March 30 Architecture, Walking Havana, Song and Dance

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Havana

Alongside the elevators in the Hotel Nacional we noted a mail chute, and in the lobby, it emptied into a beautiful mailbox.  Those of us of a certain age remember them—they were made by a company called Cutler which was in Rochester, NY!  It still exists here in Havana, and is still functional:

Our morning began with a wonderful lecture from a Cuban architect, Miguel Coyula, who knows our brother-in-law Lee Cott (who did work in Havana).  Coyula discussed the old colonial architecture and the rehabilitation efforts underway to maintain what was here.  He also talked about the conflict between developers who wish to raze decrepit buildings to put up housing and other modern buildings, and the preservationists who are afraid that if the character of old Havana is lost the attraction to tourists will diminish greatly.  The main plazas of Havana have been completely rehabilitated, and those efforts are moving to the streets which adjoin the Plazas.  All the increased income from tourism is being funneled into rehabilitation efforts but they have a long long way to go.

Following the lecture we were entertained by a children’s chorus who came, with many parents, to sing for us.  An aside here:  Our Cuban guide, responding to a question about racism, had made it clear to us that although officially and in practice, Cuba is a color-blind society, vestiges of racism exist.  The most prevalent example of this is a kind of classism based on skin color, with the fairest color being the most desirable.  We couldn’t help but notice that as the children lined up to sing, the arrangement was not by height.  Rather, all the light-colored faces were in the front row and the dark-colored ones were in the back:

We then went for a long walk through Old Havana, which was lovely:

Here’s the Plaza de la Cathedral (1729):

The Plaza de Armas is beautiful, and all four sides are covered with vendors and mostly with booksellers:

We have a phrase we use when something is really strange, “As queer as a 3-dollar bill”.  Well, the Cubans have a 3-peso note with Che on it.  Pristine copies are for sale:

 The Hotel Raquel is in the old Jewish section:

 The building is quite beautiful, and it has been rehabilitated somewhat oddly with modern art with Jewish themes:

Lots more at: http://www.hotelraquel.com/

Public art is everywhere, some of it a bit hard to fathom.  Here’s a very large sculpture of a nude riding a rooster while she holds a giant fork:

 We finished the day with a late afternoon performance by a dance group called Mal Paso (misstep).  They were spectacular!  They are coming to the USA later this spring with performances up and down the east coast, including at the Joyce in New York.  Highly recommended! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38fcrekWWs0

Victor

Bay of Pigs and Havana

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bay of Pigs and Havana

We left Cienfuegos and drove towards Havana, partly on a six-lane divided highway which dates from Soviet times.  This requires some explanation.  The road is almost empty.  The right hand lane is undrivable because of broken cars, donkey-carts, pedestrians, and other slow and parked things.  The middle lane is undrivable because it has not been maintained and is very broken up.  The left lane is borderline drivable but it’s the best there is.  So you drive in the leftmost lane and pass on the right using the much rougher middle lane.  Our almost new Chinese bus (Cuban tourists all have the same ones) took a beating on this road.

Anyway, we stopped at the Bay of Pigs to see the beach there and to visit the museum, which tells the story of the American invasion as you might expect it would:

We then went to a B&B which was just one row of houses back from the beach, and some of us went swimming before lunch there:

As we were unable to visit the Hemingway farm and home (Sharon Stone was making a Canadian movie here and it was closed to visitors) we stopped at the seaside in Havana where there is a memorial to Hemingway:

On the way into the city we passed some really awful-looking Soviet-era housing:

 And then we arrived at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a relic from the days when Havana was THE place to be.  It’s been kept up as best as they can, but don’t let the looks fool you.  The exterior and the lobby and public spaces really are lovely, but some of the rooms are barely functional, some things don’t work, and there is a lot of work needed:

That night we went to the “famous” Buena Vista Social Club nightclub, and the music was quite good as was the dancing (click the arrow for video):

After this we discovered that our room was right above the fabric-roofed club, and it sounded like they were in our closet!  The music ended at 11:20, and we changed rooms before the next performance,

March 28, 2014: Santa Clara and Cienfuegos; Synagogues and Che

Friday, March 28, 2014

Santa Clara and Cienfuegos; Synagogues and Che

We began this day with a drive to the town of Santa Clara where one of the few synagogues in Cuba still functions.

We were greeted by the president of the community and shown into the multi-function room which serves as their sanctuary:

He spoke to us of the history of the Jews in Cuba and especially of their town and helped us understand the deep devotion to the heritage which keeps them going.  He also explained the relationships between the various Jewish communities on the island.  The roof of the building houses an interesting impression of Jerusalem, created by a non-Jewish neighbor for them:

 At lunch there was a very loquacious Spanish-speaking parrot:

The taxis in this town are horse-drawn:

After lunch we had a visit to a “senior center” in Santa Clara.  This was unsettling for me.  These healthy retired folks seem to have nothing much to do, and the activities we witnessed (and participated in a bit) were not the kind of thing which would keep most people I know engaged.  There was some singing, some dancing, a simple game with a stick and a piece of wood, and some very primitive crafts.  Our visit seemed to be a major event.  Unsettling.

On our way back to Cienfuegos we visited the Che Guevara Memorial and Mausoleum:

 Visiting the mausoleum part is comparable to visiting a very holy site: hats off, minimal talking in hushed voices, low lighting and a mood of reverence.  We stayed a few minutes and then visited the museum part which outlined Che’s life and contribution to the revolution.  It was well done—Cuba has devoted considerable resources to memorializing Che.  The building had the best air conditioning we’ve seen in Cuba.  Outside was this very large billboard:

Back in Cienfuegos we visited the home of a local woman who is the head of the truly tiny (five families) Cienfuegos Jewish community:

Her sons have been on the March of the Living, and one of them participated in the Maccabee Games this past year.  She holds Shabbat services in her home, and we stayed and worshiped with her there, following which we all went out to dinner.  Other members of the community joined us for dinner.

March 27, 2014 Cienfuegos and Trinidad

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Cienfuegos, Cuba

Cuba spends a considerable portion of its economy on the arts, with each province having an arts school.  We began this day at the Benny More Art School, a center for music, dance and visual arts.  The façade of the facility is lovely, but the insides are desperately poor.  We were ushered to a very large room used for recitals/demonstrations and we had a number of students perform for us.  Here’s a 13-year old classical guitar student:

Some dancers performed for us.  In this photo you can see the performance space; there was a single working fluorescent bulb in the entire room:

We then toured the art school and spoke with some of the instructors:

All the students here take an ordinary academic program and then do their art on top of that.  Their days are longer than 12 hours!!!

We then drove to Trinidad, the “crown jewel” of Cuban colonial cities.  It was founded in 1514, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The Plaza Mayor is “an open air museum of Spanish colonial architecture” according to Wikipedia, and it is truly gorgeous:

The side streets have open-air markets:

I bought a hand-made woven straw hat.  I paid $4, although I knew if you bargained hard you could get one for $2; I just didn’t have the heart:

The streets are cobblestones which came as ship ballast on return voyages from shipping sugar out of Cuba:

There are dressed-up characters who pose for photos for a coin:

We then met with a couple who are running a B&B in Trinidad and learned of the ways in which they deal with remarkable regulations and impossible conditions on their small business.  Suffice it to say that they are very entrepreneurial and figure out ways of coping with great ingenuity.  They were quite open with us, but I don’t want to publicize all they told us.

Cars of Cuba

OK--I've whittled down the photos to 25.  Some of the old cars are in terrible condition, many are fine, and some are spectacular.  Many have been repainted in bright Caribbean colors.  Anyone who's an old car buff can try to let me know what they are.  Many are easily identifiable for me; some are not.  Photo #1 is a lineup of old Ladas, Russian-made Fiats.  #22 is a 1952 Dodge which we took as a taxi.  The driver got out, let me sit in the driver's seat, and he took the photo.