Good Images from Havana

Here are a couple of good shots of the old amigos taken by Devon Stephens.

Below are the final trip notes from Zach of our Cuban adventure.

Day 4

Lazy day today! We'd been running enough to take a day off. I slept in until 10 and didn't come down for breakfast until 11. Each of us spent the majority of the day sleeping or reading. Aside from an Ice cream run at 3, we didn't leave the house until dinner at 7 at a place called Mammys. Next we went to the American Theatre to see Mauricio's band (Habana Sax) play. Mike and Devon wore shorts and we quickly found out this was not acceptable for that theatre. Since we were "with the band" they snuck those guys in the back stage door. While the band played very well, the sound was mixed poorly and it was difficult to hear much of the percussion. After their set was up, we went to la musicalla son de la madrugada Here, Poncho Amat was playing a gig for some "dignitaries" this band was amazing together. Scott knows the sound engineer and the percussionist from a previous visit. Suri from the house met us out tonight and appeared to be surprised at how well the band members knew Scott and made remarks that she had seen them on the TV before but never in person. After the show, there was a performance by a drag queen that was pretty funny. We were home by midnight tonight and got a bit more sleep than any of our nights so far.

Day 5

Today we rented the car that we'll drive to Veradaro and Vinales. The driver from the car rental place was to pick us up at 9 am. Devon and Scott were going to get the car and Mike and I were to stay behind. The deposit for the car is $500 CUC, while the rental itself is $420 for 3 days. Mike and I agreed to front the cash for the deposit, but I woke up at 9 and no one else was awake. Around 9:45 I had all 3 others up and we were eating breakfast. By 11 we were at the car rental place...but the wrong one! Cubacar is the only one we had heard of, but the owner of the house made the reservation for us at Habanacar. 40 min later we were on our way. The Malecon was closed in a couple places today due to wave/water action. The wind blew in from the North last night and the waves are Huge! I've got pictures of them spraying most of the way up the lighthouse at the old fort, perhaps 80 feet or so! We had a map from the rental company and the lonely planet guide to navigate with. It's too bad that the roads outside the city appear to have no signs for navigation; there are, however, many billboards with communist and socialist sayings. After numerous wrong turns and Mike and I attempting to drive from the backseat, we made it to Veradaro. Cuba is not wasting any of the revolution money on road signs. The wind was blowing so hard that the ocean was all kicked up and it was cold outside without long sleeves. We ate our typical 2:30 lunch and then headed for Xanadu, previously the DuPont family home on the beach now a country club. We took a few photos and then piled back in the car for the return trip (3 hours). We came back to the house, found our long pants and took a taxi to Los Amigos again for dinner. We've thought of having dinner in the house, but always seem to have a reason to go out. After dinner (10pm), we headed back to the house because tomorrow we're going to drive to Vinales for 2 days.

Day 6

We planned breakfast for 8:30 today so we could get on the road, as with most of our plans, it went out the window. We slept until 8:30 and ate around 9:30. When we did finally pack up, we went to Mauricio's house to pick up some items for the family we were going to stay with (musical instruments and accessories that Scott brought). The roads have horrible directional markers, so it took us quite a while to find the autopiste to head out of town.
The drive was pretty normal until we got close to our destination, where rocky cliffs (Mogotes) appeared almost out of nowhere. They don't look like anything I've ever seen in this hemisphere. I can best describe them as looking like Thailand or some other south China sea location, they are majestic! We drove into town and found a restaurant with a mix of locals and tourists. The town was about the size of Nashville Indiana, or a bit smaller. We located one of the houses where we'd rented rooms and stopped in to say hello. We quickly discovered that we were going to need our tourist visa in addition to our passports, and we didn't all have them with us. Resigned to the fact of driving home, we went to visit the family Scott had met on his previous trips. There the 2 ladies confirmed that it was too risky for any family to take us in, as Americans, and we packed back up to head home. Scott knew of a place that is supposed to be the next Veradaro called Cayo Julias. We'd passed several signs for it and decided to make the drive. It looks almost exactly like Key Largo! We stopped for a beer and took a few photos and then turned back around. I suspect that had the sun been shining, it would have been one of the best beaches I'd ever seen. Having added 3 hours to our return trip, it was already dark by the time we made it back to Vinales. Again, the road signs were awful and we had a few questionable turns before finding the highway. We listened on the ipod to episodes of Car Talk and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me for a few hours on the way back to Havana. The exit to the highway where it ended was the most exciting dismount I've ever experienced, the road simply ended at a 270 degree exit loop without any warning (or sign, of course). We found a new roadside restaurant, had some pork and made it back to the house at 11. I spent the rest of the night reading the Lonely Planet guide about Cuba's history in the world.

Day 7

Today we went shopping near old town. We had to return our rental car before 8 pm, so we went to a market just down the street from the Havana Libre. There are a lot of original paintings and arts&crafts type items intermixed with so much Che propaganda. The guy is a uniting front of legend, stories and part Walt Disney. The lonely planet author wonders out loud about whether Che would approve of the "commercialization" of himself. After the market we wanted to go to the hotel national. In finding a parking place, Mike flipped a u-turn in front of a cop and ended up with a $30 ticket. The cop was very cool, but wouldn't let us get our picture taken with him after the whole thing was said and done. We checked out the gift shop, changed some money and moved out to the front lawn overlooking the port for a couple rounds of Cuba libres! This was the first time I saw Devon get a bit drunk, something that did not take so long for him to observe in the other 3 of us. Next up was a drive down to old town to find the market, lunch and some more drinks. Everywhere you go in Cuba, the smell of gasoline or diesel exhaust is strong! I think that a few years from now when I return with my family, the smell of exhaust will be a strong reminder of this trip and many days spent laughing as we explored the country. I'm impressed with the level of education , formality, friendliness, and desire for the U.S. economic sanctions to be lifted. I connected a bit more with my feelings of being the ugly American on this trip, not because of any impression that a person left with me, but rather because of what many of the people I met could rise to be if they were given 1/10th the chance that I have had in my life. Economics as a social weapon is the most personally destructive thing that I have ever witnessed. In a small way I hope that the money I've spent there will help lessen the difficulties that are present in nearly every building.

Day 8

Last full day on the island! Out the door today by 9 am, no small feat for a group that finished off a 5th of Havana Club last night. Suri, one of the house keepers joined us for drinks and dinner last night. We had our drinks at the second floor bar in the hotel Saratoga where Scott and his wife stayed on their second trip. It's a bar with 40' ceilings and led lights that move across a painting that looks a lot like Vinales. By this time in the vacation, Devon is used to being passed around as the translator, we all have questions to ask, but don't speak Spanish (ok, mike almost does and Scott speaks some kind of surreal trans-national language, but I've got nothing!). Anyway UN translator Devon had his work cut out for him. We went to dinner last night at a restaurant called La Guarida. It was a fantastic place to eat and was featured in the movie Strawberries and Chocolate. Back to today: we decided to walk to a movie poster museum and store on calle 23. Scott went nuts and bought 9 posters (sorry Stephanie, we're helping your husband clear out your bank account), the rest of us also found a few. Still battling some kind of stomach bug, Scott walked back to the house and Mike, Devon and I moved on to find some paintings near old town. Mission accomplished, we found lunch (bistec Uraguayo again for me) and caught a ride in a dodge rambler back to the house. Some people are surprised that we are here as americans, some are not, but everyone says "Obama!!!!"
Some of Scotts musician friends, Jorge, Ernesto and his wife, came over to the house for a few hours to visit and tell stories. Later, Mauricio, Jorge and his 4 yr old son came out with us to find Pizza in China town. $3.40 gets you a pizza that I couldn't finish! I entertained Jorge jr. With episodes of Wile-e coyote and the road runner on the iPhone. The sound of an unexpected laugh of a 4yr old is the same in any language. After dinner we took a taxi to John Lennon park, where there was supposed to be some music (there wasn't) and then on to the Melia Cohiba hotel where we caught a full on cabaret show, an awesome way to finish up the night.
As a last observation, we discussed today the fact that this system does pretty well on the island for what it has. The whole thing would have come tumbling down if it were in a geographic area with yearly climate change, but the fact is that it's in a warm spot. That said, the condition of most of the buildings is so bad that if something huge isn't done in 15 years, I'm afraid of what will happen.