Cuba, January 30, 2019
Havana
At dawn we sailed through the very narrow entrance to the
expansive Havana harbor. We can already see the pastel, colonial buildings
associated with the city. Lucky us, there is room at the cruise ship pier so we
won’t have to anchor and use tenders. Another big cruise ship was already
there. Havana is frequently on the itineraries of cruises in the western
Caribbean. We’re tied up at a nice, modern terminal but look the other way and
the buildings on the next pier have been stripped to the studs with no windows
or doors or anyone remotely involved in rebuilding. The little passenger ferry
we saw crossing the bay has a landing just in front of us.
Sunrise over Havana bay.
Stephanie lectured in the morning about Cuban Painting to
1950, then an early buffet lunch and at noon we were ready to disembark. Unlike
the cruise ships we don’t have the ubiquitous cruise card that acts as stateroom
door key and charge card and is scanned when you get off and back on the ship.
We have actual door keys. When we leave the ship we hand in the key and we each
get a credit card size pass with our stateroom number. That way they know who
is on or off the ship.
We passed through a security checkpoint on the dock, showing
our passports. We ALWAYS had our passports with us whenever we were off the
boat. Then we went to another building to pass us and our stuff through xray
machines and then finally off by bus or on foot.
This first afternoon we split into two groups. One went on
the bus with Hermes on an Art Deco Tour and then back for a walking tour of Old
Havana. Vice versa for the other group and then we all were to meet up at the
landmark Hotel National for mojiotos overlooking the Malecón and the sea.
We opted to walk first so off we went with Nelson for our
first real taste of Havana. The streets are narrow, paved with everything from
stone to rock to wood, and very busy. All the international banks are gone, but
there are Cuban banks here and there. One is located on the ground floor of
what was once the Cuban stock exchange building. The top two floors have been
converted into car parks. It’s all very colorful and clean for a big city but
this is the main tourist area. Some of the big old buildings have been restored
with several now “boutique” hotels. This seems to be a generic term for a small
hotel. We wandered into the open courtyard lobby of one. It was all marble and
massive pots of palms but who knows what the guest rooms were like.
Side street
The buildings under restoration all have big signs stating
the name of the project (usually a museo of something) and who is doing the
restoration. This is one of those fuzzy areas. Sometimes it’s the State, but
more often a company name is listed so we assumed private money was coming in
from somewhere.
We walked from one park square to another and then another. Lots
of trees and shrubs and fancy light posts and always a statue or fountain in
the middle. Across from one square was what was once the American Embassy. The
street in front of it is paved with squares of Maine granite that were ballast
in the cargo ships. Another street on another side of the same square is paved
with wooden bricks. The story is that the grand building was once home to the commander
of the army. His wife was bothered by the clatter of horses hooves on the
cobblestone street so she had the stones replaced with wooden bricks to deaden
the sound. They’re made from a very heavy, very hard wood that stand up to the
foot traffic pretty well but still need replacing from time to time.
There are just a few shops selling souvenirs and trinkets
but several selling Cuban cigars. The prices are regulated, no discount shops.
Art galleries seem to be the exception to the no-rentals-for-shops. There are a
number of them featuring Cuban artists. You are welcome to purchase things to
take back but have to pay a fee at the airport to do so. Remember we cannot use
credit cards but there’s always a work-around. The artists who sell their work
for four or five figures and above accept wire transfers. And another fuzzy
explanation of how that’s done since Cuba has no financial relationships with
western banks. Sometimes it’s best to just nod and say, “thank you” for the
answer.
Nelson is full of little nuggets of fun information. As Old
Havana was being restored, the government wanted it to be full of life thus the
hotels, galleries and dogs. You see the occasional dog sound asleep in the sun
with a license on a collar around its neck. These are official city dogs. They
belong to the State. They looked well cared for I’m just not sure who does it. Another
fun fact, the big black round things on corners or used to block streets to
cars are old canons from pirate ships planted nose down in cement. The street
signs are beautiful tiles on the walls of corner buildings.
Tile street sign on buiding wall
And the cars! The streets are full of old classic American
cars from the 50s used as taxis. Surprise, surprise, the taxis, both the old
cars and the new yellow ones, are regulated and taxed. Those used for tourists
are bright and shiny, everything from convertibles (I kept seeing the same
Barbie-pink one all over Havana) to sedans to station wagons with the third
seat facing back. There are also a lot of (regulated) horse drawn carriages
available to ferry visitors about. Public transportation for the locals is
neither plentiful nor reliable (Yunney said the buses don’t really have set
schedules) but the paying guests have a lot to choose from. 1.6 million
Canadians visited Cuba last year compared to 600,000 Americans. We didn’t see
any Asian tour groups, but no shortage of Europeans. And why not? It’s January,
sunny and 80 degrees.
Happy that we had walked first, we settled into the bus for
Hermes’s tour of Art Deco Havana. At times it’s a good thing that everything
ground to a halt in 1959 because it saved all the architectural gems from being
torn down and replaced with something boxy and charmless. We drove by some and
visited others. Hermes is a walking encyclopedia of Cuban architecture. We were
so lucky to have him as our guide that day.
From the Art Deco area we drove along the Malecón, a
seafront promenade that stretches for miles along Havana harbor from the old
city to the tall buildings of the new. It really is wonderful and much beloved
by the Cubans. However, the rising water levels are destroying the old buildings
along the route. There is no climate denying here. Even though the sea was
fairly calm, waves still crashed into the wall, salt spray in the air. The
salt, heat and humidity are eroding the old buildings at an alarming rate. They
quite literally collapse into a pile of bricks and rubble. One solution is to
raise the height of the sea wall now about chest high but then it would block
the view. Many of the buildings looked beyond saving.
Also along the Malecón is the current US Embassy. A multi
storied building still flies the American flag but it is all but abandoned. Yunney
told us that when Obama reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba, there was a
constant line around the block of people trying to get visas. Yunney said she
applied but never got one. Cubans can get exit visas from the Spanish Embassy
IF they can prove their Spanish ancestry. Many people are descended from the Spanish
but who has a copy of their great, great grandmother’s birth certificate from
Madrid? And we complain if the security line at the international terminal at
ATL is long. All we have to do is buy an airplane ticket and we can freely go
anywhere. As Nelson said, an island can be both protection and prison.
The Hotel Nacional is stately and perched above the Malecón
with a huge, grassy area in front, terraced down with tables and chairs here
and there and waiters more than happy to bring you a mojito or two. Lots of
people taking advantage of the view, the weather and the rum.
Looking from hotel across Malecon and Havana bay
Reluctantly we left that lovely setting to go back to the VV
to change for dinner at the Ludwig Foundation for the Arts. The Ludwigs were
German modern art collectors. There are several Ludwig Museums in Europe that
display the art plus the Ludwig Foundation that supports and encourages young
artists. The Ludwig Foundation of Cuba follows that mission. We were invited to
dinner to meet some of these artists. The dinner was nice and the artists very
interesting. We sat with a photographer and a printmaker. Both also taught art
in schools. I can’t remember if I already wrote that education is mandatory and
free through the ninth grade. By that time those students with special talent in
say the arts or sports have been identified and take more advanced classes in
their discipline. The printmaker taught advanced art at the high school level.
The students have to apply and audition to be admitted. Only 35 per year were
accepted at that school.
It was a nice evening BUT, remember, few if any elevators
and dinner was on the terrace on the sixth floor. We did pass a door on the
third floor with “NBC” and peacock logo on the front. One of our fellow
passengers was a news producer (he filmed everything with audio, too) and told
us that newspapers and networks used to have permanent bureaus around the world
but now maintain offices to be used by reporters flown in to cover specific
breaking news or events and this was NBC’s. You learn something every day. Second issue is
that there is very little street lighting in Havana after dark. Very little. We
relied on cellphone flashlights to pick our way along the bumpy street and
sidewalk leading to the building.
After dinner you could go to the Tropicana nightclub or
Buena Vista Social Club, but late night music and dancing seemed exhausting so
we party poopers went back to the boat. That is the evening that the wizard Egyptian
baker had whipped up pizza and baklava for us. We had a drink and nosh on the
covered deck up top. I can still taste that divine baklava.
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