The Real Habana

Buying Peso Pizza from a basket that descends from the third floor
Drinking rum on the Malecon
Attending a play at Teatro Nacional
Attending a concert at one of the many venues
Seeing the mansions of Miramar and Playa
The pristine beach only 20 minutes away
Having ice cream for pesos at Copelia
Hitchhiking
Using a collective taxi (usually a '50s car)
The organic/vegetarian restaurant in El Jardin Botanico
Riding a Cuban bus

Quick Tips:

Try to learn about the dual economy. On the first day go to a cadeca and change a few dollars into pesos or moneda nacional (26 for US) so that you can buy peso food, take the bus, and take collective taxis. Brush up on your Spanish and brace yourself for a frequently impossible to understand accent (especially in the beginning!). Try to avoid getting into conversations with people who approach you in the street. They are hustlers (jineteros) who live off tourist money. Don't fear asking Cubans' opinions on the government and politics, so you can see the varying view points.

Best Way To Get Around:

The easiest way to get around is by taxi, also the most expensive. Coco taxis are slightly cheaper and it is a lot more fun to run around Havana in a little round yellow thing. Walking is the best for seeing the architecture and strolling the Malecon. Transportation can also be an adventure in itself. Hitchiking (legal and common), collective taxis (maquinas), the bus (guagua), and the camello will surely provide many memories no matter where you end up.

Go to the corner where El Rapido is on Infanta. Up the street towards the university, right next to El Rapido you should see a sign that reads Pizza Celina. On the other side of the street by the garden there will probably be quite a few people standing waiting for pizza or yelling up. Go over to where they are standing and when the woman on the third floor pokes her head out yell what you want. "Uno de queso," "uno de jamon," "uno de cebolla," which ever one you want. The menu is on the street door. She will acknowledge the order. Although this may seem very chaotic, Celina is actually very organized and efficient in keeping her orders straight. Watch what the other people do. When your pizza is ready she will yell your order and point to you and lower a basket. Cross the street and take the pizza out of the basket and place your money in. You will know how much it is by the menu. The prices are all in Moneda Nacional so you will either have pesos or you can pay with one dollar bill (street rate 25 pesos/dollar). A pizza without meat averages about 10 pesos, or 40 cents. Queso Especial means extra cheese. Super Especial, which is 25 pesos, has everything--it is chock full. Yell "sube," and she will raise it and then lower it again with your change. Once you get it, you can either eat it in the street or go to El Rapido and buy a drink and eat at their tables. You should fold it and eat it like a taco, taking care not not spill grease on yourself. Peso pizza is a sort of culinary gem in Havana, at least for me. It is cheap and good--unfortunately, cheese and bread is a tiring combination. But Pizza Celina makes it best and getting it is an adventure in itself.

If you are having trouble getting the system, there is usually a foreign student around who is ordering as well, and who has had a lot more experience with Celina--I am sure he/she would help you out. The Cubans will also help you out, but they will probably laugh at you too, they laughed at me a lot, even once I kind of knew what I was doing.

The Malecon is perhaps one of the best parts of Havana. The Malecon, which means "sea wall," is wide enough to sit on even for those who are scared of heights. Many Cubans on nice nights, when the sea is not too rough, congregate at certain parts of the Malecon. If you walk or drive along you will see different groups and activities going on. There are amateurs out there with their guitars, siging and dancing. There are young teenagers out on dates. There are couples enjoying the romance of the sea. There are fisherman working in groups, casting lines. All you have to do is buy yourself a bottle of Silver Dry or a couple--especially if you want to make friends fast. There are tons of Cubans not looking to hustle you that would love to talk to you and share your rum, the best Cuban-friend facilitator. Often there is quite a crowd near Hotel Nacional on the Malecon and thereabouts. If you go right near the tunnel leading to Miramar, you might find some students out since those two high-rise twin buildings are one of the Universidad de la Habana dorms. Near the Hotel Riviera, there are sometimes old Havana fisherman casting their lines like they have done for twenty years. Chilling on the Malecon is a definite Cuban experience, not to mention a cheap night out.

The festival takes place for about two weeks in mid-December. Check the Internet for the exact dates. The festival features mainly Latin American films, often those you'd never see in the United States. However, there are also European and American films. Directors, actors, and other artists come from all over to attend. In 2002, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Matt Dillon, and the directors of Cidade de Deus and El Crimen del Padre Amaro attended. The festival gives more energy to the city than any other time of year. Also, as the Havana arts scene and Cuban culture lack the pretensions that seem to dominate many artistic gatherings, the atmosphere is relaxed and focused on the films.

Tickets can be purchased for 40 dollars at Hotel Nacional for entrance to all films in the festival (I would say there are about six films/theater/day playing in about 20 theaters. This includes tickets to the opening ceremony and Clausura and the party afterwards.) Last year, los Van Van, Cuban's premier salsa group, played the party. And you can attend all events in your flip-flops. If you just want to attend a few films, the price per ticket is 2 pesos (about US$.08). However, you will have to line up sometimes hours in advance(the pass allows you to bypass the line). You can sneak into the opening and closing parties if you are persistent enough, or take someone's invite that they are not using.

The other great thing about the film festival is that Cubans and foreigners interact with each other. The divide which seems to exist in all but the upper circles of Cuban society disappears. Everyone is allowed and can afford to participate. If you can go to Havana in December, do it. And the weather is pleasantly brisk. For Latin jazz lovers, the Jazz Festival overlaps with the end of the film festival.

Many people travel all the way to Varadero in search of Cuba's beautiful beaches. However, a closer and cheaper beach lies only 20 minutes from Havana by taxi. It should cost about $10-$15 from Havana Vieja and Vedado. Tell the driver to take you to Mar Azul (a hotel name) in Las Playas del Este. This way you can spend an afternoon soaking in the sun and not miss Havana's nightlife (that of Varadero is decidedly lacking in the culture department).

The beach is gorgeous and very clean with fine white sand and blue waters. It mirrors what you see in those Caribbean beach brochures. There are huts along the beach which serve great fish--they are much better than the hotel food . . . and quicker. Enjoy a bucanero and some lobster while watching the old disgusting men flirt with the jineteras and their pimps making deals--a sad situation which seems to operate in full force on this beach.

If you hit Cafe de Paris on a good night, it has an amazing energy mainly fueled by their night band which is a bit more energetic and youthful sounding than their other Habana Vieja counterparts. Cafe de Paris is good for people-watching. There are not too many jineteros. As far as Habana Vieja is concerned, their prices are on the cheaper side.

**You also must realize that in going to bars in Havana you will not really run into Cubans other than jinateros. Cubans just cannot afford it. For a more Cuban night, you'll want to check out the Malecon section.

First of all, you better be a female. Men can do it but the success rate is signifigantly lower. Hitchiking is safe in Cuba (but follow normal precautions--don't do it at night, use your instincts, etc.) and is the common form (sometimes the only form) of transportation for many Cuban women and people. However, there is an art to it. It is not a simple holding out of a thumb and hoping a car will stop, although it can be more like that when one gets out of the autopista. In Havana, however, what one does is position oneself at an intersection with a light and when the light goes red to ask the drivers if they are going in your direction. The method favored by most is to ask the single men. Motorcycles and side-cars, which for me were always a highlight, seemed often to respond in the affirmative. You can actually meet many interesting people hitchiking. So if you want to hitchhike in Cuba, here is some advice: It is almost impossible in Habana Vieja especially for a foreigner. Vedado is much easier. However, as a foreigner you must realize that if there are lots of police or tourists around, a car will be hesitant to picking up a foreigner (it is illegal to give a ride to a foreigner for money). Go to the street that goes in the direction that you are going and ask the drivers if they are going towards your destination. You can also say "puede darme la botella hasta . . . " Or, if they can "adelantar" you to get you any closer. It is a hit-or-miss situation--you can get a ride in one minute or nothing for half an hour, but it is really fun especially if you are doing it with friends which is completely possible. If you just want to do it for the novelty of it, you could go to the Paseo and Linea intersection and take it in either direction (towards the Malecon or towards Miramar: "pasa por el tunel?") Quinta Avenida is also an easy place to hitchhike. If you are out there looking at the beautiful houses, you could get a car to take you under the tunnel to get to the Malecon and even hitch all the way back to Havana Vieja--just tell them you are going towards Prado and Malecon. Sometimes you get lucky and the person is so interested in talking to you and the fact that you are a foreigner hitching in Cuba will convince them to drive you to your door--no strings attached. Some drivers don't speak at all. Some are chatty. If, when you ask for a ride at first, and they respond with "taxi?", say "no," as that means they will expect money. Most everything is fair game: bread trucks, tourist buses (if they are empty), fancy Mercedes', side-cars, motorcycles, school buses, etc. Black-plate cars are diplomats and many won't pick you up. And just so you know, black plates with 201 are US Special Interest Section cars or Swiss, 38 denotes Canadian Special Interest, and 74 or 79 is for French Special Interest vehicles. Red license plates with a "T" are rental cars.