Day Six: Friday, February 20

My cherished free day! Although worried about the demands of “tours,” I knew that Friday would be mine to schedule. And even though previous events had been rescheduled to Friday, Suzanne and I were not willing to go back without seeing Habana Vieja. So Friday morning we got a taxi into the old city and spent the day wandering at our leisure.


We started out at La Punta for the obligatory shots of El Morro and the Malecón. La Punta and El Morro face each other across that magnificent harbor and trailing west from there is the lovely stretch of drive and walkway- the Malecón.


We walked on into the old city, only to chance on an old friend- Mirta, our dancing teacher! She was just back from her marketing and we had a joyous reunion in the streets, with her friends.


Later on we ran into another friend, Sr. Echevarria from the book fair! La Habana is a big city, but one does run into one’s friends!


We walked around the cannons in the streets,


gazing at blue doors (Museo de Arte Colonial).


We were headed for the Plaza with the Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana, where Christopher Columbus may have been buried from 1796 to 1898. We had seen the square by night and it was also beautiful by day.


Off on a side street, the Callejon del Chorro, we went into the Taller Experimental de la Gráfica. A lovely pink building, with its CDR noted.


We did have a few goals for the day: finding the four main plazas (we found five!), books, daiquirís and Hemingway haunts. So next we wandered over to the Plaza de Armas. Around the square are the bouquinistes, second-hand book sellers, who soon learned that Suzanne was a Hemingway fan and brought her all their Hemingway editions!


There were other selections as well. I bought a book on Cuban music, of course!


The beautiful garden,


the public library,


and street performers!


But we were soon walking down Calle Obispo towards the Hotel Ambos Mundos, in search of Hemingway’s room. We found it! At the top of the hotel, Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls in room 511, staying here from 1932-1939. The guide was thrilled to hear that Suzanne was from Idaho!


The view from the room was lovely. You can see the Plaza de Armas, the bit of greenery.


We ambled back past the square for lunch, past the domino players,


and another Cuban reader!


Then we went back to Obispo to find our Hemingway bar. The guidebook says “Next is El Floridita,” but it was a bit further down the road. But what a road! Calle Obispo is a busy street at noon, filled with shoppers, restaurants, and everywhere the sound of folk and jazz bands.


We did find the bar, though, and had our drinks!


Outside the bar, is a lovely square with a lovely monument. It’s of Francisco de Albear, who did the first topographical study of Habana in 1874 and designed the aqueduct system that brings fresh water into the city.


On our way to square number 3: Plaza de San Francisco, we found another square: Plaza del Cristo, which is yet to be restored, but very spacious. The church is the Parroquial del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje, but alas it was closed. We did find an open church later and went in.


Square number 4 was Plaza Vieja, a civic square, no church! But a lovely art deco hotel.


The art galleries, the mediopuntos, the colors, the streets, the music, all were wonderful. Trying to get a photo of the stained glass during the day, we wandered into the Casa del Conde Jaruco, to shoot the windows from inside. There we found ourselves in the middle of an art installation! A large room, trying to achieve total darkness with curtains, filled with tiny colored lights hung on strings. It was like being in the middle of a galaxy! And yes, on the other side were the mediopuntos, lit with the gorgeous light of Habana.

We joined the group for dinner at Café del Oriente, on the Plaza de San Francisco, and had a very gracious meal, with goose liver paté and lobster thermidor. Lovely music and champagne, wine, Moscatel, and Crema Catalana added to the beautiful atmosphere.

Day Five: Thursday, February 19

On the site of the former Camp Columbia, built by Americans after 1898 and used as a base camp by Batista, the Ciudad Libertad in Marianao is now a school complex, following Castro’s policy of turning barracks into schools (as in Matanzas). There we found the Museo de la Alfabetización which celebrates the Literacy Campaign of 1961.


In his 4 hour and 20 minute speech at the United Nations on September 26, 1960, Castro outlined his plan to send out brigades of children and others to every corner of the island to wipe out illiteracy. January 1, 1961, the illiteracy rate was 23.6% and by December it was 3.9%. (Today it is .2%)


The most charming collections in the museum are the letters written to Fidel as the final test of the newly literate. The lantern is the symbol of those who went to rural areas to teach.


After a drive back through Playa and Miramar, we found another artist in residence, Alicia Leal, and once again we enjoyed both the art and the artist’s house. This house was followed by a visit to another house: Finca La Vigía in San Francisco de Paula, the home of Ernest Hemingway. Caught in amber at his death, the house and its contents are witnesses to a beautiful location and a fascinating hunting, fishing, drinking and, yes, writing life.


Back in Habana, I walked past the Hotel Nacional and the Maine monument to the plaza which was constructed in front of the U.S. Interests Section building for the demonstrations to return Elián González to his father in Cuba. A wonderfully anachronistic statue of Martí holds Elián and points accusingly down the concrete plaza towards the nameless, grey building.


The plaza opposite the building, the Plaza Tribuna Anti-Imperialista.


Back at the Hotel Nacional that evening for music and dancing from the Habana All Stars! And yes, a Cuba Libre was involved.

Day Four: Wednesday, February 18

Fragua Martí- I had wondered what "fragua" meant and this morning we walked down 25th Street to find out. José Martí is everywhere on this island, and this corner is The Forge of Martí, where he was formed in his commitment to freedom for Cuba. And he was forged here as Prisoner 113, sentenced at age 16 and serving 5 months of hard labor cutting stone in this quarry. As our eloquent guide phrased it, “these rocks are witnesses of the crimes and of the suffering that Cuba faced to achieve freedom.”


This corner played its part in history again on January 28, 1953, when university students marched down the steps and to this corner to bury the constitution. Raúl Castro is carrying the flag in this photo of the demonstration.


Down the street and over a block is the Callejon de Hamel, a glorious work of street art created by Salvador Gonzalez, and here we heard about Santería, oreishas- the gods who live in your head, homeopathy and the oral traditions of Santería, Palo Monte and the many other religions that were kept alive behind a Catholic saintly overlay.


Later we went to the Parque John Lennon in Vedado and the guide who takes care of the eyeglasses let us take our many photographs of each other! We also visited the art studio of two sisters, Jaqueline and Yamilys Brito Jorge.


And then, Suzanne and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the 18th International Book Fair in Havana! Held in the same fortress as the Cañonazo, San Carlos de la Cabaña, the book fair invites many book publishers to exhibit, but I was more interested in seeing what people were reading. I asked people if I could take their picture with their books and always received a positive response. I’m planning to do a READ poster campaign with these photos! Here are a few:



In one of the exhibits, the author César García del Pino was autographing his book La Habana bajo el reinado de los Austria. He autographed a copy for me, while the very kind Sr. Echevarria of the Castilla de la Real Fuerza took our photo! He explained the historian’s role in the city, while the tv camera crew moved in to interview Sr. de la Pino.


Another wonderful chance meeting was when I asked a man if I could photograph him and his books and he brought in another man, who was the author of one! That author was Ciro Bianchi Ross, the author of Yo tengo la historia. But the other gentleman was also an author! He was Manuel García Verdecia, a poet, translator and teacher of Southern US writing! He had interpreted for Alice Walker during her visit and translated her Meridian and other American works, such as Leaves of Grass. Thanks to his excellent English, we had a wonderful conversation about Poe, Faulkner, Styron, Fitzgerald, and I wish I had brought him more current American fiction…


That evening, we had dinner at La Mina in Habana Vieja (another wonderful music group!) and then walked over to Elsa’s house for our rooftop dancing lessons with the Grupo Dolce María. Wonderful Mirta taught us her moves and yes, there was a mojito involved. And now, looking back over today, I can see why I’ve been catching up on my sleep since my return home!