Cuba - Day 4, January 6th

Convent

Today we continued on our walking tour of Habana Veija, and headed south on our way to the Convento y Iglisia Nuestra Señora de Belén. It was built in the early 1700's and functioned first as a convalescent home and later as a Jesuit convent. In 1925 it was abandoned and fell into ruin through decay and fire. In the 1990's the City Historian, using tourist coffer funds, restored the huge old building into an active community centre for families, young people, the physically and mentally handicapped and the elderly. Apparently there are 18 permanent apartments for the elderly in this extremely large building.

I have a photo of only a bit of this building (above) and I have included one of the square and buildings on the opposite side of the square from the convent, one of which we thought might have been a railway station. In this photo the convent is on the right. The near building on the left appears to be unoccupied, while the far one on the left and at least some of those at the end of the square seem to be family dwellings.

I don't want to dwell on the extent of structural decline because there is so much that is positive here in Havana, but to give a bit of insight into the severity of the decline in some areas of old Habana, for those who haven't been here, I have included a couple of photos made of buildings we passed on our way to the Convent. The buildings in the photo on the right are likely homes.

Left is the entry and stairway to an upstairs dwelling. While this entry has no doubt seen better days, it is clean and functional and, as we have seen, one must be careful about drawing conclusions about the living conditions based on the entry way as it does not necessarily reflect what lies beyond it.

The third photo taken along the same street shows extreme ruin, and, while this degree of structural collapse is by no means ubiquitous, evidence of significant decline is apparent in much of old Habana such that, to me (as I think I said before), the task of rejuvenation seems enormous.

On the way to our next objective, the Museo Casa Natal de José Marti (more about José Marti later), we came across a busy and colourful vegetable market with an abundance of enticing produce.

The flower stall here is just outside the vegetable market, shown in the photo below. 

The array of both fruit and vegetables was impressive and, though we didn't buy anything, it was tempting. In addition to this kind of market there are also numerous vendors with carts of produce on the streets in both Havana and Cienfuegos.

In this photo (right), the woman sitting is selling plastic bags and on the right a bicitaxi driver is reclining while waiting for his next fare.

After the market we found the train station which we walked quickly through then on to the Capitolio, without finding the Museo Casa Natal de José Marti. 

Immediately adjacent to the Capitolio is the exquisite 2000 seat Gran Teatro de Habana which Cuba claims to be the oldest functioning theatre in the western hemisphere. As I hope the photos tell, the architecture is quite spectacular.

Gran Teatro de Haban

From the Teatro we walked down the Prado to the Hotel Sevilla for drinks in the courtyard, then to the roof for the view and some photos including a bird's eye view of the Prado which I think I showed in an earlier blog.

Then down Calle Obispo to the market near our hotel where I picked up a small gift for Ruth. For lunch we went to an upstairs bakery, Santo Domingo, which is recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. The food was fine but neither the food or the ambience was special,

Plaza de Catedral de San Cristóbal

Catedral de San Cristóbal

After leaving the bakery, we were considering going back to the hotel but decided to go by the Plaza de Catedral de San Cristóbal de Habana where we had enjoyed a beer and ice cream on our first day here. The cathedral, said to be one of the oldest in the Americas, was designed by an Italian architect and construction, launched by the Jesuits, began in 1748.  The church was completed in 1787, some time after the Jesuits had been expelled from Cuba. Once it was completed the diocese of Habana was created and the church, which retains a religious function, became a Cathedral. The remains of Columbus were interred here before being removed to Sevilla, Spain, in 1898. Note the Moorish influence in the design of arches in the photos above and below 

Plaza de Catedral de San Cristóbal

From the plaza we set out for the hotel when we heard band music and crowd noise which sounded like it was nearby - we turned onto the next street and found a boisterous, colourful and somewhat loosely organized parade of people in a mix of bright costumes and street clothes, with banners and mucho music!

In the midst of all the activities as we stood along the edge of the street, a woman in bright yellow came very purposely toward us and I grabbed a photo of her approaching. She went directly to Bob, put her arm around him and kissed him on the cheek! This is definitely one of my favourite photos from this visit to Cuba.

Though we tried to learn about the reason for this parade, we were unsuccessful.

Back at the hotel a bit later, Bob discovered that his new camera would not turn on. He had had a bit of difficulty earlier in the day when it seemed to freeze after he had taken a few photos and nothing he could do would turn it off. So, he removed and replaced the battery and that seemed to fix it, but in hind sight it would appear that it was the beginning of the end for the camera. Very distressing! Fortunately he still has his iPhone which is equipped with a pretty good camera.

After a bit of rest we decided on a restaurant near our hotel, La Imprenta, which was recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. And it met expectations - the food was both good and of manageable size and, except for our slightly irascible waiter and the less than comfortable wooden chairs, the ambience was also very pleasant.

Cuba - Day 3, January 5th

Don't forget to click on any photo to see a larger version.

Today we walked to Hotel Parque Central where we purchased our internet/wi fi cards at $8 per hour and spent several minutes posting our blogs and sending a couple of emails. Then we visited the roof top swimming pool area (on a later visit we learned, when we were refused entry, that it was for hotel guests only) and took some photos. I can't recall if these photos from on high were from here or the Hotel Sevilla - but no matter, really.

The askew photo shows part of the Parque Central, the Capitolio and, on the right, the street near the beginning of the Prado.

Next is a view looking down on the Prado and the following is a view looking northwest toward the Strait of Florida in the distance.

From here we went back down Calle Obispo to the handicraft market near our hotel. We explored but did not patronize.

Café Lamparilla

Back at the hotel we had a bit of a rest before continuing on our walking tour. As we had not yet had lunch, we stopped at the Café Lamparilla where we had a beer and some food while enjoying relaxing music in the attractive outdoor part of the café. 

From the Café we went by the Plaza Vieja which we had visited earlier. Here we found a couple children's street entertainers with a small audience of children and parents. Very soon after we arrived the program ended and the audience dispersed but I did get a couple of photos of the entertainers. 

Plaza Vieja

This plaza seemed to be the place for activities - on another occasion we saw a stage and large speakers, presumably in preparation for some event though we never did learn what. And, in the evenings there were streamers of lights, people eating and drinking at tables on the plaza and others selling and playing with some light toys which were somehow launched into the air and during descent created a swirl of coloured light. I was tempted to buy one to find out how they work, but resisted.

Plaza San Francisco de Asis

We went next to the Plaza San Francisco and the Iglesia y Monestario de San Francisco de Asis. In the 1700's the plaza served as the main shipping dock for passing Spanish galleons. The Iglesia y Monestario, built in the early 1700's ceased to have a religious function in the mid 1800's and today serves as a children's theatre, museum and concert hall.

Iglesia San Francisco de Asis

In front of the Iglesia is a bronze statue of El Caballero de Paris. José María López Lledín (30 December 1899 – 11 July 1985) known as El caballero de Paris (en: The gentleman from Paris) was a well-known and popular street person in Havana in the 1950s. In his later years he was hospitalized with the diagnosis of a form of schizophrenia and died in hospital in 1985. His remains rest in the Iglesia de San Francisco. In the photo you can just make out the statue to the left of the person pushing the stroller.

While at the church of San Francisco we learned of a concert scheduled for that evening-  Concierto - Orquestra de cámara - Nuestro Tiempo playing Mozart Conc 13 for piano and orchestra and Beethoven' Emporer's Symphony. We decided that we would come back for the concert that evening.

Across from the Iglesia was a small art gallery and garden, with a particularly interesting wall at the far end, which we visited briefly before going to make reservations at the Restaurant el Templete, which the Lonely Planet book praises..

Then we went on to the Plaza de Armas, Bob's favourite plaza in Havana. Here there is a very pleasant park in the centre of the plaza and in the centre of the park is a statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedas, the man who, it is said, set Cuba on a track to independence in 1868.

The plaza surrounding the park is filled with book stalls and displays where you can buy all manner of used books and magazines. There is a predominance of books on Cuban history especially the Revolution. On the west side of the plaza is the Museo de la Cidade, originally the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales which has served a variety of purposes for the Spanish and U.S military since its origins in the 1700's. 
 

Castillo de la Real Fuerza

On the seaside of the plaza is the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, with the Giraldilla tower mentioned in the last blog post - Day 2 and here, unlike the earlier photo of the tower, you can actually see the weather vane.

Here we found, as we did frequently elsewhere in both Havana and Cienfuegos, serious games of chess or dominoes with accompanying attentive audiences.

After a brief tour of the Plaza de Armas we headed home for a bit of rest before returning to the Plaza San Francisco for the concert which was excellent. Both soloist pianists were very good but Sergio Pita was outstanding - a flamboyant showman and, to my limited ear, an extraordinary pianist. After a wonderful concert and two rousing encores by Pita we enjoyed a very good meal at the Templete.

(I am writing the blog several days late so the chronology may not be accurate but no matter really.)

Cuba - Day 2 - January 4th

I am finding it very difficult to write my blog, largely, I think, because the experience of these few days in Cuba has been overwhelming - I cannot decide where to begin or what words will express what I see and feel. So, I have found it easier to return to working with my photographs, of which there are many. But, I must begin to put things down as the details of what we have done and seen are fading and I would like be able to tell at least some of them before they are beyond recall.

In Havana, a city of around 2 million people, like in most large cities, you come face to face with some serious realities - extremes of poverty and wealth. However, neither my past experiences nor the limited reading I had done prepared me for the visual, auditory and emotional roller coaster of old town Havana (Habana Vieja). We are in the centre of the tourist area so we see, along the immediate streets and on the plazas and "points of interest", the signs of investment in the establishments which cater to visitors like us. Move a block or less from Calle Obispo, the street our hotel is on, and you find clear evidence of poverty, extremely crowded living conditions and structural decay. Similarly, indications of limited maintenance and decline are prevalent even around the attractive Parque Centrale, the Capital building (the Capitolio), the exquisite Gran Teatro de Habana and the Prado (all about 6 or 7 blocks from our hotel).

But in spite of what seems to me to be insurmountable obstacles, the people appear to find ways to adapt and thrive. The abundance of very old but functioning American and Soviet Union cars on the streets of the city is one obvious sign of the capacity of the Cubans to make very effective use of limited resources. (The US embargo of Cuba effectively eliminates the ability to obtain spare parts so they cannibalize and share parts and have become experts in mechanics and autobody repair.) The car in this photo is an example of the body work expertise here but is definitely not representative of the majority of the old cars in use - I will show and talk about some of them later.

There are no doubt many other areas of effective adaptation to limited availability of materials and services. One is the limited use of electricity - e.g. incandescent bulbs are not available in Cuba and at night there is strikingly less street lighting than in Canadian cities so many streets around our hotel are quite dark. Initially, this can be unsettling as it creates a certain sinister ambiance - a sense that shady characters with ill intent are lurking about in the darkness. But then you find children running about and, last evening when we were walking in a relatively dark area, a buxom woman shouted an obviously friendly "Olah!" and, laughing, did a bit of a shimmy and shake dance in front of us.

In fact it is quite safe (the crime rate in Cuba is very low - a Cuban fellow we met one afternoon in the Plaza de Vieja, said, jokingly, it is safe in Havana because, of the 2 million people, 1 million are police). And last evening when we were looking for a place to eat a young woman led us through some pretty dark streets to a restaurant about 7 blocks away. When I commented that it was a long way for her to go back alone, she smiled saying, "No problem."

Calle Obispo

But on with documenting. Our first activity on day 2 was to arrange to move from a quiet room well back of the street to one with a balcony overlooking Calle Obispo (see the photo to the right) the pedestrianized tourist street which is packed with people for most of the day and into the evening and night. Not surprisingly, it is much noisier but being here definitely gives one the feeling of being part of the action. Particularly annoying was the loud castanet-like sound made by striking two hollow piece of wood - likely bamboo - together, presumably intended to attract customers.



Unlike the annoying castanet-like noise, we relished hearing the colourful woman who frequented Calle Obispo singing her sales pitch for the small the paper cones of peanuts (mani) she offered (she was not alone in selling cones of peanuts but she was by far the most interesting). I wish I had had the presence of mind to record the song, but sadly, I did not. We learned later from our friend, Amed, in Cienfuegos, that the song she sang is well known in Cuba).

But, I digress, again.

In the morning we walked to the Parque Centrale, where we were approached by a charismatic fellow hawking cigars and looking to make a bit of money from selling the cigars and by having his photo taken with one of us.

Capitolio

The capital building, La Capitolio, which is nearby, was designed, ironically, based on the Capital building in Washington, DC. It is closed for renovations, so we checked it out from a distance and took some photos. From there we walked to a nearby hotel, La Sevilla, and had a look inside. The hotel, run in a partnership of the state and a French company, is quite ostentatious and some of the tile work and other decor suggests a moorish influence, which we found elsewhere during our time in Cuba. In the past this hotel was the setting for Graham Greene's novel, "Our Man in Havana" (apparently room 501) and was once a Mafia operations centre for their North American drug activities.

The Prado

From the hotel we walked the Prado, an impressively wide promenade which extends from the Parque Centrale to the Malecón, where the street follows along the sea wall west from the Castillo de Sans Salvador de la Punta. (Photo below)








This castle or fortress guards the entry from the Straits of Florida into the Bahia de La Habana (the Bay of Havana).

The Malecón and Castillo

The Malecón looking west

From the Malecón we walked back toward the Parque Central and on to the Museu de la Revolución, which, appropriately, is housed in the former Presidential Palace, hitorically home to a series of corrupt presidents. 

Museu de la Revolución

Room inside Museu de la Revolución

The museum covers extensive Cuban history up to the present - way too much information for a brief visit. But just walking through it and picking up bits and pieces of the Castro led revolution makes one realize how unlikely it was to succeed. Of the 80 or so revolutionaries that left Mexico for Cuba on the relatively small boat, the Grandma (which we saw in its resting place behind the museum), only a handful survived the landing - at one point, Castro apparently said, he was commander in chief of himself and two others. With luck, perseverance and the help of the local communities, the motley few increased in number and gradually translated small victories over vastly superior numbers into a revolution that deposed the Batista regime and survived over 50 years (albeit with a relatively high price) of military, economic and social pressures from their powerful northern neighbour and much of the rest of the capitalist world.

After leaving the museum we went to our hotel stopping for lunch at the Europa restaurant where we were entertained by music and two wonderful dancers. Back at the hotel, after moving to our new room overlooking Calle Obispo, we decided to follow a walking tour outlined in the Lonely Planet book.

Early in the walk we passed the Casa de la Obra Pia a former Spanish Nobleman's mansion dating from mid 1600's (it was closed) One gets a sense of the grandiosity of the place from the door shown in this photo.  Then past the Museo del Chocolate where there is always a line up, and, though we entertained the idea, we never did get into the place

On to the expansive Plaza Vieja where we visited the Camera Oscura building, took some photos from the top and, through the camera obscura we were treated to images covering 360° of this entire area of the city.














I took the photos, below on the right, of the Plaza Vieja, the view of Havana looking east and the apartment with balconies from the top of the Camera Oscura building - the camera obscura is located in the cupola.

Plaza Vieja

After leaving the Plaza Vieja we encountered a gregarious restaurant entrepreneur, George, who led us to La Giraldilla restaurant promising us that if we were not happy with the meal we wouldn't have to pay. It turned out to be a good meal of fish, chicken and pork so we paid.

Then home to relax and get some sleep in preparation for another busy day.

The tower in the photo, taken while we sat at our table on a small balcony waiting for dinner to arrive, is part of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza. Built in the mid 1500's it is the oldest existing fort in the America's. The weather vane on the top (which you can't see in this photo) is a replica of the famous original bronze version called La Giraldilla which now rests in the Museo de la Ciudad. It is believed to be a model of the wife of the gold explorer Hernando de Soto.

Day 1 in Cuba - January 3rd

Well, we arrived in Varadero after a 3.5 hour flight - minus 8 C in Toronto when we left - 28 humid degrees C in Varadero when we arrived! Definitely a shock, with many more of a different nature to come.

Note that blogspot dates this post January 7 - we actually arrived on January 3rd but, for a variety of reasons, I was late in all of my blog posts this trip so the dates on the posts will not necessarily be the date of the events.

After retrieving our luggage, converting the first of many Canadian dollars to Cuban pesos (called CUC's. which are very close in value to Canadian dollars) and negotiating the price for a taxi, 70 CUC"s, we set off on our trip to Havana (La Habana) in an old but serviceable vehicle.

More later about Cuban currency and Cuba and Havana in general.

The two hour hot drive over very green relatively flat terrain brought us to La Habana, and our Hotel Florida - a lovely old but well maintained and refurbished structure, built around 1836 as a private home. The photos here of bits of the hotel suggest that there was a lot of money in Cuba in those years! And as I learned over the next days there are apparently a great many beautiful old buildings (over 900 according to the Lonely Planet) in Havana, some refurbished, some being refurbished and a great many more in serious states of crumbling decay. The good news is that there is currently a program of renewal underway which is being supported in part by taxes collected through the tourist industry (i,e,, from visitors to Cuba - tourism has become a major source of income  for the country through both state owned and operated businesses and the growing number of small private tourism related enterprises).

By the time we registered and got settled in our first room, it was well after 4 pm EST - very nice not to have a time zone difference. I say first room, because we decided that, while this room was adequate, we preferred to be at the front of the hotel near the street, so the following day a move was arranged.

After exchanging our winter clothes for shorts,  short sleeves and sandals we strolled through people packed Calle Obispo and the parks and Plazas of the old city near our hotel and with which Bob is familiar. In a bar/restaurant off the Plaza de Catedral we savoured a beer, some coconut ice cream and a bit of the ambiance and culture of this part of Cuba. More about this and the other plazas in Havana Vieja later.

After being approached by innumerable restaurant sales pitches we selected a small paladar restaurant just off the Plaza de Catedral - one of 4 Plazas in Habana Vieja (can't recall the name of the restaurant but more about the term "paladar" later). During the approach to the restaurant I began to wonder what we were getting into. We were led through some narrow alley ways, which were dimly lit, to a doorway, which, in the photo, is just to the left past the yellow railing, up a flight of stairs to a smallish but quite pleasant second floor space which overlooked the kitchen area (see the photo below with the black and white striped awning). By the way, the person in the photo to the right is not the one who led us to this paladar - this photo was made when we left after dinner.

Here we had our first, and only, Mojito a drink which, in case you want to try one, consists of 1.25 oz of Captain Morgan original spiced rum, 12 mint leaves, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 0.5 ounces of lime juice and 2 ounces of soda. I didn't finish mine, but, in fairness, I don't care for hard liquor drinks in general. 

The sales pitch for the meal was excellent and the service was enthusiastic but the meal was just OK. 

An excellent day and introduction to Habana and Cuba, but time to retire.