Well you’ll be pleased to know that not all food in Cuba is bad. We had a lovely meal at a restaurant in Vinales last night (Don Thomas) – fish for Sid and a really nice casserole for me. The restaurant was recommended to us by some other tourists and it was very good indeed. The theory goes that it is the hotels and state run restaurants that are bad, because no-one really cares about the quality. But that’s what they used to say about public service workers and I know it not to be true, so I don’t want to believe that that is the case here either! This afternoon we took the Viazul bus back from Vinales to Havana. We had asked the guy who booked things for us to book us into a Casa Particular for one night, for the experience. Casas are people’s houses so almost like a B & B in our terms (but of course, they have to have a license from the government to run them, and so presumably are ‘trusted’ people). When we told our guide on Tuesday that we were staying in a Casa on our return to Havana and showed her the address, she told us it was in Miramar and therefore the host must be ‘someone important’. We knew from our Rough Guide that Miramar and the suburbs to the west of Havana (the area is generally referred to as Playa which covers about five neighbourhoods) was the last area to be built before the revolution, in the 1930s and ‘40s, and was a very wealthy area in those days (it is where Club Tropicana is situated as well. Club Tropicana was another of those forerunners of Miami – when Havana was the American playground during prohibition, thus the Mafia, gambling and ‘showgirl’ traditions). Now, all of the embassies are in this area and we knew it is the ‘smart’ suburb. But even knowing all that we were amazed when the taxi started to drive into the area and pulled up at what can only be described as a beautiful well-kept mansion – and the surrounding area is full of them – the Knightsbridge or Hampstead of Cuba!
The house is huge, marble floored, high ceilinged, with balconies, courtyards, and good sized gardens, as well as a long enclosed drive with a double garage. It is also full of impressive antiques and paintings 
(done by the owner’s son, who died eight years ago, although we don’t know how). She is a lovely lady and was very welcoming. Our room is beautifully decorated with
an original art deco bathroom. But we don’t get it. All this ‘wherever you lived before the revolution you now own’ has its problems. Our host has lived here for just 25 years, so our guess is she’s very close to the Party or has played some other important role in her lifetime. If we were staying there longer, we could have asked her some questions perhaps, but you can hardly walk in and say, ‘how do you get all this instead of a shack,’ can you? There is no Mr Host around and we can’t explain that either. Anyway, we had a very long walk around the area for a couple of hours after we arrived and although there are many houses like these, there are very modest houses, and run down places also (a bit like Islington bordering Hampstead, I suppose (and that’s true of most cities too). Tonight we tried to walk to a restaurant recommended by the Rough Guide but it is no more, but we found one nearby and guess what? Another lovely meal Really glad we’re mixing good? (high star rating) hotels with countryside stays and this home stay. We’re getting to see a lot of the country and its variations. Another interesting and enjoyable day.
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