However the next ones will be much cooler because they'll be involving sailing!
YAY!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
More about Cuba in general
Cuba is a very artistic country, a nice change from the US where it seems that sports is weighed a lot more heavily than the arts.
Not to be political, but I don't think the US viewpoint is going to improve with our current administration. Somehow, I'm not seeing any poetry jams being held at the White House any time soon. Not to mention live presentation of the Arts. Nope, bowling and pizza parties coming up.
But I digress....
Music is prevalent in Cuba--classical, jazz (of course, jazz!), modern, Caribbean, you name it. Walking down the streets of Havana you hear it pouring from every door of houses, paladares, bars and street performers performing on a assortment of handmade instruments.
Some of the best preserved buildings are the ones that have to do with the arts- we saw the
School of Dance (classical dance, modern dance), a film school and others.
Even the graffiti on buildings has a level of artistry to it, and we were fascinated when we came across a particularly unique piece. They are just tagging a building, they are creating art. Maybe they are encourage to help take away from the decay. I'm not sure.
We were taken to what is referred to as the 'Free Market' in the former train depot. I was hoping more for a locals artisan market (they are around), but the Free Market is basically several hundred booths all selling the same version of things made in China. There were some artists there with paintings, but the rest was jewelry, Panama hats, Che/Castro hats, Tshirts, etc.
And its a bartering set up--groovy. I've never been one to dicker, Tim gave it a shot and we bought a few things to be nice.
Not to be political, but I don't think the US viewpoint is going to improve with our current administration. Somehow, I'm not seeing any poetry jams being held at the White House any time soon. Not to mention live presentation of the Arts. Nope, bowling and pizza parties coming up.
But I digress....
Music is prevalent in Cuba--classical, jazz (of course, jazz!), modern, Caribbean, you name it. Walking down the streets of Havana you hear it pouring from every door of houses, paladares, bars and street performers performing on a assortment of handmade instruments.
Some of the best preserved buildings are the ones that have to do with the arts- we saw the
School of Dance (classical dance, modern dance), a film school and others.
Even the graffiti on buildings has a level of artistry to it, and we were fascinated when we came across a particularly unique piece. They are just tagging a building, they are creating art. Maybe they are encourage to help take away from the decay. I'm not sure.
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| School of dance run by former ballerina |
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| Wall art. |
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| Political graffiti |
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| Film studio. |
We were taken to what is referred to as the 'Free Market' in the former train depot. I was hoping more for a locals artisan market (they are around), but the Free Market is basically several hundred booths all selling the same version of things made in China. There were some artists there with paintings, but the rest was jewelry, Panama hats, Che/Castro hats, Tshirts, etc.
And its a bartering set up--groovy. I've never been one to dicker, Tim gave it a shot and we bought a few things to be nice.
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| View of the Free Market (former railway station) |
The rest of the pictures were from the New Year's Eve celebration that the hotel held. Ballerina, salsa dancers, water ballet, drummers from a more modern pop band and old guy who walked into the pool to take pictures and then wondered later how his shoes and pants got wet.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Museum of the Revolution
....or otherwise titled. "Don't buy the Che Guevara/Fidel Castro hats thinking you are being 'ironic'".
As a Cold War kid and growing up with the stories of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was very interesting to visit 'the other side of the story' so to speak.
The Museum of the Revolution is located in the old presidential palace. It was where the initial revolutionary government was located after overrunning Bautista.
And when you see the pictures: It is completely Gypsies in the Palace.
There was, of course, some artistic license with historical facts. But hey, their country, they can tell the story however they see fit.
In the back of the museum is a fenced and heavily guarded park (only accessible from the museum, but visible from the streets) where pieces of a shot down U2 spy plane (true), Soviet era tanks (this is the tanks that our Great Leader shot upon the USS Houston from), not to be confused with the tank out front which also was the tank that the Great Leader shot upon the USS Houston from. (Fidel evidently hopped his rides alot).
And la piece de la resistance-no pun intended-Granma. The boat that brought Castro and his cohorts back to Cuba from Mexico.
Granma is heavily guarded by military personnel. I mean HEAVILY. Tim tried to work his charms on one of the female MPs, but she wasn't having it.
I highly recommend going to the museum, all of the displays are in Spanish and English and it is interesting to see how Castro is portrayed vs how we have been raised to see him.
As a Cold War kid and growing up with the stories of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was very interesting to visit 'the other side of the story' so to speak.
The Museum of the Revolution is located in the old presidential palace. It was where the initial revolutionary government was located after overrunning Bautista.
And when you see the pictures: It is completely Gypsies in the Palace.
There was, of course, some artistic license with historical facts. But hey, their country, they can tell the story however they see fit.
In the back of the museum is a fenced and heavily guarded park (only accessible from the museum, but visible from the streets) where pieces of a shot down U2 spy plane (true), Soviet era tanks (this is the tanks that our Great Leader shot upon the USS Houston from), not to be confused with the tank out front which also was the tank that the Great Leader shot upon the USS Houston from. (Fidel evidently hopped his rides alot).
And la piece de la resistance-no pun intended-Granma. The boat that brought Castro and his cohorts back to Cuba from Mexico.
Granma is heavily guarded by military personnel. I mean HEAVILY. Tim tried to work his charms on one of the female MPs, but she wasn't having it.
I highly recommend going to the museum, all of the displays are in Spanish and English and it is interesting to see how Castro is portrayed vs how we have been raised to see him.
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| The first of the tanks that Castro used to shoot at the USS Houston. |
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| Interior of the palace. |
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| Many pictures of the Castros, Guevara, Cienfuegos taken from this table. |
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| Presidential office. |
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| Example of the displays |
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| Interior courtyard of the palace. |
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| Hall of mirrors (from former regimes) trying to replicate the hall of mirrors in Versailles. Not in the best of shape now. |
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| Che Guevara |
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| Bautista, Reagan and the Bush boys. See-here's the punchline-we can do this about our presidents ourselves in the US and not get executed. Who's winning that round? |
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| Bullet holes outside the Palace. |
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| One of the vehicles used on the palace raid. And yep, those are bullet holes again. |
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| Memorial to the heros of the revolution. |
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| Stern view of Granma. |
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| Another view of Granma. Big boat, hard to get good pics. |
Friday, March 10, 2017
Havana
So, now that I'm off a) my high horse and b) no longer under the influence of copius amounts of cold medicine...lets get to the fun stuff.
First impressions of Havana. Wow. Yes, much different than US and rest of Caribbean. A beautiful city that has become 'shabby chic' for lack of a better word.
One of the oldest cities of the New World you can see by its architecture the Spanish influence.
It appears that last time any major infrastructure work has been done (major roads/tunnels/etc) is when Americans where there. Since then, the city has been fighting a losing battle in upkeep.
There was a brief stint with the Soviets, but after the Iron Curtain fell, Cuba got kicked to the curb by Russia.
As I mentioned before, you have to be very aware of where you are walking. There could be a waterline project started in the sidewalk in front of you and as our guide said: It could be finished in 2 months or 20 years, who knows? In the meantime, there will be a gaping hole in the walkway with NO barricades and NO warning sides or covers.
Another thing I noticed, and not something that particularly bugs me, but no matter how nice the establishment, women's restrooms had NO toilet seats. I mentioned the attendants being there with toilet paper and to help (plumbing is a bit touchy, more so than the gazillion other Caribbean islands I've been to). So, carrying toilet paper is a must, and if you are particular freaked out, have some hand sanitizer. I never felt the bathrooms were nasty, just no toilet seats.
That being said, more money from China has been coming in and some older buildings are being converted to hotels.
I've explained more in the captions below.
One of the more run down buildings. I think its literally being held together by the plantings.
Even though some buildings are labeled condemned, people still live in them.
We were told that after a heavy rainstorm, sometimes the buildings will collapse because of the deterioration, oftentimes killing the squatters living there. Sad.
First impressions of Havana. Wow. Yes, much different than US and rest of Caribbean. A beautiful city that has become 'shabby chic' for lack of a better word.
One of the oldest cities of the New World you can see by its architecture the Spanish influence.
It appears that last time any major infrastructure work has been done (major roads/tunnels/etc) is when Americans where there. Since then, the city has been fighting a losing battle in upkeep.
There was a brief stint with the Soviets, but after the Iron Curtain fell, Cuba got kicked to the curb by Russia.
As I mentioned before, you have to be very aware of where you are walking. There could be a waterline project started in the sidewalk in front of you and as our guide said: It could be finished in 2 months or 20 years, who knows? In the meantime, there will be a gaping hole in the walkway with NO barricades and NO warning sides or covers.
Another thing I noticed, and not something that particularly bugs me, but no matter how nice the establishment, women's restrooms had NO toilet seats. I mentioned the attendants being there with toilet paper and to help (plumbing is a bit touchy, more so than the gazillion other Caribbean islands I've been to). So, carrying toilet paper is a must, and if you are particular freaked out, have some hand sanitizer. I never felt the bathrooms were nasty, just no toilet seats.
That being said, more money from China has been coming in and some older buildings are being converted to hotels.
I've explained more in the captions below.
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| Gutted out building that is being converted to hotel rooms. |
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| Beautiful architecture. |
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| The lower balcony is carved with dragons. (A little bit hard to see) You can see the decay on the buildings. |
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| The cathedral of Havana--opened in 1777. Building of the cathedral started in 1748. |
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| Suburbs of Havana. One of the many shells of former houses. |
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| Sign about the 58th Anniversary of the Revolution. |
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| Hullo, John. There is a little old lady that is responsible for John's glasses (they kept getting stolen) So when tourists comes up, she runs up to put his glasses on. She was very cute. |
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| By his feet in the concrete is a Spanish translation of a lyric from Imagine. |
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| The United States Embassy. Crap building but great view of the water. |
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Forest of flagpoles. The story goes that even though we didn't have
diplomatic staff in the Embassy, we still had the lease of the
building. So, Pres. George W. Bush had a ticker installed a ticker
style electronic billboard with messages to the Cuban people. Well,
that pissed off the Castro regime so they installed the flagpoles (with
flags at the time) to block people from seeing the ticker. The ticker
was removed during the Obama administration and when Obama visited the
island it was viewed nationwide in Cuba.
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| The capitol building. |
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| The government complex. This was shut down while we were there because they were getting ready for the Anniversary celebrations. |
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| The famous Hotel Nacional. Lots of history there including the 'mobster era'. |
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| Whassup, Vlad! In the bar at the Hotel Nacional. Not something you'd find in the USA. ;-) |
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| Our taxi for our tour of Havana. |
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| Hey, 92 miles THAT way is my BOAT! |
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Even though some buildings are labeled condemned, people still live in them.
We were told that after a heavy rainstorm, sometimes the buildings will collapse because of the deterioration, oftentimes killing the squatters living there. Sad.
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| Walking down the Paseo del Prado. Local artists set up on the sides and there are paladares to grab a bite to eat. |
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