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!