cuba
Out of context: Reply #3
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- paraselene0
oh, have a lovely time. the varadero is totally touristy and overpriced, but you can still enjoy the sun and surf.
the buses are about as reliable as anything else in cuba... but you'll find that the people are incredibly friendly and helpful and you'll get wherever you need to go in the end, probably losing a few dollars to confidence tricksters along the way.
renting a car yourself is more expensive than you'd imagine and also a big hassle.
as for havana, there's so much to do!
try and pay a visit to the uneac (national union of cuban artists and writers). they have a lovely garden where they put on rumbas once weekly (saturday, if i remember correctly) and a lot of eccentric people turn up.
have drinks at sunset in the back garden bar of the hotel nacional overlooking the malecon.
the museum of the history of the city is really cool and it's nice to go down to the plaza de armas and check out the book stalls.
the vedado is a great neighbourhood for walking around aimlessly and if you can manage it (although i had to pull a bunch of strings and commit a bit of identity fraud to get let into them), try and find a way to visit the national art schools. some amazing and fucked up architecture going on there. they may have opened it up to tourists by now, so it's worth a nosey if you can.
i'll post some more later if my day stops being so busy!