Our First Night in Havana

by Gail
(Auckland)

Casa Particulaire Extraordinaire!

We found sorting accommodation from New Zealand rather daunting.

There seemed little on the internet that really helped. An acquaintance gave us his sister?s contact email. She gave a rave review of the Havana Casa Particulare she had stayed in.


Impressed, we duly emailed Elizabeth who with her husband, ran the Casa Particulare, in Galliano Street, Central Havana ................a haunt of Ernest Hemingway.



A brief reply in poor English arrived back acknowledging our reservation, but asking us to reconfirm closer to the time. This we did on two further occasions. Just to be sure there were no problems! Elizabeth seemed aware we were coming.



After a long flight from San Francisco to Cancun Mexico, where we had booked a timeshare week for on our return, we deposited a small bag with winter gear and costumes in a locker.... and boarded our Cubana airways flight for Havana, arriving at the ungodly hour of 1.00am.

Arriving at Havana Airport

The basic airport was short on the luxuries we are used to in many airports these days.It was a surprise when I was firmly told to retreat behind the line and move forward to the booth....separate to my husband. Mmmm..........that was unexpected.



We were questioned about our reason for visiting, what we planned to do, and where we were staying, I was hoping Brian?s answers matched my own!


The questioner satisfied, papers were stamped ( not your passport if you planned on returning via USA) and you were at last allowed through the solid door, which clunked shut behind you.


Taxi to Galliano Street


Having met on the other side of THE DOOR... we retrieved our luggage and hailed a taxi. The driver pointed out various sights of interest including the floodlit statue of Castro, as he negotiated the numerous potholes in the road.


There was plenty of life in the streets as we drove into Havana. Our address in Galliano Street was a very central location.


Our taxi finally pulled up in front of a rather decrepit looking three story block of shops. Was this where we booked to stay?


Ah... yes..... there is a plaque over the door with the name and address, verifying we are indeed at the correct address.


Not a Light in Sight!


But we were puzzled!The place was pitch black,the door firmly locked, and all appeared to be well and truly asleep. The driver used his cell phone ( thank goodness he had one) to ring the number we supplied, and spoke to..... someone.


When still the door remained shut he tooted his horn loudly several times, then cupped his hands and called out.

At last the door opened. Thanking the driver profusely, we paid the $25 fare and he left.


Total Confusion!


Elizabeth stood a couple of stairs up, and it quickly became apparent all was not as we had expected. The welcome mat did not seem to be out!


With stumbling English she tried to explain firstly that amigos were in Vinales. Amigos? Hers or ours? Our friends who had arrived a few days earlier had said they would try and arrange to stay with us here for a couple of nights....did she mean them? We could not understand Elizabeth's halting English, and our Spanish was even more limited.

We did begin to understand when she reiterated we could not stay here the first two nights, only the last two nights we had booked. She would organize somewhere else for us to stay.

By now 2.o'clock in the morning, we were getting concerned. We were still just inside the door with a flight of stairs between us and a likely bed for the night!


Eventually a man arrived...obviously a friend from the kisses ...........next came the introductions. Aaaahhhh! So this was who we would stay with.

The Stampede


He and Elizabeth suddenly dived back into the doorway as a couple of hundred young Cubans suddenly filled the road, running, shouting and yelling..... followed by policemen, also shouting and waving batons. You be ceeeeaaaareful Elizabeth cajoled, indicating to stay back against the wall! We were only too happy to oblige!

The mob were gone as quickly as they appeared and so we started to roll our luggage( thank goodness for modern luggage with wheels) through the crumbling streets and narrow allies until we came to another door.

A Bed at Last


Elizabeth wished us "Buenos Noches"... kissed us farewell mwa...mwa....mwa, and we were escorted up stairs past rooms decorated with faded antique furniture,old chandeliers and huge pots of mature palms... to a bedroom.



The bathroom...off the kitchen, was obviously the family bathroom, and gave the distinct impression they were not prepared for us. Perhaps the delay was Elizabeth making a quick phone call. But the bedroom with a double bed, and floral cotton cover seemed clean and comfortable.


THE BED!


We hurriedly showered and sank into the bed. After 24 long hours of traveling, we were quite shattered.


Ten minutes later, slowly descending into much needed sleep, there was a loud ....CRACK....CRASH.... and we were catapulted to the floor in a crash landing ending up in the middle of the bed.


We sat there looking helplessly at the top and toe still resting on the rails at each end. The bed had caved in the middle!



We eased ourselves up, picked up the sections of the base and realigned them on the rails, carefully replacing the mattress.


On closer inspection we could see the narrow wooden slats had been nailed together to make a crude base for the mattress, but they didn?t quite fit the width of the bed rails. If the battens sat on the rails on one side, they were barely touching on the other side. Hmmmmm??..interesting. Can we sleep without moving?


Doubting our ability to keep the bed on the rails with so little holding it, we tried again. By the third crash-landing we had removed the mattress to the floor.... just as the Casa owner appeared.

Sleep at Last

He showed us the room next door and suggested we sleep there. Now why did he not do that earlier we wondered. The next day when we returned from our first day of sightseeing, he showed us a very luxurious fully tiled bathroom next to the bedroom.


Cuban Ablutions


It was a night late but we did enjoy having a proper shower and facilities and I merrily flushed the toilet paper down the toilet. As one does! Well............most places.


I hope we didn't block it.... we discovered in Cuba....as in many South American countries, you put the toilet paper in the rubbish bin provided.


Back to our original Casa Particulaire


We were happy to pack our bags and roll them around to Elizabeth's the second morning. Our first night in Cuba was certainly one to remember.... but not one we wished to repeat.