I had nothing to declare so I went thru the appropriate line, passed my customs form to the official by the door, and went outside. Here we saw a bunch of folks lined up holding signs. For once someone had a sign for me, prearranged by my host at my casa particular. This was very beneficial as Dayan directed us to the cambio, the money exchange. The one in our arrival terminal was closed. There was 3 people in front of us, but took about 15 minutes in line as this is a *slow* process.
Its a ratio of 1 USD to 1 CUP, but with a 10% penalty and 3% commission. I ended up with 86.30 CUP from my $100 USD. We rejoined our driver outside who was waiting anxiously, and walked the 5 minutes to where he was parked. Our ride comprised of a yellow Fiat made in Poland, and we squeezed into the car. Our driver was concerned about us fitting, but was no problem. The lack of headroom was my main issue, needing about 2" more. It was about a 30 minute ride to our casa, and it was interesting to see everything along the way.
Our driver pointed out many of the sights as we passed, the library, hospital, and revolution plaza. This was a 30 CUP ride, tipping 2 CUP. We met Tania our host, and she welcomed us, and showed us our accommodations. We had a single and double bed, fridge/freezer, 23" widescreen TV and our own bathroom, plus AC. After getting settled, she explained were a few options for dinner were and general locations of tourist locations. We walked the 20 minutes down San Miguel to Old Havana and ate dinner at a restaurant adjacent to Central Park.
I ended up with 12 Pesos worth of ribs and barbecue sauce (3 fatty ribs with sweetened ketchup). This was a small portion for the price, but enough for tonight. However being a sucker for "street food" I ended up with some fried chicken from a window. Tasty with salsa, it had a big line and ended up with 3 large pieces for a little over 2 CUC. I ended up with change in both CUC and CUP too
. Fried plantains in the bottom of the tray were a tasty bonus. Walked back to the room, watched some T.V. with both Spanish and Japanese subtitles, and went to sleep.