Marek We wander around the old town. Here the city is much better maintained. In the very center, you can meet women dressed in colonial costumes, who are happy to pose for photos. For a penny. Do they earn extra money, or is it their main source of income? I do not know. Women don’t want to talk about it. When we enter the narrow streets surrounding the market, we encounter a different type of people.
Here, especially in front of the entrances to pubs, we come across better dressed Cubans offering to buy cigars. The price is 1/5 of the price for which you can buy them in Europe. After a short bargain (it’s best to learn haggling in Mexico) it drops to 1/7. Who knows how much more we might have lowered the price if we had been more relentless. We buy 2 boxes of Cohiba brand cigars. It is an exclusive brand. Cigars for special occasions. It will be useful for gifts.
I’ll tell you this. On various Polish forums, you will read that Cohiba sold on the streets is a fake. I do not know. The boxes do not indicate this, they are of high quality. Inside you will find the necessary certificates. The cigars taste great. I would rather lean towards the theory that employees steal them from the factories that produce them. I don’t know, but I’m glad I bought them. They taste amazing.
When we move away from the Centro Historico, we encounter a different kind of vendors. These are people who look much worse, in gray clothes, often without teeth. They sell cigars packed in plastic bags, in bundles tied with ribbons. The prices are pennies. The taste of cigars is much worse. Sorry, I’m not a connoisseur, so I can’t judge whether they are worse or just too strong for me.
And when we return to the rented room in the evening, the owner of the house greets us at the door, holding two boxes of cigars in her hands (of course, Cohiba), with a smile on her face, offering us a purchase at a very attractive price. Only with her are the best and most original. Oh no, no, no. We can’t fit any more.
