We went to one restaurant, in Veradero. Il Rancho (El Rancho?). Food was good - grilled fish…some had with shrimp and cheese on top. Huge plate, came with carrot salad (they marinate slivered carrots in some kind of dressing with thinly, thinly sliced cabbage), rice and the most wonderful fresh bread.
Took a tour into Havana and ate at a restaurant which name I cannot remember but in “new” Havana - in the bottom of a beautiful old building, balconies all around - we sat in a type of courtyard. Again, we had fish, much the same as the dish we had in Veradero. The restaurant is not far from El Floridita (spelling?) which was Ernest Hemingway’s home when he stayed in Havana.
It seems everything there comes with rice and this carrot/cabbage salad.
Lettuce doesn’t seem to be served anywhere. Rather you get slivered carrots, cabbage, beets, radishes, beans. For meat, your choices are fish, pork and chicken Very little beef outside the hotel. All are well done.
Since there is no independent business, there are no things such as taco carts, vendors of any kind other than at the markets, of which there are many all of which sell pretty much the same thing.
The ironwork, such as railing balconies, is astounding and intricate. If I can figure out how to attach some pictures from our digital camera, I will do so.
The downside is, everywhere you go, there are many taxi carts pulled by horses. It is difficult to imagine that these horses pull all day long in the heat. With three days in various towns, I never once saw a water bucket, either on the carts or on the road. We saw quite a few with limps and few of the horses show little interest in what’s going on around them. We saw only two which seemed to be very well cared for. They go along the side of the roads, with buses, taxies and cars running right beside.
Two kinds of beer: Cristal and Buccanero (sp?). First is like a crisp ale, second is more “creamy” tasting, doesn’t leave that clean feeling, if you know what I mean. Major alcohol is rum. The original Bacardi’s rum was made there. They serve a dark rum, straight.
Ice cream is a big deal there…lots of it served everywhere. It’s really good.
To give you an idea of pricing, a lobster special (caribbean style, not east coast meaning just the tail) was on at El Rancho for 11 CUC which, with conversion to Canadian, is about $22.00 which is not bad to those of us not on the coast. That’s a complete dinner with sides mentioned above.
You see few private boats, other than the deep sea fishing boats and tourist catamarans.
The only cars a private citizen can trade are the old American built cars of which there are hundreds, some with a '57 front, a '53 back and decorations from all years. If you are a professional (doctor, dentist) you can buy a Lada with the merit points you earn from the state. The car is yours for life. As well, they assign housing which is handed down from family to family. You cannot sell property. In some cases, you can buy land but building materials are hugely expensive and it is unlikely a regular citizen would ever have enough money to build.
University and medical are free there. Also required is two years in the army. When you graduate the state assigns you to a job.
The difficulty seems to be that everyday things are very expensive there. For example a tube of toothpast can be upwards of 4 CUC which is about $6.00 Canadian.
Although your housing, medical and university are free, living day to day is very costly.
As a caveat, information, depending on you talk to, is not consistent. So the above may or may not be correct, again, depending on you speak to.
We saw no newspapers, although, at the hotel, we could get CNN.