22nd of May
Havana, city of jarring paradoxes and unfathomable contradictions, where seductive beauty sidles up to spectacular decay and revolutionary iconography is juxtaposed with sun, sea, sand and a diluting slice of austere socialism.
Time to say good-bye to Beat who was traveling with us since Mexico. We had a very good time together and despite the sometimes bumpy flights we figured he enjoyed the trip.
Departure from Cartagena is slightly delayed since the pilots try to reach the people in Havanna for several permits. But they do not react to mails nor do they pick up the phone. Take-off and flying north over the Caribbean Sea towards Cuba.
The pilots have to navigate around some heavy weather and the flight is sometimes rather bumpy. Some heavy rain out there. But after four hours we touch down in Havana and we are really wondering what is expecting us here. We went crossed borders during the glorious Soviet time and also visited other „brotherly“ nations like Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, etc. in the past. Maybe this is gonna be the same?
The handler is already there, we find our parking spot easily and people are greeting us very friendly. When they say „Welcome to Cuba“ – they mean it. The customs agent goes quickly through the plane and the fuel truck pulls up. But they are advising us to fill up tomorrow – heavy rain will start soon. The grab out bags and everybody starts to run. As soon as we come to the arrival and custum‘s area, tropical rain is pouring down. By tropical we mean really big raindrops! We just got lucky! The visa issuing custom‘s officer is an elderly, friendly lady and within 10 minutes we sit in the car to downtown Havana. The socialists are really friendly and helpful here; they even smile! We start to see the old American cars from the 40‘s and 50‘s and once in the city center, there are tons of them.
The hotel is right in the center and we decide to go for a small bite. By coincidence we hit Hemingway‘s favorite bar. A band plays and the atmosphere is out of this world. So is the locally produced diet Coke.
After that we just wander through the old quarters of Havana. What beautiful old buildings there are – but many of them are almost ruins. People have not money or the incentive to renovate them. If once this old part of the city gets renovated – costing billions – it could be a real jewel. Back in the hotel the webmaster puts the finishing touches on the site and will now try to upload it. But sorry folks: here in Cuba you can not access FTP servers for whatever reason. They explain „for technical reasons“ but we believe it is more their secret service. This is the reason for the 2 days delay in up-dating.
So we decide to take a cab to go to the best seafood restaurant in Havana. Well – it is not so bad after all but there is room for improvement. So we decide to go to the hotel for a good night sleep.
23rd of May
Cuba‘s intricacies are a result of its history, a tale of external interference and internal strife that has bred bloodshed, slavery, invasion, colonization and popular revolutions. Sandwiched between the US to the north and Latin America to the south, it has long struggled to work out where it fits to.
In the morning is city tour time again. We decide against a tourist bus or a tour on the hop-on hop-off double deckers (yes, they are here too). We go for an old 1958 convertible, with a driver that looks like our friend Henri Rohrer in 5 years and Joe, a fast speaking (perfect English though) guide. What a great feeling cruising around Havana that way!! We pass the Museo de la Revolucion, the very impressive Capitolio Nacional (built after the Capitol in Washington DC) and go through a tunnel built by a Dutch company in the 1930s to the other side of the Bahia de la Habana. From viewpoint on the hill we have a fantastic view over Havana; and the house where Che Guevara lived is right next door.
After cruising nicely along the water, we leave the car at Plaza de San Francisco de Asis and walk over to Plaza Veija. Here we watch small kids dressed as young pioneers, playing games and admire the old buildings around. Joe takes us to a government owned cigar factory and Smokey Tom is in heaven. They produce the best cigares here since it is a small shop. Therefore one person works on a cigar from start to finish and not like the big factories where people do just a specific job – and nobody can be blamed for errors. The place has is also a cigar club and has a lounge. Like a post office has post boxes for individual clients, here they have humidors for individual members. And Joe is one of them. Tom has a cigar and he is; well – just look at the photos.
We walk back to the local handicraft market and on the way there we see a group performing a traditional ceremony in the street. We say goodbye to Joe and Henri, of course after paying them, and hit the markets. We buy some paintings, statues and photographs. Tom likes the photos so much that he buys them even twice!
Back at the hotel the pilots „lobbsterize“ near the roof-top pool while the webmaster hits the streets of Havana again to take some pictures. He gets invited to a fashion show by a famous Cuban designer and has so the experience to learn more about modern Cuba – which is actually not so bad after all.
Dinner is at the only Flamenco restaurant in Havana (what we realize only after we ordered) but to make up for it we have another few drinks at Ernie‘s place „El Floridita“. Rumor has it he had over a dozen drinks a day here – which we can understand after a while.
We had the chance to talk to several Cubans very privately about their issues in daily life, their situation and the political situation. It became very clear that obviously most of the people don‘t like the system Fidel built up. „He is an orthodox“ and does not listen to his advisers. People have no access to free information via satellite TV or Internet, they are not allowed to travel abroad. Hopes are now that Fidel won‘t last that long anymore and that his brother Raoul is able to continue with economic reforms. What he did so far was firing 2 mio. government employees and there are rumors that another 1 mio. has to go. Cuba simply can not afford them anymore. So new jobs have to be created for them – maybe in a private sector that has to be created sooner or later.
If you want to learn more about Cuba, there is an article „History of Cuba“ in the tab „About Americas“.
