Havana, Cuba - Low cost paradise or expensive rip off?

After I have accommodated myself it was time to get some more money and cigars. While in Cuba one just has to have a cigar right? I already had a contact from my arrival as people are desperate to sell anything. So I exchanged some more cash - this time for much better price of 200 pesos for one dollar. The best rate you can get is 240, but reality is sometimes different as Cuba is - at least at the moment a scammers paradise. Or maybe it is not scamming, it is just a way how to tax tourists a little...

So with my pesos I was on my way to the cigar seller. He invited me to his home, offered me rum and we settled a deal of four cigars for 1000 pesos if I remember correctly. They weren't anything special, but I was on the hunt for something real and cheap. Later I found that lot of Cubans actually smoke that brand.

The area I was going to get my cigars wasn't the cleanest of addresses. As nearly nothing works in Havana, local rubbish collectors are on never ending vacation too.

I resisted taking too many photos of the dirty streets as it was really bad and even though it is true I don't want to promote it. Let's hope Cubans will deal with this mess somehow in the future. With all this Havana is pretty walkable city and it has unforgetable atmosphere. Walking around became my daily bread as I was hunting for food. And when I say hunting it is not overstatement. One has to be creative and resourceful shopper to survive Havana. I don't know if it was me, but finding food is really hard. Specially if you don't want to eat overpriced sh*t. Most restaurants looked out of business or closed anyways. So the best food I end up having was Gordon blue sandwich with bunch of bananas. My diet was a real tragedy back in Cuba...

One of the nicest part of the city is local bay leading to the harbor. As it is Always sunny in Havana, one has a feeling like if being in real tropical paradise. Even though water is absolutely dirty, locals swim and fish there regularly. The air is also a little better as the ocean breeze blows the smog away...

All the best,

Global Local

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