We left our nice little hostel close to San Jose airport at 3am and arrived out our equally delightful casa particular in Havana exactly 16 hours later.

The flights were incident free but the same cannot be said for our short stay in Mexico City and our arrival in Havana.

I had secured our Cuban visas well in advance of the trip but sadly they seemed to disappear along with the ipad back in Bolivia. As a result we had to secure cuban visas in Mexico City.

Now the process itself was actually very straightforward but unfortunately a lack of interjet staff made the wait in line arduous. In fact we were quite lucky to be near the front of a queue that swelled considerably during our 45 minute stay.

We then had a small falling out as Abi managed to fill in my visa incorrectly. One could argue that I should have been filling out my own visa but I didn’t trust my handwriting, so duly delegated. Abi proceeded to try and write Michael on the last name line and I was not happy. It kept us occupied while a stern looking woman tried and failed to control the crowds of people bombarding her with questions as we were about to board the plane.

Chinese nationals were asked to wait until the end (I think more to do with having a different visa than for coronavirus reasons) but it did come across as quite racist and the Chinese were not amused!

As soon as we arrived at Havana airport it felt as though we had been transported back in time. The building was old fashioned and the passport control area distinctly lacking in the modern technologies on display in airports around the world. That being said my messily corrected visa sailed through and I was optimistic until we hit a crowd of people trying to get through a bag security check.

It was a tedious wait and I can never fathom security checks after flights, but they were probably searching for US propaganda.

The vast majority of machines to change currency were out of use but luckily a security guard helped with one so that we could get our hands on some CUC (cuban convertible pesos – only available in Cuba).

With the sun setting in spectacular fashion, we had finally made it to Cuba!

The vast majority of our Cuban accommodation was booked on Air BnB and will involve staying in casa particulares. These can range from boutique style hotels (like our one in Havana) to rooms in cute Grandma’s houses (like Varadero).

Yamille greeted us from our taxi in Havana and showed us to our room in her fine colonial style house that had been converted into a mini boutique hotel with 5 rooms:

Abi’s Rating: 6.5/10 – Not a very nice area.

Mike’s Rating: 9/10 – Great room, comfy bed and a plentiful breakfast. The only drawback was that it was a 15 minute walk from the main attractions but that meant it was very quiet!

The casas offer fulsome breakfasts for 5 CUC ($5) and have been pretty much the same so far. Pineapple, papaya, banana and guava followed by eggs (scrambled or omelette) with ham, cheese and varying qualities of bread.

We stepped out onto the street for the first time and set off on our day long exploration of Havana.

This is a capital city with a difference. There are plenty of tourists but there is distinct lack of hustle and bustle. The fast paced nature of almost every other capital that I have visited (with perhaps the exception of Bridgetown – probably something in the water if you draw comparisons) just does not exist.

One of the reasons for this is the relative lack of traffic and the fact that, to the 25 year old foreign eye at least, every car that does pass is an event in itself.

Aside from the odd classic car that passes you on a summer Saturday in middle England, I have had very little exposure to the array of motors that, quite simply, look far superior to the modern automobile.

It’s true that they are probably far more expensive to run, frequently break down and cause unimaginable levels of pollution (without even considering the disparity in safety measures to a modern car) but it is not an exaggeration to say that the classic cars that roam Havana define the city itself.

Aside from the four wheeled beauties the real heartbeat of this city is the vast array of spectacular colonial buildings. In many other countries around the world every other building would be deemed a tourist attraction and Havana Vieja is a goldmine of rich architecture that serenely retains its authenticity.

Our first stop was a trip to ‘El Museo de la Revolución’ to get to grips with Cuban history. Housed in the former Presidential Palace (built between 1913 and 1920), it was under construction during our visit which put a couple of key rooms out of action although we still managed to glean a lot of interesting information about the Cuban Revolution.

Not the best place in the world for the most patriotic of Americans as the country is vilified for a variety of crimes. The ones relating to Guantanamo more likely to be true than the string of accusations aimed at CIA agents that included introducing diseases to cuban crops and people.

The rugged streets just a block away from the incredible museum building laid bare the deficiencies of socialismo.

Many cubans are given houses, pay little or no tax, have access to an excellent free education system and also have free medical care. It sounds perfect until you see the state of disrepair that some of the dwellings are in and realise that the people living there cannot afford renovations.

It is fascinating to see from an outside perspective that what would be prime real estate in most countries worldwide (even some of the less wealthy ones) resembles a house that would look more at home in a Rio favela.

Turn the corner and you are in the Cathedral square littered with grandiose colonial style buildings. They face the equally impressive cathedral complete with twin bell towers.

Abi and I paid 1 CUC each to climb to the top of the smaller tower and we were afforded an excellent view over the city. The imperious Capitolio (we will get there soon) stood out like a sore thumb in the otherwise grey and shabby looking skyline. Perhaps a sign of the changing times was a huge Tui Cruise Liner docked in the port.

Lunch was a pair of good toasted sandwiches from a little cafe while a band played in the doorway. Sadly we had to sit inside because there were no seats available but the music was enjoyable.

The next stop on our city tour would be the Capitolio building. $17 million, 5000 workers, 3 years two months and twenty days worth of labour produced this magnificent hime of Cuba’s national assembly.

Built in 1926 under US backed Dictator Machado, this building is a glimpse at what Havana might look like if Revolution had not taken place. A remarkable building it certainly is but it looks completely out of keeping with the rest of the city and lacks the soulful character of the residents who sit playing dominos outside of their rundown houses a few streets away.

Our final jaunt of the afternoon would prove to be a bit of a disaster. Our aim was to visit Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, the largest colonial fortress on the Americas at 700m long and covering 10 hectares in total.

The first issue arose when we realised that we could not walk and had to take a taxi there. We were quoted 10 CUC and in hindsight I should have tried to haggle down but just accepted which meant a steep 5 minute taxi drive through the tunnel!

Issue number 2 was that the fort was strangely deserted. Only the odd sighting of another tourist and many of the exhibitions were closed or under repair meaning that there wasn’t a great deal to see. The views of the city were pretty impressive though and the fort itself a mighty creation that had never been breached. It was used by Batista as a prison and by Che Guevara as his post revolution headquarters.

We did eventually stumble across an excellent little museum dedicated to Cuba’s most famous non Cuban son (although Argentine Guevara was awarded ‘Cuban by birth status’ by his great friend Fidel Castro following the victorious revolution).

As we will discover more during our travels around Cuba, Guevara (along with Castro) are seen as demigods here.

The final nail in out fort trip coffin was that I had planned for us to be there for the sunset but had got somewhat confused by the time at which the sun would set. This is the problem with jumping across countries and Costa Rica’s 5pm sundown was actually closer to 7pm in Cuba.

The only morsel of comfort came in sharing a taxi back through the tunnel with a pair of older Spanish speaking ladies. The taxi driver saw the exchange taking place and tried his luck by suggesting 15 CUC for the four of us…I remarked that it was 10 on the way and the confirmatory stare from the latina abuelas meant that we saved a bit of dollar on the way home.

Our day was not quite finished yet and we ventured out for a wonderful dinner at a little restaurant a few blocks from our casa. The pork was really tasty and our first day in cuba had shown no sign of purported food issues.

We were hoping to find a street salsa event that had been recommended to us by a chap we had spoken to on the street earlier in the day but we had no luck. It was a bit of a shot in the dark as he had clearly been trying to direct us to a cigar market but we had hoped he was genuine with his salsa tip…alas no cigar (Or salsa).

After 5 months of travel we decided to live on the edge by taking a 9pm trip to a cash point. We have almost always opted for morning trips but I did not fancy a dash across Havana before our early bus to Varadero so we walked towards the street that had been very busy only a few hours before.

There were far less people around by now but it was still busy enough and as we entered the street a woman began chatting to us. At first it seemed harmless chit chat but the presence (and silence) of her accompanying Mother/ older friend set alarm bells ringing. The woman veered us off to the right and tried to shepherd us into a bar/restaurant that obviously paid her commission to bring in unsuspecting tourists. A polite ‘we will come another night’ seemed to suffice but it was a little reminder (along with the chap in the morning) that the apparent kindness of strangers to tourists seldom comes without strings attached!

We obviously still went to the cash machine and withdrew vast quantities of cash to transport through the dark and deserted streets of Havana…it didn’t seem quite as safe in that moment as it had felt during the day but we arrived safely at our casa in time for a good nights sleep ahead of our first Cuban bus.

A shortish trip to the beach town of Varadero and “the best beach in the Caribbean”.

#WhatOddsPaddy

There was a 10 minute period in Mexico City airport where betting was suspended because of the Visa incident. I thought I was going to have to cough up another £20 for a new visa, Abi was unhappy with one or two of my sarcastic remarks in the aftermath. By the time we were on the plane we were best friends again so no harm done.

Divorce Odds: More chance of Wales winning consecutive grand slams…for 10 minutes after beating Italy they think it could happen, but we all know it won’t.