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