We woke up late, tired but not hungover. We took a collectivo taxi (one of the old cars that follows a specific route and picks up people along the way: 1 dollar between the two of us) to the Museo de la Revolucion. It's houses in the old presidential palace, last occupied by Batista (indeed, you can see the door through which Batista escaped, right next to his office and conference room, which were later used by the revolutionaries). The museum had no air conditioning and was hot as hell. It took two hours to go through most of it... Lots of information pre-, during, and post-revolution (technical the revolution continues, a concept that I find a bit strange).
We were tired and hungry, and by the grace of God found a modern restaurant with air conditioning and a good menu. The restaurant, Sloppy Joe's, is a refurbished version of an old mobster hangout. Jenny had a sloppy joe (same as we got in elementary school), and I had a Cuban sandwich.
We then went back to the casa, and both went to the stadium to exercise afterward, I walked around the neighborhood. An old lady asked me to unscrew the bottom of a blender and said "donde hay hombres, no hay fantasmas." It's a Cuban expression that means where there's a man, you shouldn't worry. I quoted this a few times to jenny, which annoyed her.
You know the image of old Cubans sitting on a stoop in blazing hot weathers, with their shirts off smoking cigars? That's exactly what it's like. I walked around the Vedado neighborhood and witnessed this scene.
That evening we took a cab to el Castillo Morro, which is a big fort built by the Spanish. There was a brief shooting of a canon. Afterward we ate dinner near the fort, then went across town to a hip art exhibit. It was definitely a scene - something we didn't expect from Havana.
We were tired and hungry, and by the grace of God found a modern restaurant with air conditioning and a good menu. The restaurant, Sloppy Joe's, is a refurbished version of an old mobster hangout. Jenny had a sloppy joe (same as we got in elementary school), and I had a Cuban sandwich.
We then went back to the casa, and both went to the stadium to exercise afterward, I walked around the neighborhood. An old lady asked me to unscrew the bottom of a blender and said "donde hay hombres, no hay fantasmas." It's a Cuban expression that means where there's a man, you shouldn't worry. I quoted this a few times to jenny, which annoyed her.
You know the image of old Cubans sitting on a stoop in blazing hot weathers, with their shirts off smoking cigars? That's exactly what it's like. I walked around the Vedado neighborhood and witnessed this scene.
That evening we took a cab to el Castillo Morro, which is a big fort built by the Spanish. There was a brief shooting of a canon. Afterward we ate dinner near the fort, then went across town to a hip art exhibit. It was definitely a scene - something we didn't expect from Havana.
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