We were up and at ‘em yesterday excited to see what’s what in Cuba’s capital, home of the frozen daiquiri and the mojito. Cheers to this next adventure.

At breakfast yesterday we all chatted about our mere whisper of air conditioning overnight and cold showers in the morning. How unaccustomed we all are to blackouts. But hurray for the hotel’s generator that made electricity in our rooms possible. By midafternoon yesterday power was back on and we had cool rooms and hot showers! Power went in and out as we explored the city both days.

Havana was moved to its third and current location in late 1519 because of its natural harbor. Once riches were located in Mexico’s Yucatan, Havana served as a springboard for Spain’s conquest of the Americas and later became a stopping point for Spanish galleons returning home laden with gold. (Think pirates.) It quickly became the largest port in the Spanish West Indies. (Add more pirates!) For centuries it served as a strategic port for trade and commerce and remains the country’s main port and commercial center. Havana is the most populous city and the largest by area in Cuba as well as the second largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean. Its official population is just shy of two million.

We spent the last two days exploring this 500-year-old city. We almost had the wide boulevards to ourselves because of the current fuel shortage. We passed loads of magnificent mansions, some in great shape and many others well past their glory days just begging to be saved. There are huge, manicured roundabouts. No matter the section of town, everything was clean and tidy even if in dire need of attention. Because of fuel shortages garbage was stacked up in some parts of the city waiting to be picked up but in the meantime being blown around by ocean breezes. Sandy made the apt comment that in many ways it comes across as a city on life support.

We started exploring in the area known as Jaimanitas with a visit to the studio and residence of Cuban artist José Rodriguez Fuster. Once his naive art took off and he had made a name for himself, he decided to create something like Gaudi’s public works in Barcelona and Brâncuși’s across Romania. He chose his own neighborhood as his canvas. In 1975, after moving into a modest wood house, Fuster set about decorating his studio in colorful mosaic. Once complete, he slowly got permission to move on to neighborhood homes and businesses. Over the course of a decade, doctors’ offices, bus stops, fountains, benches, gateways, and more were enveloped in whimsical mosaic artwork. This economically depressed area, known as Fusterlandia, slowly morphed into the artists’ paradise and tourist destination it is today.

Another fun neighborhood is La Habana Vieja (Old Havana), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its original urban layout is still intact and boasts some 900 historic buildings in an interesting mix of architectural styles surrounding four central plazas. Think wrought-iron gates, internal courtyards, cobblestone plazas, and balconies. Thankfully building ordinances in the 19th and 20th centuries have preserved the integrity of this architectural hub.

Revolution Square celebrates Cuba’s persistent quest to be an independent country. A star-shaped 785 feet tower plus a statue of Jose Marti, an enormously influential Cuban writer, are the centerpieces. Fidel Castro gave many of his hours-long addresses here. Government buildings surround the plaza.

Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the oldest fort in the Americas, was completed in 1577. Spain’s King Phillip granted Havana the official title of capital in 1607 necessitating the construction of city walls (no longer in existence) and more forts to protect the city.

An important symbol of Havana, El Capitol/the capital is gorgeous with its shiny gold dome. The building bears a marked resemblance to the U.S. capitol building.

Although none of us are currently cigar smokers, it was fun to visit a cigar factory and see the men and women rolling cigars and checking their quality. Cigars deemed less than ideal (three to five percent) are bundled up, set aside, and doled out (free) to the employees (up to five a day). We learned that the indigenous Taíno people were the first to cultivate tobacco, using it for ceremonial purposes and as a form of medicine. Christopher Columbus brought some back to Europe where it quickly gained popularity among the aristocracy. Slowly the cultivation of high-quality tobacco began to flourish, thanks to Cuba’s ideal climate and fertile soil. Add the craftsmanship of meticulously hand-rolling each cigar and centuries later (think 18th century) Cuba had established itself as the home of one of the most revered cigar industries in the world. Cuban cigars became and still are a symbol of luxury and indulgence. (Americans are not allowed to take any home.)

Cuba currently makes 27 brands of cigars in its state-owned factories. The factory we visited has been in existence since 1845 and currently has 300 workers producing 12,000 cigars a day. Each cigar roller has a quota based on the length and girth of the cigar they are assigned to make. Once workers reach their quota for the day, they are free to leave or to stay and make extra money by rolling more.

Ernest Hemingway was in and out of Cuba for 12 years before he and his third wife bought a home here, Finca Vigia. Besides a sizable one-story house, there’s a guest house, tower, and a pool set on a beautiful piece of property just outside of town. The Hemingways used it as a retreat to escape Idaho winters, to fish on his well-used boat, and to work. While here, Hemingway wrote Islands in the Stream, A Moveable Feast, and The Old Man and the Sea. The arrival of the Cold War meant that Hemingway was forced to decide between the United States and Cuba. He left in 1960, a year into Castro’s dictatorship. (He returned to Idaho and committed suicide in July 1961.) Today, his home-turned-museum is open to the public and made for an interesting stop. We enjoyed the furnished rooms by looking in open windows. Those who wanted photographs of the rooms had to pay an employee to taken them.

You would have wanted to be a fly on the wall when we turned our attention from sites to dabbling in a bit of culture. A visit to Club 500 offered us the chance to dance to Cuban rhythms. Oh boy! Those instructors had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Luckily our visit to the Havana Compas Dance Company after lunch was all performance, no participation. With an abundance of enthusiasm and smiling faces the dancers and musicians shared Afro-Cuban, flamenco, and other Spanish dances.

Cuba is famous for its collection of restored, still-in-use, American cars, the kind some of our group learned to drive in our youth. It is estimated that there are still 80,000 pre-1961 American cars on the road in Cuba. It was fun to meet the owner of a small shop that was started by his grandfather in 1952. The shop owner has a 1956 Plymouth and a 1958 Dodge in pristine condition that we were welcome to admire, get inside, take pictures of, and look under the hood. We were surprised to learn two things in particular: less than five percent of Cubans own cars and no American cars or car parts have been allowed in the country since President Kennedy’s embargo in 1960. That begs the question of how the cars are still on the road after decades of no spare parts. A shoutout to the mechanics who have come up with ingenious solutions to this conundrum.

Food
We have had delicious, multi-course meals at noon and night. Often we can’t eat it all. Our fabulous Gate1 logistics coordinator, Pebbles, shared a great idea: ask for a to-go box and give the food to the first person you see upon leaving the restaurant, often children. We all decided to embrace this from here on out.

Temperature
86/76 yesterday and 77/68 today with a brisk ocean breeze

The Official Exchange Rate
$1.00 = 125 CUP (Cuban peso)

The Unofficial Exchange Rate
$1.00 = 340 CUP

Obviously, those with foreign currency have a leg up.