recapitulating cuba: havana a santa clara

a long day, much of it in a bus, but the group was small (11) and the bus comfortable --- we had the same bus, chinese-made, and an excellent driver, alexander, the entire week ---even the long drives outside of havana were time well spent for what could be seen of the countryside

there was very little traffic on el carratera central de cuba, the semi-limited-access, east-west highway that runs the center of the island --- huge fields of sugar cane, interspersed with orchards of mango, guava, and banana --- 

there were almost as many horse-drawn carts as cars it seemed --- in cuba, horses remain working animals

a busload of tourists (german or turkish we think) disembarked at the single, state-owned service station/tourist trap between havana and santa clara and a great many of them ordered piña coladas at 10 in the morning --- we felt like pikers sipping on our expresso

che guevara (1928-1967) and other patriots of the 1959 revolution are buried and memorialized at santa clara, site of the final decisive battles with batista's forces in december 1958

there are still bullet holes all over the front of this old office building, and joel pointed out an old man on the streets whom he said fought with che at santa clara ---

to memoralize the revolution, the cubans appear to have a penchant for large barren plazas --- but the national tree, the royal palm, makes any scene look good

the main room at icap house in santa clara --- the best of mid-century modern residential architecture

lunch at naturarte, which was all about recycled materials --- all sorts of native birds and plants --- very much a work in progress

we were somewhat taken aback by the disturbingly large plates of food that we were served ---