Plaza America

The day after the catamaran cruise was devoted to rest & relaxation. Because tourist excursions last an entire day, it’s best to space them out rather than one after the other. Of course, if you have the willpower, then by all means, do an excursion everyday. Just make sure you have enough convertible pesos to pay for everything. After spending several hours of the morning in the pool & swim up bar, my parents & I decided to visit the neighbourhood mall.

The Centro De Convenciones Plaza America as it’s officially called, is a small shopping centre (compared to North American malls) that sits next to our hotel, Melia Las Americas. It only takes a max of 2 minutes to walk. The architecture is dated & could use renovation but the stores are clean and well maintained. Employees are bused in from the town of Varadero and are dressed for business.

Plaza America houses restaurants, music stores, sports shops, post office, internet café, rum/cigar store, grocery store, bookstore, souvenir stands, an open food court with hundreds of plants, and several stray cats. And as always, there is a band playing at the food court. It’s better to buy your souvenirs here than at the hotels because the prices are cheaper, and the vendors can be bargained with. You can even barter with North American clothing because of the better quality & high demand.

It was here where we were introduced to Cuban originality & creativity. At one souvenir stand, a lady was selling toy cars, trucks, and airplanes made out of aluminum pop & beer cans. There were on sale for 10 pesos but my mother bargained it down to 5. A souvenir worth bringing back home; just pack it really well so it doesn’t break in your suitcase. Opposite the stand was a character mural depicting Che Guevera & Jose Marti, and a map of where tobacco is grown in Cuba.

We spent the rest of our time walking around the mall, window shopping the rum/cigar store, sending a postcard to my brother in Australia, and spending some time at the internet café. The café charges 3 CUC for 15 minutes, and the internet connection quite good. It’s much better than the dial-up speed at the hotel.

The bookstores sell books dealing with the Cuban Revolution, Cuban history, how the CIA tried to kill Castro & overthrow the regime, etc. There are books in English but the majority is in Spanish. Hmm, I should probably learn the language before I come back for a second visit. The grocery store stocks a lot of domestic & international products but be prepared to turn in your personal bags until you leave. This is a deterrent against theft.

Overall, the layout of the mall is not so bad but there’s not much to do if you’re not willing to spend money. It is a great place to get out of the scorching sun I may add. Since we mostly came with a window shopping mentality, we didn’t try any of the restaurants. That’ll be for next time.

As for the rest of the day . . . pool, swim up bar, Ron Collins, and dinner & music. That’s pretty much it. R&R. We would need it because the next day we would be leaving for the real Cuba. The centre of Cuban politics & history. Havana awaits.