Finally Havana Bound

So our flight in Charlotte had been moved up to 8:50 so we decided to leave at 4:30 AM. Tim graciously agreed to drive so we met at his house and by 4:30 we were on our way. We arrived at the airport about 6 AM. Tim dropped us off and went and parked the car. There was a pretty big crowd at the desk already and it was very chaotic. We were put in a line for people that had  no bags to check. We had to get our tickets and then go to another desk and have our Cuban Visas verified. You can buy them at the desk but we had pre-ordered ours so after about 40 minutes we were finally through and on to security. We actually got through security pretty quickly and had time to get breakfast near our gate. We were glad to be past the first hurdle but still had several more to get over before we could truly relax. I would feel really good when we were actually at our room with money (local currency) in our pocket. Marisela our host at our Air BnB had been in contact with me before the trip. She had agreed to send a cab for us and also fix us lunch when we arrived. This would give us time to talk to her and ask whatever questions we had before we headed out. 

The flight was super quick and we actually landed about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We had been given three documents to fill out and sign before we went through customs in Havana. We labored over each detail trying to make sure we had everything filled in correctly. After getting off the plane we literally just followed everyone else. After a quick look at our visas only one piece of paper was needed. I handed it to a lady that did not look at it at all. She just tossed it in a big pile of other papers. Wow! Welcome to Havana. We were now officially in the country.........of course we had no local money and did not see our driver anywhere! Ha Ha this was going to be fun. I was really not worried about the driver since we arrived early. We got in a long line to exchange our currency. After about 10 minutes I went to look for the driver and I literally bumped into him. He told us in broken English that we did not need to get money. We could get it at the Air BnB. Sure what could go wrong right?!??! He showed us where to wait while he went and got the car. Then it happened he pulled up in a beautiful 50s car and in minutes we were headed to our room in a classic car with no money in our pockets and no way to pay the driver.

About 30 minutes later we arrived at our home away from home. The driver told us that we did not owe him anything as he was being paid by our host Marisela. He helped us carry our luggage up the stairs to our flat. We met Marisela who spoke great English. We picked our rooms and then Marisela told us that they were preparing our lunch and while they were finishing up we could go around the corner to a bank to exchange our money. We arrived at the bank and there was a line outside waiting to get in. The bank was closed for lunch. It opened in about 15 minutes and then they let about 4 people in at a time. After about 30 minutes total we finally had our local money "CUC" pronounced "Kook". Not counting exchange fee's 1 CUC equals 1 US dollar. This made it very easy to know how much we would be paying for things. We went back to our new home and had lunch. It was delicious and very plentiful. 

During this time Marisela answered questions and gave us advice. She told us not to worry about the ice in the restaurants that we would go to as they were use to catering to Europeans so they filtered it. She also said we could leave the bulk of our money and our passports in our rooms. It was great that we could just carry around the money needed for the day and not worry about the rest. We also found out that she had been renting her place for over 20 years mainly on a website in Italy. There was a hotel just two blocks away (Habana Libre) that was a great place to pick a cab and ride down to Old Havana. She told us that is should be around 5 CUC to ride downtown. After a quick walk there we were in another 50's car headed downtown. Julie was our negotiator and chief translator for the entire trip. 

We arrived in Old Town in about 10 minutes. It was beautiful in just about every way. Hundreds of 50's cars flying by and in a few minutes we were at Sloppy Joes having a beer. 

Then it was off to La Bodeguita del Medio which is where you can get Hemingway's Mojitos.

La Bodeguita del Medio

Out and about!

We continued to walk the streets of Old Havana stopping in the local hot spots for the rest of the afternoon. We all felt very comfortable with our surroundings and just enjoyed ourselves.

El Rum Rum

Out and about!

Floridita

Floridita

Catching a ride home!

After arriving home and resting a few minutes we decided to head out and eat dinner at a place called Nana's. It was only a block from our house and had live music and a big outdoor area that was filled with people that were obviously having a lot of fun. We joined in and in no time had befriended the table next to us. (They invited us to come back the next night to a party they were planning.) We really enjoyed the music and the new friends that we had met. This dinner was OK mostly Bar food and some french fries that were more like fried potato balls. Finally we had about enough and decided around 10:30 to go home for the night. On the way back we stopped at La Paila Fonda and had a Cuba Libre. Finally we arrived home around 11. Pretty good Day considering it all started at about 3:30 in the morning!

Nana's

Nana's

Last place of the night!