This is a rather lengthy blog, so this first paragraph
is a brief synopsis for those of you who just want a quick update. We
spent a week in Cuba: three
days based in Marina Hemingway, whilst we visited Havana
and some of the west of Cuba;
and the rest of the time sailing the 300 nautical miles around the coast to
Cayos Largo on the south coast, where we could check out in order to head to Grand Cayman. Cuba is poor, basic and
struggling. Yet is has great wealth in its colonial ancestry and its
history. The people are in awe of Fidel Castro, respectful of Raoul,
accepting of their lot, and apprehensive of change. They are open and charming,
yet strangely have little interest in (or perhaps don’t feel that they
should be asking about) the lives of those who visit their country.
Having been told how poor and run-down Cuba was, we
was taken aback as we travelled the ten miles in to the city of Havana:
not by the fact that the country is obviously struggling from the years of
economic hardship, but by the scale and opulence of its past.
Now used as embassies and business bases, the grand
houses of what had been the wealthy Miramar
district have retained their ornate facades, sweeping stairways, - some
with ornate wrought-iron entrances to once-formal gardens. Today the
avenue into the city is still elegant with Royal Palms standing erect and high
above the neatly manicured area that divides the two highways. It is used
both as a fitness track and a means to walk in to town.
We hadn’t appreciated that the Plaza de la Revolucion, where Castro famously made rallying speeches to the masses that
crammed this vast area, was planned under Batista. Now, not only does it
give homage to Castro and Che Guevara, with their images each adorning the side
of an eight-storey building, but it also has a dramatic tower that is a
memorial to Jose Marti. He is seen as a father figure in the liberation
from the Spanish in 1878. We enjoyed both the museum dedicated to him and the
panoramic city view from the top of the tower.
Being driven past a sea of tower-blocks, a huge
Italianate church – forlorn with boarded windows and a forest of flag
poles that once marked the US
embassy, we came to the Malecon.. (If I knew where it was on the keyboard
I would have put a cedilla under the ‘c’.) This is a four mile
seafront promenade, flanked by faded-pastel buildings of arches and
balconies. Many of these are empty-shells or even just the front façade
shored-up, but some are being restored and new uses found for them. One
can’t help wondering about the fate of the many similar buildings that
stretch back from the seafront, street by street. Oh for some investment
and a little imagination!
As you come to Centro Havana, so you travel
back in time to a European city of the early 20th Century. The
neo-classical Capitol building, set in Parque
Central, and the Gran Teatro, with its elaborate curved
balconies, are just two of the manifestations of affluence that was lavished on
this city from the 1800s to the 1920s. Other buildings show the hallmarks of
upmarket shops and gracious living that was once Havana. Although a lot of the buildings are
languishing, we were encouraged in seeing what a difference the restoration
work was making to the Opera House (built 1837) and ballet school: for
instance, craftsmen are working on the lavish decorations of the vast ballroom,
which can now be hired for private functions.
The ‘Old Havana’ district is
all about life. With no traffic in this area, it’s a great place to have
a Cuban coffee and just people-watch. This is the heart of the tourist area,
with good reason. Open squares, narrow streets with arched colonnades and
overhanging balconies of elegant ironwork; plus numerous possibilities to step
through a doorway in to the shade of an intriguing courtyard……
American 1950s car are a quintessential image of Havana. Look at any
street and you will see their curvy trunks and bonnets awkwardly protruding
beyond the rest of the line. But for us tourists they are great!
(The other great icon – the Cuban cigar – was rarelyto be seen.)
Live music is everywhere: three men playing
in the square, a whole band at the restaurant, someone practicing the violin in
the shaded recess of an arched courtyard…. Dancing,
too. It was great to get a glimpse of the practice session at the famous
ballet school, but we were able to both to watch the diligence of a flamenco
class and see its passion at a local restaurant. The arts are of the
people and for them, not just for the tourists. Amazingly, the opera
house has a different performance each week and for the Cubans the cost is
about 50 pence [30c].
Seen as an event of historical
significance, the Pope visited Cuba
in 1998. Until just before that time, the Cathedral de San Cristobal had been closed to all. Whilst
this is a well-maintained place of worship, many buildings have crumpled faces
of old age and bodies of neglect. But again, there is hope. The
medical school that was part of the university and started in 1738 has been restored,
as has the Plaza de Armas, with its Baroque buildings and colonial atmosphere.
There is certainly a rich heritage that may yet survive the financial
paucity and political stalemate of today. Religion currently appears to play
little part in people’s lives.
Transport is a real issue. Our driver is the
proud owner of a shiny Lada, lovingly maintained, washed everyday and home to a
lot of Toyota
parts to keep it going. He inherited it in 1987 from his father, who had
been a government official and thus allowed to have a car. At least there are
no traffic jams and it was novel to be able to walk across the ten-lane highway
going through Plaza de la Revolucion with just a
cursory glance in either direction. The transport issue is, of course, greatest
in rural areas and small towns. It used to be that if there was someone wanting
a lift you were obliged to give them a lift. This no longer seems to be
the case and sometimes as many as twenty people would be waiting in the hope of
a lift, seeking refuge from the intense heat in the shade of a bridge.
Others ride pillion on bicycles, use a mule and cart, a tractor or peddle
tricycle. The buses (often they were trucks) that we did see, were
completely packed.
The only internet available is to tourist in some hotels.
(Incidentally, it seems that it was only four or five years ago that Cubans
were allowed to enter a hotel.) There are great shortages and even as a
tourist you would be fortunate to find anything that could be described as a
gastronomic delight. When offered a menu, most of the choice was
unavailable and the six main dishes all have rice and beans as their main
ingredient.
It seems that the rations people have are difficult to
eek out and luxuries, including milk and beef, are very expensive and difficult
to get. (On a wage of 45 CUC[$45US] plus some local pesos per month, milk is
1.86 CUC per quart.) All farm produce is handed over to the government,
although on the main highway locals were holding out cheese, cooked chicken,
even suckling pig, in the hope that a passing driver might stop. In Nueva
Gerona, on the south coast, we saw people fishing by floating on rubber
innertubes, whilst others waded out with their nets: presumably they are
allowed to keep what they catch.
Of the 11m population, nearly 4m live in Havana. Whilst we
didn’t go to anyone’s home, we were told how cramped and basic
accommodation is. Newly weds are almost certain to be living with older
generations. The glimpse we had of some living areas was shocking, with
the dingy ground floor of an old building housing several families in what were
not more than shacks.
The export market for sugar cane collapsed
in the ‘90s when perestroika changed Cuba’s
trading relationship with the Soviet Union...
The rick red soil of the flat plains to the west of Havana looked very fertile and again you are
left wondering about the potential. If only ....
We didn’t have time to explore much the
mountains, but they are lush with tropical vegetation. Some of the bigger
limestone caves are a major tourist attraction, as is the Valley de Vinales.
Here mogotes (gigantic karst formations) rise dramatically from the valley
floor, which in itself is an attractive landscape of corn and tobacco fields.
As for the sailing? We only sailed the western half
of Cuba.
It is a long coastline with few harbours that one is allowed to stop and unless
you tuck in close to the coast you are against the Gulf
Stream. At each port there is lengthy paperwork for checking in
and out. I am sure if you had time there are many lovely beaches to
explore and certainly some amazing diving and snorkelling. (In one bay
the 200m contour line of the sea bed cuts across the entrance to the harbour
and then goes to just a few meters, providing a home to a stunning array of sea
life.). We didn’t find it the sailing particularly pleasurable and
we certainly felt solitary. John has already written about the political
situation – which is fascinating. This country, however, is well worth a
visit, but more so for the enquiring traveller rather than just a vacation
destination.