Two Days in Havana

A Contrast in Old and New

Havana is the capitol of Cuba and one of its largest cities.  Therefore it occupied more of our trip to Cuba than the other cities we visited.  I did not know what to expect from Havana.  So much of what I thought it would look like was influenced about American-made movies that took place in the 1950’s.  What I found was a city not much updated since then.  Many of the cars are American made cars from that era, cars maintained more out of necessity than anything else since new cars are hard to come by in Cuba.  Many of the building were from that area or even dated back to the early days of the city.  These oldest building are located in old Havana where our walking tour occurred on our first day in the city.

These practitioners of Santeria (known as Voo Doo in the US) perform traditionally dances accompanied by narrations.

Our walking tour was a tour of major plazas of old Havana, with brief stops intertwined in the narrative of the old city.  Most of the squares of old Havana are associated with a church that required the square during the Spanish occupation and building of old Havana in the 1600’s.  This was the case with the Square of St. Francis (or Plaza de San Francisco in Spanish), our first stop on the tour which was also conveniently located across the street from the cruise ship terminal.  The plaza is named for the Catholic Church built by Franciscan monks (an order that still survives today, and that I had a most enjoyable encounter with in Jaffa) in 1608, although that church was later replaced with the one that stands there today that was built in 1737.

The architecture of old Havana is much like southern Spain.

One of the landmarks of this square is a bronze statue in front of the church called the gentleman of Paris.  This statue is of the likeness of a much-loved insane man who wandered the streets of Havana.  He was imprisoned at one point.  It is not known whether he was imprisoned because he was insane or if imprisonment drove him insane.  After he died at the ripe old age of 86 the statue was erected in his honor, and people rub his beard for good luck.

David rubs the beard of the Gentleman of Paris for good luck.

Our second stop on the tour is arguably the most important plaza in Cuban history, La Plaza De Aramas.  The plaza is adorned with beautiful gardens and a statue of the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, who led the unsuccessful first war of independence in the 1860’s.  In one corner is a small church, aptly named Templete or little Temple in English.  It was in the front yard of this little temple under a tree that Havana was founded in 1519 and given the longer version of its current name.  People come every year on the anniversary of the founding to orbit the tree three times and throw a coin over their shoulder for luck. 

The plaza is lined with book sellers and restaurants in what were once great homes or even palaces that belonged to a single family during colonial times.  One street along the plaza is laid with wood bricks, as it is said the wife of the master thought the street too loud for her afternoon naps. 

I stand in front of the wooden street of Havana.  It apparently gets very slick in the rain.

Our third plaza of the day was the Plaza of the Cathedral, which is home to the Cathedral of Havana built by the Jesuits in 1777.  I did not go in since I was wearing what some might call “short shorts” and not generally allowed in Catholic cathedrals.  They did have covers for those whose clothes were not modest enough.  I dreaded the thought of draping a piece of cloth drenched in some other person’s sweat around my legs.  It was so hot outside at that point one older lady in our group almost collapsed and had to be escorted by car to shade and hydration.  I just peaked in from the door and wandered around the square.

The Little Temple in the Plaza de Armas, in the yard of which Havana was founded.

Out last stop on the walking tour was the Plaza Vieja.  This is the only plaza in Havana without a church, and was built with the specific intent of getting noisy merchants away from the churches, where their presence was causing conflict with the holy men who wanted peace and quiet.  We ate an almost inedible lunch there at a state run restaurant, the proceeds of which go towards restoration of the crumbling old buildings of Havana.

The cathedral of Havana.

After leaving our tour at the Plaza Vieja David set upon visiting one of the more famous spots of Havana, Earnest Hemmingway’s favorite bar El Floridita.  Supposedly it was in this bar where the daiquiri was created or at least refined and we stopped in for a drink.  While I appreciated the history of it and the air conditioning after the long walk in the summer heat, the bar was packed with tourists.  I think the guides timed it to arrive and depart with their groups at specific times since as soon as one tour group left another arrived.  A bronze statue of Ernest Hemingway decorates a corner of the bar, which almost every tourist stood in line for.  The daiquiri was tasty and reasonably priced, but I felt a little sad sitting there, knowing one of the things so many foreigners were interested in about Havana had nothing to do with a Cuban, but with an American. 

Ernest Hemingway's favorite bar El Floridita and the Havana Club where we purchased cigars and rum stand side by side.

Next to El Floridita is the Havana Club.  For as busy as El Floridita was, the Havana Club was desolate.  The Havana Club is a small upstairs parlor where people can purchase a wide variety of cigars and Cuban rum, then sit at the small bar and smoke their cigar or drink a Cuban beer.  We wound up staying longer than we intended since their was air conditioning and reasonable prices for drinks.  We even bought my brother a Christmas gift, which he will have no idea about since he rarely if ever reads my blog. 

A typical american car taxi that dropped a couple off at the Havana Club.

After leaving the Havana Club we wandered down to a bar on the water where we met the three local men we had a conversation with that I talked about in my previous post.  Then we ate dinner in a local restaurant.  David got “the biggest lobster he has ever eaten in his life” for $15 and I got some typical Cuban cuisine, cheese croquettes and fried plantains.  We later learned a lot of the other passengers ate dinner on the ship and were amazed that we found such great food ashore.  When asked how we found it, we simply explained that we wandered around looking at menus until we saw something we liked.  The menus did not differ much in content or price place to place, I am assuming because the government so heavily regulates everything. 

This, the largest monument to Jose Matri, is one of many in the country.

Then it was back to the ship for a shower and change into more formal clothing for our excursion of the night: a trip to the famous Tropicana.  This trip was not included in our cruise fare, and while it was an expensive extra expense it was worth every penny.  The Tropicana is a Las Vegas style show in Cuban style that originated when the US mobsters were so influential in Havana.  Upon arrival we sat down to a table upon which a bottle of Havana Club rum and some soda was placed.  We and our fellow cruisers enjoyed the show thoroughly, and David and I even wound up dancing on stage near the end of the evening during the dance along portion of the evening.  Out tour guide even wound up dancing on stage too, when he came to fetch us for the ride back to the ship.

Across from the Jose Marti memorial is this large sculpture of the much loved Che Guevara.

As much fun as the Havana Club was, it also meant we did not get back on board the ship and to bed until one in the morning, a late night considering our excursion started at eight the next morning.  Thankfully the excursion was a bus tour, requiring minimal effort on our part.  While David and I were mostly just tired from lack of sleep some of the other passengers did not far so well, not even getting off at a few stops preferring to catch some Zzzs on the bus. 

Our first stop of the day was at Revolutions Square, where the leaders of the Triump of the Revolution are commemorated.  A large tower of Jose Marti adorns one side of the square while a sculpture of Che Guevara adorns the side of a building opposite.  One thing is sure.  While many in the US think that Cubans must hate those who brought about the revolution and the Castro regime, because so many Cubans flee to the US, much of the population loves their leaders.  Americans and large corporations may have lost a lot of money and property in the revolution, but the common people of Cuba love their leaders.  Their leaders give them free housing, education, healthcare, some food, jobs, and freedom from the other imperialists countries that suppressed the common folk, and for that they are grateful.  Before the revolution half of common Cubans were illiterate and a quarter were unemployed.

The mausoleum in the cemetery we visited was located int he "rich" area of the cemetery.  It is equipped with a working telephone line, just in case the dead feel like making a quick call.

Our second stop on the tour was not one I would have guessed, and that is the largest cemetery in Havana.  I think they took us there because the statues and mausoleums are so nice.  It’s an active cemetery that currently holds more dead than people currently living in Havana.  We even saw a funeral drive by, with a wagon style car holding the coffin, a few taxis, and a bus.  Funerals in Cuba are also freely provided by the government. 

The reason so many people are buried in the cemetery and can still be buried there is the way Cubans deal with their dead.  The body is laid in a coffin in one of the larger holes in the ground.  After a few years the body is exhumed and the bones (all that is left at that point) is put in a smaller box, which is buried in a different part of the plot.  So many generations can be buried in the same family plot, one of the private properties that were not confiscated by the communist government. 

The typical Cuban grave has large trenches in which fresh bodies are set to decay, and smaller trenches in which the bones are placed after decay is complete. 

After the graveyard we moved on to one of my favorite stops.  What we encountered next was a mecca of a popular religion in Cuba Santeria more commonly known in the US as Voo Doo.  Over one million African slaves were brought to Cuba during imperial occupation, and Santeria was how they maintained their African religions.  They hid their goddesses and rituals under the guise of Catholicism.  What is now an informal cultural center of Santeria in Havana is a brightly colored alley decorated by street artists, and where our introduction to Santeria occurred.  In addition to an explanation by a local Santerian we were treated to a holy lemonade-like drink that treated the hangover ails of some of the passengers who attended the Tropicana the night before, and a traditional show of song and dance. 

Then it was lunch time, and we dined at a privately owned (or as privately owned as a restaurant can be in Cuba) where the food and service marked a substantial upgrade from the previous day’s lunch at the state run restaurant.  The restaurant was located on the ocean promenade where we could see the ocean and classic American cars drive by, and where I ate some of the most delicious beans and rice I’ve ever had in my life.  Non-vegetarians had a choice of steak or fish.  It was all good, but there were some apparent differences due to the limitations of availability of some fresh types of produce in Cuba.  The pears were obviously from a can, even though they were dressed in a beautiful red sauce.

This unofficial cultural center of Santeria in Havana is decorated by street artists.

After lunch we went to the National Museum of Fine Art.  This museum is a source of pride for the Cuban people, as it stands as an example of how the communist regime made art accessible to all people of Cuba, not only the elite.  The three-story art deco structure contains art made by Cuban artists, although not all art pieces were created in Cuba.  We started on the third floor where colonial art was housed, then moved forward in time as we descended.  We took the stairs since the elevator did not work.  Our tour guide said no elevators worked in Cuba.  I’m not sure if he was joking or not, but I think the lack of working facilities in a building of such importance and pride for the country is a statement to the condition of most structures in the country.

It is said art is an expression of the soul.  I’m not hugely into art, but I felt the art in the museum gave be a glimpse into the soul of the people of Cuba.  Changes in the style of art coincided with dramatic changes in the politics of Cuba.  Many of the pieces housed in the museum were once censored by the communist government, because they spoke out against the revolution or policies of the government.  The museum was just one more way to discover an opinion of the people of the island throughout time. 

A typical street in modern Havana.

The last place we visited on our cruise was a craft market.  Having no interest in spending money on a bunch of stuff made in China, apparent if you peak at the labels, which I did, we decided to head the brewery at the pier adjacent.  The brewery had three types of beer: light, dark, and black.  One beer each was just enough time to occupy our time while we waited for our boarding time to meet back at the bus.  We did enjoy the beer enough that when we were dropped back off at the port we decided to seek out one more brewery we had seen the day prior on the walking tour.  That brewery had the same three types of beer: light, dark, and black.  It was just OK, a little warm and foamy, but it was a lot cheaper than the ship, which was where we headed next. 

Craft brewing has reached Cuba, as apparent by this craft brewery on the water in Havana.

We ate dinner on the top deck of the ship while the ship maneuvered out of the long think port both facing the city.  I felt mixed feelings are we sailed out of port, knowing I will probably not be back for a long long time, and wanting to know what will become of the city.  At least the view was good.