Mai Perso - Travel adventures

Havana Vieja | May 27, 2012

I can’t sleep. Wanted to take a siesta but i am too stoked. Took us forever to get here and I should be exhausted but I just can’t sleep. This place has an enormous amount of energy. We took a taxi from the airport, checked into an upscale hotel for the first night. We then started cris crossing the streets to get used to the place.
It’s electric. Music pouring from every pub, club or street corner. The town reminds me of Prague shortly after th velvet revolution. Crumbling old glory. The touristy center is somewhat restored, but two blocks over, a collapsed house is still blocking a road after many years, and open trash cans block the sidewalks and provide the kids playing soccer, a goalee post.
People are not as timid as described in the books. They are very friendly, smile some times, flirt, drink and eat. A very lively scenery. I love it. It’s everything I expected to find here, and we have just landed.
Funny they call this area of Havana, “Havana Vieja” it all looks “Vieja” to me. Even the modern side of town….
The smells are a mix of trash, sweat, wet dirt and food cooking. We see some tourists on the main drag and take left down an alley and two more turns to get away from them. We are out of the foreign crowed, mixing with locals. Kicking a soccer ball with some kids, a photo of the local butcher, a cooking utensils store and a post of the Cuban Social services person.
We swore we will avoid Veradero, the resort district better know as the foreigners enclave. We already know that there is more to tiny Cuba then we have time to cover in the next week.
It’s weekend, and tonight we will go out and look for a good club and some kick ass Mojitos. Back in the hotel, the misus is taking a nap. A Cuban band is marching down the street, and I am writing the blog. Thinking how will I publish the next few days, with no working iPhone and very limited access to wifi. Wow… What a difference a day of flights in the right direction makes.