A last look at Cuba

We weren't in Cuba for very long--only 13 days in all--so we only scratched the surface of this complicated country. Some things charmed us and some things alarmed us. We saw abject povertry, gorgeous countryside, amazing art, charming children, beautiful ruins, and contradictions at every turn.

Here are some final images taken from the hundreds on my camera. I've included text only when it seems necessary.

A wifi park in Havana, one of only a few we found where there is a public signal that you access by purchasing a card for $2.00 an hour. The signal is very weak so everyone clusters around the same area to get online.

The other option for tourists is to go to an expensive hotel and sit in the lobby. This only works if you have the right clothes and look like a tourist.

Havana street scenes

Young girls playing on the Prado after their dance class.

Musicians set up on sidewalks to collect tips.

A privately run palador where we had very good food. This one's on the Prado in Central Havana.

This woman and her child were hitching a ride--a common scene everywhere in Cuba.

An amazing mural in the Havana Museum of Contemporary Art

This mural of a boat was in the Revolution Museum. The boat is the one that Fidel and his crew crossed from Mexico to Cuba to start the revolution.

Scenes from smaller towns in the countryside.

All the children appear to have clean uniforms for school.

Here's the boat again. This is on a water tank in the tobacco growing area. All over Cuba you see signs and icons about the revolution.

This is a government store in Cienfuegos. There didn't appear to be much for sale. Most people purchase from street stands or on the black market I think.





It's possible that this is also a government store as it seemed quite established, but I'm not sure.

We saw people lining up for bread and milk using ration cards but there are also places that sell food and flowers and vegetables and meat, often out of people's homes it appears.

Not sure what the image on the right means. I wondered if it was a veiled reference to dictatorial practices.






























Cuba is a complicated and fascinating country and we've been reading some books to try to discover more about it. One we liked was published in 2018 called "This is Cuba: an American journalist under Castro's shadow" by David Ariosto.

My next few blogs will be about the cities in Central Mexico that we visited in February.

Fusterlandia

It was Jackie who told me this was not to be missed when we were in Cuba--and she was right. The pictures tell the story of this community on the outskirts of Havana that has reinvented itself in homage to Gaudi. Everything in sight has been covered in mosaic tiles. Walls, houses, fences, bus stops, benches, tables.... everything that can be decorated has been tiled.

It looks like it's the work of many artists--and in fact it is. Many of the residents have entered into the spirit of the place and done their own tiling.  It was all started by artist José Fuster and his house is the centrepiece of the village. It's three full storeys of tiled sculptures, furnitures, ceilings and walls.

We had an amazing afternoon exploring this place, complete with a mosaic picnic area where we enjoyed piña coladas made by a handsome young Cuban guy.

Now that Cuba allows entrepreneurs, this place is a natural.  It's now on the tourist path--and for good reason. The whole place had an atmosphere of celebration and some residents have opened their homes to show and sell other artwork as well.  We even saw a couple of old-style American cars touring visitors around.

Our trip there was an experience in itself. We took the tourist hop-on-hop-off bus to the end of the line and then tried to get a taxi the rest of the way without success. We saw some people waiting at a bus stop so I asked one woman if we could get a bus there and she said yes.  She had us wait for a couple of buses to go by and then beckoned us onto a small, decrepit vehicle full of people. The cost for this was about 8 cents for the four of us. I can tell you that we stood out like sore thumbs on this bus but it got us there. 

We knew we were in the right place because of the mosaics at the bus stop.  I'll leave you with a couple more photos of this special little community.  If you ever make it to Cuba, make a point of visiting Fusterlandia. You won't be disappointed.