Housing
In the process of making our plane reservations and VISAs,
we were told that we needed to have lodging reservations as a condition
for our VISA. Consequently, we let our travel agent make reservations for
us at a Areasonably priced hotel in Havana. This turned out to be the 
Ambos Mundos Hotel in Habana Vieja, where
the rate for a single room was $75 and $100 for a double. The hotel had
everything you would expect from a US hotel; hot water, clean towels and
sheets changed daily, a private bathroom and air conditioning, which was
a Godsend on that first day of adjustment for me. The notable historic
fact about the hotel was that Ernest Hemingway stayed there when he came
into Havana from his compound outside of town. His room is preserved as
a museum but I never got to see it even though it was on the same floor
as my room. Although Havana has many reminders of Hemingway's presence
there, I did not come to Cuba to learn about him or his life. One concession
I will make to him is the fact that he apparently re-popularized a drink
called a mojito, consisting of rum, sugar, lime juice and crushed fresh
mint. Those drinks go down all too easy on a hot day in Cuba (every day).
Anyway, once Antonio and Franc arrived we quickly decided that we would spend the next morning looking for a Casa Particular, a private house that people rent rooms, and sometimes the whole apartment or house for a fraction of a hotel price. Before our trip, someone on the internet had sent me a list of over 100 casa particulares throughout Cuba, with a description of the place and the prices. Of course I forgot the list at home, but the jineteros were always willing to show you, which unfortunately raise the price a few dollars more as a consequence.
On the evening of our first day there,
I brought Antonio and Franc to the Malecon where I had met Lazaro the night
before. At this earlier hour (around 9 p.m.) many families were there or
passing through for a stroll. Soon after arriving there, we met two couples,
William and Vivian, and Gilberto and Senay. Senay told us that her supervisor
at work had an apartment he rents with three rooms and would be glad to
take us there the next day. The house was very spacious, a large living
and sitting room in the front with a balcony to the street (where I spent
a lot of time just watching the people in the neighborhood). The three
bedrooms were connected to each other by a long unsheltered patio that
also lead into the kitchen and dining room. He asked $25 per room with
the additional charge for meals. The owner, Eugenio, also informed us that
his assistant Renoir would do any laundry we needed for a fee. It was perfect.
Antonio later told me that Eugenio did pay Senay for having brought us
there.
Eugenio became a valuable source of information. His insight
into Cuban life was very helpful 
as we struggled with the disturbing questions that arose during
our stay there. After a few days, the third member of the household arrived
from out of town more or less confirming our feelings that Eugenio and
Renoir were gay. Although nothing was ever said about it, I had to resist
asking what it means to be gay in Cuba. Eugenio had been very open about
his life and struggles to achieve the position of administrator at the
store he managed and the house where he lived and rented space. The neighborhood
where we were now staying had much more of the feel of daily non-tourist
life of the local people.
One of the biggest impressions I have about
my visit to Cuba was the general hospitality that everyone seemed to share.
Almost everyone with whom I had more than just a passing conversation invited
me to their house to meet their families and even share a meal. Although
I usually declined the meal part of their invitation, I spent a lot of
time in the homes of the friends I met there. The apartments were generally
tiny, and although the outside of the building and common areas of their
buildings were in disrepair, their living
space was usually spotless. Most of the buildings have 20 foot high ceilings,
out of which most built a partial second floor used most commonly as a
bedroom. They called this alcove a barbacoa, which I thought funny since
the word among people in Mexico and the southwestern US means barbeque.