Hello from Cuba (13) - Exploring Downtown Havana

Hotel Habana Libre, Thursday, April 14, 2005, 3:02 pmThe last few days I have spent quite a bit of time walkingaround downtown Havana - or Habana Vieja, as they say aroundhere. It is an extremely fascinating place and one of the mostarchitecturally consistent colonial city centres in the world.A few days ago, my local friend Pedro and I went to explore theCapitolio, which is a beautiful building, ironically veryreminiscent of the Capitol in Washington. Built between 1926 and1929 as the former seat of the Cuban government, itsneoclassical exterior is complemented by an absolutelyastounding Roman interior with all sorts of meetings rooms, alibrary, a souvenir shop and an Internet cafe. In the frontentrance hall there is a huge statue that greets you uponentering, truly an astounding building.The park outside the Capitolio is one of my favourite places,despite the missing seats and backrests of the benches.Yesterday I also had a chance to visit the Partagas TobaccoCompany, a cigar factory in existence since 1845. I took the $10tour and we saw the tobacco rolling school where students learncigar production for 90 days. Later we moved upstairs to thearea where the real cigars are made. Workers have quotas ofbetween 80 and 200 cigars a day (some of which miraculously findtheir way into the black market...) and the workers sit at oldwooden work stations and manually roll the tobacco, while atother work stations the exterior leaf and later the label andthe boxes are added. I really wanted to see a tobacco factorysince tobacco still remains a key industry in Cuba to this day.A few days ago, my local friend Pedro and I went to explore theCapitolio, which is a beautiful building, ironically veryreminiscent of the Capitol in Washington. Built between 1926 and1929 as the former seat of the Cuban government, itsneoclassical exterior is complemented by an absolutelyastounding Roman interior with all sorts of meetings rooms, alibrary, a souvenir shop and an Internet cafe. In the frontentrance hall there is a huge statue that greets you uponentering, truly an astounding building.The park outside the Capitolio is one of my favourite places,despite the missing seats and backrests of the benches.Yesterday I also had a chance to visit the Partagas TobaccoCompany, a cigar factory in existence since 1845. I took the $10tour and we saw the tobacco rolling school where students learncigar production for 90 days. Later we moved upstairs to thearea where the real cigars are made. Workers have quotas ofbetween 80 and 200 cigars a day (some of which miraculously findtheir way into the black market...) and the workers sit at oldwooden work stations ...

...and manually roll the tobacco, while atother work stations the exterior leaf and later the label andthe boxes are added. I really wanted to see a tobacco factorysince tobacco still remains a key industry in Cuba to this day.Due to its architectural beauty, and not surprisingly, Havanahas been declared a Human Heritage Site by the UNESCO and it isdefinitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited,despite the physical decay that is visible in so many parts ofthe city.Along these lines, I had a chance to see residential areas inHabana Vieja, where people live in extremely cramped conditionsin crumbling houses, with the occasional house that has alreadycollapsed in between others. Everybody's life unfolds in thestreet, you see children, couples, old people, dogs and cats atall hours of the day, people generally just sit around and chat,and the children play street versions of "la pelota", which isbaseball, the national sport. This street life is somethingtruly different from a nordic city like Toronto where there areonly a few areas where there is significant pedestrian traffic.And people generally don't sit around in front of their housesor apartments to chat in the m iddle of the night.I also had a chance to see Havana's train station, of courseabsolutely packed with people, the port area and some ratherderelict industrial areas with crumbling buildings. The lack ofmoney is apparent everywhere.On the other hand I have also had a chance to sample some of thebeauty that this city has to offer. I have travelled a fair bit,particularly to historic southern places in Europe such asParis, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, etc. But in my opinion Havanais in a category by itself. The colonial architecture downtownis so consistent, with almost no new buildings interrupting thevisual impression.Beside the Capitolio is the Teatro Nacional, which is just nextto the famous Hotel Inglaterra and in front is the ParqueCentral, where men of all ages get together to discuss newsrelated to their national sport. 2 days ago was the final of theplayoffs between Havana Campo (if I am correct) and Santiago deCuba, the second most important city in the country. Obviously ahuge deal in this country, and Havana ended up losing 2 to 1,but despite the loss a great opportunity for the locals to party.Walking down the famous pedestrian street Calle Obispo, whichhas numerous expensive stores for tourists, you approach thereally old historic part of Habana Vieja, places such as thePlaza de la Catedral (where there was a mass for Pope John PaulII about a week ago), Plaza Vieja and, my favourite place: Plazade Armas. This square dates back to the earl...

...ly 1500s, and housesthe centuries old former city administration office as well asseveral other Spanish colonial buildings that surround abeautiful park with a statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, thefounder of the Cuban homeland.Yesterday I also had a chance to explore a market that is put upevery Wednesday to Saturday just off the Malecon, near the Plazade Armas, where they sell all sorts of trinkets and merchandisefor tourists. I had a chance to pick up a few little souvenirsfor my husband and my colleagues and then sat down at a littleoutdoor cafe where there was a young Cuban band playingtraditional old-fashioned Cuban music. The really interestingthing was an organ that they were playing that must date back tothe 1920s, accompanied by all sorts of Cuban percussion. Ireally love Cuban music, but I haven't yet had a chance tolisten to it a lot. My friend and I wanted to go and visit the"Casa de la Musica" yesterday where they play live music at areasonable price, but for some reason it was closed, somethingnot unusual around here.I also had a chance to walk down to "Prado", a long avenue witha pedestrian walkway with trees on both sides, and two lines oftraffic on both sides of the pedestrian area, somewhatreminiscent of the Ramblas in Barcelona. Very close to the Pradois the Museo de la Revolucion which used to be the palace of thelast Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista, prior to the Revolution.Fidel Castro's yacht, the "Granma"which he used to cross overfrom Mexico with his rebellious companions, is displayed in aglass-encased building just behind the palace-like Museo de laRevolucion, and surrounded by various tanks and militaryvehicles dating back to revolutionary combat. The Revolution isdefinitely present whereever you go.I think I have seen most of the important sights of the city,excluding the Plaza de la Revolucion, which houses the ComiteCentral and the political apparatus of the Cuban government. Istill have to make a little excursion to that area and also takea photo or two of the memorial of Che Guevara, who still appearsto be a very revered individual around here, often admittedlymore so than Fidel Castro.2 weeks is a pretty long time to spend in a city and due to thefact that I have completely immersed myself in the culture, Ithink I have a pretty good feel for La Habana and I am slowlybut surely mentally getting ready to go home. It's been great,but I am also happy to get back home to see my husband, myfriends, to have my normal life back. There are only 2 and ahalf days left now for my Cuban experiment and there are a fewmore places to see, but I am also looking forward to coming backhome to Toronto.