A CHEAP BUT STILL EXPENSIVE ICECREAM

Yesterday afternoon, nobody started a conversation with me, and I was starting to think that Havana was like any big city, with a lot of traffic and everyone in a hurry. Today however, everyone wanted to talk to me. A student wanted to tell me about his history studies. Two boys at the Malecon wanted to show me a bar where Hemingway drunk, but is cheaper and less "Americano" than Bodeguita Del Medio. A man wants to sell me cigars, women, anything, then another wants me to take a photo of him smoking a cigar, which I do.

They all want me to listen to the famous Buena Vista Social Club band, but seemingly all at different locations at the same time. They are also all pleased to hear I have been staying in Casa De Particulares and not hotels. Some of them think that that Scottish football is good, but I quickly set them straight.

A doff of my baseball cap leaves the two men trying to sell me a bottle of shampoo laughing long after I have continued down the street.

Later I get ripped of buying an icecream. I pay the equivalent of 70 pence before I realize it should have only cost 8 pence. There are two currencies in Cuba, and I have not yet mastered either.Feeling cheated, I buy the latest edition of Granma and head back to my Casa to catch up on the latest news of the Revolution.