Day Two

Yesterday we walked and walked and walked! When we finally got back to our room, we were exhausted. Happily there was a big birthday party at Casa Carmen for her son so we canceled our dinner reservations and joined them. During the day we visited about 1/4 of the old city and stopped often for a coffee, drink or snack to listen to music and/or people watch. This is such a beautiful city and so vibrant. We have to buy internet time at a hotel and use our wifi there, so I'm making these entries brief. I'll tell a lot more stories after returning to Mexico. But we love Cuba and are excited about returning in our boat.

Taxis come in all forms. We haven't taken one yet but I
made friends with this fellow and we had our picture taken
together.

Here's another type!

We listened to a lot of bands during the day. They play in
many of the cafes and bars.

This picture and the next have a long story but I'm going to
wait until I have some time (and I'm back in Mexico) to
detail. 

A couple we met and had drinks with.

This is a section of the old wall that once surrounded the
city.

We toured a huge warehouse on the water
with hundreds of artists and craftspeople
selling their wares.

This amazing brewery could have been in any big U.S. city.

It is a conversion from an old warehouse. Beer for groups
is served in these tall containers. Big decks stretch out on
both sides and it's right on the water.

And of course, they had a live band.

This marker shows the old and new building

Some of the bars here had very famous
regular cutomers.

We toured a Greek Orthodox church and I had to don a
apron like skirt to enter.

There are lovely parks all over the city

The streets are often pedestrian only in the
oldest part of the city. But compared to any
US city, there are few vehicles.

Another charming little park.,

Public art is everywhere - statues and murals

This is the Plaza de San Francisco with handsome buildings,
art and a big church.

As the sun started to go down, the light became so lovely.
The temperature has been in the 80's during the day and
around 70 in the evening.

At least 75 percent of the building have
residents in all or part.

Sidewalk cafes abound. We had two of the best cups of
coffee here we remember having!

These two old gentlemen were wearing
yamakas but we had a hard time understanding
them, although we tried. Usually Scott does
so well.

One of the historic old hotels that are scattered
throughout the city and all appear to be thriving

And the churches all appear to be in use.

We had a fun evening at the birthday party for
Carmen's 26 year old son. There were lots of
family and friends with a buffet dinner and
plenty of things to drink. More photos from
this tomorrow (from Scott's cell phone).