Day 8, Coming Home

We had to be on the bus for the airport before the restaurant opened for breakfast so we got some really bad breakfast food in a box.  Oh well, we can’t always have gourmet meals.  The airport was a mad house so we had to stick close to each other to get tickets, pay the exit tax and go through customs.  We said sad fair wells to our guides and went through to our gate.

Our flight was to leave at 9:30 so we had a long wait.  As the room was emptying out we realized our group of Americans were the only people in the terminal and that we were about to be left behind!!  We never heard them call our flight.

Its a short flight to Miami, long wait, flight to Atlanta, run to next gate, and flight home.

We have traveled with Mickey & David and John & Susanna several times now and we have always found them to be wonderful traveling companions.  I may have an overly optimistic view of the future for Cuba, but I do think they can make the transition out from under Castro’s power.  It may take awhile and it won’t be easy but these are strong, resilient and resourceful people, they will make it work.

Day 7, Havana

The largest cemetery in Havana is the Christopher Columbus Cemetery at over 100 acres.  Columbus is not buried there but it is thought his bones were in the Cathedral on Old Square and they were going to move them to the cemetery when it was completed but the bones were moved somewhere else before the cemetery was completed.  They named it for him anyway.

The docent was fun and had lots of great information about the crypts and the symbolism on them. An owl was a guide in the darkness and a bat meant than you had died by deception. The remains are buried in the crypt for 2 years and then they are moved to an asharium on the same site so that there is room for more of your family.

Ernest Hemingway lived in Havana for about 20 years.  He had a home near the bay but his wife of that time wanted a place that was cooler and lest crowded.  She found this home on the south side of Havana up in the hills and Ernest balked at moving until he actually saw the house.  He fell in love with it.  They added a swimming pool and a three story tower so Ernest would have a quiet place to go to write but then it was too quiet!  He had his cats and dogs at this house, he loved to fish and help poor people by giving them money or by buying their wares. He was a passionate man and loved to drink but he did not get drunk. He died in 1961 from a gun shot wound but they are unsure if it was suicide or murder.  The house has over 900 books and lots of big game trophy heads.

This is not Hemingway.

Another way Cuban are trying to make their lives better is by growing their own food.  We visited and organic farm on 24 acres in the middle of the city.  There are many more spread out over the area.  They hire locals to work the farms so they benefit with a paycheck but the people in the community benefits by having fresh fruits and vegetables.

Another large lunch with lobster before going to Mureleando, a community that is trying to change the people by changing the community.  They have painted many walls, cleaned out a field and put in a ball park, and cleaned out a water tower and made it into a community center. The artists share their talents with the children and with others. They have found ways to make music, received equipment to make movies, record music and they hold workshops for women and children to make dolls and other art.  One bronze sculpture of a man has dentures in his mouth because an elderly lady wanted to be a part of the project and donated her teeth.

Our going away dinner was at Paladar Atelier within walking distance of our hotel.  We have really enjoyed our program manager and our tour guide and this evening we toasted them many times.  It has been a great trip.

Josette the program manager and Lynette our Cuban guide, photo bombed by our friend David.

Day 6, Sancti Spiritus, Santa Clara and Havana

As we head back toward Havana, Lynette talks about the geography of the island.  There are three mountain ranges in Cuba with the central range that surrounds Trinidad having a peak of 1,000 meters.  The Eastern range has the highest peak at 1,900 meters.  Nickel is mined in these mountains and is an important export.  We stopped for a break and coffee in Sancti Spiritus before continuing on.  This region is known for growing garlic and onions which we saw in abundance at the open air market.  We saw fresh pork laid out on the planks, head, feet, tail and all!  Many fruits and vegetable were also being sold.

Our next stop was in Santa Claraa where we visited the School of the Arts, a high school for music, dance and theater. They have about 200 students. A small group sang for us and two girls did interpretive theatre.

The Cayenes Resort served us a very nice buffet lunch and then we stopped at the Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara memorial.  Che is a national hero of the Cuban Revolution that overthrew Batista.

Che was born in Buenas Aires and graduated from college as a doctor.  While traveling in mexico he met Fidel Castro who was exiled there at that time. They became friends so when Fidel came back to Cuba in 1956 Che came with him and was made commander of the rebel army.

In 1958, Batista sent an army train through central Cuba where the rebels led by Castro and Che fought and won, sending Bastista out of the country.  In 1964, Che felt his work was done in Cuba, so he left his wife and kids and went to Bolivia to help with their revolution.  He was eventually killed in 1967 in Bolivia.  He body was hidden there until 1997 when we was brought back to Santa Clara, his home, and interred in the memorial.

Tonight is Party night!  Half of our tour group went to the Buena Vista Club for a Cuban show and the other half of us went to the Tropicana Club.  it was 2 1/2 hours of high energy dance and song presented as a Vegas style show with elaborate costumes, outrageous headdresses and vibrant colors. 

Day 5, Trinidad

The hotel is very nice.  It has a central water fountain surrounded by a lounge area and overlooked by the upper balconies where our rooms are located.

After breakfast we walked in the rain to various places in the colonial part of town, which is a UNESCO site and very nicely preserved

Our first stop was a typical Bodega or market.  Very small but has most of what one may need to prepare meals.  The meat and bread markets are separate stores.

We then went to a Ration store where the poor can get beans and rice, maybe some flour or sugar, milk in a box or powdered milk.  But not enough to feed a family for a month.

We stopped at a Casas Particulares or what we might call a Bed and Breakfast and visited with the owners son.  Private enterprise is allowed but inspections and taxes are increasing all the time, making it harder to earn a living.

The Temple de Yemaya is a two room center where people gather to worship as Santeria (pronounced santa ree ah).The Baba Losh or priest explained that this religion is a blending of Nigeria and Cuba and is based on the natural elements of water, air, fire and earth.  This temple used water and had an alter set up with various sizes and shapes of glasses filled with water.  He explained that there is only one God but they find links between saints and natural elements. ( It is not voodoo.)  In this temple the water is the most important element and is the link to the Virgin Mary.  In one corner they had a black Mary holding a white baby Jesus.  Santeria are baptized by the Catholic Church. Music and dance are important ways of expressing their faith.  

 

We visited the Museo de Architecture.  The docent pointed ou the various ceilings, walls, doors and windows seen in the homes from 1700-1900’s. In the courtyard of the museum was a row of bathrooms with the last being a room to house the shower.  All fixtures were from the US before the embargo.

After shopping on the square we had lunch in a lovely home at tables that were set for a formal banquet. Music and dance accompanied our meal of lobster.

After lunch we watched a master potter mold bowls and vases on a clay wheel at Casa del Alfarero.  Then we drove to a small village outside of town where slaves used to work the sugar plantations and the the sugar mills. The tower we climbed had steep and narrow stairs and was used to keep an eye on the slaves.

After our dinner at the Palador Sol Ananda, a private restaurant where we again had lobster tails, the men visited with the owner about running a business in Cuba.

Day 4, Cienfuentos & Trinidad

The drive to Trinidad is a 4-5 hour drive but we made a couple of stops.  One rest stop had a bathroom (yeah!), gift shop and cafe.  As I was wandering around the area an old man waved be over.  I wasn’t sure what he wanted but I didn’t want to be rude so I walked over.  He points at himself and then at me and says several times, “Amigo, Amigo!” (friend).  He then starts pointing to trees and plants and telling me what they are.  “Banana, Guava, sugar cane.”  Then he hands me a banana and he eats one.  Then he climbs up a tree and plucks a fruit, cuts it in quarters and hands be one while showing me how to eat it.  So I ate some guava.  He also had a white (blanco) guava but I didn’t eat that.  He was so excited and happy that I had come to visit him!  I gave him a few coins and then told everyone else to go see him. The highlight of my day!

To fill empty space our tour guide talked some about a religion found in Cuba that is a mix of Catholic and a an African religion called Oricha (may have misspelled that) called Santeria.  Today more that 60% of Cubans embrace Santeria.  They worship in homes and small groups, it is considered a daily religion and they talk to the gods and goddesses and saints.  We will learn more later in the week when we get to visit a small temple.

Cienfuego Providence is the agricultural heart of Cuba.  We saw many fields of rice, sugar cane and bananas.  The town of Cienfuego was very busy despite the rain.  The square was surrounded by the capital building, a school, theater, museum, restaurant, church and their own miniature version of The Arch de Triumph which was a memorial to their heroes.

As we walked through the shopping district, Lynette took us to a typical Cuban ration store that only accepts the original Cuban peso.  There were fewer items than we are used to seeing, cheaper products and products made in Cuba.  Across the street is a store that accepts the other currency, CUC.  It had imports, more items on display, newer floor plan and newer products.

Cuba has two currencies but they are trying to change over to once currency.  The Cuban peso is the original and is what the government uses for the ration stores and government run stores.  The CUC, Cuban Unit of Currency, is about the equivalent of a US dollar and is what more and more stores are accepting.  It is what we exchanged our Canadian currency for.  One HAS to use Cuban currency in Cuba and Cuba will not accept US dollars for anything.

Lunch was in a private restaurant on the Bay of Cienfuego called Paladar Villa Lagarto.  Paladar is the equivalent of a Bed and Breakfast or a resatuarant in ones home.  Near this place was a rich man’s villa that exhibited a lot of Moorish influences.

After we ate we were entertained by the Cienfuego Choir.  The group of 20 men and women were professional singers and the quality of their music was wonderful.  They sang A Capella with only a tuning fork to give them their pitch.  We were blown away by their concert!

We continued on to Trinidad and arrived there fairly late in the afternoon after driving in rain.  Due to the very narrow streets, the bus driver had to back into the space in front of our hotel.  Very impressive maneuvering!

We had dinner at Paladar Davimart where we again were able to dine on lobster.

Day 3, Havana

We rode a short distance to a Primary School for children ages 6-12.  It is a neighborhood school for about 300 children.  We visited with the principal and a student read us a poem that teaches tolerance. (We had a translator as the principal spoke only Spanish)

We then went to the 4th Square that we did not have time to visit on Saturday.  This one is called “Old Square”. The buildings and square have been totally renovated.  At one time the buildings were so dilapidated the city tore out the square and put in an underground parking garage.  Then in the late 1980’s a company was given permission to totally renovated all the buildings, fill in the garage and make a beautiful new square. The buildings, non of which are a church, were rehabbed and now house various businesses such as a museum, a primary school, restaurants, gift shop, and apartments. They also placed several large art pieces in the square.

Two blocks off this square is a residential area that is undergoing renovation.  The people living in the old buildings are being moved into “plastic” (temporary) housing that was put up in front of the old buildings. Once the renovation is complete most of these people will be moved back into them, but not all since they will be enlarging a lot of the rooms.  Those that can’t move back in will be provided housing in another apartment building.  They also provide senior housing. All this is done by the government.

Our next stop was the University of Havana in Central Havana District.  The first building for the school was built in 1906-1911.  Today is has over 17,000 students.  There are three models of studies, regular, technical or work/study, and self study or lessons by distance.  There are 18 schools and 20 research facilities in the university system.  The school we visited teaches math, pharmacy, psychology, law and physics. 95% of the students graduate.  All services such as food & lodging is free to Cuban students, international students must pay.

We had lunch at a government subsidized restaurant, El Aljiibe, in the Miramar section of the city.  It was an open air restaurant with thatched roof and very good chicken.

We had a short stop at La Lavanderia which used to house a laundromat but is now the gallery and studio of several artists.  Not far from there is a alley that has been transformed from a junk yard into an artistic walkway surrounded by paintings on the wall and recycled items turned into art like iron bathtubs cut and painted to be bench seats.

We had three hours free time, so David, Mickey, John and I hired a 1952 Chevy convertible to drive us out to the Habana Golf Club.  The car was pretty cool.  It had a Toyota diesel engine, hand crank windows, no radio, and none of the gauges seemed to work.  The golf course was really ruff but we tried our hand at putting on the practice green before buying souvenir shirts and hats.  Our driver had waited for us then took us to the National Hotel where we had a mojito and watched it storm & lightening over the bay.  Our driver waited to take us back to our hotel.

It only seemed proper that we had a local beer (Bucanero) for the ride.

Dinner was at a private home where we were served Seafood Paella full of shrimp, scallops, mussels and fish and topped with a whole lobster tail! 

Day 2, Havana

In 1976 Cuba went from 4 provinces to 14 provinces and in 2011 they divided Havana Province into 2 separate provinces. Today we drove east of Havana for about an hour to Las Terrazas Community.  

From 1968 to 1978 50 square kilometers of land was stripped of forest and mined for charcoal.  The mining process created countless terraces, thus the name Las Terrazas. Early this century the area was designated a Biosphere and replanting of trees was started.  But they also helped restore the lives of the people who once lived here by building a village, Buena Vista, for all the people who were working to rebuild the forest.  The village has 1014 inhabitants.  They set up a community center, shops, medical facilities, school and day care, restaurants, cafes, home industry and a 4 star tourist hotel.  

Our first stop was an area that was used to dry, sort and grind coffee beans.  There is evidence of slave quarters and a sorting house.  An old cabin has been refurbished as a restaurant.  In the village we learned how a young entrepreneur learned how to recycle newspapers into art paper and is making a living from it.  We also had coffee at Maria’s Cafe.  Our lunch was at a farm house where our food was prepared over wood fired stove and oven.  We were also serenaded by a Cuban Country ensemble.

Upon our return to Havana, we stopped to explore Fusterlandia.  Sr. Fuster is considered the Picasso of the Caribbean. He has transformed his home and neighborhood by covering everything with mosaic tiles.

Before we had dinner, we met with a professor of economics who spoke on Cuban and US relations.  He gave a brief history of our involvement with Cuba and then I fell asleep, then I went to the bathroom and when I cam back he was almost finished!

We had dinner at LaCalifornian.  This was a privately owned restaurant as compared to some of the government subsidized restaurants we will be experiencing this week. While we ate a couple danced the salsa and cha-cha for us.  But then we all were invited to learn these easy steps and do the salsa ourselves.  It was quite fun!

Day 1, Havana

Or Habana as the Cubans say it.

When the program manager, Josette, said we were traveling back to the 1950’s, she was so correct.  As we came out of the airport in Havana, the parking lot looked like a car show in the US featuring 1950’s era Chevy’s and Ford’s.  The process of going thru immigration felt like it was Pre-9/11.  The stores carry only Coca Cola and Sprite, we could get Lucky Strike or Salem cigarettes (at least that is what the cigarette machine said on the outside but the actual cigarettes are from Cuba or non-US countries.), and the young folks are dressed like hippies!  The books being sold by the Used Book sellers on the square are also from the 50’s.

Our first stop today was in the Revolution Square where a large obelisk and statue commemorate Jose Marti’.  He is considered by the Cubans to be the greatest poet, journalist and writer in Cuba.  Fidel Castro followed his ideals.  This square is surrounded by old and new government buildings.

We drove along the malecon which is a 7km long sea wall on the Bay of Havana.  We passed at least three different forts that were built to protect the harbor over the past 300 years.

Lunch was at El Templete.  We all had a complimentary Mojito as well as an additional beverage like beer or water or cola. The main course was mahi mahi.

Lynette said we would visit four of the main squares in the colonial ‘Old Town’ of Havana but we only saw three today since we ran out of time.

Square #1 was The Arms Square which was the first square built in Havana.  Carlos M. Cespedes is the Father of Cuba and he was its first President.  The square has a fort on one side, the first government building, the Governor’s mansion which is now the City Museum and other 19th century buildings.  This area was built after the Spanish American War and Cuba’s Independence in 1902.

Square #2 is called the St. Francis of Assisi Square because one side of the square is the St. Francis Cathedral that was built in the 16th century.  The other three sides have building from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Square #3 is the Cathedral of Havana Square built in 1777.  This church is made from soft limestone so it is not intricately carved but has a simple elegant Baroque architecture. Near this square was a University that used to be a monastery and a business called Habaquanex which restores UNESCO sites.

Hard to tell, but these are wooden bricks.

Since we walked past the Floridita Bar, one of Ernest Hemmingway’s favorites, we went back there after supper to try their famous Daiquiris.