DAY 2: HABANA VIEJA

Brief observations about tourists in Cuba.  There are many.  Cuba is a tourism destination for almost everyone else but Americans, particularly from UK, France, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.  There are Chinese there also, doing business with Cuba.  A lot of Havana tourism photos show uncrowded streets, but these are misleading.

José Martí airport serves between one and two million international passengers annually.  Leaving the airport, we passed a large, very modern steel-and-glass terminal separate from our cardboard, plywood and chewing gum one.  Our guides made no mention of the spiffy terminal, but one fellow traveler who had been to Cuba before confirmed it as the terminal for all other internationals.  Americans also pay a 10% currency exchange fee which most non-American tourists do not pay.

Not infrequently we encountered others from the States.  Presumably most were participants of other licensed people-to-people tour groups, but surely some were in Cuba illegally, perhaps diverting through some intermediate country.

The breakfast buffet at Hotel Parque Central offers dozens of selections, every day.  We were unable to identify, with certainty, about 95% of these.  Staples were potato cakes, sausage, mixed vegetables, pickled carrots,  pineapple slices, various locally grown fruits, churros (delicious, much better than the ones at Disneyland), and those delightful little cookies that Mexicans call biscochitos.  About five different kinds of fruit juice.  And every other day or so, fixings at the door for a rum-spiked breakfast drink.  Coffee, which in Cuba is quite strong, is tightly controlled by the waitrons.

Day 2 was almost entirely a walking day.  We started at the shoreline, at Castillo de la Real Fuerza, passing by this structure without entering.   The first fort to guard Havana, it was abandoned as a defense work, being too far from the water and thus impractical to protect the harbor.  It was replaced by forts directly opposite one another at the harbor entrance.  Nonetheless it is an impressive stone ruin.

Plaza de Armas marks the site of Havana's original church, and some of its earliest residential and governmental buildings remain.  The plaza proper was established circa 1520 as the Spanish military and clerical bulkhead, and comprised the parade ground for soldiers stationed there.  Today the plaza hosts a large, open air used book fair.  The books are mostly in Spanish, and a wide selection is present.  Dave saw many graphic comic books which celebrate the heroes of the Revolution, and which were reminiscent of the old Humble Oil Texas History comics we used to get in school.  There is an elementary school in the square.  The students are uniformed and well-behaved, as seen in the two photos below, where clearly they are going somewhere.

Plaza de Armas

A well-regulated student body 

In 1955 the statue of King Ferdinand VII of Spain was removed from the plaza center, to be replaced by this statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, an 1860's proponent for Cuban independence from Spain and now a national hero.  Cespedes stands in a central clearing, in open sunlight.  Poor Ferdinand, alas, a Spanish despot not greatly loved by independence-minded Cubanos, was uprooted and hauled over to one end of the front portico of Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, to be left there, ignominiously, in perpetual shadow.

Carlos Manuel de Cespedes

The Palacio del los Capitanes Generales housed the highest ranked officers of the Spanish army.  The cobblestoned street fronting the building was removed at the request of an officer's wife, who objected to the rattling carriages, and replaced with wood in brick-sized pieces.  Today it is the City Museum.  Adjacent to Capitanes, to the north, is the Palacio del Segundo Cabo, which housed lesser officers.

Palacio de los Capitanes Generales

Palacio de Segundo Cabo

Several streets proceeding south, and parallel, from Plaza de Armas, including the famous Calle Mercaderes, are a panorama of colonial Havana with homes from the early eras, stores and restaurants, museums, and religious edifices.  There are modern upgrades, but exterior facades are protected in most cases.  Pedestrian traffic is sometimes elbow-to-elbow in these lanes, and many "freelancing" artists, musicians, and other mendicants practice their skills here.  "No gracias" doesn't always work to rebuff the more persistent entrepreneurs.  Some street scenes from the area around Plaza de Armas:

Lots of dogs but not a single Havanese

Moorish influences were prominent in Colonial Havana

A colonial home with Arabic accents

Aloof

Spanning the centuries

Dressing for Quinceanera photos at St. Francis Plaza

El Caballero de Paris, an eccentric (insane?!) street person who was a Havana fixture in the 1950's. 
Rubbing his beard and pulling his finger is believed to bring good fortune.

What is Carson doing here?

Making a music video, as it turned out

Roof of an aqueduct from early Havana.  This one carried fresh water. 
The sewers ran parallel, but meticulous separation was maintained.

Plaza Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco de Asís, dates from early 1500's

Iglesia San Francisco de Asís, 1608

Tile tabletop, modern hotel in ancient building

A typical Colonial Havana house:  animals and carriages on the first floor, 
slaves on the second floor, family on the third floor

Restoration of historic structures in this area of Havana is a priority of the Cuban government.  Projects are undertaken as money is available.  Donations are a major portion of the funding for these, coming from countries and individuals around the world.  The best projects aim at both interior and exterior restoration, and emphasis is on public buildings, particularly famous ones such as the Capitol and the National Theater.  Many older estate homes have also been given priority.  The government has created a school for specialized study, Escuela de Taller, which enrolls talented students who meet strict and competitive selection requirements.  Students learn traditional techniques of plastering, painting, metalwork, woodwork and furniture making, welding, structural engineering, and so on.  The school is sited in an actual edifice undergoing restoration.  We were privileged to visit this school.  The graduating class was on vacation, but underclassmen were hard at work.  After graduation, students may form their own small cooperatives and contract with the government, as some have; they may work directly for the government; or they may continue in postgraduate study.

Blacksmiths have great shoulders and arms

A short walk to Plaza Vieja followed.  Plaza Vieja is one of the oldest squares in Havana, and at its inception in 1559 was a military parade ground.  Eventually it was a residential and mercantile plaza.  The Bautista regime converted Plaza Vieja into a giant underground parking garage.  The unfinished garage, from all accounts a true eyesore, was demolished in the 1990's and the plaza was restored.  Surrounding it are galleries, cafes, bars, curio shops, and at one end Fototeca de Cuba, which we visited.  Fototeca de Cuba is a large repository which stores, protects, and exhibits the historical photography of Cuba.  The director did a nice Powerpoint presentation, and the center was setting up a new photographic exhibit, which we wish we could have seen.

Plaza Vieja

School calisthenics, Plaza Vieja

The blue building is Fototeca de Cuba

Interior courtyard, Fototeca de Cuba

Lunch this day was at another private paladar, Paladar Doña Eutemio, tucked away in a short alley and a very popular place.  Next door to the cafe is an experimental graphic arts studio, Taller de Grafica Experimental, wherein young (and not so young) artists work and sell their work, using the proceeds to buy more supplies, to continue the cycle.  The director here introduced the facility and its philosophy, and we were encouraged to wander and interact with the artists.  Many of our group purchased one or more pieces here.

Matrix for colograph that we purchased

The lovely printmaker 
She even makes her own paper for her prints.

Just down the street from Taller de Grafica is Cathedral Plaza, one of the most famous locales of Havana.  The plaza dates from the 1700's.  Catedral de San Cristóbal de Havana was completed over the span 1748-1787.  This is, aesthetically, a marvelous building.  The plaza contains an active market, and there are many street artists selling directly from the curb.  Some of these artists are as talented as those who are shown in galleries.  We hope that opportunity just has not yet come their way in the system they inhabit.

Plaza de la Catedral

Plaza de la Catedral

Calle del Obispo is another world.  This is a narrow, historical street now almost entirely mercantile.  It leads west to Parque Central, 8 or 9 blocks walk.  We chose to walk this street, rather than to return to the hotel by bus.  Calle del Obispo is a single lane and is limited to pedestrians (the cross streets, however, are not thusly limited, and in Havana cars don't stop for walkers).  Along this street are hustlers, beggars, propositioners, con men of every description, yes, including ladies of the day or night, and constant music. Some hustlers are gentle, some relentless, but we never sensed that any were dangerous.  It is difficult not to picture a scene from a Charles Dickens novel.  A striking number of supplicants have very obvious physical impairments, which they are quick to display.  There is ample opportunity to spend money along Calle del Obispo, and there are even cajeros automaticos (ATM's, but not for Americans).  It's such a delightful street, we walked it again a few days later, when we found we could proceed unharassed if we put the cameras away and tried to blend in.

Obispo side street

Calle del Obispo at Parque Central

We were granted a brief freshening-up at the hotel, then we walked around to El Prado and the Centro Asturianos, a bar and restaurant.  There, to complimentary rum and bar mix, we were treated to a terrific presentation by Professor Alberto Faya, of the University of Havana.  He is a performer, teacher, and researcher, with expertise in the history of Cuban music.  His band, which includes his son David and two other young musicians, escorted us through the history of Cuban music, from the African slave era to the present innovative Cubano jazz movement.  A video is below.  It takes a little time, but Dave thinks that this version of "Guantanamera" may be the best ever.

Dinner was Paladar Ivan Justo, a second and third floor walkup, around the corner from Museo de la Revolución.  The staircase up is the width of one set of shoulders.  Again, as in every restaurant, a mojito was the first course.  Trailing the more experienced in the group up the stairs, MJ and I were relegated to a single table on the mezzanine.  To our delight, Viviana Rives, our guide, joined us.  The three of us had a great evening together.  We plumbed Viviana's boundless knowledge of her home country.  MJ took advantage of V's passion to learn English and taught her to say "all y'all" and "obnoxious".  Viviana found opportunity to use both these terms later in the trip.


Back at the Hotel Parque Central bar for capping the night, we found no less than a LIVE peformance by THE SUPREMES singing PATSY CLINE!

Havana Club 7 Year, Cohiba Siglo VI, and great friends.

Miranda, Lois, and Jonathan Viscoli

"Yo soy un hombre sincero."

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