recapitulating cuba: havana, day 2

in havana and in remedios, i had a second-floor room on the street --- it was wonderful to hear the street winding down in the wee hours and slowly re-awakening before dawn --- early morning was a good time to walk down to the bay or along the malecón

the jose marti memorial, completed in 1958 --- the view from the top, which i had in 2002, was a bit disappointing, since it was from behind glass in a cramped space

the obligatory selfie with che at  plaza de la revolución

work is almost complete in the restoration of plaza vieja --- work is underway on the last building, a magnificent art-nouveau building just off the northeast corner of the square

this was an interesting treatment of an important historic building of which practically nothing was left --- most of the tower is a reconstruction

joel, our cuban guide, was the best --- at one point early on, with platters of pork being distributed, he talked with the kitchen and momentarily a delicious cheese omelet appeared --- he is a connoisseur of fine art and had a lot to say about history and politics, of which we might have occasionally been inclined to argue the finer points, but didn't

we drove around the bay to regla, on the far side from havana vieja, a side of the city that i had not seen

the goal of the excursion was a visit to la iglesia de nuestra señora de regla, where the black virgin is venerated

pay phones, c. 1965, still a necessity

while in reglas, we visited the municipal museum, which was housed in a great nineteenth-century house with courtyard and still had a good portion of the original furnishings

unfortunately, we mostly had a crash course in santeria, with an overly long and tedious guided tour that joel translated as we went along ---- it all left me thinking about psychological disorders

we took the ferry back to the city from regla, on a boat that didn't even put a chain across the entrance to keep someone from flat walking off into the water while we were underway ---

josé martí stadium (c. 1940) and the park complex around it continue to deteriorate

virtually no toilet outside those at the hotels had toilet seats --- why, you might ask? easier to clean without one? too easy to steal? who knows? flush handles were occasionally missing as well, but necessity required some ingenious substitutes

great outdoor sculpture, old and new, all over the city

i was fairly amazed at the trendiness of the young cubans --- this mohawk was a little unusual, but the high-and-tight hipster hair was all over the place

too dark for images of the ceremonial cannon fire that occurs each evening at 9 pm at fortaleza de san carlos de la cabaña, but good people watching and great views of the city while we waited for a single cannon blast that made everyone squeal

recapitulating cuba: havana, day 1

one can take an enormous number of images when traveling with a digital camera --- i'm slowly culling through the over 2,000 that i took --- eventually i will post albums but, below the miami skyline here, are some of my favorites for the first day and evening in havana

a lot has happened in the twelve years since my first trip to cuba in 2002 --- some restoration had begun in habana vieja, but there was so terribly much to do that i wondered if it were even possible --- this time, the optimism was palpable --- much of the infrastructure remains in awful condition, but the streets in the old city were dug up for new water and sewer lines --- every doorway seemed to show the ruins of great architecture, but el capitolia was covered in scaffolding and buildings in el centro were being restored --- there seemed to be fewer old cars, but those godawful pink buses pulled by big rigs were gone from the streets --- it's a grimy but not trashy city, and the country remains desperately poor, but the people seem generally well-fed, clothed, and educated (with a higher literacy rate than the u.s. of a.!)

most marvelous of all to this urban pedestrian, one can walk the streets virtually anywhere at virtually any time of the day or night and not do so in fear of one's life from armed robbery --- although one might remain vigilant against breaking a leg or twisting an ankle from stepping off into a hole left uncovered in the middle of the sidewalk ---

kitty kitty kitty

we stayed at the hotel florida, on obispo street, built in 1835, adapted as the hotel marques de prado ameno in 1885 --- ceilings were as high as sixteen feet --- decent rooms, if you don't mind the occasional  leaking water pipe --- fortunately, i am not especially mold-sensitive

look closely at the yellow areas on this building --- they're little "witnesses" left intentionally to show earlier decoration that was either mostly lost, ruined, or they simply couldn't afford to replicate it --- it's one of the characteristics of cuba's approach to historic preservation that i love, and one that i wish we did more of in this country

dogs are ok

and with the tropical heat and humidity, all the cities come to life after dark --- a magnificent street life, not over-run with cars, which is good since there are clearly no catalytic converters and choking exhaust can occasionally diminish the pleasures of the paseo

the lobby of hotel florida

rebuilding midtown

spring street is turning into a canyon, trying to catch up with the peachtrees ---  the student apartment tower there at spring and sixth is close to topping out

a couple of blocks north, more student housing (privately developed) is rising across from plaza midtown and our friendly neighborhood publix

w. peachtree and peachtree place is all tore up, too, for another apartment tower and a whole bunch of retail ---

all of this in addition to ground broken for a tower at peachtree and fifth and imminent ground breakage for a 10-story hyper-luxury condo bldg at p'tree and seventh and a 38-story tower at peachtree and sixth

rock on, midtown!

"protect your magic"

kinda amped up tonight, after an urban design commission meeting followed by my giving a 1-1/2 hour [i.e., too long] lecture on historic structure reports at g.s.u. this evening --- walked down and back to make the fitbit happy and as always bits of entertainment along the way

i'm guessing this pile taking up parking on forsyth street is a product of the g.s.u. art school, but that is uncertain

why are the little twin temples to commerce on top of 191 all lavender colored tonight?

under foot

dog's world is complete --- and mine, too, purty much

the orchidicaea

this cattleya and the oncidium are my most reliable bloomers, putting on a show two or three times a year --- a nice greeting for my home-coming

habana hermosa

the cuba trip was a "people to people" tour, and we met a lot of great people, but these kids were my personal favorites --- they were coming in with a school group to see the maqueta of habana vieja as we were coming out and just wanted to ask us our names --- the little girl kissed my cheek and the little boy shook hands and just smiled and smiled and smiled ---

recapitulating cuba: the dogs

there were dogs all over cuba, and it was clear that, all things considered, they weren't in a bad way, at least in the cities where we were --- nearly all of them look well-fed and i only saw one mangy one --- they were perfectly at home in the pedestrian environment of havana vieja, with all its hordes of people, but few motorized vehicles --- and not in a skittish, skulky sort of way --- this little guy was the only one that got barky when i took his picture, but his family was sitting just inside so he was on guard duty

little laminated paper tags showed that a lot of them had been spayed or neutered by one of at least two programs, one run by the office of the city historian of havana --- 

these guys, with their little laminated dog tags, ducked into the restaurant to escape a flooding tropical downpour --- just hung out behind the flower pot at the front door until it was over --- i never saw a dog shooed away or being treated badly

being dogs, they will crap in the street, but it gets picked up quickly --- at least in habana vieja, the streets were swept regularly (by hand using home-made palm brooms)

mani . . . .

i only saw her once (this is not my video), but heard her excellent voice echoing in the streets on more than one occasion --- "mani, el manisero se va . . ." the peanuts were good, too

an excellent time away

a trip bracketed by double rainbows in miami (after a godawful tropical deluge that, along with a bridge out of commission over the miami river, brought downtown traffic to a standstill)

and spectacular anti-crepuscular rays over the malecon in habana at sun-up on our last day in cuba ---


more anon

temporarily incommunicado

after today, i may not be posting much for the next nine days --- off the grid, internets-wise, while traveling foreign lands

onward and upward

i totally forgot that yesterday was the first anniversary of my leaving the national park service --- i semi-pretended that i would keep working, but . . . . maybe i'm beginning to have a clue about what retirement is all about --- my situation is one that a lot of people my age would really envy and, as always in my life, i haven't looked back

fittingly, the stupid republican government shut-down last fall somewhat diminished my four-corners jaunt that commenced my retirement by closing all the national parks ---

a year later, it's off to cuba, or "cuber" as jfk used to say --- akin to the way jimmy and others say "nucular" --- the republicans probably can't mess that up