28 Feb 2011
Do The Havana Hustle
It’s been a week since we got back from Cuba. I’ve settled back into work and life here in the cold north, and now I can finally blog about it. This was my third trip to Cuba, the first two times I stayed at (nice) resorts in Varadero, this time we did Havana.
We had a great time in Cuba, and I will never again do a resort vacation. We opted to go to Havana instead of doing the Varadero route like 97% of the other travelers on our flight. (thank god). I’m so happy we decided on a hotel in Havana as opposed to the usual all-inclusive getaway.
Havana is busting with music, culture, food and a crapload of hustlers! The Lonely Planet book warned us, but my gosh are there ever a ton of people looking to be your friend…and get you to buy them stuff. In any case, we were hustled once, then someone else tried and we realized that his spiel was verbatim to the first couple who tried. Long story short, we deciphered the formula and were able to cut future conversations short(nicely) without having to do the hustle dance for 15 minutes every 50 feet.
We did a lot of walking, eating, drinking and hotel room dancing.
We stayed at the NH Parque Central, strongly recommended. It’s smack dab in the middle of central Havana and within 10-20minute walk to Havana Vieja and Havana Vedado. The hotel is beautiful, only eight floors hight with a beautiful rooftop pool/patio overlooking the citadel.
I think one of the big highlights was visiting the Havana Necropolis and getting to see the grave of the legendary Ibrahim Ferrer of the Buena Vista Social Club.
If you decide to do the Havana trip, I have to suggest that you take a day or two and head out to Guanabo in Playas Del Este ahout 30 minutes east of Havana. It’s a beautiful beachy area where all the locals go when they want to hang out by the ocean. We stayed in a Casa Particulaire for $25 a night and had a fantastic time. So beautiful and quiet.
Just be careful of the jellyfish that might wash ashore, I heard that all of the Cuban beaches were covered in them while we were there!
So, that’s that. If you go to Cuba, go to Havana - skip Varadero.
