Today, Pedro and I went to Habana Vieja without Bernard, as he is leaving on Friday and wanted to go to the beach.

When I went to get a taxi to meet him, all Panataxi´s had mysteriously disappeared (normally there´s tons of them around) so I got a taxi particular for 1$.

We took the ferry (la lancha) to Casablanca just across the harbour and walked up the stairs to the statue of Christ (Estatua de Cristo). The statue is not very special, but the views of Havana are spectacular and we were nearly the only people there. We then went on to the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, which supposedly cost so much to build that Carlos looked through his spyglass and expected to be able to see it from Spain.

Pedro told me a bit about the history of the Spanish being defeated, and Cuba ultimately becoming a republic.

Che Guevara´s old office is there and Pedro asked what Che meant in Europe. I said that many people know he´s famous, but few know what he´s famous for, as his image has been commercialised a lot. Che, according to Pedro, was the only army officer that declined all the privileges they got, eating and sleeping with his men, which didn´t go down well with the other officers. In other words he was incorruptible, which in Latin America (and perhaps the rest of the world too) is a rare commodity indeed.

There was a poem there which had a line I found very striking:
Fidel needs you now, just like yesterday
I think that´s very true, as everybody in Cuba knows and loves Che and what he stands for, even if they don´t love Fidel. Pedro said Fidel is power hungry, that he forces Cubans into illegality by his politics and that the Cubans are his slaves (and prisoners, one could add).

He also said that the country is on the brink of bankrupcy and that the new scheme, where all American dollars must be converted into convertible pesos is another trick to get more money (if you exchange them after 8 November, 1 dollar = 90 peso centavos, whereas now it´s one to one). Everybody was behind Fidel when he overthrew Batista (which is always named el triunfo de la revolucion), but now people are not so sure, which is not surprising after nearly 50 years of struggling to find the basic necessities. I wonder what Che would think of Cuba if he saw it now, as it´s not exactly turned out as he envisaged it.

The views were spectacular and we had the place nearly to ourselves, which is why Pedro could speak more openly, but I felt a bit sad, both because of what he told me and because I will be going soon.

Salsa was good, only one yawn! At one point Angél was showing off so much that I was watching him and forgot to dance my own steps, but instead of getting impatient, he had to laugh when I told him.

In the evening we went to the Malecón to have some rum and coke (the drink, not the drug) but the Cuban guy made them a bit too strong for my taste (about half and half) The views of Havana by night are great, and the sound of the waves is wonderful, although more often than not it´s the sound of wandering groups of musicians you hear. Ben (from Tooting) Owen and I went to see if Coppelia was open but it closes at 22.30, so no ice cream.