We arrived at the airport and found the Cubana desk as the flight was not yet listed on the board. We were advised it would not be listed for 20 minutes but we could purchase our Tourist cards from the desk next door. It cost us 250 Mexican pesos each and once we checked our baggage in had to pay another $25 USD departure tax. After checking in we headed up to the departure lounge. Lorna had her bag checked after it went through the security scanner. They thought she had a long needle but it ended up being a nail file which they confiscated from her and we were allowed to proceed. We ended up having a drink and some lunch at T.G.I. Fridays before heading to the departure gate ready to head off to Cuba.
The flight was uneventful, which was good and only took about 45 minutes however it took us over an hour for us to clear immigration and collect our bags as a Virgin Atlantic flight had arrived just before ours. We waited around one carousel which ended up being the one for the Virgin Atlantic flight, until it stopped. Then the other carousel started (there are only 2 in Havana aeropuerto terminal 3) so we waited until it stopped and our bags were not there. We thought oh no not again, Megan's bags are cursed. So I headed over to the lost baggage window which I had seen earlier while waiting and what do you think were sitting on 2 trolleys outside the window? Both John and Lorna's bags and our two bags. By the time all this happened the customs lines had closed and they just ushered us out into the public space.
We changed some money at the Cadeca (Money exchange) and caught a taxi to the Hotel Nacional where we will be staying for the next 2 nights. We saw quite a few old cars but many more newer model cars which was quite surprising. The hotel is lovely, built in 1930 and has been recently refurbished. After checking in we had a look around and then had dinner at a restaurant. We had the special of Arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) which was only $15 for 2 and way too much to get through. We could have shared one between 4 of us. David and John had a local beer while Lorn and Catriona had a Mojito.
After dinner we wandered the grounds and found another bar where David and John tried the other Cuban beer (they only have two varieties) while Lorna had a sangria and Catriona had a Piña colada. We then headed off to bed to be ready for our first day in Havana.
We forgot to change the time on the iphone so the alarm we had set for 8am woke us at 9am and we were late for meeting John and Lorna for breakfast. We arrived at the dining room at 9.20 and had our breakfast then set off to have a look at the grounds of the hotel before walking along the Malecon (Part of an 8km path along the coast where the waves were breaking over the edge and making the path slippery).
We jumped on a hop on hop off Havana bus tour which was a great way to see Havana traveling through the streets seeing all the old cars. We saw the huge cemetry where there is a monument to Christopher columbus whose remains are in the cathedral. The Plaza de la revolucion, with its huge pictures of Che and Fidel that are lit up at night. We alighted at the Capitolio where we wandered through the streets and found a little Paladar (A restaurant in a home) Paladar Amistad de Lanzarote. Catriona left her drink bottle in the restaurant and the lady of the house chased us 50m up the road to return it. We watched some kids playing with a bearing, rolling it up and down the path to each other and some others playing baseball out the front of the capitolio. We reboarded the bus and it took us to old Havana. Unfortunately it was getting late in the day and we didn't have time to get off in the old Havana but will take the time to see it when we return.
Back at the hotel we found the welcome note from our guide Romey to say we were to meet at 7pm rather than 6pm so had plenty of time to rest and even have a drink overlooking the Malecon. We met the rest of the group minus 1, over dinner. There are 2 single English women Narnee and Carole and 2 Americans, Heather and Ted. After dinner at a Pladar close to the hotel we headed off to bed so we would be on time for our breakfast and checkout in the morning.
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