It was a sense of déjà vu on my flight to Havana: tired old plane, tired old crew .In fact the lady doing the safety demonstration couldn’t stop yawning throughout. Nevertheless, as there was alcohol on board I quickly relaxed and fell into conversation with a splendid Cuban who was clearly slightly the worse for wear. We soon became very close friends to the point he invited me to go salsa dancing as soon as we landed. Despite the boldness of the alcohol, sleep deprivation won the day so I made my excuses. Needless to say, in the general melee on arrival at Havana airport, I never saw this gentleman again!
Havana airport reminded me instantly of the Philippines when I visited way back in the day (maybe it’s still like that; we shall see). In short, complete chaos with endless form filling, luggage arriving on the wrong carousel, local officials telling us to go ‘there’ only to be told when we got ‘there’ that we had to go somewhere else. This would have been so much fun if a) I wasn’t so tired and b) if I wasn’t so desperate for the loo. B) should have been easily solved but the first two toilets I found were locked.
My joy on arrival at the hotel was quickly shattered when I was told that, despite my confirmed booking, there was no room for me! I was not a happy bunny but what could I do when all I wanted was to sleep? So I begrudgingly accepted the offer of putting me up in a ‘similar’ hotel for 1 night and they proudly added they would pay for the taxi fare there and back. Clearly their generosity knows no bounds! A taxi was duly provided – a rickety old but very Classic 1948 Chevrolet!! Sadly, my camera was not to hand but something similar (but in much better condition!) was parked outside the hotel this morning.
The Spanish word for ‘similar’ is ‘similar’ but the Cuban Spanish word must be totally different. There was nothing wrong with the El Bosque ( apart from the fact that Wifi was advertised at the reception desk but there was none anywhere in the hotel) though I was none too impressed when this ‘similar’ hotel had a bathroom like this:
And aircon and ‘cupboards’ like this:
Whereas, the next day I had a bathroom, cupboards and aircon like this in my £70 a night luxury accommodation.
Very quickly, though, the land of nod took over and, having been awake for 38 hours, I slept for 10!
By the time I got back to my original hotel, checked in, tried to sort out problems with the internet, argued for compensation about last night’s fiasco (I got a room upgrade and a few free dinners!), replaced my non working room keys – twice and had a walk to the supermarcado and back, there has been very little time for anything else except, of course, eat and drink. If there are no further disasters I might even get round twosome sightseeing tomorrow.
Have a good weekend y’all
R
thelasthurrahsite 