So immediately we are ready to see Havana. It is everything you have heard, but much more so. The City is beautiful, with a rich architectural legacy that dates from the early Spanish settlements of the 1500's, to a post-modern 1950's contemporary international style and everything in between. The Malecon, the freeway that runs along the sea is packed with cars, except when the sea rushes over the seawall and closes the highway. Then there are the old cars ! They are everywhere, much more so than we even expected. '57 Chevy's to '36 Fords, to giant finned '60's Cadillac's. Many are beautifully maintained, and the owner's are very protective...don't slam a door, and careful with objects on the plastic seat coverings. Convertibles are of course always in demand, as most of the old cars operate as taxi's by individuals. Everything around Havana is done by taxi, either flag, call or select a car, or use the bicitaxi, a bicycle with two or more seats behind the driver. Havana Vieja is pedestrian only, so you get dropped off at the perimeter, or walk to the edge for a taxi. In Vieja, the narrow streets are packed with tourists. About 20% of Viejo has been restored with large gathering places like Placio Viejo or Plaza Armas or the street Calle Obisbo which is more like an outdoor shopping mall. Restaurants are scattered everywhere and there is the constant barrage of promoters to go to their restaurant, or their shop. The throngs of people are constant all day and night, mostly European, a lot of Germans, French, Scandinavians, and Chinese and Japanese off the cruise ships. We ran into a lot of Canadians and a few Americans, but not as many as we expected. Restaurants and Bars have constant music going, as you walked along a street the music wafts from one bar to the next continuously. Yes, they really do also dance in the streets ! Within Havana Vieja we made the expected stops, Sloppy Joe's Bar, a bar with a group of American's at Plaza Viejo, Hemingway's haunts the Floridita and Hotel de la Flota, and ice cream on a side street at Plaza Armas. Everywhere, the music is enlightening, the people are so friendly, and the sights beyond belief.

Centro, where our casa is located is a very dense mid rise community with narrow streets and buildings dating from the mid 1800's to early 1900's. People are everywhere in the streets, with cars continually going by hooking and weaving around the pedestrians. Many of the streets are one-way and there are vendor carts and small "cafeterias" and shops everywhere....but nothing like what you think of ! As you walk along a street, one building, or one apartment has been renovated, all the rest untouched for the last 50 years. This is an area close to what we think of as slums, or the barrio in the states, but here they are the peoples homes, and their smiling faces, and regular "hola", welcomes you on every block. Again, music is everywhere, sometimes live, but often radios from the homes, and perhaps one of the things we will miss the most, the regular street vendors, with their carts and a melodic call, "galletipas' galletipas', selling bread or ice cream, or tomatoes on the street. Some foods, and products are extremely hard to find. You have to wait in line to even get into the bakery for bread, fruits nearly non-existent but we bought pineapples for $1 each from a street vendor. The small markets in the neighborhood, may not have coffee in today, or milk could be hard to find. Meats and bananas were available in some markets, but for our US sense of cleanliness, you probably wouldn't want to buy there. We found an excellent restaurant about 4 blocks away, Biky's has a downstairs restaurant which always has a line to get in, and the upstairs restaurant with a better menu but "more expensive". We joked about the quality of the food in Havana, you could pay $10 for dinner in a cheap restaurant, and pay $20 for the same dinner in a "better" restaurant, and guess what... the food and the quality are exactly the same !