| Cuba |
Adios CubaAnother ice-cream in "La Casa del Chocolate", a final mojito on the terrace of El Castillo, hasta la vista Baracoa ! During the long ride to Santiago de Cuba we see two videos. The first one is the Cuban movie "Se permuta". The story tells about a woman who wants to swap her house and, trying to get the house she has in mind, she ends up arranging house-swaps for many families. This leads to complex and funny situations. We'd seen a "Se permuta"-poster on a house in La Habana. The other movie is a battle-movie and quite cruel. It makes me realize the total lack of violence here. Not on TV, not on the street…We have not even heard people shouting. If there is violence, it is surely well hidden. Back in Santiago, we are lodged in a splendid casa particular. Our room is as big as a dancehall, immaculately clean, and gives onto a beautiful patio on the first floor of a street off Parque Cespedes. We return to the terrace of Casa Grande and have a mojito and spaghetti. A small hunger resides, and street pizza fills the gap. Time for some musica, where is the action tonight? Nothing to be found, even "La Claqueta" is closed! What could you expect on a Monday evening …In our casa, the large bedroom invites for a dance. A good night of sleep, a sumptuous breakfast and the sun shining through the shutters, life is good. We decide to read our email and the only place we know to do this, is Hotel Melia Santiago de Cuba, a modern and luxurious hotel on Avenida Las Americas. One of the two computers is free, we're lucky! Happy to get some news from our friends and family. Outside again, the swaying palm trees and the warm sun smile on us. With our departure approaching, we enjoy Cuba, the travelling and our freedom all the more. Before leaving for the airport, we buy some cd's in the Artex shop. Among them, Issac Delgado with "La Vida es Un Carnaval", a Cuban hit that drives everyone on the dancefloor, even the most obstinate non-dancers! The flight is smooth and interesting. First we follow the coastline and soon we can discern the different peaks of the Sierra Maestra and fly right above them. The finishing touch to our hike. For our last days in La Habana we have chosen the casa from the people we met on the bus to Trinidad. Their house is very well located at only a few minutes' walk from La Rampa. It is good to be back in La Habana and we want to make the most of our last days here. We have been living on the rhythm of the sun, neglecting nightlife, and now it is high time to catch up on it. Tonight we go to "El Salon Rojo", the cabaret of Hotel Capri. It is the budget-version of Tropicana, Cuba's most renowned cabaret. The 10USD entrance includes the show plus free drinks. At 23H the doors open and we get a seat on a small table near the stage. Two Ron Collins (mojito without the mint leaves) are brought, the show may start! An 8-man orchestra sets the tune. Girls in glittering outfit fill the stage, and a sparkling show is performed. Between two appearances of the girls, a singer, made-up far too heavily, brings us schwalzy songs. The red velvet walls, the gloomy room, hushed whisperings arising from the round tables, cigar smoke filling the air, it all adds to the atmosphere. It could have been a night in the fifties, in one of La Habana's most famous cabarets at that time. Among the audience would surely have been a maffiosi, settling some affairs with his men in Havana. At 1 A.M. the show is finished, but the night in Salon Rojo has only begun. From now on, it is disco time, and the stage gets crowded with Cubans dancing the Eurobeat. Today we follow the traces of Hemingway to Cojimar, the small fishermen's village on the coast east of La Habana. To get there, we take the pink camello bus M1 near Capitolio. The camello is a very long bus, with two humps on its back, like a camel. Our Cuban friends had told us not to get on a camello because it is always so crowded and not very pleasant. Sure it is an experience, but indeed, maybe not to be repeated. Cojimar seems to us a nice, fresh village. After the pollution and commotion of La Habana, the good sea-air and the calm here are very pleasant. In this village lives Gregorio Fuentes, the old man on whom the main character of Hemingway's "The Old Man And The Sea" is based. We find the small green-and-white house on the corner of two quiet lanes. No signs of life. Gregorio must be 103 now, and we'd heard he is still alive. But we'll leave Gregorio alone, it is mojito-time. In Restaurante La Terraza, we sit down on a stool at the bar. It is a long wooden bar, with on the shelves behind it hundreds of bottles, waiting to be mixed in some delicious cocktail. Pictures and reminders of Hemingway decorate the walls. At a small table near the entrance of La Terraza sits an old man, writing poems for the tourists. A large group has arrived and he is very busy. The fierce afternoon sun urges us to look for some food. In the centre of Cojimar, we have a street pizza and an ice-cream. On the way back, the bus drops us off at Castillo de Los Tres Santos Reyes del Morro, or abbreviated "El Morro". We walk to the other fortress "Fortaleza San Carlos de la Cabaña", and find a small path on the outside of the walls that leads to Casablanca. Casablanca appeals to me immediately. A small village with beautiful houses spread on the hillside, and a quiet atmosphere. Children, still dressed in their school uniform, are playing on the street. The ferry arrives, full with men and women returning from work. At the other side of the bay, the harbour of La Habana Vieja is bustling with activity. We pay 30 centavos and get into the ferry. In bar "Dos Hermanos" we have a coffee and then take a cab to Luyano. We want to say goodbye to our friends there. It is a happy reunion. Mercedes is curious to know all about our stay in Santiago, and sobre todo, all about our visit to El Cobre. Like a lot of the older generation Cubans, she is very catholic. I ask Maritza about the best places to go out and she recommends us "La Casa de la Musica" in Miramar, and "Cafe Cantante" on the Plaza de la Revolucion. We say goodbye to the friendly family and return to our casa. Tonight we made a reservation for a table in "La Guarida", and we have to dress up a bit. Paladar La Guarida is located in the building where most of "Fresa y Chocolate" was filmed. On the second floor, a magnificent hall with pillars, between which, in the morning when we came to make our booking, white laundry was hanging. It was almost as if on purpose only white pieces were allowed on the line, all of the same size, and we could not but stand still on the winding stairs leading to the second floor, contemplating the room. Marble floors, high ceilings, the statue of an angel on the end of the stairway. The white cotton moved with the breeze that entered the large open windows of the room. Sunrays infiltrated the room and bathed it in a delicate hue of gold. No wonder fashion magazines have made pictures here, what an exquisite location this is! On the top floor we enter La Guarida and wait in the hall till our table is ready. Articles in the foreign press about the restaurant decorate the walls. A big poster on "Fresa y Chocolate" is indispensable of course. Dripping candles on the tables, pictures of visiting celebrities on the walls (among them Gabriel Garcia Marquez), curiosities filling the rooms. We have a piña colada and then a starter of ceviche (fish marinated in lemon juice) or caviar de berenjera (eggplant caviar). As main dish we choose caimanero (red snapper) or pollo en salsa de miel y limon (chicken in a sauce of honey and lemon). Side dishes are: platanos maduros fritos (sweet fried bananas), maiquita (fried green bananas), boniato frito (fried sweet potato), and yucca in garlic sauce. All this is followed by helado tropical (icecream made of coconut, condensed milk and pineapple) or torta de chocolate con salsa de naranja (chocolate pie with orange sauce). Coffee ends the feast. A dance in the baroque room on the second floor, without music but the décor compensating largely for this, concludes the evening. With view on a dramatically clouded sky illuminated by the full moon, we float from one corner of the room to the other, exalted by the sheer beauty of the surroundings. Well, I 'd say my writing gets lyrical again : La Habana, lo que excitas en mi ! Next morning we try to confirm our tickets in the Iberia office on La Rampa. There is such a long row of people before us that I go to the telephone cell nearby and try to phone. After several attempts, I get through at last. Confirming is not possible. We have to be in the airport three hours before the flight leaves. Time for the long-awaited coffee on the terrace of Hotel Nacional now! Sitting in the rattan chairs in the gallery surrounding the patio, we enjoy the fresh morning air. Promising - as every morning here in Cuba. Hoping to find some good salsa for tonight, I ask the woman in the lobby if there is anything special going on. She tells us Yumuri y Sus Hermanos, a famous Cuban salsaband, are giving a concert in "La Casa de la Musica". Perfect! In the Havana Club shop we buy as many rum bottles as we can export and some mojito glasses - summer in Belgium is approaching! We stroll in Habana Vieja, have a look at "La Bodeguita del Medio" (way too crowded!) and sit down on the plaza nearby. In the afternoon we visit Teatro Nacional on the Plaza de la Revolucion. We'd gone there to find the beautiful high-ceilinged dance rooms but instead find ourselves in a modern and even ugly building. The building we had in mind turns out to be the Gran Teatro near the Capitolio. But while we are here, we are invited to see a dance class for young children. The teacher was once a prima ballerina and, between '59 and '80, she's been traveling all over the world to perform. The class is interesting and, keeping an eye on us, the small girls all do their very best. Lacking a stereo or piano, the teacher demonstrates the rhythm with the claves and then passes them to the girls. Each girl has to imitate the rhythm. Some of the children get confused and mix it all up. The youngest ones are maybe only four years old. The teacher tells us her daughter-in-law gives salsa classes and we make an appointment for tomorrow. In the evening we take a cab to Miramar. Before the concert we have supper in "Don Cangrejo". Watching the waves battering away at the malecon, we enjoy a meal of camarones borrachos (shrimps) or cangrejo al ron (crab), both swimming in a Havana Club sauce. Strange, but certainly tasty. After coffee we walk along the beautiful streets of Miramar to La Casa de La Musica. Big mansions, a few windows lit behind flowering trees, border the road. A residential neighborhood, that is for sure. Fidel might be sitting behind one of these windows. Cars are already parked outside La Casa de la Musica and people are waiting to get in. We pay the 10 USD entrance and sit down at a table in front of the stage. Here the bar is not free. We order a mojito. At midnight, when all tables are occupied, Yumuri and his band appear on the stage, and soon enough we are all ears and eyes for his swirling performance. Yumuri, whilst singing not standing still for a minute, drags the audience along with him. Tables are put aside and couples start dancing. This is modern salsa, with a fast rhythm and very popular with the Cubans. The concert lasts for two hours, but the dancing goes on afterwards. We venture a dance, and yes! this feels good! Before leaving, we have a talk with Yumuri who is standing in the back of the hall. With his autograph in the pocket, we return to Vedado. On our last day in Cuba we focus on mojito's, cigars, Coppelia, sun and salsa. The Artex shop opposite Hotel Habana Libre sells us some more cd's, Los Van Van and Yumuri. I could buy tons of music here, basta now! Next we visit Gran Teatro. Peeping into a classroom, we see some girls practicing flamenco. Others are doing sit-ups in the stairway, their feet stuck between the marble poles. The rooms with their high ceilings and shining floors reflect a rich past. If we'd known, we'd come to a performance in this theatre. Foreigners can buy a ticket for 5 dollars. We have a mojito in small bar on a corner near Floridita and Obispo. The place, quiet and unremarkable, seems to be lost between all the celebrities around. The music here is good and the mojito's delicious. Sitting at a small table on the pavement in the sun we enjoy the buzzing around us. Upon leaving we buy a two-peso-cigar for tonight. A last street pizza in Obispo and then we walk along the malecon back to our casa. The sea is smooth and some men are snorkeling with pistols, trying to catch fish. When the mochilas are packed, we go to Coppelia. Long rows on the pavement again, but this time we go to the dollar-section. A beautiful sundae delights our palate. At around 4 o'clock we return to Hotel Nacional and have a mojito on the garden terrace. A very, very good one. Cigar lit, eyes closed, our tanned skin glowing with the late afternoon sun. We enjoy the heavenly calm of the garden, reflecting on the past weeks in Cuba and realizing all the things we are going to miss back in Belgium. But before leaving, a last taste of salsa! The small living-room of the teacher serves as classroom and the whole apartment moves to the rhythm with us. We have to rush home to be in time for the taxi to the airport. Filled - but not satiated -with Cuban tastes, movements, and memories we board the plane. A large dose of alegria de vivir accompanies us.
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