Days of Doreese in Cuba: Day 1 Part 1

Friday February 26 2016

Our adventure to Havana was during our 5-week holiday on Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We flew from Cancun to Havana on AeroMexico, departing Cancun at 12:30pm and landing in Havana at 1:15pm. See my blog post Getting to Cuba for more travel information.

We filled out the green form while on the plane, including the address of our casa. I made a mistake on it and asked for another one but never did get it so tried to fix my mistake. As we made our way through the airport no one took this form. I kept it just in case it was something we needed for departure time. Nope!

View just before landing in Havana…

Jose Marti Airport….

We exited the airport after immigration and customs at 2pm, so quite speedy. But now we needed to exchange our CAD cash for CUC. Welcome to the lineup. Yikes!

There are 2 exchanges in the arrivals area…both were very busy. I knew about one at the departures area but didn’t know where that area was. I would definitely recommend finding it as the lineup there was very short compared to this! There was one teller and it took an hour to get our funds exchanged. Our driver was not impressed with having to wait but what could we do? I needed CUC to pay him! We tipped him well and then he was happy. The rate for CAD was 1.41 so for $800 CAD I received $567 CUC. I didn’t know if I would need them or not but decided to get some CUP as well. That can only be received after changing CAD to CUC, so for $40 CUC, I received $960 CUP.

While waiting in line with mostly Europeans and South Americans, we enjoy the view….it’s a time warp!

By 3pm we are on our way…about a 30-minute drive to our casa particular in Havana Vieja. It’s a bit surreal to see these old cars on the highways!

Scenery on the way….

The streets seemed to get narrower and narrower!

Capitolio Nacional…

Let’s just put these eggs in the trunk to keep them safe!

There are cars, buses, bike taxis, car taxis….it's a free for all!....

We arrive at Hostal La Cecilia (see my blog post Where We Stayed) at 3:30 and are greeted by Maylú, the caretaker of the casa and the owner’s art studio. She is a wonderful sweet lady and we feel very happy with our accommodations. There is a bit of confusion over our payment….I brought Euros as requested in our booking email, but Maylú is expecting CUC. I’m not looking forward to going through another exchange lineup so after a call to Alberto, the booking agent, all is good….Euros are happily accepted.

We quickly unpack and clean up from travel and then venture out. Stepping out our front door we are surprised to see a photo shoot on our doorstep!