Cuba Day Two

I started the day with a run on the Malecon which is basically a long stretch of boardwalk that runs alongside Havana. It's always nice to run with the ocean and I love learning the lay of the land on a vacation run. After I returned to our house Julie drove us to Old Havana. Julie was a little more open to conversation and gave us a brief history of Cuban colonization starting with the Spanish and ending with the American neo-colonization. I was impressed that as a lay person she knew the finer points of colonization. She also knew the exact day of Independence and the start of the revolution, July 26, 1959. I don't say I was impressed with Julie because I'm more educated than she is. I thought her knowledge was a testament to the fact that say what you will about communism, the Cubans are an educated people. According to the CIA factbook, the literacy rate* in Cuba is 99.8%. In the U.S. the literacy rate is 99% so Cuba is beating us on literacy. The high school graduation rate in Cuba is 94%. The U.S. recently reached an all time high of 83%.

The colonial architecture in Old Havana was impressive. After ambling for a while we made our way to the Museo de Revolucion to do some learning. The museum itself is set in the former presidential palace which was impressive. The exhibits were interesting though rustic. Some of the descriptions of the revolution and artifacts were in Spanish only, other in Spanish and English. All looked as though they had been written on a typewriter in approximately 1920.

Courtyard of the Museo

Fingernail remover used for torture. I did a podiatry rotation and we didn't have anything this fancy for toenail removal.

View from inside the Museo

View from a fancy hotel rooftop we snuck into

We were pretty hungry after learning about the revolucion, though not for more knowledge. Julie had pointed out a hotel to us as we drove into Havana that was "very popular with americans". Naturally we were curious about this hotel and also hopeful that they would have some good grub. Alas it was just a fancy hotel with people smoking Cuban cigars in the lobby. We went to the top floor where there was a pool, restaurant, and good views. We went downstairs and inquired about the price of rooms purely out of curiosity. Rooms were $300-$500! We then found that the hotel had a spa with very affordable massages. However, the maitre de had figured out we weren't staying at the hotel and abruptly ceased our tour of the hotel.

This meal of canned mushrooms and veggies was the best I had. The veggies even had an onion for flavor! 

We then made our way to another hotel to try and grab a bite with a view. Hotel Inglaterra proved an ample spot with views of Central Park, antique cars, and great people watching.

Just a typical havana building

After getting back to our neighborhood we were curious to find a grocery store. This place was the equivalent of a Walmart. We found lots of canned vegetables and packages of cookies. Fortunately it had a store security guard. 

Evening Stroll in Our Neighborhood

Overall it was a very fine day.

 *people over 15 who can read and write