A short look into the marvellous city of La Habana

Firstly, I have to discourage the common reader and more importantly the common folk. The risk averse, unfriendly and those people married to their bed or the comfort of staying indoors. If you where to follow the reading bellow please know that this is meant for the explorers, the curious, the adventurers and overall, the outliers. That said let me take you back to a city of ruins, music, drinks and dance. The marvellous capital of Cuba, La Habana.

Located in the north of the island, La Habana is the biggest city in Cuba. Founded by the Spanish in 1510 it served as a meeting point for all the Spanish boats returning to Spain full of gold taken from all over South America. Thanks to this the most impressive thing you notice is two fortifications guarding the entrance of the bay (in which the city is located). Other three fortifications guarded the city which are also beautiful to visit, however, the castle of 'El Morro' has both views and a world famous cigar shop. There you can look at the longest cigar ever rolled which is hanging by the ceiling. You can look at the cigar, buy some relatively smaller ones accompanied by a bottle of rum (their iconic choice of alcohol) and make bets with your friends on how long it would take someone to smoke it.

The coolest thing you'll notice as you backpack around the city is the cars. As a communist society, Cuba has been suffering a supply blockade and has not been able to access many perks of modern technology or even the simplest of products so cars are the same ones they had back in the late 40's, 50's and early 60's. All of them convertible and available in any color. You can actually rent them to go around, which me and my brother did.

Here you can see our red 1956 Chevrolet. Other more modern cars have been introduced to help tourism and the increase of population. We did see many Citroens which the locals told us where bought third or fourth hand from countries like Venezuela, whose government supports the Cuban regime.

Our driver drove us around the more modern part of the city (I say more modern because everything is very badly taken care of so it is hard to distinguish the old from the new city) through the university of La Habana, which has over 40000 students who major in everything from medicine to engineering to finance and accounting. He then took us around the sea strip (La Habana has no beach) and through all the embassy's which actually look very nice.

Drinking is a very important part of the day for the Cubans and the best place to do this it the bar 'La Floridita' made famous by the american writer Ernest Hemingway. This place is a MUST GO. Its always packed but the vibe in the bar is electric. There is always a life band playing cuban music, passionately signing, the waiters serving everyone Daiquiris, which is the most common drink. A delicious mix of Rum and Lemon Juice with a sometimes added coconut flavour. You can drink them like water and never have enough!

There is also a not so pleasing side to the city. Parties and site seeing is fun but the crude reality of the city is poverty. One of the things you immediately pick up in Cuba, already in the airport even, is the toll the country has taken thanks to their government poorly managing the country for the past 60 years. The fact that someone who works serving Daiquiris in 'La Floridita' has a much better salary due to tourist tips than the best doctors in the country shows the inequality this country has. If you take a walk away from the main streets you see the dirty streets, shops, houses and people. Many sleeping in the street. The fact that there are inequalities so big in the country makes the people adopt poor mindsets and this in the end can worsen your experience. It has to be said tough, some of the Cubans we meet where the happiest and most friendly people we have ever met.

I hope that you didn't follow my advice at the start of blog if you are an ordinary folk and actually kept reading. I hopefully have inspired you to fill up your bag pack and by a plane ticket, perhaps not. Who knows, maybe one day you'll find yourself wondering around the streets of La Habana in the search for a good Daikiri.