CUBA 2019: Friday, March 15, 2019

Gordon woke up feeling 80% better and very hungry. We went down to say goodbye to Elliott and Cathy and to let them see how much better Gord looked. They were going to carry on with the itinerary, which was to visit a tobacco farm and drive three hours west to Viñales where they would be staying in a casa in the national park. It was decided the night before that Gordon and I would spend another night in Havana to better recuperate and in case he needed additional medical attention.

We then went down for breakfast, dry toast for Gord, but he also had two poached eggs, which we later saw were included on the "don't eat" list from the doctor. Oh well. They didn't seem to bother his stomach, so that was good. We hung out in our room for a bit while I researched things of interest in the neighborhood. I didn't want to leave Gord but also didn't want to take him to a museum if he wasn't feeling great.

Views from the roof of our hotel:

We decided to take a walk and see. I scoped out a route along Calle 23, with two shops in mind. We happened upon an outdoor market along the way and wandered through, making a small purchase for the children's museum back home. The first shop was listed as a good place to get cds, and it was. I asked if they had any by the musicians we had met; they didn't, but they had lots of others and told me that there were a lot of talented musicians who aren't as famous but who were just as good. I bought four cds. The next shop was listed as "a lovingly curated new private shop selling some interesting and unique souvenirs." They certainly were interesting and unique, but nothing we wanted.

Gord still felt good, despite it being hot and the middle of the day, and we kept going to the last place on my little list, Parque Lennon. The highlight is a bronze statue of John Lennon sitting on a park bench. It was unveiled by Fidel in 2000 to mark the 20th anniversary of Lennon's death. People kept stealing the statue's glasses, so now they have a security guard who suddenly appears when you want to take a photo and he produces the glasses and puts them on the statue.

Adjacent to the park was the Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine) bar.

We walked back to the hotel, over three miles round trip. Not bad for someone who had been so ill the day before.

We shared a little pizza in the lobby cafe, the only thing on the menu that was anywhere close to being on Gord's diet. Also on the menu was a Bucanero Malta that was listed under non-alcoholic drinks. Bucanero is one of two Cuban beers, so I was confused and asked the server about it. She explained it was a non-alcoholic malt drink, a little bit sweet. Of course I had to try it. It was indeed very malty and tasted like the Hiram Walker distillery smelled on certain days in my home town of Windsor. (On the way to the airport the next day, I told Mariano that I had ordered it and he was surprised that the hotel had it, because it has been hard to find.)

We spent the afternoon in our room, relaxing and napping and watching CNN international and the BBC. We also bought Internet cards from the front desk and caught up on email and such. Speaking of wifi, Cuba is changing by leaps and bounds in that area. Everyone has a smart phone, it seems. One of our guides told us that this has only been in the last three months. Most people do not have a computer at home, so they have to go to hot spots to get it. Our hotel lobby was one and there were always people sitting there on their phones doing what we all do. It costs $1.50 CUCs for one hour of wifi.

Sign on our hotel room window.

We had a light dinner in the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel and watched the sunset. Gordon got the mushroom risotto because rice was on the diet. We then walked the two blocks to the Hotel Nacional to enjoy another drink at the oceanside bar, a final mojito for me and yet another bottled water for Gord.