Slept like a log but woke up at 7:15 like clockwork. Shit! Wandered down for breakfast and had missed the gang at breakfast but saw Monique, this other guest who is staying at the hotel. Her husband Al likes to sleep in so I joined her for some bread, pancakes and coffee. We decided to go downtown together on the hop on/hop off bus. It’s only $5 for the day which is a good deal. I got home for free basically.
Walked down Obispo street which is quite touristy and shopped for cigars. There was a good selection at the one near near the capitolo building. They cigars stores are all called “Havana Club” and they sell rum and cigars. The rum is so cheap! $7 for a large 1.1 litre bottle. Gotta get me some of that. I bought eight cigars for John. All the local touts by the way have rum on their breath. They’re a bunch of alkies.
I wandered around the book fair again for a bit but couldn’t find that calendar I bought. I wanted to buy one for Phil too but no dice. I ended up buying him a Che cap instead.
Ate some pizza at the Cafe Paris. The pizza was the same price as my Fanta, and they charged me a peso for a tip. Then there was some argument about giving me my change. I watched the bartender pour a mojito. And the rum seriously was 50/50. They must pour 3 ounces in a small glass. That’s why I got so wasted last night.
Went to the museum de revolution and most of it was in spanish. And I was getting extremely tired. I think the week is catching up on me, plus I got too much sun at the beach. And too little sleep last night. I walked outside to the Granma memorial (it’s the boat that Fidel came over from that started the revolution). The boat is enclosed like a relic inside this big building, with guards on every corner.
I had just been looking at some remnants of airplanes, missiles, etc., which almost led to the Third World War. I just stood there looking at these chunks of metal, thinking about how the world nearly ended due to politics in this small island nation. Then I heard this “psssst” and looked up, and a guard was staring at me then made a kissy face at me. lol.
Then I hopped on the bus, came back to the hotel and had a big snooze. I’m going to skip the dinner everyone has arranged as I’m just beat. Can’t face socializing right now. Will hopefully have a quiet gross dinner to myself at the buffet. Internet downstairs for half an hour then maybe Mitch will be around to show me a few things in Photoshop. I need to buy rum too.
I am going to have to convert my last $100 which I was hoping not to have to do.