Entering Havana

After sailing for 4 days on open sea, without a sight of land, we arrived to Havana in Cuba. The declaration was expected to take forever but instead it went pretty fast. The declaration was finished and the ambassador from the Swedish ambassad came onboard to tell us about Cuba.

Cuba isn’t the easiest land to visit and for the following days we have a minute sceduale with a lot to do every day. For the next days we are going to see a lot of people from Cuban authouritys and guides from the state that are going to tell us a lot about Cuba. Therefore we very thankful to get a perspective from the Swedish ambassador.

Cuba is like no other place. I’ve never seen a place like Cuba before. It’s like entering a movie from the 70’s. Everywhere you look there is old buildings rising from the ground to the sky. Most of the buildings are old, but here and there it’s newer buildings and hotels. Cuba isn’t a touristic place, everywhere you go people stops you and ask where you’re from even before saying hello. Everywhere you look there are old American cars, mopeds, tuc tucs, taxis, *häst och vagn*, people laying under cars to fix them, people selling fruit at markets, laundry hanging from the balconys, old buses, wall paintings and so on. The streets are crowded with people walking, kids playing football and skateboarding. It’s hard to explain but the feeling of entering the City of Havana was really like entering a 70’s movie.

It was special to visit Cuba since it’s like no other harbour we’ve ever been to. It’s like I said, no touristy place, not so many sovenuir shops, no regular food stores or stores and shops at all. Therefore we’ve been filling our cabins with fruit, snacks, candy and so on since it’s hard to get hold of here. So, after a full day of seawatch, declaration, *föreläsning* and wandering around Cuba and people dragging you I am now going to sit down, relax and eat my mango.

Emilia, SA2023