Havana to Santa Clara (March 12)

We departed Havana at 8:15 for the trip to Santa Clara, a drive of about four hours.  Once outside of Havana we rolled along on a six lane highway with relatively little traffic. The countryside was a fairly boring continuum of fields, some orchards, small trees and mixed vegetation.

After two hours we reached a rest stop that was sort of a sad tourist trap.  It had a few interesting sights including syrup being extracted from sugar cane and a very large ox.  (Is there such a thing as a small ox?) 

Back on the bus and rolling down the road we periodically passed steel pipes with spikes welded to them. The guide told us these were intended to be dragged onto the road to keep planes from landing on it in the event of an invasion.   

We rolled into Santa Clara about 12:30. We disembarked the bus in the main square. We walked several blocks to the paladar Sabore Arte.

In the room adjoining where we would eat some sort of community meeting was taking place. The restrooms were on the far side and halfway up the length of that room. Getting to them and queuing up put us in the middle of the meeting. Curiously, it created no apparent disruption to the meeting, or at least not for the man who with passion was talking on and on and on. 

After a good buffet lunch, we walked back to the square and from there to the Provincial Art Gallery to see an after-school program called Compañía a la Sombra de un Ala that teaches children to incorporate traditional games into learning.

Just to be clear, the game involves the boy

jumping over, not stomping on, the girl.

We walked to a building on the square to hear the Piquete Melodias Antlanas band perform 19th Century Cuban music on 200-year-old instruments.  They were accompanied by Danzon dancers Alegrias de Vivir (sorry – only link I found to this name in Santa Clara was for a transvestite day event which given the dancers we saw was way, way off the mark).  

 

The dancers who were in their 70's, demonstrated the dance, then took hostages from our group to dance with them.  I was too quick in congratulating myself on escaping that fate.  Next, all five couples in our group were called to the floor for a dance competition judged by the Danzon dancers.  This time escape was not an option. The music was not what I would call catchy or pleasing, but Pam and I floated around the dance floor, bringing home the prize; well actually we tied for first place with another couple.  And yes, there were more than two couples.

As you may have concluded from the size of the mirror behind the band, the hall was large.  The building that housed it was impressive, but like many we had already seen, its grandeur had fallen on hard times.  For example, it did have toilets, but to flush one required pouring in a bucket of water.  As for the toilets themselves, lets just say their sight and smell tested one's need to use them. 

Our final visit of the day was to the Che Guevara Mausoleum.  It was an impressive site.  Cameras were not permitted in the crypt or museum.  The former was serene and peaceful.  The latter included a surprisingly large number of firearms in contrast to other types of memorabilia, but perhaps proportional to their place in his life.

As mentioned in my March 11 post, he is an icon of the Cuban revolution.  Whether he is revered by the Cuban people as an individual or a symbol I had no way of measuring.  I understand revering the icon, but less so the individual for several reasons, the most notable one being his role in the kangaroo court that summarily executed 500 Batista loyalists.  His fans seem to dismiss this with a shrug and a “Yes, but they were really bad people.”  It would seem he had a teflon image even though teflon had not yet been invented. 

We spent the night at the hotel called Los Caneyes which was comfortable.  Pam went for a swim and found the pool ladder had only one rung left.  I suspect it takes a great deal of time and effort to get a new pool ladder in Cuba.