Havana remains magnificent

HAVANA: Over a half-century of Marxist rule has given Havana a distinctive look and feel among her Caribbean neighbors. Boxy American shark-finned sedans from pre-revolutionary Cuba share paved roads with Soviet-era Ladas, bicycle taxis, modern tour buses and European imports. Crumbling colonial architecture, identical in style to Cairo’s wust el-balad district (downtown) remain standing—some buildings meticulously maintained and painted in bright pastels, others have their pillars and façades eaten away by salt water breezes.
There are Cubans standing in lines, seemingly all day, and the shelves in local stores appear to offer little more than essentials and rum. And while it seems rather odd that everyone from barbers to baseball players are paid by the government in the same way as the armed forces, I never saw large numbers of homeless people roaming the streets in Havana.
Cubans are a mélange of Spanish colonialists, black African plantation slaves and a pre-Columbian culture of Amerindians called Tiano. There seems no overt racial tensions to the casual observer. People in the cafés and bars of Havana are literate, educated and genuinely friendly to visitors.
Men, women, boys and girls wend the winding streets, parks and alleys of Cuba’s capital with love in their eyes and on their lips, evoking sensual attitudes from Henry Miller’s Paris. A longing flirtatious gaze and a gentle anonymous touch could be considered compliments here. Salsa music, pouring out of widows, provides an easy soundtrack for passing sun-bleached humid days in the cafés and restaurants of downtown Havana, where rum is sold by the glass from street cart vendors.
Hemingway, who lived here for two decades at the height of his celebrity and literary success, has become a posthumous caricature of himself, with guided tours of his residence—now, the Museo Hemingway. And the bars where Hemingway drank, wrote and fought are now stops for tour buses, where bronze statues of Papa Hemingway, or ‘Ernesto’ as the Cubans still call him, are seated at the bar for a photo-op with a mojito or daiquiri. The hotel room in which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the locale described in his tour de force, The Old Man and the Sea, are also promoted as tourist attractions. Hemingway’s love for, celebration of, and tenure in Cuba has not gone unnoticed here.
Local art galleries pose a penetrating question for visitors—are the wood carvings sold in the Khartoum airport the sort of items that local Sudanese use to decorate their salons and parlors, or are they sold as representations of indigenous art to tourists? The lively subjects of festively colored oils and acrylics sold in the markets and galleries of Havana are certainly the product of talent and technique, and they often portray urban life in Havana with heavy influence drawn from Picasso’s Cubist period. Some of these paintings were indeed visible inside the houses of Cubans, alongside Christian ceramic iconography. If looking for souvenirs more intimate than cigars and Che Guevara t-shirts, an export permit is required to take larger pieces of original art out of the country, though, most galleries and markets will arrange for this on your behalf. Be sure to ask.
The baseball here is first class, and though many Cubans leave home to play in the high-salaried American leagues, other players have chosen to remain in Cuba out of loyalty. The Latinoamericano stadium downtown Havana holds almost 60,000 spirited fans, and games are frequently sold out. Throughout the city, entranced fans gather around televisions and radios in cafés and plazas, enthusiastically discussing the game at hand.
Boxing, Cuba’s other national sport, is also considered world class among contenders and spectators. The Rafael Trejo boxing gym in Old Havana has daily training sessions and regularly-held competitions. Young boys—some barefoot, others in tattered shoes—fight in the tropical mid-day heat, while their coaches shout words of encouragement and strategy. Some of these fighters will compete for Olympic glory.
Boxing gear at that gym was sparse, with the boys exchanging headgear, gloves and mouthpieces as they left the ring. Donations of used equipment are certainly appreciated, and may even allow the generous visitor a lesson from the head coach. Sparring is not generally recommended for visitors, as even entry-level Cuban boxers are fierce contenders with tremendous ability.
But there is much more to Cuba than boxing gyms, old cars and cafés. There are certainly resorts, immaculate beaches, guided tours and tramping expeditions available. Scuba diving and deep sea fishing are also on hand for the active tourist. All in all, a most charming destination.
**Willows is a contributing writer to the Egyptian Gazette. He attended the American University in Cairo and now lives in Toronto.
BM