Cuba Day Three

Maruchi's porch and breakfast nook.

Day three of our trip happened to be my birthday. I didn't tell anybody but my sister snuck some presents into my suitcase while I was in the shower. We had a relaxing banana, coffee, and juice breakfast before setting out to explore the adjacent neighborhood of Vedado. Maruchi seemed to think this was a dumb idea, but we figured we could get a cab an re-explore old Havana if we got bored. 

Monkeys like bananas.

Vedado was a mostly residential neighborhood. We stumbled upon a farmer's market and took in the sites. A gang of children descended upon us demanding chicle. Fortunately my Cuban American friend had encouraged me to pack lots of American gum and I was able to please the gaggle of children with my offerings. 

Condemned building? Nope, just someone's house.

Eventually we tired of Vedado and caught a cab to the Hotel Nacional. 

I love this picture because I have not idea who those guys are, yet it looks as if we are intentionally taking this photo together. 

We scored this jazzy ride from Hotel Nacional to Old Havana

Back of convertible shot

This is another group of people I don't know but to me this looks like the Cuban version of Abbey Road

We walked a different path than the prior day through central Havana to old Havana. En route I discovered a child holding a live rabbit. So I of course stopped to try and pet the rabbit. The child's mother was trying to instill the value of sharing into him, but he wasn't receiving the message. The mom wanted him to let me hold the rabbit but we compromised on a pet. My sister captured the whole exchange from a distance. 

Me: Is that a real friggin rabbit?
Mom: Yes.

Mom: Let the crazy lady play with your rabbit.
Boy: Hell no, over my dead body is she going to hold my rabbit.

Mom: Well at least let her touch the damn rabbit so she leaves us alone.

After this exchange Nina and I continued our street amble. Several minutes later the mom tried to get my attention. "I've got the rabbit now" she told me. "It's your turn to have a go". So I did. The dad was on the scene now as well and I asked what the rabbit's name was. The following is a picture of me with my birthday namesake: Jessica Rabbit. The family couldn't believe that my name was Jessica. I thought it was pretty serendipitious and super sweet that they street stalked me to give me another rabbit interaction. And little did they know, I categorized that as my most prized birthday present.

I think we look alike. 

Cuban children playing a game.

In Cuba there is a dearth of internet service and it's expensive to make even local make phone calls. As a result you see a bustling city of people interacting with eachother, children playing non-electronic games, and in general a sense of paying attention you don't see so much in most American cities. It was refreshing.

Later in the day Nina and I decided to do a city tour in one of those cool old American cars. We haggled a couple dudes and the best deal just happened to be with a guy driving a stunning pink Convertible.

We negotiated with the tour guy that our tour ended at our house saving us an extra cab fair. We also negotiated an ice cream and milkshake stop.

Later we cabbed it back into city center for some dinner.

No air conditioning with windows down, also a Cuban standard. 

After dinner we taxied home in one of the weird "eggs" we had noticed around town. It was like riding on the back of a motorcycle but better. Overall, a fine birthday.