Reflections on Cuba

Hard to believe that five weeks have passed since we arrived back home!

For many of us, this was our first visit and we had some apprehensions! Some had previously visited the  tourist areas at the various beaches – Varadero, Holguin, etc. but had not made it to Havana, Cienfuegos or Trinidad.

Reflecting on our trip, there are many wonderful memories – most of all, the great group of intrepid travellers. To travel with Sergio is always an adventure for us! We never know exactly where he will lead us….but  we always have confidence in his decisions on our behalf.

Arriving in Havana late in the afternoon meant we didn’t see much that first night riding into the city on our bus. When we arrived at Hotel Plaza, we were tired, thirsty and hungry! Thanks to Sergio and Ken Johnston, we gathered up enough Cuban Convertible Dollars (CUCs) to get  drinks in the bar…will that be Cristal or Bucanero senor?

Day Two started out with breakfast on the rooftop terrace – our first view of Havana in daylight. Excitement built as we boarded the bus EVERY morning. Who cannot forget that bank line while we waited to exchange our Mexican pesos?

For me personally, the architecture was engrossing, with many buildings restored to their previous glory and many near collapse. The old cars were fascinating to see and I am slowly editing those photos to show them in black and white…truly a time warp.

My personal highlights included that first lunch at La Bodeguita del Medio (where Hemingway whiled away his afternoons with mojitos), our day trip to Vinales where we saw the incredible mogotes and the beautiful countryside. The highways were amazingly modern. Hemingway’s home at La Finca Vigia was inspiring to me as a pseudo writer, especially after reading Hemingway’s Cuba. Our stop at Cienfuegos on the way to Trinidad was memorable. Trinidad itself was memorable for that wonderful lunch at Paladar La Marinera (lobster anyone?) and the evening show that first night at our hotel. History came alive at Che Mausoleum (that sounds rather strange doesn’t it?). Finally amongst my Top Ten (who is counting)…the cavalcade of vintage cars we travelled in along the Malecon to reach Hotel Nacional for that not so memorable floor show at La Parisien.

Saving the very best for last – Cafe Taberna and the performance by some of the original members of Buena Vista Social Club! Heck, the performances by some members of our group were memorable too!!! Thanks again to Sergio for ‘snagging’ those last minute tickets for us.

Again, thanks to all of you for making and sharing the memories…and thanks to all of those Cubans we met along the way….

Hasta luego!

 

 

Finca Vigia – Ernest Hemingway in Cuba

Before leaving Havana for our trip to Cienfuegos and Trinidad, we made a detour to Finca Vigia, the home of Ernest Hemingway. He lived there in the periods between his foreign trips, for almost 20 years. The villa was built in 1887 and bought by Hemingway in 1940. It was made a public museum in 1962 when news of Hemingway’s suicide in the US reached Cuba. Visitors are not allowed inside by order of the Cuban government. We were able to view the rooms from the terrace as the windows were opened.

From the entrance gates we could see the Cuban flag waving in the breeze. Actually, the house is at the end of a long laneway and Osmel obliged by driving our bus directly to the house.

Everything is in the same meticulous order as it was when Hemingway lived there. There are his 9000 books, various hunting trophies, personal possessions, such as his weapons and typewriter and valuable artworks, including a ceramic plate by Picasso.

Touring the grounds, we were able to climb the tower where Hemingway sometimes wrote.The second floor was for his various cats.

In Hemingway’s studio on the upper floor are various other artifacts of his time spent there – I wonder which, if any, novels he wrote using this typewriter?

Novels

• (1940) For Whom the Bell Tolls
• (1950) Across the River and into the Trees
• (1952) The Old Man and the Sea
• (1970) Islands in the Stream
• (1986) The Garden of Eden
• (1999) True at First Light

Obviously, some of his works were published posthumously…

For more info on Finca Vigia here is a Wikipedia link –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finca_Vig%C3%ADa

Here are a few photos we were able to take of the premises – Thru the looking glass, views of some of the 9000 books and his hunting trophies!

He was at Finca Vigia in 1954 when he found out that he had received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 was awarded  “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style”.

Of course, his famous fishing boat, Pilar, has also been relocated to the grounds  from nearby Cojimar. The Pilar was made of American black oak, and Hemingway loved ploughing through the waves on fishing expeditions. During World War II he used it to patrol the sea north of Cuba on the lookout for Nazi submarines!

Upon his death, the fishermen in the village had this bronze cast in his memory. It is on display on the boat.

After requisite souvenir shopping, we were off to Cienfuegos…

Cienfuegos, Cuba (Perla del Sur)

This day saw us heading east, ultimate destination, the city of Trinidad. Similar to the countryside we had explored to the west, Cienfuegos Province. where we were to visit the town of Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Santa Clara. Cienfuegos and Trinidad are both UNESCO designated cities as Heritage Sites. During the colonial period Cienfuegos earned the nickname Pearl of the South. When Columbus discovered the gulf in 1494, it was occupied by Jagua Indians. Originally named, Jagua, it was changed in 1829 to honor the Governor General, Jose Cienfuegos.

Essentially, this was to be our lunch stop en route. En route, we passed near the infamous Bay of Pigs of which all of us were well aware! ( …At least those born before 1961). Famished, we headed directly to Palacio de Valle where we were to enjoy lunch. Our eyes opened wide as we approached the Palacio –

When Acisclo Valle began to build its mansion in 1913, he could hardly imagine that the facility would eventually become a symbol of the Pearl of the South. The palace is located in the area of La Punta, National Monument of Cultural Heritage.

The terrain is located in Punta Gorda neighborhood and was a wedding gift from Amparo Suero’s father, when she married Acisclo, a wealthy businessman. Rumor has it that the couple was on a trip to Spain when they decided to build a unique chalet.

They established their residence there and the works ended in 1917, when they enlarged the existing “Quinta Morisca” (Moorish Villa). The designs were made by an architect from Cienfuegos and executed under the supervision of Italian civil engineer Alfredo Colli Fanconetti.

Curiosity? They erected the eclectic building at a cost of a million and half pesos. French, Arabic, Italian and Cuban artisans worked with marble, alabaster, brass, glass and ceramic imported from Spain, Italy and United States. Acisclo only enjoyed the Palace for 3 years. He died in 1920 and bequeathed the state to his wife and 7 children.

A glance at the central plant is quite amazing. It is flanked by 2 animal sphinxes from Egyptian tales, with head and breast of a woman and body and paws of a lion that personify the sun. However, some people assure that this was not supposed to be the main entrance. Yet, its proximity to the marble stairway that leads to the second floor made it so.

The entrance is primitive Gothic style and leads to a dining room of Mudejar influence, which imitates the famous Patio of the Lions, of Alhambra, in Granada. Then comes the music and games room, of Luis XV style, and the foyer of Imperial style, with golden friezes, rosy marble baseboards, brass applications and white marble floor. The second floor has 8 bedrooms, plus living and study rooms.

The owner’s initials are crisscrossed into an artistic monogram in the ceramic floor. Some indoor and outdoor columns remind of the Cordoba Mosque, in Spain

The building ends in 3 towers: Gothic Roman, Indian and a mignonette of Arab style, plus an arbor on the roof

Vases of Italian and Chinese porcelain are scattered all over the palace. They evidence the opulence of bourgeois times in Cuba and a kind of construction that imitates foreign styles. They show us how Acisclo del Valle let his money and imagination drift freely.

It was abandoned in 1922, when the owner and her children traveled to Spain. Then, it became the Hunters’ Club for some time. The Revolution triumphed and opened an Art School there. Today, tourists admire it. It hosts a restaurant attached to Jagua Hotel and a diner, very appropriate for lovers of art and Cuban cuisine. Batista considered turning it into a casino before the Revolution.

The vista from the rooftop terraces are incredible! We think that maybe that was a Russian cruise ship….

Back at ground level, we boarded our bus for a brief walking tour of the city, stopping to admire local handicrafts and meeting in the ton square prior to visiting the Tomas Terry Theatre, which was built in 1886 to fulfill the last will of Tomas Terry Adams, an unscrupulous sugar factory owner. World famous figures such as Enrico Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt performed here in the early 1900’s.

The facade on Parque Central has five arches corresponding to the number of entrances. The Byzantine mosaic murals were made in Venice.

Unfortunately, no photographs could be taken in the theatre!!

As it was getting late in the afternoon, Osmel and Rafael herded us back to our waiting bus for the trip to Trinidad before darkness settled in.

On the road again in Havana

This was Day 3 in Havana and as usual we were up at 7 a.m. and had the meagre breakfast on the upper terrace at Hotel Plaza. (At least that was MY opinion).

We boarded the bus with our guia Angel and headed for Plaza Revolucion. Much like Red Square in Moscow, this is where the official May Day Parade is held. It is a pretty awesome plaza as one looks around and sees the various heroes of the Revolution – ‘Che’ Guevara, Jose Marti, and Camilio Cienfuegos. Where is Fidel? (There are none or very few images of Fidel anywhere to be seen in Havana outside of the Museo de Revolucion). There are billboards showing Raul though….

Unfortunately this day the elevator was not functioning! On the buildings behind us were the wire sculptures of Che and Cienfuegos –

Camilo Cienfuegos (bottom), along with Che (top photo) and Fidel were the leading figures in the Revolution. Che was killed in Bolivia after the Revolution.

During his stay in Mexico, Camilo met Fidel Castro, who was organizing a revolutionary expedition that would return to Cuba to fight Batista. Thereafter Cienfuegos was one of the 82 revolutionaries who set sail aboard the boat Granma in November 1956. Allegedly, he was the last one to board the boat and was only allowed to join because of his thinness.

On October 28, 1959, Cienfuegos’s Cessna 310 (‘FAR-53’) disappeared over the ocean during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana. An immediate search was called which lasted several days, but no plane could be found.

By November the search was called off and Cienfuegos was presumed lost. He quickly became a new hero for the Cuban revolution.

Leaving Plaza Revolucion, we boarded our bus for a drive along Havana’s famous malecón…stopping for more information from our guia, Angel. These three babes followed us wherever we went…LOL

They were being followed by a not so discreet security guard  wearing sunglasses –

The plaques on the wall behind were interesting – they contained the name of some very famous Americans, like Thomas Alva Edison, Ernest Hemingway, Benjamin Spock, Helen Keller, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow etc. Curious?

With information overload starting to kick in, we headed for a rum store…..free samples!!! The rest of our day will be detailed in the next post…. I’m off to make myself a mojito…..

Cienfuegos and Trinidad

THREE MORE SLEEPS….

On this particular day we are on the road southeast from Havana, stopping along the way in Cienfuegos for lunch and proceeding to Trinidad.

Cienfuegos (Spanish pronunciation: [sjenˈfweɣos]) is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about 250 km (160 mi) from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur (Pearl of the South). Cienfuegos literally translates to “One Hundred fires”. Cien meaning one hundred, and fuego(s) meaning fires.

The area was called the Cacicazgo de Jagua by the early Spaniards, and was settled by indigenous people.

The city was settled by French immigrants from Bordeaux and Louisiana, led by Don Louis de Clouet, on April 22, 1819. Its original name was Fernardina de Jagua, in honor of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The settlement became a town (Spanish: Villa) in 1829, and a city in 1880. The city was subsequently named Cienfuegos, sharing the name with Cienfuegos, a Captain General in this time, in the island.

Near Cienfuegos was the scene of a battle on May 11, 1898, between American marines who attempted to sever underwater Spanish communication lines and the Spanish defenders.

During the Cuban Revolution the city saw an uprising against Fulgencio Batista and was bombed, on September 5, 1957.

Trinidad (Spanish pronunciation: [tɾiniˈðað]) is a town in the province of Sancti Spíritus, central Cuba. Together with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios, it has been one of UNESCOs World Heritage sites since 1988. The city is located on Caribbean coast near the Escambray Mountains.

The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is a plaza and an open air museum of Spanish colonial architecture. Only a few square blocks in size, the historic plaza area has cobblestone streets, pastel coloured houses with wrought-iron grills, and colonial era edifices such as the Santísima Trinidad Cathedral and Convento de San Francisco. The Municipal History Museum is in town also.

Sugar mills

The Valley of the Sugar Mills—Valle de los Ingenios, also a World Heritage Site, has around 70 historic sugar mills. They represent the importance of sugar to the Cuban economy over the centuries. It has la Torre Iznaga, a 45 metres (148 ft) tower built by Alejo Iznaga Borrell in 1816.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQz7kttLiXI

While in Trinidad we will be staying at Hotel La Ronda –

At some point during our visit to the southeast, we will also be seeing the Che Guevara Mausoleum…is there anyone who does not know who he was? Have you been asleep on this trip?

Cuba – Map

Below is a map of Cuba so you can identify where we are headed on the trip –

As you will note, Havana is on the NORTH side and almost directly below Key West. To the west of Havana is Pinar del Rio where we will be headed on a day trip out of Havana. The other two cities we will be visiting are Cienfuegos and Trinidad on the SOUTH shore towards the EAST. FYI…the infamous Guantanamo Bay is at the southeast tip of the island, not far from the well known tourist resorts at Holguin.

The Proposed Itinerary for Cuba!

Finally we have the long awaited proposed itinerary. For those who have travelled with us before, you know that we sometimes make last minute changes if we come across something that attracts us. This is not written in stone (maybe sand…script since it is blowing here today). We are open to reasonable suggestions…don’t even think about skipping the rum and cigar factories and don’t miss those famous daiquiris and mojitos!!!!

CUBAN ADVENTURE MARCH 2 – 9, 2014

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances plans may need to be changed. In that event you will be notified…

Sunday, March 2 – Depart Merida, arriving in Havana around 530 pm. Transfer to Hotel Inglaterra, check in – FREE EVENING.

Monday, March 3 – City tour visiting Real Fuerza Castle, El Morro, Museo Bellas Artes, Plaza de Armas, Plaza San Francisco de Asis, Plaza Vieja, and Plaza Catedral. LUNCH (included) at La Bodeguita del Medio (a Hemingway haunt) FREE EVENING.

Tuesday, March 4 – Havana touring continued – Plaza Revolucion, El Capitolio. The Malecon, rum and tobacco factories, Cemetery Colon, Harris and Bros. Store. LUNCH (included) at La Mina. FREE TIME and FREE EVENING. Visit to La Flordita Bar (another Hemingway haunt).

Wednesday, March 5 – Travel to Pinar del Rio (Vinales) and visit a tobacco factory, La Cueva del Indio, Mirador los Jazmines and the ‘prehistoric’ mural.

Thursday, March 6 – Leave Havana and travel to Trinidad City. On the way we will visit Cienfuegos City and the Thomas Terry Theatre, Centro, Del Valle Palace. Arrive in Trinidad, check in at Hostal La Ronda and have dinner at Paladar La Marinera (included)

Friday, March 7 – City Tour of Trinidad, visiting Plaza Mayor, Torre Manaca Iznaga and Canchanchara Bar. FREE EVENING.

Saturday, March 8 – Leave Trinidad and return to Havana. On the way we will visit Santa Clara and the Mausoleum of Che Guevara and El Tren Blindado. Check in at the hotel again and relax before the evening show at Hotel Nacional – La Parisien (included)

Sunday, March 9 – After breakfast, fly back to Merida (or transfer to Veredero for those travelling to Canada).

NB…Breakfasts are included EVERY day! Other surprises await…

As noted in the previous posts, I will start posting the serious info about the places we will be visiting which appear in bold print above fyi…), what you need to bring, what things are good to bring for non-cash tips etc. If you have any specific questions send them to us and we will post both the questions and the answers starting after Christmas.

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