the helen update: cuba #day3

day 3:

now that we have booked the lovely guide yaniet for the week, we had a plan in motion and we started with a place I read about prior to arrival called “fusterlandia” and it was so special!! - a neighborhood covered in tiles of mosaic art which started as a small vision of the artist named jose fuster to create a facade at the entrance to his home. and the project took on a life of it’s own, infiltrating the town, fences, facades, walls, roofing and even street poles! a charming mosaic world of art that is clearly filled with love as symbolized by all the hearts. you can see places where the artist was touched by current events with an archway done in honor of princess diana, and another area devoted to american baseball. we were told by yaniet that the artist does not appear in public even thought his property is open to tourists to walk through and view his work. his sons managed the tourists with kindness, explaining over and over their father’s vision and the history of how the art evolved from a small project and continues to grow to this day. I climbed the stairs to an outdoor terrace area and lucky me!! - the artist himself was outside speaking to a few guests :) a sweet unassuming man who looks much younger than his 70 years.

after fusterlandia, we took the taxi to see the nearby port where the boats arrive (tom needed see where he would be pulling in when he sails to cuba one day). we enjoyed a really nice lunch at paladar cafe laurent which was just a gem of a restaurant, once again in a refurbished house located in a residential neighborhood. the location of restaurants continues to be a surprise every day, as it is always a not-well-marked entrance and one would never know there is a restaurant there at all! upon entry to the building, we went up the elevator decorated with old photos, and came out to a gorgeous open air patio decorated in flowing white curtains which looked like something out of a movie scene. just lovely and so was the meal.

we took a break after lunch to move hotels yet again, since the new one was only available for one night. our next stop was a private apartment or ‘casa’ which I had found prior to the trip. In a word: spectacular - a penthouse apartment with the most beautiful modern decor, gorgeous kitchen, 2 bedrooms, huge bathroom and lovely rooftop deck to relax in the sauna-like heat :) we did take time to go up there for about a half hour, which was as long as we could stand it in the oppressive heat and it was time to head to ernesto villanueva’s studio which I mentioned yesterday. he welcomed us into his gorgeous house that used to be his home, but has now been converted into a studio/gallery for his work. what a nice man - we really enjoyed the entire experience, speaking with him and his wife and learning about his work and daily life as an artist in cuba (when he is not creating art, he plays a lot of golf but there are only 2 courses on the entire island!). his work was displayed throughout the house and we had a special tour of the rooms where he works.

from there we went for the “dinner experience extraordinaire” at la guardia. we thought we were dropped by the taxi in the wrong place, finding ourselves in front of what appeared to be an abandoned building, but there were people milling around so we entered and found a beautiful spiral staircase which led to the most breathtaking outdoor dining area and the sunset lighting on the buildings of havana which made for the most unusual and picturesque view of the city #wow taking the spiral stairs up another level put us in a rooftop bar so chic it could be found in beverly hills. there was a white picture frame suspended above the seats which bordered a fantastic view of the city. just amazing. we made some fast friends at the next table who were originally from south africa but now live in naples florida, and they invited us to stay with them if we come south for a visit. too bad we left there after a great meal with awesome ambience only to end up at the tourist trap of the trip, the tropicana caberet show. advice to travelers, do not waste the time or money on this one. I don’t even want to take time to describe it. aside from the show itself, it took place in an open air theatre with no air ventilation at all so it was stifling and I can still feel the droplets of sweat that dripped down my back while I watched the show. the waiters are programmed to bring the 2 drinks that come with the ticket and after asking nicely for a bottle of water 3 times (in english and spanish), I finally had to literally beg before they brought me a one which just added to the torture. we left the shore early and sat on the curb waiting for our taxi driver to save us and bring back to paradise aka suite havana.

quick notes and other observations:

- smoking is 'a thing' here as you might imagine. everywhere and anywhere, the smell of cigars and/or cigarettes is pretty much continuously in your nostrils even indoors

- cats and dogs run rampant and are apparently pets that don’t live with their owners, but roam freely all day and just show up home for meals or eat off the floors in some of the restaurants

- the money is CUC’s (convertible pesos) and is pronounced ‘kooks’ which cracks me up every single time I have to ask ‘how many kooks?”

- in order to change money, there is always a long wait even if the line is not long. it’s all about ‘waiting’ in cuba, as yaniet told us

- everything is cash, no credit cards, not ATMs, no nada. cash, cash or cash.

- in the core of habana viejo (old havana) there are no cars allowed on many of the streets - the taxis pretty much know how far they can go and from there you have to walk the rest.

- there are pedicabs and goofy looking yellow fun cars that look like the tilt-a-while ride, and on the streets where the cars are allowed, it’s a chaotic scene with all these modes of transportation I just mentioned intertwining with each other and pedestrians with no street signs to speak of #onlyincuba

- the streets are incredibly old cobblestone and so uneven which makes walking in sandals tough, but the women all walk in sandals. after the first day in flip flops, I opted for rubber soled shoes so I could move around faster/easier, but on occasion I reverted to my flip flops and got used to it just like the cuban girls.

- in our travels around the city, we passed the us embassy which had an extraordinary amount of flag poles in front of it and yaniet explained that fidel ordered the flags poles to be put up in 2006 to keep it hidden from view during the bush administration as he (george bush) was using the embassy as a billboard to post pro-democracy messages!

- it’s hot, all the time, day and night. hot and humid, no relief. it’s constant sweating. did I mention it’s hot and humid??????