Havana Beyond Classic Cars, Rum, and Cigars

I will start with a cliché: Time seems to have stood still in Cuba.

It is evident on my drive from José Martí Airport to Hotel Nacional De Cuba.

The typical buildings that you find near an airport — offices of companies that support the airport, hotels that cater to transit passengers — are absent. Most of the buildings you see are in various state of disrepair.

When you drive further into the city, you see the classic cars.

Not the gleaming ones that transport tourists for joy rides, but the beaten-up old cars manufactured in the mid-twentieth century. They cart local passengers from here to there and augment the local bus service.

People have to make a living.

The Havana That I Saw

The average monthly salary in Cuba is around $30. Without a side hustle, it is hard to get by.

I had deliberately picked Havana over other popular Cuban beach destinations like Varadero and Cayo Guillermo.

To begin with, I don’t need the tan. Plus, lying around on a beach and reading a book is not exactly my idea of fun.

I love cities – modern and ancient. In their own ways, they both have their charm. When you walk the streets or grab a beer at a local eatery, you see real people go about their lives in their day-to-day environment.

I was curious about Havana. I wondered what a big city in a truly socialist country would feel like. I wanted to see Havana beyond classic cars, rum, and cigars.

This was my chance to see it firsthand.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that my Marriott Rewards and Starwood points were not going to do me much good in Havana. As one would expect, Cubans are not — outwardly — crazy about anything American. The Government continues to levy a tax for converting US dollars to Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) — the parallel currency created for tourists.

Thankfully, conversion from Canadian dollars to CUC does not attract any additional tax or levies.

The Hotel Nacional De Cuba opened its doors in 1930. The hotel, owned and operated by the Cuban Government is a “World Heritage Site” and overlooks the Malecon boardwalk, a perfect setting for casual strolls. A sprawling garden along with five restaurants and four bars gave it more of a beachside resort feel than a city-centre hotel.

I can’t say the same for the service.

For a hotel that charges rates comparable to the Fairmont and JW Marriott, the service was impersonal and lacked warmth. There was a Government office feel to the place as the staff went about servicing customers with a “you are not going anywhere” kind of attitude.

Perhaps, if I was paid $30 a month, I would do the same.

When you walk the streets of Havana, the grandeur of the old city is unmistakable. Wide streets lined with impressive buildings that show their Spanish roots give Old Havana a European feel far removed from the Socialist nation it has come to be.

Strangely, there are not many stores along the streets. Even in the more popular touristy areas, buying a bottle of water was not as easy as you would expect. Every time we looked for bottled water outside the hotel, we could only find it at liquor stores.

A subliminal message?

As for food, I had been warned.

Havana is no Lima.

Food options are limited and unexciting.

The good thing about being in the city is that you are not confined to restaurants within the resort. Yet, most restaurants seemed to cater to tourists by focusing on sandwiches, burgers, and pasta while the local fare, which I was looking forward to, was limited to one or two dishes on the menu.

With sugar and sugarcane-based products like rum taking a back seat, tourism has evolved as the main industry in Cuba.

Sure, cigars are still a thing, but how many cigars have you smoked lately? You get my point.

That brings me to the sightseeing aspect of Havana.

Havana is a city with a lot of history. A lot of it is steeped in conflict and the brave deeds of their heroes. Monuments and statues are strewn all over the city as constant reminders of the revolution and the country’s struggles.

Depending on the number of days you have in Havana, a city tour that takes you from the central business district Vedado to Old Havana and its surroundings is highly recommended. If you are willing to cough up around $30/hour, you can do the entire sightseeing in a classic convertible car of which there are many. From what I understood, only a few of them are originals; the others are just old cars with their tops cut off to resemble the originals. Unless you are some sort of car aficionado, it wouldn’t make a difference.

If you want to just rent a car and driver and give the classic cars a pass, you can do it for around $20/hour.

It is difficult to get a sense of how the Cuban people really feel.

On the one hand, they proudly talk a lot about the revolution and the heroics of their leaders like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. On the other, they complain about low wages and Government controls that keep them below subsistence levels.

Unfortunately, Cuba as a country can’t seem to catch a break.

The Cuban Thaw kicked off by President Obama has been suspended since Donald Trump took office. The much-anticipated investments in Cuba by US companies are on hold for now.

There is no silver lining beyond the current US administration’s promise to explore a “better deal” in the future.

In the interim, it is important for Cuba to realize that tourists like stories of revolution in small doses.

They come for fun, food, and relaxation.

If they don’t find it, they will look elsewhere.