Photo Tour of Cuba: Santa Clara and Bay of Pigs

(This is the fifth in a series about a first visit to Cuba and US / Cuban relations.
It begins with "Say My Name:  Cuba!"

It's the second page of photos, after "A Quick Photo Tour of Cuba")

I chose one other destination in Cuba after (of course) Havana.  After some poking around in guidebooks, I settled on Santa Clara, which was rumored to be more progressive about challenging the limits of Cuban socialism.  It has a very large university, which I planned to visit to further discuss changing US/Cuba relations, hope for the future ... and Toastmasters.

Santa Clara has a very different, rustic and quiet feel.   Tranquilo.   But it's also THE milestone in the 1958 revolution, as the first big conquest of Comandante Che (Guevara), which was considered to establish the momentum towards victory for the Castro-led socialist revolution.

This is not an oddity for tourists.   Horse and wagon are one of the mainstays
of public transportation through Santa Clara's narrow streets.

The best meal I ate in Cuba:   Sra. Luisa's lechon asado (roast pig),with peppers and onions.
The mango was perfectly ripe and very tasty.  The simple, thin beer is merely ok, but 
we were still drinking my 7-year-old Santiago rum, which had proved a great conversation 
starter.  Couldn't eat it all of course, but tasty as it was I put a pretty good dent in it. 

Because of the significance of his achievements here,
Santa Clara hosts the monument to Ché Guevara, and
the mausoleum holding his remains after he was
executed in Bolivia in 1968 

Surrounding Che's mausoleum are the remains of many of the soldiers
who fought under his command, and died during the struggle or any
time thereafter.  The most recent grave was only a year old.  The spot
inspires some calm awe, a bit like the Vietnam War memorial in DC.

Keepers of the Casa ... Hostal Ebenezer hostess
Luisa Fente and her husband Miguel. 

On the highway to Santa Clara, we passed a turn-off for "Playa Giron", which I had heard was the centerpoint of the Bay of Pigs invasion.  I worked a half-day side tour into my return trip to Havana.

Beautiful Bahia de los Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), site of an invasion a long time
ago, and some of the best diving and fishing in the world, right now.

Honestly, I've always felt that if the enemy thinks of you as Capitalist Pigs, is it not inauspicious to attempt a counter-revolutionary invasion at a place named Bay of Pigs?   But of course I'm not a military strategist.  Considering the results, neither were the leaders of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

A giant billboard greets museum visitors.   "Giron: The First Great Defeat of Yankee Imperialism in
Latin America". Must be Red Sox fans.  No, seriously ... this is the kind of strident Cold War 
propaganda that seems almost quaint now, it's so far out of mind for most (not all) Americans.  
I have to think signs like this, themselves museum pieces, are endangered species in the new era 
of detente and outreach.  I wonder if this billboard will still be there in 2 years. Personally ... and 
I don't expect this to be majority opinion in the US ... I enjoy these things as living vestiges of a 
bygone era. It's in bad taste:   imagine if we had a WWII museum with a huge sign out front 
bragging about how we'd kicked Germany's butt?   But that itself adds to the naivetë.

Airplanes ... Cool!   World War II-era Sea Fury attack aircraft,

used by the defending military to attack invasion vessels.

"The Little White Shoes" ... monument to the innocent victims killed in the attack.

This is where I was brought to watch the museum film.  All alone at mid-day,
except for the bust of Lenin staring out at me, and the very nice, somewhat 
sheepish museum staff members watching my reactions.  The film itself rattled 
to life: another cold-war time capsule.  Probably made in 1962.  Actually quite 
compelling as an example of the style of overblown, heroic war documentaries, 
analogous to those shown in the US during World War II.  Black-and-white, and 
shown on that little screen.  I felt privileged to have seen it:  another artifact of a 
bygone era I would be surprised to see 2 years from now.

Presented as evidence of the moral injustice of the Bay of Pigs invasion, original telegrams
from heads of state expressing outrage, and support for the Cuban people and Castro regime.  
Clearly the Bay of Pigs did much to cement Castro's hold on power in Cuba.  It was proof
that authoritarian rule was necessary to face very real and evident dangers.
The right wing in the US play into the hands of autocrats  ... does that sound familiar?

Socialist crab ready to bravely fight Yanqui Imperialismo.
Watch your toes, Yanqui!

A Quick Photo Tour of Cuba

(This is the fourth in a series about a first visit to Cuba and US / Cuban relations.
It begins with "Say My Name:  Cuba!")

Although my first trip to Cuba was just a week long, it was very rich visually and as food for thought. It's the latter that has me blogging.  But the former made for some pretty nice eye candy and snapshots of life right now in Cuba.

I want to give you a big helping of that eye candy right now, so that I can launch this series with some halfway entertaining content.   I intend to write about some of the topics behind these photos.

I hope you enjoy them!

This post has photos from Havana.  The next post has photos from other parts of the country.

By the way, all my photos were shot on my iPhone 6, which was useless for anything else in Cuba ... no signal of course.   A worry throughout the trip was that my phone would get lost, and with it these photos which anchor my memories.  So I had to divert some time into dealing with Cuba's cumbersome, expensive, limited and slow online connectivity options, in order to push my photos up to relative safety in the Cloud.    Well, not THIS cloud ...

My first glimpse of Cuba, inbound from Mexico City

The beautiful red soil of Cuba, which grows sugar and tobacco so well.

An apartment building in Vedado, a part of Havana.  Hotel Presidente in the background right.

Yes, they're here, as we've all heard ... old American cars from pre-revolutionary times
(their revolution, not ours, yea?), in various states of restoration from good ...

... to great.

Couldn't wait too long for a first mojito.   Many to follow.
But frankly, we get better mojitos in San Francisco.

Art is everywhere.

Really ... everywhere!

... and sometimes on a grand scale.

Restaurant food?  To be honest, mediocre at best.
But this cheese soup from El Templete Restaurant was quite good.

Clean, adequate bathroom in Hotel Presidente.  Hot water ... not so much.
But that's no inconvenience in late May.

I enjoyed the Hotel Presidente, though it's not one of the most well-known ...

... such as the Hotel Nacional.  As you would expect, much pricier, but very beautiful.

Inside perhaps the most exclusive hotel ... Hotel Parque Central.

The very best of the restored cars are parked outside Hotel Parque Central.
Cars and drivers work hard as super-premium tourist taxis for expensive little rolls around Havana.

The famous Malecón, the highway which borders the sea.

On the seawall of the Malecón

... which closes on weekends to support strolls by thousands.

... who have come to see free art and a beautiful sunset.

La Plaza Vieja at night, in Old Havana.

A statue of Junípero Serra, the priest committed to converting the heathens.
I'm sure many indigenous people wish the pleasure had been indefinitely postponed.

Large banners celebrate socialism and the revolution, here and there.  

In the Museo de la Revolución ...

... you are greeted by a huge and well-done drawing of Fidel, looking thoughtful.

... and the very next thing is Rincón de los Cretinos:  The Corner of the Cretins.   For better or worse,
this strident art-for-politics might fade away as Cuba/US relations improve and more Americans visit.
But even now, you'll never see President Obama on this wall.

It seems the curators don't think highly of Republican American Presidents.

Can't help but have mixed feelings about this one.
George W. a Nazi?    Really?
But I am amused by the Spanish book upside down.

Bullets flew in 1958, leaving a lasting impression.

Two stories high ... a flag with the same colors and themes as the United States.
Speaks to a historical bond. The point of the revolution was to make
sure that bond did not become bondage. It succeeded in that much.

Museo de la Revolución did show off some older pleasures.  Vintage cigars.

But most compelling were the Revolutionary momentos.  
That beret and the rifle in the foreground are Ché Guevara's.

And here come El Comandante Ché and El Capitan Cienfuegos now, ready to take Santa Clara.

In the store of the Museo de la Revolution, I convened an
impromptu Toastmasters meeting.   These are two of the participants,
eager to hear more about the US.

People are friendly, talkative, eager to help ... and grateful for a lunch
they could not remotely afford.   When I gave Yuri lunch and $10 for guiding
me around Old Habana, he nearly cried out of gratitude, and kissed my cheek.   
I found that very moving and a little distressing.  $10.

Classic and common Central Havana architecture.   Dilapidated ... but not swept 
away by modernization.  Shall we say ... potential as a fixer-upper?

It's breezy along the Malecón, and Yamilet had a Marilyn Monroe moment there.

... but this musician on the Malecón looked
better in it than I did, so there went the hat.
I did get to play the guitar and sing them a
Credence song.  They could barely feign interest.

It's easy to make friends in Cuba, but hard to hold on to your hat.   I owned the hat for about 6 hours...

Nice chat over Cuba Libres. They said they were musicians,
 but I'm not sure they were 100% truthful about that.  

Dilapidation and restoration are side-by-side.

After the tour and tasting at the Havana Club showroom.

In Los Dos Hermanos ... the best Mojito that I had anywhere.  These guys, fishermen out of Texas, 
came over on their boat for a marlin tournament.  I hope they used the loud-mouthed, foul Brit (in the green shirt)
for bait.  Here he's about to tell the lead singer of the small band just what he thinks of a piece of her anatomy.   
Jokingly, I explained to the head waiter that he wasn't an American ... so Cuba need not fear the thaw in 
relations. That private joke turned the headwaiter and I into buddies.

Indifference, cynicism (frequently), despair (occasionally), public drunkenness (rarely)
... but not homelessness or starvation.

      La Bodeguita Del Medio.   It's the bar Hemingway made famous, by favoring it for mojitos.

My visit to University of Habana for another Toastmasters exhibition.

Cohiba Piramides.   Authentic?   Not authentic?  The only way to be sure is to buy them from 
a state store ... where they will not be cheap.   There, one Cohiba could cost $15. But they're more expensive 
in Europe, unobtainable in the US,  and certainly worth the money in terms of quality and enjoyment.

My last night in Cuba, I stay at the lovely Casa Particular 
of Ivón and Freddy in Vedado, a part of Havana.  The perky little 
dog is named "Favela" after Cuban painter Roberto Fabelo.

Ché's visage is impressive and artistic on the side of a government ministry building.

I don't know the details, but the indignation might be tempered by the fact that the men were acknowledged to be Cuban agents.  They had all been released by the time I took the photo, as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Cuba ...
part of the general detente that made this trip legal.        Enough with agents and intrigue.   Let it fade into the past.

Just a grainy snapshot from the jetway, but it represents something
significant ... American Airlines jet taking off from Havana, no doubt 
returning to Miami.    Florida.   USA. Direct.  Will wonders never cease?

These photos are all from Havana, before and after a trip to Santa Clara and (does this ring a bell?) Bay of Pigs. Next Post.