Shari emailed an update today with her perspective, that I thought I would share to the blog...
On Jan 1, 2017, at 1:21 PM, Shari Nomady <snomady@xpromos.com> wrote:
I know dad (Mark) has been keeping you all updated on the blog. While he writes his post from New Year's I thought I would send an email.
Overall this is a great trip. Sort of surreal really. There are so many foreign tourists here and yet everyone speaks English for the most part. So we have been able to chat up with all the other tourist. There are some Americans but not many. And honestly the Cubans are polite to us, but when they talk about America and all they don't really like us. I mean it's cash only for us. They do not take American credit cards or debit cards here at all! Yesterday there was a cruise ship in town so everything was packed until about 5:00. Which explains why when we went in search of the chocolate store at 4:00 they were out of about everything. Still after 4 days of no chocolate I would have taken about anything at that point.
We moved from central Havana to Old Havana yesterday. While we thought this would be a smaller quieter area it's actually much more happening. Maybe because it's near the port and maybe because people here just like to party more. There are way more street parties here.
We had a late lunch and rum cocktails to toast my dad's birthday today. We loved the people watching and eavesdropping on foreigner's conversations about the recent election and what they think about it!
We managed to stay up to ring in the New Year here. They don't really do a count down they just play the music louder and scream at midnight. We were with two couples from Italy at our table and had a good time with them. The service was less than acceptable but as they say it's Cuba. Dad described it as moving the slowest Mexicans to Hawaii and that's the pace here! We took a stroll through the neighborhood to check out the street parties before turning in and well seems that they like to throw buckets of water from the balconies here as a New Years tradition . And well one landed on me! Our hostel is near the square so we could hear the parties when we went to bed at 1:00. Dad said it felt like being in college and going to bed because you had a test the next day while everyone else was still partying.
This morning our host was serving us breakfast with our eggs in one hand and his beer in the other hand. (It was 10:00 am!)
As you may know we didn't really have all our reservations confirmed because they don't have the hostel particulars all on line. That combined with the holiday we've had to change up our plans. And we discovered Trinidad is just too far to travel for this trip. Well and they take 2 days for the the new year off and Havana is having a huge parade Tuesday to celebrate Fidel. So getting any transportation for these 3 days is almost impossible. And we're traveling at the busiest time of the year here.
I love the rum, the salsa dancing, music and bread. Actually the food here is awesome. Super fresh veggies and fruit. Lots of chicken and rice. It's really my kind of diet! I don't love the showers. There's better water pressure in the sink than the trickle from the shower, and the water is not warm. Which explains why I still haven't washed my hair here yet! I keep thinking the next stay will be better!
Tomorrow we leave for Cienfuegos and we still need to add a day somewhere since we eliminated Trinidad. I'm certain the internet will only get worse as we get out of Havana. I seem to be able to do text. No apps work here. So no Snapchat, no Instagram and no Facebook unless you can log onto it through your browser. I seem to have more issues than dad because iPhone keeps telling me it's not secure and won't let me do much. We're also told there are fewer cars as you get outside Havana and more horses and bikes for transportation.
What's crazy too is they have tons of electrical wires just hanging from the buildings everywhere. To me Havana is a combination of Mexico, Brazil and Italy. Mexico because the streets are all cobblestone and dirty. Brazil because they love to wear tight clothes and the women wear stilettos and they love to dance and party. Italy because of all the little quaint outdoor cafes down all the side streets and the people with their wagons walking through the streets in the early morning selling bread, fruit, juice and milk.
Off to our last adventure in old town Havana. I'm thinking stop one will be find some Internet to send our love to all to everyone.
Cheers from Cuba
Sent from my iPhone
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