Havana - Cuba April 2017 Tour
So we were on a Cultural Exchange - but by the end I began to suspect that it was carefully designed to show us only the best of Cuba. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but we saw a carefully filtered view of the country, one that omitted showing us a dark underbelly of the country.
Taken from the fort of San Carlos de le Canaña. It's not a tall city and this view hides the dichotomy of broken buildings next to rehabilitated ones next to infrequent new construction. "Two and three story Spanish colonial townhouses with columned arcades shaded the wide sidewalk along the Malecón. Many had collapsed leaving empty lots covered in rubble as the only memory of their grandeur. Some bore pitiful attempts of scaffolding to prevent imminent collapse. "In La Habana Vieja, Old Havana, four and five story apartments were in the same condition. Their concrete facades crumbling. Most bearing the residual tint of sixty year old paint. Some were freshly painted in a strange bright checkerboard of clashing colors. "In Vedado, the buildings were newer and larger. Some multi-unit buildings were painted in the strange checkerboard. Single unit buildings were better maintained. Government buildings were well maintained but large, stark and reflected the angular communist cubes of Eastern Europe." - Bob Totten
This plaza commemorates the leaders of the revolution and the revolution itself. Since there have been several, that's not precise enough. Specifically when Fidel Castro seized power defying the US and later cozying up to Russia. In this photo, and the next, you'll see building with metal artwork depicting Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos (often mistaken for Castro due to the quote, "Vas Bien, Fidel.") There is also a monument to José Martí not pictured. I especially appreciated the way the metal art created stark shadows on the buildings' facade.
Havana is not in good shape. "We contemplated the ruins of the beautiful old city... Two and three story Spanish colonial townhouses with columned arcades shaded the wide sidewalk along the Malecón. Many had collapsed leaving empty lots covered in rubble as the only memory of their grandeur. Some bore pitiful attempts of scaffolding to prevent imminent collapse. "In La Habana Vieja, Old Havana, four and five story apartments were in the same condition. Their concrete facades crumbling. Most bearing the residual tint of sixty year old paint. Some were freshly painted in a strange bright checkerboard of clashing colors. "In Vedado, the buildings were newer and larger. Some multi-unit buildings were painted in [a] strange checkerboard. Single unit buildings were better maintained. Government buildings were well maintained but large, stark and reflected the angular communist cubes of Eastern Europe." - Bob Totten
By that I mean people on the streets. We saw very very few "homeless" and almost no one begging. We did see lots and lots of very short skirts in Cuba.
These pedicabs were all over and we rode is some. Efficient. Cooler than a car, at least for the passengers, when it's hot. And when there's little traffic (mostly) a quick mode from point A to point B. Mostly the weather we experienced was hot by our Spring standards ... 80 - 90 F ... and humid 80 - 90%. But this was the dry season and we experienced almost no rain.
This was an opulent hotel by Cuban standards, and a posh rehabilitated hotel by ours. Neat, clean, all the infrastructure worked including air conditioning (worked a little too well) and internet (slow, censored, expensive but serviceable.) There were several good restaurants and a lovely outdoor bar overlooking the Malecon promenade along the bay.
This is where we got our first taste of the vintage cars which have so come to symbolize Cuba for me. Many of these have been converted into taxis and for 10 CUCs (about $11.50) you can go anyplace in Havana - The whole car, as many as you can squeeze in.
As I said, Havana is not in good shape. In the early days of Fidel, social policy forbid the rehabilitation of buildings redirecting resources to more urgent needs. And the socialist government gave housing to every resident. Can you spell unintended consequences? Lets say you lived in a duplex. You now owned your unit. Another owned the other unit. But no-one owned the common parts of the building - say the roof. So when these failed, no-one repaired them, Hijinks (chaos) ensued. Good social policy - bad economic policy - "It's complicated."
In 1559 when it was created, it was Plaza Nueva. Now it's old, part of Habana Vieja. and a world heritage site.
Here in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the room staff seemed to have time on their hands and arranged towels, blankets and bed cloths into fantastic sculptures. As we would discover later in the week, each of our hotels did the same. It was always an unexpected surprise to enter the room after a day of Cubanizing to discover what soft sculpture would await us. Fun.
Producciones Personalizadas Amos
I mentioned we met with several entrepreneurs during our visit. One had opened a hybrid for-profit business. It was a photo studio teaching Cubans the art of photography and post processing a la Photoshop - part of the day. The other part of the day, it was a restaurant. We ate here and it was good. This specific business was run by Alex Castro, sone of Fidel Castro, who was there. We talked at length about how it was to run a capitalist business along side the socialist system in Cuba. Where do the get supplies? How do the market? Where does funding come from. Fascinating!
We've seen this elsewhere. Crappy facades frequently hide beautiful, elaborate interiors in good repair.
We visited a couple of arboretums including this one between the airport and the city. This young lady was our guide and probably not very fooled when I asked to take a picture of the Cacao Pod she was holding. "We were driven to il Divino, an organic family farm and Paladar, privately owned small restaurant. The farm provides most of the produce for it’s guests. There were pictures of Fidel Castro and other Government Officials adorning the walls. At lunch we all introduced ourselves to each other." - Bob Totten This photo also illustrated more of the dichotomy of Cuba. She was wearing a wired mike coupled with a small speaker she was carrying at the end of the lanyard. Worked great to be heard. But oddly modern in this primitive arboretum.
Not quite sure why this photo appeals to me ... but I like the juxtaposition of the sign with the all-too-common street behind.
The inlaid stone surface of a table sitting outdoors near the entrance to the arboretum.
Producciones Personalizadas Amos
For a variety of reasons I'll get into elsewhere, there is a shortage of almost everything in Cuba. And by my observation, Cubans have mastered "up-cycling" to a great degree. This photo, which I like on artistic grounds, shows how the restaurant has used recycled pipes to make a rack for wine glasses. It creates a funky, gritty ambiance which works in Cuba, would work in the US as well, I think.
It's true what you've heard. The streets are full of 50's vintage American cars. From a distance, and even up close, many look "showroom fresh." They were originally imported into Cuba before the blockade (embargo) and have been lovingly maintained. Some have Russian engines and transmissions installed when the originals wore out. Some have hand made body parts, seats, windshields and so on. It's like the farmer's ax. City slicker says, "Things just don't last anymore." Farmer replies, "I don't know about that, sonny. Take this ax ... it's had two new heads and three new handles ... and it's as good as it ever was new." So vintage American cars in Cuba. There are also lots of Russian Lada's. And increasingly Chinese and Japanese cars too. Imported, first to companies in latin America, and then re-imported to Cuba to get around the embargo. It's complicated.
