Habana Vieja 14th December

We breakfasted early and then went to the Musuem of Bellas Artes (Cuban section) which was very interesting, but unfortunately we finished it off with lunch in the cafe.
Then we wandered slowly to the Malecon to watch to feel the seaspray and enjoy the variety of vehicles passing by. After a call at a pharmacy with not much on its shelves and a siesta, we headed into the evening to a nearby bar where there was live music.  Though Ben had brought his saxaphone he couldn't play because a restaurant nearby had managed to get a local law passed whereby brass instruments weren't allowed because of the noise! But we made friends with some of the musicians and the day after he ended up playing in the bar of the Hotel Tejadillo with some, and later on with some others in the Hotel Inglaterra.
We had wandered the streets of Haban Vieja which are quite full of tourists - especially French speaking. The Spanish baroque colonial style is enhanced by a Caribbean flavour which produces a rich cocktail. In old Habana the crumbling colonial buildings are often painted in florescent pastel pinks, yellows and greens. The suburbs tend towards pink and green - but in more subtle shades.
If you are a museum goer you could spend months here before you have seen them all - ceramics, chocolate, guns, Simon Boliivar, Benito Juarez, money - they all have their own as well as the stuffed animals in the Natural History and the tanks and rockets in the Museum of the Revolution.
Some differences between Nicaragua and Cuba:
there are street names and numbers in Cuba;
streets are cleaner in Cuba;
Cuban television has fewer channels, very few adverts - breaks between programmes are filled with cartoons, exhortations to feel good about the cultural, educational and health standards in Cuba (there are also dubbed American films and programmes (even Disney!) which presumably come via Mexico;
Cuba has a lot of tourists, for whom prices are similar to Europe, whereas Nicaragua is cheap;
in Cuba Che is everywhere - a big picture even in the hospital;
there is great music in lots of bars in Cuba, often played acoustically by motley collections of people of different ages and different sartorial standards and who may turn up in another band playing a different instrument;
Nica has billboards that try to  sell you things you don't need - Cuba has less billbaords and the messages are things like - 'These changes will bring more Socialism' Í love this island' ' Socialism or Death;
At the side of the streets in Nica there are stalls overflowing with fruits and vegetables - and they sell a very salty cheese, whereas Cuba has less stalls, less fruit & vegetables and what cheese there is  tastes processed;
In Nica it's quite easy to be a vegetarian as they eat very lttle meat due to iits cost - Cuba has inherited the Spanish mentality of ' if it moves, eat it ';
Nicaragua has cyber cafes and hostals with wi-.fi - Cuba is not really online at all, with 1 or 2 hotels having slow connections if they have one at all.