Our first days in La Habana

We arrived in Havana on Monday night -about 2am British time- and after collecting our bags got a taxi to our hotel. On the journey we drove along an almost deserted motorway -apart from some cyclists and old cars- and saw three broken down american cars by the roadside. Our hotel is great, we arrived to flamenco, quickly followed by a thunderstorm before being shown to our room. There are only 5 rooms in the hotel, all off the tropical, central courtyard with huge lofty ceilings and ceiling height doors. Yesterday we decided to get our bearing in La Habana Vieja so walked around the old streets which link a series of beautiful plazas and parks. We somehow managed to get serenaded in the park -1 peso please- and then returned to the hotel where we had tapas and watched the flamenco.

Today we have been exploring Old Havana further and went to visit the Edificio Bacardi, the 1930s home of the Bacardi family, which had an amazing view from the roof. We also visited the cafe there, where we enjoyed refreshing 3 peso mojitos! (1.50 pounds - quite nice when you are used to Deansgate prices) We are currently in the Capitolio, a grand ex-government building which now is home to, amongst other things, a cybercafe. Might go to Chinatown for dinner! Will leave another message soon x

3 peso mojitos!