“The governments have problems with each other but the people don’t,” said the guitarist, touching his heart, as we talked with him about the music he and his partner were playing in a corner of La Familia, a small paladar, or private restaurant, in an out of the way stretch of Old Havana. On this day, as the governments move closer to resolving their differences, the hordes of tourists in Havana were proving him right or at least that they were interested in bridging the gap. Many of them were Americans newly unleashed on the Cuban capital due to the easing of travel restrictions that went into effect on January 16th.
The new rules, pushed through unusually quickly, sent the travel industry and potential travelers into a frenzy when they were announced, trying to figure out exactly what they meant. The translation in brief: legal tourism for the purpose of lying on a Cuban beach is still out but Americans can travel there legally if they fit into one of 12 categories such as professional research or support for the Cuban people and humanitarian projects. Cultural activities are emphasized and you can either join a company’s now easier to license People to People tour, have an itinerary put together for you, as I did with the travel company International Expeditions, a company with years of experience in Cuba, or a cultural institution such as an art gallery (New York's Magnan Metz Gallery specializes in Cuban art) can provide you with a letter describing the purpose of your visit and arrange visits to ateliers or other cultural destinations. Now that Americans can bring back $400 in goods, including the famous cigars, learning how cigars are made qualifies (and the Habanos Festival, dedicated to cigars, held annually in February is a big draw.) Three people to people exchanges per day—even our conversation with the musicians counted as one—satisfy the requirement but we were warned to have a printout of our itinerary and to keep it for five years, although no one expected the U.S. government to follow up and check.
Getting There: you still can’t just jump on a plane and fly down although that could change within a year; American and Delta are reportedly negotiating for scheduled flights. CubaKat is working on a deal that could bring a ferry from the Florida Keys to Cuba by the end of the year, possibly September. Right now, you can do what others have done for years- book through a third country such as the Bahamas or Cayman Islands—but now you can do it openly on websites such as Kayak, which wasn’t true before the recent change. Or you can take one of the charters which run daily from Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, some using JetBlue and American planes, or the weekly Cuba Travel Services JFK-Havana flight on Sun Country planes that started in March.
Getting In: We were warned that we might be pulled aside and questioned at immigration but none of that happened. Actually, the immigration official who checked my visa, stamped me in and took an official photo was one of the friendliest I’ve encountered anywhere in the world.
There is a certain giddiness you feel as an American in your first moments in Cuba that visitors from other countries cannot imagine. You’re reminded of the dark history between the two countries immediately of course when you see the billboard just past the airport showing a noose depicting the U.S. embargo that’s been in place since the early 60’s, in retaliation for Castro nationalizing approximately $1 billion in American assets on the island after seizing power.
But then the kitschy elements appear in the form of the infamous cars, the classic 50’s big fin Cadillacs and boxy Dodges, Chevy Bel Airs and Thunderbirds, painted in Technicolor shades. When Castro’s revolution took over the government in 1959, American imports ceased so these vestiges of the days when Cuba was a glamorous playground for American gangsters and movie stars were the last American cars they could get. (Other cars on the road: newer models from South Korea and Japan and Soviet era Ladas and Moskvichs, the latter known as the car of the dreamers, according to my guide Ramiro Liben. "He dreams he has a car," he said.) The American classics in mint condition are used as taxis and car services, the ones with more ravaged exteriors as everyday cars but the fact that they’re still running is a testament to resourceful parts scavenging and what must be the best auto mechanics in the world. (And, in fact, new cultural exchange possibilities include visits with some of these mechanics.)
The effects of the embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union and its support (described euphemistically as The Special Period) and the revolution’s dubious economic benefits are on view everywhere: in crumbling buildings and streets, people standing on the side of the highways trying to hitchhike because there is an insufficient transportation system, women begging for soap on the street. Monthly salaries for Cubans are notoriously low, approximately $20 a month, and they buy the food basics with ration cards, venturing into the black market when needed for whatever they can find.
At the same time, looser restrictions on owning businesses put into action by Raul Castro in 2010 have given rise to an explosion of paladares and B&Bs known as casa particulares (there’s a blue anchor painted outside if it takes foreigners, a red anchor if only Cuban nationals are allowed and as of last week, many are now bookable on Airbnb.) Some paladares, such as La Familia are simple but offer great home cooking—grilled lobsters, roast pork,the shredded beef ropa vieja. Others such as Paladar Los Mercaderes, a three year old, art filled restoration with rose petals strewn on marble steps in Old Havana that was the project of owner Yamil Alvarez Torres, an engineer with a passion for old houses, are more elegant and refined. This was his former home—“you’re sitting in my bedroom,” he said of the pink room near the balcony on which Osiris, a talented violinist was playing. His cousin is the one cooking dishes such as exquisite 12 hour roasted spare ribs off the bone. The most famous,the 18 year old La Guarida located up a winding staircase on the top floor of a Central Havana residential tenement goes even further with dishes such as seafood and papaya ravioli and octopus carpaccio. The wall of celebrity photos attests to its usual clientele; when Jay Z and Beyonce had dinner there in their much publicized trip two years ago, they exited to a throng clogging the street. Over in the Miramar neighborhood, in the mansions abandoned when the city’s elite decamped post-revolution, there are other upscale paladares such as Vista Mar and Rio Mar. In Vedado, the neighborhood in which the city's wealthy denizens lived before they decamped to Miramar, a restaurant that wouldn’t look out of place in New York’s Soho is the industrial chic El Cocinero where the artistic elite gather for cocktails and tapas.
Music and musicians are everywhere, playing in restaurants, in jazz clubs and cabarets, on the street, on rooftops. The famous Buena Vista Social Club seems to be playing everywhere until you realize that these are splinter groups featuring at least one original member of the group, thus allowing them to use the name. The best show is the one on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Salon 1930 at the Nacional Hotel, THE place to stay in the '50’s but now down at the heels and better just to go to for a mojito and this show. A close runner up is the show at the Habana Café attached to the Melia Cohiba hotel, a funky space that looks a little theme park with a vintage Cubana Airlines plane suspended from the ceiling and a 1957 Buick and Chevy parked around the tables. But the performers—both the musicians and the dancers who salsa along with them—are top notch and high energy. I wish I could say the same about the show at the Tropicana, the famous open air nightclub that opened in 1939 and puts on a 200 performer extravaganza every night. The performers are selected from Havana’s best and most beautiful and must have been great at one time but the numbers now are busy instead of inventive, more low level Vegas than distinctively Cuban and the audience, only tourists who have paid a very high price to experience it. Best to skip it and go to one of the Buena Vista shows or go dancing instead. (Salsa lessons at La Casa del Son highly recommended.)
By day, it's interesting just to walk the streets of Old Havana, admiring the UNESCO tagged baroque and neoclassical architecture and the picturesque Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja or Plaza de San Francisco, all restored for visitors or the beaux arts buildings along Vedado's 17th and 19th streets. Tourists throng at the Ambos Mundos hotel, best known as the hotel in which Hemingway stayed before he bought his house outside Havana, Finca la Vigia (both his room and house can be visited) but after taking a peek at his typewriter and fishing rods, you can repair to the roof for fabulous views and a good mojito or along the main drag the Paseo del Prado, have an even better mojito and views by the rooftop pool of the Saratoga Hotel overlooking El Capitolio, the National Capitol Building modeled on the U.S. Capitol. If you’re a baseball fan, it's enlightening to go to the bench in the center of Parque Central and talk to the guys who gather every day to hash out the pros and cons of the previous day’s game along with the players now migrating to Major League Baseball; they know a lot about American baseball teams too. Or have a bicycle taxi take you down the narrower streets of Old Havana while your driver tells you about his life or go talk to the booksellers around Plaza de Armas such as the charming Antonio. All are memorable connections, officially sanctioned and the best reason to be there.
Where to Stay: Although hoteliers are circling warily to see if they can build or restore existing buildings for luxury hotels, the only luxury hotel in town is the 96 room, 9 year old Hotel Saratoga transformed after a $30 million renovation and with a convenient, center of town location. Beyonce and Jay Z caused a near riot outside when they stayed here too.
A Great Guide: The government tourist agency Havanatur does ground operations for many of the international tour companies. If you ask in advance, you can reserve the knowledgeable, personable Ramiro Liben and should.
The internet and credit cards. The easing of restrictions is supposed to increase internet access by allowing telecommunications companies to begin the process of upgrading infrastructure--only about 5% of the island has internet access--but it hasn't happened yet. Another advantage of staying at The Saratoga is good WiFi and it's the only hotel that offers it for free instead of selling it in hour increments. Americans are now also allowed to use credit cards on the island but the ability to do that is still being worked out. Meanwhile, you'll see visitors from all over the world using theirs.
