One of few good combinations of age and beauty were the cars…hundreds of them with a million kilometers on their odometers but still running. Most of them were built prior to 1959.

No tour of old Havana is complete without stops at various bars that were made famous largely by many celebrities like Ernest Hemingway. Among them is the La Bodeguita Del Medio (and a few more old cars too).

Next, we went by the former Capitol building, which was constructed using the same model as the US Capitol in DC. We did not see any homeless people here, neither were there any thieves ready to steal from us like you might see outside the Capitol building in Washington DC.

Cubans are a very patient people. There are a lot of shortages of items so long lines are a common feature of Cuban life. Even the stores that have consumer goods in stock have long lines. Government stores are full of long, empty shelves. We decided to take the public bus once and we waited for 90 minutes for a 45 minute bus ride! The period since the collapse of the Soviet Union has created a dual economy where Cubans with access to foreign money through tourism or remittances have a much higher standard of living.

Next was the Malecon, the famous sea wall of Havana, which runs the length of the old city. Across the water is Florida, 90 miles away but it feels like a whole world apart.