Cienfuegos - Cuba April 2017 Tour
“The Cuban Way” was a ubiquitous term we heard frequently. Said with pride, defiance, or frustration but never defined. A rejection of the America and Russia; probably Spain as well. An assertion of the resilience and determination of the Cuban people to survive and do great things." - Bob Totten
Good-news: "Our hotel was beautiful. Four internal courtyards, two for quiet dining, a third with a colorful fountain and shady seating. The fourth sported a large pool open to the sky and a shady bar. A large terrace bar on the roof overlooked the city and the second floor had a modest bar and balcony over the street." - Bob Totten Not-so-good-news: They got the little things right, but not the big ones. Our room had very low (sometimes no) hot water. Toilet flushed - sometimes. Grand Circle and the hotel worked together to move us to a working room which faced the street - noisier but functional! Internet was 2 CUC (USD 2.30) per hour, very slow, available only in this lovely courtyard ... infrequently, and highly censored. But hey, we didn't come to Cuba to bury our eyes in the same old internet as home. LETS GO EXPLORING!
Looking through the window of this Chevy is a blast from the past. Looks a lot like what I learned to drive in except for the wrapped steering wheel. Shifter on the column. Tube radio has been replaced with digital. And there's an iPhone holder suction-cupped to the windshield.
The restaurant was located along this seawall. It's not very high. I can only imagine the havoc a hurricane would wreck here with high winds and swells coupled with a major storm surge. It's not hurricane season, at least not yet. If as a result of global warming, the sea level rises by say 20 feet, this will become an underwater scuba site.
About 2 blocks walking from our hotel was this large, open, tree lined square where you can sit in the shade of the trees and watch the world go by. Large beautiful buildings surround the square and it has an elegance of days gone by.
All three Cuban towns we visited were "low." By that I mean, not built with buildings of many stories.
Paladar restaurant in this home with a voodoo totem pole on the front yard. In the spirit of "Where's Waldo," can you find it?
At the other end of the square was this neat tower. For a couple of CUCs, you could climb to the top of it. On this day it was very windy. So when I got to the top I had to hold onto my hat, sunglasses, ... pretty much everything, to avoid losing them. The next picture was taken from the top.
On the way to dinner in Punta Gorda, we stopped at a photo gallery next to this picturesque wall. The quality of the work was excellent and several of our tour bought prints there. The gallery was in a home which the owner allowed us to walk through. Real estate taxes depend on the width of the building in frontage feet. So most buildings are very narrow and very deep, as was this studio. The business was great, the artists lively and interesting, but I wouldn't want to live there.
As promised, here's the view looking back at the cathedral from the top of the tower. The weather you see here was representative of what we had the whole trip ... high's in the mid- to upper-eighties, humidity in the 80% range, often windy. The whole weather package was mostly pretty pleasant.
Mobile phones are common in Cuba but expensive compared to annual income. They haven't penetrated very far down the economic income spectrum, yet. So, phone booths like this one are also common. Don't know how well the cone of silence works but it looks cool.
Around Parque José Martí, we had several experiences. "After lunch we walked back to the Artist’s Union and watched a song and dance performance by children of the Union’s on-site school. Everything was in Spanish. Delightful but too long and incomprehensible. " - Bob Totten We met with the UNEAC, Union of Writers and Artists in Cuba to talk about protection of artists, musicians, and writers. They walk a narrow path of advocacy through the labyrinth of censorship. Our speaker summed up with the comment “We are trapped in politics.” We visited another gallery and had a long discussion with the owners. Mine was in broken Spanish (his in what we learned was called Cubanish) about the photography, where and how they got software and supplies, their artistic sensibilities ... well, I'm a photographer after all. "It was interesting to note that at a little apartment next to the gallery a discreet but active crime scene investigation was in progress. When we arrived an obviously upset middle-aged man was being interviewed while technicians processed an upstairs room with their forensic kits. I could not determine whether a property or violent crime had taken place. Since MININT was not on scene, a political crime could be ruled out. I don’t think anyone in our group realized what was happening." - Bob Tottten
Yet another vintage taxi. I'll never tire of seeing these great vintage cars still in use after all these years. Think about it, this car is probably 70 years old. It's not a hobby car, it's a working service vehicle.
One evening here, we had dinner at this paladar restaurant. Capitalism in action. Paladars are private for-profit restaurants built typically in Cuban homes. They serve simple tasty food and usually offer good service. And in this one, there were Kirkland brand salt and pepper shakers - clearly from Costco in the US. Kinda blows your mind. Most restaurants we ate in offered a "welcome drink," often juice with a rum float or possibly a Mojito.
"After lunch we walked back to the Artist’s Union and watched a song and dance performance by children of the Union’s on-site school. Everything was in Spanish. Delightful but too long and incomprehensible. " - Bob Totten The kids were bright, outgoing, obviously happy to be singing and singing for an audience. And clearly they represented the upper end of the socio-economic spectrum.