I don't know why someone's cutting a dog's leg off but whatever right bare
with me everyone we're gonna sit down hello everyone and welcome back to
Havana in Cuba I'm on my balcony in my hostel take a look around this is the
area that I'm in you're gonna see a bit more of that in a little bit but first
things first it's about five o'clock in the afternoon
and having a drink okay check this out so I am had no corkscrew so I've had to
improvise knife in the cork job done so this video is a special one so you might
see a lot of travel YouTube channels that many people do these slightly
disingenuous emotional videos about a place they're in because they love it so
much and I've never really understood that until I got here that's what this
video is so prepare to get the box of tissues because there might be a bit of
emotion in this video I don't normally do emotion but I'm gonna do it so I'm
going to tell you about my time in Havana so far I've got a couple of days
left at the time I'm filming this video and I'm gonna go off with you when I
first got here I hated it absolutely despised it I thought well why the hell
am I here what place what hellhole have I rocked up in but you know what things
are totally changed and I guess this video is all about how this place is
kind of rejuvenated by another travels in many ways including the noise behind
me but never mind you know the thing about Havana right is that there are a
lot of frustrations to do with the two currencies to do with the Wi-Fi
situation which I'm going to go into in another video later date but you know
and I thought these things would be a huge problem for me and initially they
were I was really struggling with the culture shock the fact that it was so
different and having spent three months in Mexico I think only naturally and
let me have a drink
only naturally I would compare Mexico to Cuba but fact is there is no comparison
because there are they are so different and you know the area I'm staying in
right is not the best area so when I got here you can see the buildings around
here aren't in the best condition but when you look into it further
there's building over there I think it's that one that's all blue turquoise one
you see there there's a sign on the on the wall that says 1917 so I'm assuming
these buildings are over 100 years old which is amazing and there's no surprise
and they're in the state forever here but actually it kind of adds to the it
adds to the feeling of the place you know and I think once you get over that
sort of thing and get used to it then you feel a lot more comfortable and you
know I think it's only places before which have been a new country for me the
first time I've been somewhere and I've had this before where I literally want
to leave after a couple of days but I'm so glad that I gave it time and put my
emotion in my pocket and reacted rationally which is what you have to do
and you know just a thing about this area right so I sit up here a lot on
this balcony looking around watching the people go by and it's brilliant so this
area the people round right there look I know these people they're fantastic
they're always waving up at the balcony and that sort of thing and when you
first get there I love it I thought that intimidating which in terms of a lot of
younger men groups of men on the street corners that sort of thing but actually
once you get past that intimidation you find that they're absolutely brilliant
it's superb they're very welcoming and and this might sound a bit flippant but
in terms of winning in Havana I am feel like 90% of them are pregnant and the
men are slightly sexually aggressive but not in a negative way they're not you
know it's not aggressiveness it's more like horniness I think and they say that
the Cuban libido is famous and there's a bloke right down there right
now grabbing his balls I'm started I'm starting to do that all
the time you know that my I might be completely wrong with this but it's just
my um view my opinion of this place and and
there are some things which you know if I slightly squeamish you might want to
turn away now but there are some things you have to kind of get used to in this
area in Havana by the way it's kind of slap-bang between Old Havana the new
Havana I forgot to say that and for example there's dead mice on the street
there's dead cats I've even come across a clear plastic bag with a severed leg
inside I think it was a dog I don't know why someone's cutting your dog's leg off
but whatever and just now I was walking down the street and something
fell from the sky literally went past my head look on the ground and it was I
what was in it was like a chick like a bird and the amazing thing was all these
kids just ran up to this bird and picked up the bird and rescued it it was
amazing and I'll come back on to kids in a minute but back to the Wi-Fi situation
so you would think that someone from a first world country and someone that is
used to travelling extensively and needs Wi-Fi relies on Wi-Fi you think I would
have a problem but I'm being totally honest with you I haven't seen it as an
issue at all in fact it's been the opposite it's been almost refreshing and
I've been able to embrace the fact that I can't go in each event 5 minutes to
check comments I can't do an Instagram story every 5 minutes in it it's like a
relief but I don't have to and actually I you'll be surprised at this you might
want to sit down because it's a bit of a shock but I've been playing cards
I've been reading books there's one about it in English there's one about a
submarine in the war and another one which is in German because I'm trying to
get better on my German again and it's about a boy in a white room basically
he's woken up there 15 years old with no memory and it's very sinister all he's
got in there is this computer called Alice that won't tell him any
information except about the company that made that technology and it's all
something to do with this boy's dad that's as far as I've got so far I'm
actually surprised that I'm able to understand it my German isn't as bad as
I thought it was yeah so I guess embrace those things because it will set you
free basically but back to the children and this was the thing that completely
changed my opinion of Havana so I was just walking down this
street basically and it was one evening and there was a group of young boys
playing football and just after them was a group of girls they drawn out on the
floor hop scotch and playing hopscotch just after that there was a little boy
with a bat he'd made out of a piece of crappy old wood off the street and was
playing with a ball then there was a group of older men with a table playing
chess and I walked past a house I looked in the window and it was a family
playing dominoes around a table and when I think about especially in the UK you
would never see that it's very much what I did when I was a kid back in the
eighties and nineties I played hopscotch at school in the playground I was in a
football team when I was dying I played dominoes I think Cluedo Monopoly
with my family probably only on Christmas Day but the point I'm trying
to make is that this place has been refreshing in terms of the children here
seem to have some kind of resemblance of a childhood which you don't see in other
countries it's it's and it's something that's quite touched me actually because
you know and the kids walk by there waving and they're just brilliant
because I think they're it obviously taught how to treat other people rather
than just sitting in front of an iPad from the age of three years old another
drink to end this video basically if you're gonna if you're gonna come to
Havana don't just stick to the tourists so I obviously do them but I would
absolutely recommend coming to a place like this and experiencing local life
it's exactly why I don't stay in hotels exactly why I'm a low budget traveler
exactly what I said in the video about digital nomer of sacrifices you know
this place has changed my view on travel completely it's changed my life and just
the last point about the Wi-Fi it won't restrict you there is a world without
Wi-Fi in fact a world without Wi-Fi sets you free it's pretty much that is my
anything at all in this video so thanks for watching I hope that this is giving
you a good view of what you can expect in Havana
and what it can do for you in terms of a person I love Havana and I don't want to
leave I'm actually getting a bit emotional now
anyway it's because I'm drinking so thanks for watching there's I think a
couple more video yeah there's two more videos from Havana coming
stay tuned for them thanks for watching my drunkenness um I've had two sips of
wine I'm not drunk I will be and I'll catch you later