Havana Daze: The view from the Chevy!

It’s quite possible after reading this episode of my blog Fi and I will never be allowed on holiday together again! Here’s why…

Despite the morning’s escapades …and the specific warning from our tour guide …once again, we fell prey to a stranger and blindly followed her to who-knows-where without a backward glance!

A night out in Havana

Having had a great day so far, we headed out to dinner with a vague idea of where we were going. But it didn’t take us long to get into trouble…

We’d barely walked out of the hotel and across the road when a young woman engaged us in conversation, saying she recognised us from our hotel where she worked as a waitress.

…well, it could have been true?!

Whatever the truth, and even though we’d never seen her before, we of course believed her instantly(!) 🤦‍♀️

Falling for her chat, in no time at all we had told her our names, where we were from, and that we were heading out for dinner and drinks.

(I’d like to say we tried to resist her intense grilling …but no, she simply asked, and we answered!)

On hearing we were heading out for dinner, she said she knew a great food place and proceeded to lead us up a dark alley! We ignored all warning bells and were once again following a stranger …would-be mugger …kidnapper to our possible doom! 😱

(What can I say? We are suckers for someone with a nice face and a believable (if bogus) story!)

It turns out she did know a place to eat and it seemed this place was always her destination (the clue was the Mojito waiting for her when she arrived and the few dollars she was slipped!)

She was a tout dragging poor gullible customers along to the restaurant! …and she’d hit the jackpot with us! – Clearly, we have “Gullible” written on our foreheads! 🤪

Luckily for us, the restaurant was amazing, so somehow, we’d managed to land on our feet …again! 😁  

With our companion having left, we settled in with a couple of well-needed Mojitos and enjoyed our evening. The restaurant was fab, with great food and a great atmosphere thanks to the brilliant Jazz/Cuban-style live band playing.

At some point during the night – and proving we’ve still got it 😳 – a couple of the band members started flirting with us. But Fi and I had already got into enough trouble that day, so we decided it was our cue to leave.

Swanning like Princesses …in a pink Chevy!

For our second tour of Havana, we were joined by a few companions

(Don’t worry these ones were planned!)

Our tour guide Stephanie, our driver (strong silent type, no name!) and the star of the show …a beautiful pink 1952 Chevy convertible. 🚗

When in Cuba, it’s a must-do, to swan around like a princess in the back of a vintage car, and we wanted to make the most of it. On a more practical note, it also meant we could see more of Havana.

The day started brilliantly with the first glimpse of our chariot …in shocking pink! (as you can see above, it was Barbie on steroids!)

We were in our element, posing in the back seat as we glided past the impressive Capitol building, the sun glinting off the golden-tipped dome.

Once again, to give you a flavour of the city, I’ll pick out a few highlights…😀

Our first stop was the state-run cigar factory. We all know that Cuba is famous for its Cigars, and this was where the magic took place.

To begin with, the guide that showed us around was smoking a huge cigar the whole time, he loved what he was doing and was happy to share his knowledge …here are some fun pub quiz-type facts you can wow everyone with: 🤣

• There is a training school for cigar makers, it takes one year to learn, 30% of people fail and must leave the profession😢
• Each employee gets given 5 cigars a DAY as part of their payment! (…health hazard?!)
• Making cigars can be monotonous, to keep up the pace a speaker used to be employed to read the staff stories, things like Romeo and Juliet, or the Count of Monte Cristo …this is where some Cigars get their names from!

Next, we visited the large concrete space that is Revolution Square, stopping for some photos. This space was famous for numerous rallies and speeches. And for the massive portrait of Che Guevara on the side of a building. The other portrait is often mistaken for Castro but it is one of his generals (… get me I must have been paying attention, I did have to look up the name though – Camilo Cienfuegos!) 

Less known was the next place we visited. At first, we were a little confused as we left the beautiful colourful building behind and came upon ‘less attractive’ housing (being polite here!) – Suddenly amid a concrete jungle, a beautiful oasis opened up. We’d arrived at a forest in the middle of Havana!

This was a total surprise, a lush green oasis with strange weeping trees on all sides and a river flowing through. So we could take a look around we pulled into a small car park, which had it been anywhere else in the world would have looked like a vintage car convention!

We spent some time walking around, looking at the magnificent scene before us. It was so peaceful and different from the vibrant city we’d left behind moments earlier. The scale of it was huge, and as we left in the car we realised we had merely glimpsed a tiny part.

It wasn’t long before we headed back into the old town for the tasting. Our lovely Chevy just about managing to squeeze along the tiny alleyways to our lunch and tasting venue!

Cigars, rum, coffee and chocolate!

As our tour was titled the “Cigar and Rum Tasting Tour”, we kinda anticipated this, but to be honest we only opted for that tour so we could pose around most of the day in the Chevy!

You may be surprised to know that neither Fi nor I smoke Cigars! 😜 …or drink Rum (unless in a cocktail) …and I don’t drink coffee …but I do like chocolate! So one taste experience isn’t bad!

We ordered some snacks and started our taste adventure, first lighting up and learning how to correctly smoke a cigar. As you can see from the title pic of this blog post and below, we dived right in with the smoking!

At one point we had rum in one hand and a Cigar in the other! But much as we tried to enjoy both we weren’t convinced, so don’t worry we didn’t return home with any new vices …this time!

The one thing we all agreed on was the chocolate, it was a big hit, dark and rich. I’m told the coffee was great too!

This was all washed down with another Cuban rum-based cocktail – Canchánchara …it was a bit sweet but, in our god-like and totally objective opinion, along with the Mojito it is definitely a good way to use rum!

And before we knew it, the tour was at an end and it was time for the short ride back to the hotel. Our last ride in the beautiful pink Chevy 😁

It had been an amazing day, and we just had a few hours to relax before meeting up in the bar with some other visitors, before heading out to the famous Beuna Vista Social Club 💃