaurant patrons) to sit down and join us. TAD thought she was cute. We are the only ones in the restaurant and the singers are serenading us and making up songs about us. It was funny. Then I ask the head waiter to ask the girl to join us. I think she was shy and another couple walked in around this time so she had to continue playing her flute. I would have loved to see TAD spend time with her. The bill wasn’t cheap as me and my date had steak and lobster. I think my portion with tip was around $90 or U$S100 that included several drinks, appetizers, dinner, dessert and coffee. During dessert I ask Stu's girl if she has any girlfriends for TAD. She says of course. She goes on to say that the girl lives far away. I tell her if it’s a problem we can just forget it and hook him up later. I thought she said it was too far but we ended up driving all the way to this girl’s house which was a good 30 minute ride towards the airport.

It was comical. Picture this. We drop the girls off at their friend's apartment. They tell us to wait. We are waiting outside for a good 15 minutes. I guess the girl was sleeping. They woke her up and got her dolled up and all walk up to the car. I saw the girl’s mom in the doorway and I wondered what she thought about all of this. TAD’s girl was cute and had a killer body. He was very pleased. At this point it’s after 1 AM and we decide to head to our apartments. I had another great time with my girl and she fell asleep in my arms. Stu’s girl claimed to have to wake up early at 6 AM but around 10 AM I get a call saying she had to leave and we rounded up the girls. I had to wake TAD up with a phone call and he and his girl came over. I was kind of in a difficult situation because at dinner my girl who was a totally normal girl was asking me why I gave her money earlier. When TAD was rushing her out I told him to give her some money for a taxi. So she was asking why I was giving her money. She was offended and pointed out she wasn't a prostitute. I told her it was taxi fare but taxi’s didn’t cost $35. The next morning I didn’t know if I should have given her more but I stuck another $10 in her purse. She never mentioned money to me. I wanted to leave more but didn’t want to offend her. We found out later that TAD gave his girl $35 or so and a few days later the girls told us the girl was not happy that Tad only gave her $35. Oops. I guess I got lucky not having to deal with this problem. Again, I'm not a judgmental person. Tad was also a young, single guy. One of the nicest guys I ever met.

Day 8

After the girls left we all showered and agreed to meet back at my place. We were going to do some sightseeing. We went down to Havana Viejo and walked around a good bit. We went to the street vendors with all their old books. It was really fascinating to see all the old relics that they were selling. I seemed to always be hungry this trip. I think part of it is that the food isn’t really that filling there. I eat very well in the USA and when I travel so my body wasn’t used to these smaller sized meals. Stu and TAD joked throughout the trip how I was always hungry or eating. We had some drinks in Plaza de San Francisco and I of course had a salad, fries and a pork sandwich which was actually pretty good. We ended up driving around a bit.

My mind is a little fuzzy for some reason on Day 8 during the day. One thing I do remember is the day after I saw the girl from Casa de la Musica (the girl I kicked out of our apartment) somehow she got my cellphone number. I think she was playing with my phone and dialed her cellphone so she had it on caller ID. I never gave it to her. She ended up calling me and asking if I wanted to see her again. She had a “Y” name too (it seemed like all the girls we met had a Y in their name - Yanina, Yasmina, Yuana, etc) and at first I thought it was another girl. When I figured out it was her I hung up on her. Stu and TAD were laughing. I went on to see her later in the trip and she asked me why I hung up on her. My only response was she was the devil.

That night I think we went to La Chorrera which was where I had the best luck. There were several cute girls that night. The funny thing is there are several girls in the parking lot hanging out. When we were getting in our car a group came over. One girl had a very pretty face and amazing eyes. I think her name was Correlia or something like that. She seemed really shy. She said she was 22 years old. She was wearing jeans and this aqua blue shirt. She later became known as BSG (blue shirt girl) because every single day she wore the same shirt. Poor girl. Stu was deciding if he should session with her or not. I told him the classic line, “if you don’t I will” which usually always did the trick. BSG got in our car and we were going to drop Stu off at his place with his girl. She was really nervous and her hands were shaking. I was sitting in the backseat with her and trying to put her at ease. I can imagine how nervous she was sitting in a car alone with for all she knew were 3 perverts.

There was another cute girl there that TAD liked but when he inquired her age she was only 17. He took a pass. We were all adament that we couldn't do anything illegal while in Cuba because there is no US Embassy here. Tad was traveling under an Israli passport but Stu and I are American. We saw that girl too several other nights. She was always usually drunk but always had a smile on her face. We dropped off Stu and TAD and I decided to try going to Macumba. It was very difficult to find but we finally arrive. It was funny along the way a white Mercedes pulls up to us asking if the girls can enter with us. We tell them we don’t even know if we are going to go in. I kind of just wanted to see it. We get there and I tell the girls I don’t think we are going to go in. I went in to look at it looked dead so we took a pass. The girls were bummed because they couldn't enter with out a male escort. They get in our car and we drop them off where they can flag a taxi. It was funny because TAD remembered one girl from two nights before when he was at Casa de la musica in Havana. TAD ended up picking up a girl that night from that place. It's late maybe around 2:30 AM or so at this point. I’m not too tired (I have severe insomnia and only sleep about 3-4 hours a night) but TAD is so I drop him off at his apartment and I go back to La Chorrera.

I flirted with this girl and invited her to come back to my apartmen. She was really pretty and a little shy at first. She stayed several hours and she ended up falling asleep at my place. It was maybe 5:30 AM or so when she left and I slept very bad that morning. We were leaving for our little side just a few hours later so I had to get a few hours sleep.