San Antonio, Texas
We checked into Hotel Havana, which indeed looked like it would be suited in Cuba with velvet and leather furniture, dark wooden floors and a heavy smell of something similar to tobacco (Cuban cigars, perhaps?) The room itself was not very big in terms of floor space, but the ceiling was incredibly high which suited the tall windows with wooden blinds adding to the tropical island vibe. The bed, although it was big enough for all three of us and was very comfortable, had an unfortunate quality: every time one of us would move, even Theodor, it would creak so loud it made it extremely difficult to sleep! We were actually actively trying to not move at all during our nights here, just so we wouldn’t make noise and wake up Theodor.
Associated with Hotel Havana is a small restaurant called Ocho, which serves Latin foods right beside the San Antonio River Walk. As it was starting to get late, we decided to go there for dinner. We were quite surprised upon entering the restaurant, as it looked more like an orangerie situated right beside the hotel wall with small café tables and chairs, velvet sofas and lots of plants. The ambiance was relaxing and luckily, the food and drinks were excellent. We started off with cocktails (Alexandra in particular was extremely pleased with her choice, the Old Cuban), and the obligatory serving of fresh fried tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole, before diving into a spicy-ish chicken with pappas bravas and tostones (we decided to skip the “add grilled shrimp to any plate” option).
