Sunday night we had dinner at another Paladar, this one inside an old factory that has been converted into a space for artists, la Fabrica de Arte Cubana or FAC. The FAC also has space for music and several bars so it is a popular place to go at night. When we arrived, there was already a long line of people waiting to get in; because, we were eating there, we were able to skip the line. The restaurant was outside on top of the building. We were seated at the same time as two other large groups so it was a bit chaotic. It was a beautiful evening with perfect weather and was nice to be outside.
After dinner, we explored the art space. The FAC is three levels and most of the art is on the top two levels. There is music on the ground level. I was impressed at the outpouring of creativity that I saw. All kinds of art and almost none of it was political. Apparently, the art rotates and when we were there, they seemed to be featuring an artist who liked to paint and photograph naked middle aged women. Lots of them. But there was other art as well, including a painting of what was supposed to look like a formal portrait of Batista’s wife in the royal palace, however she was completely naked. It was displayed like it was an official portrait labeled, “the First Lady of Cuba, madame Batista” or something like that. After viewing the art we told our guide Yusi that we didn’t really care about hearing the music, meaning that we were ready to go and didn't need to see the art downstairs. She didn’t quite understand the hint and took us for a lap downstairs where a loud heavy metal band was playing. Most of the folks on the tour are retirees in their 70s. Several of them held their ears as we walked around. When we finally got out to the van, we all had a good laugh about it.
Monday, we spent the morning learning first about the Mafia and then about Hemingway. For this part of the tour, Julie was our guide. She is a former French teacher who also studied history, but left teaching to work in tourism, because it pays much more. In a traditional job, the average Cuban makes about $50 a month which is not enough to survive on even thought they are guaranteed a small amount of subsidized food every month, but that is not enough either. So almost all Cubans have some other thing that they do on the side, such as selling electronics from the states or working as drivers part time. In addition, many professionals who speak English leave their professions altogether and work in tourism, particularly as guides. There is no limit how much they can earn and most share that with their families.
Julie first took us to the Riviera hotel which is just across the street from ours and told us about the Mafia in Cuba in the 1950s and the casinos they built without having to worry about legalities; they only had to give Batista, the dictator at the time, 10% of all earnings. Julie also told us that in the 50s, there were 100,000 prostitutes in Havana which had a population at the time of 2 million. And also at the time, most of the country was very poor and illiterate. We went inside the Riviera for a few minutes and took pictures in the lobby which has giant windows overlooking the Caribbean. The furnishings are all mid century modern originals and we felt like we had gone back in time.
We then went on the National Hotel which is an old hotel up on a hill overlooking the city. It is where the meeting of all the bosses from the American mafia met in 1946. The meeting was hosted by Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano and the bosses discussed how they would split up their gambling enterprise in Havana. The meeting is depicted in The Godfather Part II. At the national, Julie also told us about the Cuban revolution and the closing of all the casinos. I was surprised at how candid she was about the revolution. She emphasized that Batista was a brutal and despised dictator and that Castro, Che, Cienfuegos, and others had wide spread support in their efforts and that only after the Bay of Pigs, did Castro declare that he was a socialist. Despite its accomplishments, such as universal housing, education, healthcare, and literacy, she also admitted that the revolution was bad for many and that many had left at different times and that many were still leaving in search of a better life. Half of her classmates had left the island, not for political reasons, but economic. She emphasized how much she and her generation wanted things to improve but that it was hard to be patient and wait for the old guard to relinquish power to the younger generation. At the same time, no one wants another revolution or violence. I said I couldn’t believe how open she was being and she explained that since the starvation period of the 1990s, the government had been encouraging more openness, hence not only her honesty, but also the art and music that has become more creative, things that would not have existed 30 years ago. I’ll post a separate entry later with more political commentary and observations.
After the visit to the National Hotel, our tour turned to Hemingway. I was most excited about this part of the trip since my favorite book is the Old Man and The Sea, the book that caused Hemingway to win the Nobel Prize in literature. We visited the house that he owned, where he wrote the Old Man and the Sea and where he lived off and on for many years. Hemingway’s will left the house to the people of Cuba upon his death and so it is now owned by the Cuban state. The house is on a hill on the outskirts of Havana and overlooks the whole city. Supposedly, his third (?) wife bought the house as a way of getting Hemingway out of the city and away from the bars. You cannot go in the house, but you can walk around it and look in the windows and doors which are open. People working inside can take pictures for you if you like and I paid one 5 CUC (=$5) to take some for me, including the kitchen which you can’t see. The house is small enough that walking around it and peering inside ensured you saw just about everything. We also saw the pool and his fishing boat, Pilar, which he normally left docked in the village of Cojimar. I visited Cojimar this morning before leaving for the airport and will write more on that later. Julie was with us the whole time we were at the house and told us a lot of the history of Hemingway in Cuba and how much he is admired by the Cuban people.
After a couple of hours on the grounds, we said goodbye to Julie and headed for a farm about 40 km west of Havana where we enjoyed a farm to table lunch and were shown around the grounds by the owner Alfredo, a Peruvian, who along with his Nicaraguan wife Annabelle, had moved from Paris (!) to Cuba in search of something different. They wanted to be in Latin America, where they were from, and chose Cuba because there is virtually no crime. They have an Usufruct on the land which is a Civil Law (Napoleonic code) form of ownership that I don’t really understand, but the folks on our tour from Louisiana were able to explain in to us. It is a use right for a period of years or for life (similar to a Life Estate in common law jurisdictions like England and all of the U.S. except Louisiana) and it seems to be the most common kind of land ownership in Cuba. In Cuba it is also inheritable, but I’m not sure if that’s typical in other civil law jurisdictions or not. They have the land for 20 years and that can be renewed. If they use it for any purpose other than farming, it will revert to the state. Anyway, we had a lovely time eating great fresh food under an Avocado tree and relaxing in the shade. After lunch, Alfredo showed us around his farm and talked about the bartering and trading economy that exists in much of the Cuban countryside between farmers. He also showed us his beehive of stingless bees and gave us each the chance to slurp honey out of the hive with a straw. I looked it up on Wikipedia later (when I had internet) and stingless bees are native to the tropics, especially in Central and South America. Their honey combs are formed in a spiral and they store honey in pods on top. It was out of these that we slurped the honey. It was good, but not as viscous as I think of honey. Apparently they are used more for pollinating than for honey production.
Once back in Havana and freshened up, we ate dinner at the oldest Paladar in Havana, the Guarida, which was featured in the 1993 Cuban movie, Strawberries and Chocolate, which I will have to see again. The Paladar is on the third floor of an old mansion in the Centro neighborhood of Havana, that is otherwise divided up into apartments. I had Caribbean Lobster which I had wanted to try. It was good, but had more of a steak texture than Main Lobster. After dinner, we went to a club in our hotel that featured a Cuban style band with a singer who had been part of the Buena Vista Social Club. While I sipped my Cuba Libre (rum and coke; yes, I’ve discovered that I like rum), I was pulled to the stage by one of several young female dancers who had pulled others up to dance Salsa. I’m not sure what I was doing but she basically lead me and others on our tour were there as well. But the song seemed to go on and on, and when I tried to leave, she pulled me back up, much to the delight to the others in our group. I finally was able to escape and my knees were grateful. It was a nice way to end a wonderful day.
I think I’ll stop for now. I will post a few more entries over the next week when I have time. Hasta luego.
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