Going to Cuba

From UKCFWiki

'This page is a work in progress. I have (rather cheekily) taken all the information from the Robusto goes to Cuba thread for a friend who is heading out there in a couple of weeks.

I will try to tidy it into some form of meaningful format when I get the time. If you have the time/inclination please feel free to chip in.Italic text

This is from an old Cuban hand from Canada who goes every year Most of the hotels have internet and many have wireless. Local Habaneros have been using the hotel connections, sometimes by asking visitors to buy them an access card and the government decided to shut the door on this. After a lot of public protests, (and a "secret" video shot at the Melia Cohiba) the Feds have backed off on the policy but I would not be surprised if they tried again. Many of the local bloggers are not able to log into their blogs from Cuba and must transfer their material to each other via USB sticks and external drives.

In the resorts most places have an internet area and there is at least one i"nternet cafe" in Varadero.

Because of the climate, you can sit out everywhere but you'll only be able to really chill in your air-conned hotel. In Havana: sit out and be cool at the Hotel Nacional. On the teraza. With a Mojito. There is a great Casa del Habano there too. I like the brew pub in Plaza Vieja too,

Originally Posted by Robusto

I am looking for...

Good places to sit and chill out Because of the climate, you can sit out everywhere but you'll only be able to really chill in your air-conned hotel. In Havana: sit out and be cool at the Hotel Nacional. On the teraza. With a Mojito. There is a great Casa del Habano there too. I like the brew pub in Plaza Vieja too,

If you want to sit "in", I'd find the Bacardi building. One of the nicer little bars in Havana and not in many guidebooks (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Good live music bars The Jazz Cafe and Gato Tuerto in Havana can be good but busy. If you want to experience "local" music and dance, search out the Casa de la Musica in Miramar. It's better than the one downtown. Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Swimming pool to loll about in and next to - Hotel Parque is the first stop and it has a great looking pool on the roof The Parque central does have a great pool and great view. It also has a nice walk-in humidor on the mezzanine. The Nacional also has a nice pool and it's close to the teraza. Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Great comfortable places to stop, loll and smoke fresh and great stogies Everywhere! Do a tour of all the better shops and stop for a smoke/drink in each. Great lounges in Partagas, Melia Cohiba, Melia Havana, C. del Habano 5y16, Conde de Villanueva... Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto To be in the proximity of good looking women without my beloved noticing too much You won't have to look for beauties-they will find you, especially if you are wearing a YUMA hat. If one of them smiles at you and scratches at her cheek just below her eye (as if wiping a tear) tell your beloved to belt her one. Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Numbing alcoholic drinks Es Cuba! Your mind can be numbed at amazingly cheap prices but stick to bars that serve tourists. Worst Mojios are at the Bodeguita (famous for its Mojitos) but great ones can be had at Dos Hermanos, Havana Club and Nacional. Buy a bottle of Anejo 7yo for those "nightcaps". Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Plenty of fresh fruits That can be hit or miss. Should be OK now but food supplies in Cuba are still recovering from last fall's hurricanes. get a few "local" pesos (CUP or moneda nacional) and go to an agromercado. Quote: Originally Posted by Robusto Great beach with plenty of shade Not near Havana. The Playas del Este are the local beaches and are nice but for great beaches you have to go to Varadero or points east.

Mostly standard 2-pin "continental" sockets.

220 volts As Cbob says, but some of the two pin sockets are either a tad wider or narrower depending on what adaptor you have. When out buying Bryan, check out the variations and buy both if available.

Originally Posted by Robusto Plugs, sockets, electricity.

Any Cuba vet Brit know if one of those multi-plugs from Boots, Tesco, etc, will be OK for electric razors and joy balls in Havana and beyond, please? Should have no probs at all Bryan, i took my multi plug to charge my Ipod, and there were no problems at all............while there was electricity that is.

The power cuts only add to the enjoyment.Remember that your credit cards are no good in the majority of the country and UK sterling currency is the thing to have lots of.

Couple of ATM machines in Havana if you get stuck for cash(especially useful after visiting the Partagas factory

I heard today that apart from pens, toothpaste, soap... a good thing to take and use as a tip is small packets of Paracetamol. I'll be popping to Supadrug at some point this week!

i forgot to mention that the official government uniforms for cuba were designed by benny hill. I saw a nurse in white stileto's, fish nets and a dress 2 sizes to small. Enjoy that thought-.

My trip to Cuba was over ten years ago but I remember...

Every cigar I smoked tasting better than anywhere else. The ambience just made them taste better!

Staying in a Casa Particulares. Much more real than any hotel! Huge rooms - colonial splendour! I also felt connected by staying with and speaking with 'my' Cuban family every day.

Copelia in Havana. It's great and I'd recommend getting there at an off peak time. Mid afternoon the queues can be long. It's a 50s ice cream parlour, architecturally interesting and favoured by locals more than tourists.

Getting lots of smiles and good mornings on my early morning jogs. I find it's one of the best ways of getting a feel for a new place.

Music everywhere! Bars with two customers had a five man band!

Staying away from touristy spots and then noticing the stark contrast when going to a tourist show. It does not seem like the same island.

Terrible food when eating out. At 'home' food was great (cooked by the people we were staying with), but every restaurant had tasteless rubbery food. I must have had ten lobsters in my quest for some taste and still no luck.

I've been using my VISA and MC all over in Cuba for many years. I always use it at Partagas, even for things like events and I buy all my cigars and bus travel with my card. Any cigar store you would patronize will accept cards.

The only cards that are NOT accepted are ones from US banks and you should check to be sure because even here in Canada, some of our cards are actually on US based banks (CitiBank, some Master Cards). "American Express"? It goes without saying.

There are also no ATM machines that take "bank" cards (account cards). You can use your credit card to get cash advances from banks and the few ATMs in Havana but certainly NO debit cards are accepted.

Little is the same as it was in Cuba 10 years ago but I'll admit that you appear to have enjoyed a few of the pleasures that are still a joy in Havana.

If you had a Casa Particular with "colonial splendour" you were indeed lucky but many people still enjoy being out of the "hotel" loop.

Copelia is still a great place to go and it is getting a bit easier to avoid the embarrassing visits of a few years ago when "extraneros" were called into a seperate line and served first while block-long "colas" of locals waited patiently for one of two flavours. Curiously (or maybe not) Habaneros with CUCs prefer to go to Bim Bom where they usually have a big selection.

The food is much better "on a good month" but with the drastic reduction in produce and staples since the last big hurricanes, most places in Havana that don't have access to "tourist" markets have slim fare. When I spent a month in Havana last November/December many locals were going hungry and if you wanted more than "rations" at your homestay you needed to shop for your host family at the CUC supermercados. Even then some hotels and markets were short of food. There are many quite good small restaurants in Havana now and even the over-hyped Aljibe in Miramar that gets a write-up in every guide book still has a great "all you can eat" dinner for a low price that has not changed in several years.

That's the key thing. No American banks. Even hidden ones like Citibank.

Wait! There are 2 key things- no American banks and letting your CC company know when you are going to be using the card away from home so they don't lock your card after your first box of cigars...

3 KEY THINGS!! that you must remember : - no American banks - letting your CC company know - and pre-paying some money into your credit card account

As I mentioned, this section is Stream of consciousness stuff from my friend Bryan who is a great chap. This is his first trip to Cuba and he went to Havana for a week:

Well I'm not sure how much feedback you guys want. After all, many of you are Cuba veterans, and I might lob in opinions that you disagree with.

I liked...

...that we decided to stay in two very good standard hotels in Havana - the Parque Central with its godsend of a swimming pool, and the less comfortable Telegrafo - and that we experienced a complete contrast by staying in a pretty basic but very friendly homestay in Trinidad with a lovely family. All four of us rated that lodging contrast as one of the best decisions we made before going.

I didn't like...

...feeling intimidated on some of the streets in Havana and Trinidad. I had no idea there would be as many men approaching with "You want to try a good cigar?". "You want to try good cannabis?". Once for dope. SCORES of times for cigars, with boxes of Cohibas LMFAO being flashed across the street 'in secret' from down dark passageways. No doubt oxen shit. Very funny.

I didn't walk round smoking very much. I was simply approached as a pale-skinned podgy European, usually in a Stetson. Easy target, really.

I was very successfully 'scammed' twice for milk from supermarkets. "You buy milk for my baby? I have sick baby" etc etc. Most scams started off very friendlily. One was clever. A guy struck up a friendship as I waited outside a photographic shop in his broken Spanish. He told me how great the Cuban health service is, and asked if Mrs Thatcher was still our leader. We split as I and the family walked on down the street. As I was crossing at a busy intersection, this guy slipped two (dreadful-looking) cigars into my top pocket. In the traffic, I shouted you didn't need to do that, sort of thing. I said to my boys we haven't seen the end of this. 50 metres later the guy was at my side. "You buy me milk...". I caved in, went into a supermarket and he asked for three litre boxes of fresh milk. I paid 7 Peros or so, but really didn't care by then. This was one of the funniest street scenes I'd ever gone through. After about three days of approaches, I learnt not to make eye contact and not to give a damn about the hands out and stories. I felt like a Brit shit in India, but what else to do?...

I am a big experienced boy, but this malarkey I didn't like at all. I felt very protective about my wife and two sons - but none of the four of us is super soppy or super touchy. I do think some people would be really shocked by this aspect of Cuban street life, so it's worth knowing the lie of the land on the hassle score. There were some Parisians in the lifts at the Parque Central. You know how good those women look in cashmere sweaters, with their kids in head to toe BABAR the Elephant clothes. I thought they would be rich pickings when the hotel door slid open. Believe me, the hassle started as quickly as that.

The funniest thing in the street scam for the three litres of milk was when my self-effacing wife held out a drug rep biro from her hospital as a sort of ... expresses it politely... "Please go away" gesture. The man was completely baffled at this, and eventually accepted it. Fabulous. My underwear is in moisture danger when I run that bit back in my mind and I'll never forget it.

More pro's and con's tomorrow if you can bear it.

To reassure: The pro's far outweigh the con's.

Some more, then...

MONEY

Thanks to Craig and others earlier in the thread, we had no problems at all.

We took stacks of Sterling and were able to change a bit at the airport immediately. We changed the rest of the cash at the Exchange in the Parque Central Hotel. Note - Very long opening hours.

We took some more money out on NatWest and A&L credit cards and had to pay about 11% on each transaction.

We saw one set of ATMs when we were out and about in Havana but found it much more convenient to use the hotel facilities. It might have been cheaper somewhere else but we were sorted in our own way.

I used my NatWest card at the Partagas factory to stock up on great ones - then got a second cigar-buying urge at the casa in our hotel. Both times the cashiers pointed out that it would be 11% on top of the normal transaction. That still came to a great deal on top cigar purchases!

So... Plenty of cash and a credit card. And I did phone in advance to tell NatWest that I was off to Cuba.

I'll tell you if I've been hugely conned when I check my statements online.

THE CIGARS. THE SMOKING.

What can I say?...

I have to be frank.

It was fucking marvellous to be able to smoke a cigar wherever I wanted to and whenever I wanted to without some idiot going off on a Health and Safety lung-protecting wanking arm flap to the nostrils, or a big gay "My Precious Health - You Will Die" speech.

My wife and two boys (17, 22) were absolutely fascinated by the Partagas Factory and the rollers and, indeed, the whole cigar-making process. So much so that later after our visit, I sat them down in a hotel lobby and taught them how to enjoy a good cigar. We toked on a phat one as a foursome.

The bars and restaurants had smoking and non-smoking areas. Admittedly Cuba is open to the outside climate more than the UK, but NOBODY MADE A FUSS.

Interestingly, Cubans cannot smoke the Havanas we enjoy. I quote the guide in the factory because I asked him about it. He said the sticks are for export only, and that a good cigar would cost the average Cuban worker a month's salary to buy.

I have to say I was a bit shocked, even guilt-ridden, at this - and I made sure I did not smoke a good banded one out and about in the streets. I just thought I would get milked more (see above). I saw some Cuban men working cigars, but not many. It's more a cigarette smoker's place, I felt. Would be interested in what other visitors feel about that.

I did, however GO LARGE for the duration. I am a Robusto man, but I enjoyed, amongst others, single Sublimes, Gigantes (my first ones ever!), Lusitanias, some Romeo and Juliet phallic tower block thing... I can see the fantastic attraction of monster sticks because it is like smoking about five different types of cigars in one go.

I must say the Sublimes is a wonderful, wonderful cigar... I adore it.

I took out to Cuba two D4s in a small leather pocket case and got something like a weird sexual thrill when the Partagas tour took us to the box-filling bench. I had brought my D4 back 5,000 miles to be near its little cousins lined up on the workbench. It was cigar coitus in a bright red ring - and I've kept that a secret from anyone until this very typing. (I am thrilled by things like that. So sorry).

To puff a large one in front of salsa bands, in comfortable hotel lobbies until the wee small hours, on an open train up into the mountains above Trinidad, by the hotel pool, in the bars and clubs... This is greatly what my trip was about.

I've written on here in the past how much I miss not being able to enjoy a cigar in a pub. I used to do that in the Summer on my way home from work. Break the journey. Relax.

Well... The Cubans can still do that, and nobody is screaming.

did keep a detailed journal for the week. I always do for great holidays.

Big T - My Humidoro seven drawer humi is as rammed as it has ever been and I am happy. I will look at the box labels when I get home some time.

Ryan - I would give an absolute green light to the Parque Central. Have confidence. It's comfortable. It has a good lobby. It has a casa del habano.

The casa was reasonably well stocked and great for singles. Great staff and a fabulous floppers' lounge if you wanted to smoke one off in their premises. I usually smoked in the hotel lobby. The Partagas factory is ten minutes' walk away and is like a sweet shop! Take your pick - but be prepared for cigar street hassle as you approach Partagas. It was quite extraordinary! Vociferous liggers "with Partagas ID papers" on the very steps of the factory! Hassle City!

We avoided the Steak House at the Parque because it seemed VERY pricey and too European. The breakfasts in the deal we had were absolutely fantastic. Very European, I guess - hotel previously German-owned, now Spanish-owned - but I am a FANATIC FOR FRUIT and wanted to eat loads out in Cuba... and I'm pleased to say I ate loads of fruit I had never eaten before and am now as happy as Larry. The breakfasts also kept my meat eater side thrilled as well. Top marks to the hotel.

I didn't try any custom rolled cigars. We could have headed over to Vinales (where I think Craig got some fresh ones in his write-up) and been treated to that, but decided to walk all over Havana off the tourist routes instead. I got two cigars shoved in my pocket (see earlier) but I dumped those close to the Hotel Nacional fearing they might explode.

ACMCC

Food - Well catered for in the hotel. Plenty of restaurants at low prices. Simple menus in the streets invariably accompanied with rice, black beans. Meat usually chicken or pork. Fairly simply cooked. In other words, not top top cuisine choices, really. In our homestay, we had the same essentials listed plus MASSES of fresh fruit (this in Trinidad, btw), plus red snapper (delicious), lobster, prawns. GREAT bread in Cuba, we thought, and in the homestay lots of eggs and omelettes. The freshness of the eggs and bread was quite remarkable. Loads of restaurants in toutisty Havana with very similar menus. In Trinidad, I thought there was a bit more variety, but we mostly ate at home.

FANTASTIC music in both cities. Fantastic quality of musicianship. On squares. In streets. In bars. I recorded several on my phone camera. We have three mounds of pictures. I've put some on Facebook. I'll try and transfer them. SALSA everywhere - and no 'Western' pop music - which was brilliant!

I did indeed feel I might be robbed but will come back to that later. I'm slipping this out from time off at work.

Maybe this was because we went in Autumn, Deano? Or maybe I have a tattoo that says TARGET FOR A SCAM on my forehead? I really don't know!

I think we did benefit from going at the end of October. The plane flights were rammed, btw. We were often four people with perspiration on our faces in a crowd with no trace of facial beading. I mean we had beautiful artistic droplets. Not barrel-loads above the eyebrows.

I have to say my sense of being unsettled started on the coach ride in from Havana airport to Havana city centre late at night. I am just not used to seeing hundreds of people sitting outside near midnight at home. (My family thought I was over the top about being concerned about this, btw). I stress that I did not let this lead me to the conclusion that I might be mugged. One quick incident over MONEY FOR BABY turned tinily unpleasant, and where most scammers just gave up if ignored, one family kept the heat up a bit, stirring their kids to show 'tude (as my sons sniggered later).

I did tell my boys and wife that they were not to wander off willy-nilly. I don't often put my foot down in any way, but my "just in case" antennae were erect.

I've had Army training (no joke) and I do tend to be on amber or red alert whenever I leave my front door. Fuck - It's not the set of 28 Days Later in Cuba or in the UK. I am simply a very cautious man, and the number of confident approaches by strangers in the street made me jump to Possible Mugging Scenario Mode. And I felt that in Havana and Trinidad on several occasions.

My boys are 6'2" and 6'4". I am 6'. I saw this as an attraction AND a deterrent. And all the Cuban folk we spoke to as human beings were extremely friendly and inquisitive. They were particularly inquisitive about my boys' height. Basketball, and all that.

I'll shut up on that in case you think I'm a fascist bigot. I refer you to my first post where I said this was not a place for the precious - and I really believe that. Shoot me down - but I say Stick Together.

And so, Nic, to the contrasts of city vs country.

The countryside was amazingly lush and green. We walked around Trinidad, and also made the to-and-fro drive by comfortable coaches for each five hour journey.

Road travel was interesting. Motorways were not crowded. People often blocked the first two lanes holding out banknotes to cadge a lift. Women would hold out baskets of fruit towards the passing vehicles. People parked at the side whenever. Our coach driver pulled over to buy a papaya from a guy who walked to the carriageway from a farm. Motorway stop-offs were remarkably good.

Smaller roads had us waiting behind horses, carts, tractors. Very much like south-east Kent in that sense. My journey to work in the morning, really.

We stayed with a nurse and she hit it off with us because that is my wife's profession, too. There was a tendancy to pre-arrange visits for us. (I sniffed friends of friends because I'm a cynic). I made my NO very clear to that from the outset, but still the 'man with the horses' arrived at the front door, and had to be told NO.

Homestay was overwhelmingly positive and friendly. We were well fed and well greeted.

Trinidad was just as hassling to tourists on foot - and I reckon we were a smaller number of targets than in Summer. We went to some great music bars in Trinidad. Just wonderful. If you go, the cobbled streets are very tiring indeed.

As a family, we have started taking tourist trails after years of resisting them. Although I worried about taking an old steam train from Trinidad up into the surrounding hills, it turned out to be a glorious thing to do. An open-sided carriage on a hot day up through all that fresh air (whilst enjoying a Partagas) in beautiful surroundings and then visiting an ex sugar plantation and reflecting on how crap it would have been for the African slaves chucked in there... Extraordinary.

And what beautiful countryside!

The same goes for the beach we visited at the Ancon peninsula where we all melted into the beautifully warm water or lolled around under the palms with coconuts on the beach. Hardly another person there. Just glorious.

So. Without developing this into a ceaseless life-story...

Would I recommend Cuba for a visit? A thousand times YES.

What REALLY surprised you, Bryan? The vehicles. The number of brand-new spanking great vehicles in Havana alongside old wrecks of cars, including many old Chevrolets, and so on. Alongside the rickshaws.

What else? The fact that for a week I was so pleased not to be surrounded by the usual city stuff of Burger King, KFC, Starbucks... The fact there was hardly any advertising in the street,and certainly not for big companies. OK... Havana Club got through the net LOL... The fact that there were no places to buy a British newspaper, and that they weren't put out in the hotels. I realised this as soon as I got back and saw some shit about The Twins on the front of a newspaper... The way the satellite channels seemed really alien with their fixations on Dominos Pizzas, and so on...

I guess this touches on the philosophical differences between 'the West' and Cuba, in a way, though I never spoke to anyone about that. I kept it all up top with my red banded coitus. We all enjoyed the slogans for PATRIA O MUERTE etc on houses and walls, and had some wry observations about them.

Give one more example of what surprised you, Sir.

It has to be the contradictions.

You can sit on the steps of the Capitolo and look at Havana, or out of a hotel bedroom. You can see repaired and maintained buildings wedged in with totally decayed ones. Delapidation. I was surprised that the authorities would not have tried to window-dress their capital city a bit more. Maybe I have missed the point utterly?...

I was astounded at the main square with massive monuments and window-sides with illuminated faces of Che and Castro that there was a metal staircase down to a roadside with about seven metal steps all decayed away so that pedestrians had to jump a massive gap.

Somebody needs to deal with PR there. And around the place generally.

I just want to say - in my defence, chaps - I am an educated man who has travelled around most of Europe as well as the US, particularly New Mexico and Northern Mexico. I speak two other major European languages fluently.

I have no truck with racist generalisations. My observations on Cuba should not be seen in any dodgy way, therefore. Just the thoughts of a man who loved the odd cigar who had his 50th birthday treat pepped up in an amazing way. And went to Cuba partly because of the enthusiasm for all things Cuban gleaned through other folks' posts on this website.

I felt a duty in these rushed posts to reflect both sides of the coin - as I experienced it - to BOTL who might be thinking of visiting.

I'm quite prepared to be flamed, btw. I don't have all the answers!

Above all, do go and visit Cuba!

Originally Posted by Ryan Great reports Robusto, thanks for all the info. I'm looking forward to my trip more than ever now. Good to hear you had such a good time. Last questions, is there anything you didn't have you, that you couldn't get there and that you wish you had brought? Small bottle of Tabasco for example? Or anything you wish you had brought for the people you met? Great questions, Ry.

I don't think we forgot anything. I like a clean shave around my fuzz so made sure we had ample batteries and took plug adaptors and phone chargers. 02 was more Cuba-friendly than Orange for mobiles, but they all routed through Cubacel.

My wife was forward-thinking and took a well-packed family first aid kit, topped up with hospital supplies. I know it would have been expensive to not have some of that had we been ill.

I could not decide on a book and had no time before Gatwick to buy one. I borrowed my wife's copy of The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I knew Hemingway was a man's man, that he featured large in Cuban and Havana life. This was a simple little tale and very easy to read. Enjoyable. It's set off the Havana coast. I won't spoil it, but the author sure knew how to dispense of a big one that rises up on you.

I will read more Hemingway. I had never read him before. Does anyone know if he was a cigar man? He has many of the traits in his writing.

It would have been foolhardy not to take suntan lotion, btw.

FOR THE PEOPLE WE MET

They were reliant upon tourism for their well-being. Homestay families. They were very, very sweet and I wish we had taken something very appropriate for them. It is only after you have discovered people like that that you know what would be suitable, of course. Our lives and standard of living were very separated so some of the things I might have naturally given would not be appropriate to them. We will keep in contact. Not by email. They don't have it.

Just to finish... I must say how cheap it was to use taxis in the cities. Use the state-owned taxis so you don't get ripped off. We were advised to haggle the prices down and this was successful in all but one case.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your comments through the end of this thread. I had a lot to write - mostly undercover at work LOL - and I seem to have passed through haughtily without personal address. Sorry.

It has been great to chunder away in writing because I'm missing Cuba a lot. We all are here!

I wanted to blurt these refections out on the site whilst the memories remain fresh.

Comments on the above from Bob the Canadian Old Cuba Hand Hand

Excellent report Bryan!!

That's a great pic of you in the Parque Central too- if I'm wandering in Habana Vieja and get caught short I always head for the upstairs at PC. Nicest washrooms in the neighborhood!

A couple of comments if I may : • The Stetson is a "less than good" idea at any time in Cuba. It marks you as a "Yuma" (American) and guarantees a tout convention wherever you go. For your next trip, consider a plain straw fedora. • Don't feel bad about the "Milk For My baby" scam. It's been going on successfully for much longer than I have been visiting The Island (1996) and "Extraneros" (tourists) are choice targets. The milk that you buy (they will never accept money) is sold back to the store where you bought it and the tout and the merchant split your generosity. The government guarantees milk for every Cuban child up to the age of 7 years and in fact, they are the only ones in Cuba who get whole milk- adults are not allowed to purchase it unless it is for a child (and they have to prove it) so they must use powdered milk they mix with local water. Coffee drinkers beware that if a new friend offers you milk for your coffee in their home, it's made with tap water. • The "11% surcharge" on your CCs is simply the conversion from CUC to USD. Your card will be chaged in USD and converted to your local currency. If you do the calculation when you get your statements, you will find that you paid the same as if you had converted your money to CUC and paid cash -although that does depend a bit on the value of the GBP against the USD. Two years ago, when our CAD was actually higher than the USD, I made a 2% profit using my VISA! • The Partagas rollers actually make a very good wage (for Cuba) but a Serie D No.4 is only about 1/2 month's salary. BTW, you should have tried those cigars the "local" put in your pocket The local "tabacos" (cigars) sell for $1 CUP each ( 1/24 of a CUC- no kidding) and some are surprisingly decent. I always smoke a Reloba or two on my visits. • The Parque Central was not German but was originally one of the Dutch "Tulip" chain run by KLM. I believe it is now managed by one of the Cuban tourist boards. • Your perception of Havana as "crumbling" is correct but since Old Havana was made a UNESCO Heritage Site some years ago, they are renovating as many of the old buildings as possible rather than tearing them down to build modern replacements. There are some very nice examples scattered around the city and worth hunting up on a future visit. Why don't the Cubans add more "window dressing"? It's very simple: they are dead broke. Nobody likes all the broken pavement, missing manholes and balconies falling in the street but they simply have no way to buy materials and make repairs. Often, buildings that have been condemned and have sat empty for some time will suddenly be descended upon by people from the neighborhood who in a few hours will totally cannibalize the building, carrying away every brick, tile, window and wire to use in renovating their own homes. I'm looking forward to more of your comments and photos as you get a chance to "decompress".