Stanley Buczynski - May 9th

It’s unbelievable to think that I have been in Cuba for about two days and I think that I have traversed by walking (and running) at least the distance of a half-marathon. Though exhausting, the places we go are breathtaking and rich history which is well worth the sacrifice because our time is limited here and we need to see as much as we can. Fueled by the great food and generous portions of caffeine, today, we visited Habana Vieja, Old Havana; a location that already has much of us talking about a second visit. Habana Vieja is a big tourist spot so there was a lot to do but I will describe how my day went.

Upon arrival we visited a restaurant called “El Café” for lunch where I tried a mojito and dined on a delicious sandwich. Afterward, a couple of us split from the group to embrace our inner tourist and do a little shopping. It was tough trying to decide where to shop because there were so many places to go but most things were pretty cheap at each tienda. I purchased a map and several postcards; maybe for the person reading this right now! Sometimes just exploring was enough because the products were so interesting from instruments, shirts, cooking utensils, hats, and paper fans. . . really the list is exhaustive. After a couple of hours of window shopping my group wanted to go somewhere to cool down because many of us still are not to use to the Cuban heat. We decided to look for a museum and eventually found one about nature. While the displays presented were rather elementary in their scope the fact that everything was in Spanish made it feel like a rocket science museum. We spent an hour and thirty minutes at a place where it really should have taken forty-five minutes but everything is a learning experience here. At that point, it was time for us to meet everyone at a plaza called “La centre de Arma” or the center of arms. The meeting place was interesting because it was not full of guns or cannons like I was thinking but rather it was called that because the main army station used to be stationed next the square. When we met there we split up into groups after a short debrief. We followed a tour guide as he told us of some of the history of Havana, as well as details about specific areas within Habana Vieja, and gave important advice, like where to get the best mojito. He also showed us the house of famous author Ernest Hemmingway. Afterward we returned home and had free time where I relaxed with my roommates. It was really busy and fun, but really how is that any different from any other day here!?