2 Days in Havana

Here's some more pictures of my two wonderful days and evening at the Tropicana in Havana.

Plaza Vieja - the old town square - across the street from where our ship was docked

Our car for the morning! 1953 hot pink Ford, with white leather interior. Perfect for Snort.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba - from the 1920's and still considered one of the nicest hotels in Havana, located along the Malecon, the seafront boulevard

The U.S Embassy building - can you hear me now???

The old Riviera hotel - built by mobsters in the 1950's. There's an abandoned casino out front (see below) that was the hub of action back in the day.

Entrance of Fusterlandia, the quirky neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, near Mira Mar (the swanky neighborhood), where local artist named Jose Fuster lives and "works". He considers himself a cross between Picasso and Gaudi. He sculpts and fashions his art by broken pieces of glass and creates murals by combining his painting and his ceramic glass work on neighborhood homes and fences.

I shouldn't be smiling while pointing to Che. He was an absolutely evil human being.

Some local craftspeople make art from old 33 vinyl records.

The local river that runs through Havana. Definitely not potable water!

City hospital

I just really loved this purple umbrella

A typical apartment building

Love these classic cars

Colorful neighborhoods. Color doesn't hide the decay that is visible everywhere.

I guess I have a thing for umbrellas........

Brian, Louise and I riding in the 53 Ford.......

Uh oh, policia! Looks just like our motorcycle cops at home!

Dominoes in the park

Inside the Old Square - Plaza Viejas

Catedral de San Cristobol - Cuban Baroque style architecture

Outdoor cafe in Plaza Viejas

School boys and girls

Inside a tiny restaurant, where our tour guide, Abel, cools off from the 95 degree temps outside.
Snort and I settle for an ice cold brewski. And a plate of Ropas Viejas, a local Cuban dish. Pulled beef with vegetables and a spicy sauce, served with rice and beans. Oh, and a mojito.

Chess, anyone?

I came upon this woman sewing in her front room, in old Havana. I asked for her permission to take her picture. In some ways, this picture pretty much sums up Havana for me.

Some new sculpures in "New Havana" neighborhoods.

This is the National Capitol building - "El Capitolio". Look familiar???

Famous bar "Floridita", where Hemingway used to like to hang out. Of course, any bar was a good place to hang out according to Ernie.

A local pharmacy

I'm pretty sure the above picture is the Teatro.

The one below is part of Parque Central. Oh look, another umbrella....... !!

Our "People to People" experience was a visit to a Senior Center located in old Havana. A group of 5 women did a rap song for us. They were sweet and full of vim and vigor! The center also provides counseling for victims of HIV. A small museum home is next door to the center.

These are pictures of the Colon Cemetery, established in 1876. It is the 3rd largest in the world. It holds 1 million graves and, due to potentially overcrowding, some people are buried here for only 3 years, before their remains are unearthed, cremated and placed in small boxes, housed in a storage building. If you can afford to pay for a plot, or already have a family plot here, you can "stay." But if you're poor, (aren't most Cubans poor???) the government will "do you a solid" and let you be buried here for the 3 years for free. After that period, it's either pay up or burn up. Classy.

The main entrance, with a giant archway partially modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

A Catholic church inside the cemetery, located pretty much in the center

This is a stunningly beautiful memorial to a group of firefighters who lost their lives in a fire in 1890. Atop the memorial statue is an angel carrying one of the firefighters to heaven.

The guide told us what the significance of the nun and the stork was, on one of the corners of the firefighters monument, but of course I forgot........ The monument also has the faces of the 28 firefighters carved along the bottom on each side of it.

This grave is also well known and it's story a bit unique. A young couple fell in love and married, despite their families' objections. In 1901, the woman gave birth to a baby and within minutes, both the mother and baby died. They were buried here, the baby at the foot of the mother. A number of years later, when another family member died, they opened the grave to add the new family member and found the baby was in the mother's arms. They believed a miracle had occurred. So now, people come from all over to pray at this grave and ask for their own miracles.