Notes from Havana

I saw Fidel Castro! Didn't meet him, just saw him, like one sees Julia Roberts getting off a car and walking down the red carpet.
Cuba is a contradiction. You see people on the road dressed to the Sixes, but they have a bit of bother finding their next meal. You see real nice looking / dressed and (cultured) people standing in a line for hours to buy bread. You also see foreigners eating lobster and crab meat while the locals with what money they have trying to buy meat in the black market on the sly.
You see Comrade Castro having a little chat with his country men and women in the local park and on the other hand, you have locals extremly wary about the police and hmm..the hidden police.
Cars from the 1950s, 60s, baseball crazy folks, crumbling buildings that were built in the late 19th and early 20th century, Havana is a surprise, to put it mildly. I can’t say I fell in love with this place, but I can tell you that Havana has got under my skin.
Friendly folks, great weather, ohhh and good Cigars+cheap rum. Prettiest women I have ever laid my eyes upon (excuse me, that was EYES), minimal traffic that results in air one can breathe without having ones lungs scream like a chicken on its last throes. Havana rocks on that count.
My fourth day here, lemme see,
a. I was invited to lunch at this guys place, he works in a cigar factory.(More to come there)
b. Met a guy who claims to be an Indian by descent and wants to hook me up with a girl.(Creeps me out)
c. Went drinking with a guy who claims to be a cleaner in a cemetery. (This guy speaks English a bit too well and knows shit loads about world news to be a cleaner in a cemetery. Secret police? Its quite possible here, but then again what do I care. )
d. Saw Comrade Castro as I already said. His convoy is a lesson to Indian politicians. Five cars and no headaches to the public. They mind their business and don’t bother others (I was thrilled just to see him though).
e. Staying in a hotel that serves lobster. (Lobster apparently is a big deal here.)
f. Been walking up and down the Malecon (photos shortly) and reaching the conclusion that this is the best marine/beach/playa (Spanish for beach I guess) road on the planet.
Among others I ran into a wanna be rapper who seems to have cut an album (he showed me a CD with his mug on the cover), a security type (Ministry of Interior, as they are called) who wants to be a rapper and a beer swigging Mexican who supposodly is an ex-rapper.
Che Guevara ranks second in popularity here. The fact that he was a doctor from Argentina who decided to fight on behalf of the Cubans might have something to do with that. His story is a must read, his writings are also a must read.
More Cuban history will follow.