December 17, 2017 – Havana, Cuba Day 1

Built on the riches of sugar, tobacco and coffee fortunes of French émigrés, Cienfuegos—the “Pearl of the South”—boasts remarkably preserved architecture. More than 300 buildings from the latter half of the 19th century grace the downtown area, and nowhere else in the Caribbean will you find more neoclassical structures.

We came into Cienfuegos, Cuba around noon. Here are some pictures as we came into this beautiful bay.

The tour we took here was a one and one-half day in Havana. Our tour started in Cienfuegos, where the ship was docked.  Our guide was Edel, and he was fantastic. He was very pragmatic about what he said, be he never took sides. They also have a Viking person on the ship and his name was Paul.  He was as much of a tourist as we were.

The biggest industry in Cuba is oil refining. The crude they refine for cars comes from Venezuela and the crude that they use for electricity comes from Cuba. The second largest industry is cement production. The third is fishing and last is sugar cane. They do not export the sugar cane. The Cubans have free access to both healthcare and to education.

He talked to us about the cigar factories. They workers felt that they did a better job if someone read to them as they made the cigars. So they all have readers. They read books like Romeo and Juliet, which they then named a cigar after. On Valentines Day they workers would write anonymous love letters to other workers and the readers would then read them. The thinner the cigar, the more potent.

There are two types of currencies in Cuba. The CUC (convertible unit, which is about $.87 to $1. The other $.13 is tax. The other currency is the CUP, This is used to pay workers and certain products are sold in CUPs. This is about .25 to $1.

Havana has two parts, the east and the west, and they are connected by a tunnel that was built by the French in 1958. It is 700m across and 1400 m deep. We first visited the El Moro fort that was built in 1589. Havana has the largest number of fortifications in the Americas. Havana became the capitol in 1603.

There are 75,000 cars in Cuba. Most of them have diesel engines and most of the are taxis. Most of the infrastructure was built in the 50’s.

We then went to our hotel. Out hotel was the Melia Habana. It was wonderful. It was so large and luxurious.

After a change and quick drink at the bar we were driven to dinner in vintage 1940s and 1950s American automobiles. It was a hoot.

We had a delicious Cuban fusion-style dinner at El Aljibe.

We then went by bus to attend an exciting evening show at Havana’s legendary Tropicana before returning to spend the night in our five-star hotel. This was a fantastic show. We started out with champagne and then for every three people they gave a bottle of Cuban rum along with cokes. Great evening.