Cuba
January 24, 2019
Cienfuegos
We’re now known as “the late ones.”
The Hotel Jagua is typical of many Cuban buildings and
hotels. A stunning exterior with a huge tranquil and lovely lobby. Impossibly
high ceilings with massive dishes of trailing plants hanging down, softening
the marble interior. Last night we barely noticed our room but by the morning
light we realized that the hotel lobby might have been five-star, but the room?
Despite the balcony with water view it was more Motel 6. Everything was
there—beds, bathroom, desk, TV, closet, safe—but it all was just a bit flimsy
and shabby. We soon learned it was yet another victim of the 1959 revolution;
construction began under Batista with dreams of a coastal resort for tourists
and then after the revolution, stopped. Period.
Two dates that loom large in 20th and 21st
century Cuba:
1959 – the revolution
1989 – the fall of the Soviet bloc
Now, money. There are
two types of currency in Cuba, peso cubanos (CUP) for Cubans and pesos convertible
(CUC) for visitors. The US dollar was valid in Cuba until 2004 when the law
changed. Now it is the least desirable major currency. Euros and Canadian
dollars are fine and are charged a standard 3% exchange fee. But for the Yankee
Imperialists there is a 10% surcharge plus the 3%. NO American credit cards are
accepted in Cuba. At all. We were also warned NOT to do any online banking
while in Cuba. Such actions will trigger something somewhere in the USofA which
will freeze all of your bank accounts, investments and you will have some
splaining to do to Homeland Security when you get home. Didn’t have to tell me
twice. I exchanged some ATM 20s at the hotel for a smaller stack of kooks and
prepared to go forth.
Because we’re the late ones we were given an extra hour to
have breakfast (impressive buffet of everything one could want), repack, set
our luggage out and begin our tour of Cienfuegos before boarding the Variety
Voyager.
Cienfuegos is on a beautiful bay (a number of rowers out in
shells this morning), is a UNESCO-listed city, founded by the French and the
capital of the province of the same name.
The central square called Parque Marti is vast (655 x 330
ft), with trees, shrubs, statues and dozens of park benches. It is rimmed by
colonial buildings fronted by wide sidewalks protected by arcades. The arcades
were mandatory to protect people from heat &/or rain. Some of the buildings
have been restored while others are in the process and that process can be
measured in years not days, weeks or months. The Teatro Tomas Terry was in
process. The interior had been taken back to the studs, or bricks in this case.
There was lots of scaffolding but not much work going on other than an older
gentleman restoring one of the magnificent lobby wall mosaics, by hand, very
slowly, one bit of tile at a time.
Many of the colonial buildings throughout Cuba were built by
the very wealthy sugar barons. The Palacio Ferrer on the square has a colonial façade
with a wide arcade in front. Inside it is baroque on steroids. The high
ceilings, close to 30 feet tall, are resplendent with gilded plaster work. The
center of the building is an open courtyard for air circulation, common to most
buildings old or new. Lots of marble stairs between floors. Elevators are few
and far between in Cuba. From the rooftop terrace you can see the architectural
dichotomy that is Cuba. The fronts of the buildings are beautifully preserved plaster
painted bright colors. However, the sides and backs are often just stone blocks
and almost always covered with mold. Growth industry here: mold mediation.
Every once in a while a touring itinerary yields an
unexpected surprise. On the list for today, a private recital by the Cienfuegos
Chamber Choir. Our visas read People-to-People, Education, so it was time for
some people-to-people. As we sat in tidy rows inside the Museo Provincial a
group of nine women and nine men walked in and stood before us. In front of
them, a lovely woman in her 30s maybe, welcomed us and explained both the group
and the program. They are a professional ensemble. The Choir is their job. They
give concerts both in Cuba and around the world. Today they sang a cappella,
their sound enhanced by the acoustics of the room. No pitch pipe for the
director. Rather, she held a small pitch fork to her ear and then sang a series
of pure notes, one for each of the harmonies. That was fascinating. The choir
was absolutely wonderful. They sang classical songs, Cuban songs, American
songs, jazz songs; it seemed that no style eluded them. A great surprise!
We spent an hour or so with a local naturalist in the Jardin
Botanico Soledad, a 232 acre botanical garden with hundreds of plant species,
about 20% native to Cuba. Besides 195 different palms, including the Royal
Palm, the national tree, were massive stands of bamboo, a number of different
hardwoods and huge Hibiscus trees with stunning pink blooms. Founded by another
of those sugar barons, the garden once contained a Harvard-owned botanical
institute to study sugar cane and tropical plants. Since 1961 it has been run
by the Cuban government.
Lunch was at a palador, or privately-owned restaurant. Before
Raul Castro’s moderate economic reforms in 2011, a palador was operated out of
a family home and tightly regulated. Only twelve guests were allowed and all
the staff had to be family members. It was a way to supplement the very modest
wages earned at regular jobs. Now the paladors are much larger, serve more
people and are comparable to a nice mid-range American restaurant. They usually
have a fixed menu with a choice of entrée: pork or chicken or fish, and an
endless stream of sides. It’s all served family style and is quite the mish
mash of foods. Cubans do not eat a vegetable heavy diet; protein and carbs with
fried plantains for fruit. This palador, while large, was indeed run by a
family. Mom and Dad were the head chefs, their son the maître de, his fiancé the
head server and his childhood BFF the bartender. Some of the dishes were better
than others, but the place was clean and airy and the family delightful.
Now, on to the Variety Voyager.
I haven't quite mastered transferring the captions with the pictures so from top to bottom:
Palms in the botanical garden
Parque Marti
Hotel Jagua lobby
Lunch at the palador
Choir director with pitch fork
Side street off Parque Marti
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