Coppelia is a national institution in Cuba, with ice cream parlours in every town and city. Built in the 1960s, the Havana version is a futuristic but retro structure shaped like a spaceship, within a park. The place is always crowded with locals as a bowl of ice cream costs around 20 pence. Unfortunately there appears to be only one or two flavours on offer at a time. Today it's vanilla or pineapple.
I mistakenly forgot to read my guide book before going and fell for the scam highlighted at the beginning of the section on ice cream. On entering the park, two security guards ask if I'd like ice cream and when I nod, they usher me over to a small ice cream stand where a scoop costs USD 2.75 each. What I should have done, according to my guidebook, is walk past them into the main Coppelia building and sit a table with the locals waiting for the ice cream waitress. You
live and learn.
(Photo - Plaza de la Catedral, Havana)
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