Saturday, October 20, 2018

Matanzas, Cuba—October 2018---Part 3


The next stop was Matanzas where we have a picture of two bureaucrats: Lolo’s sculpture called “el Burocrato and me, a retired Federal personnel manager.  Explanation to follow below.


We again headed east toward Matanzas where we would stop for lunch and a tour of the Paladar Il Divino.  We were met there by Mauricio and Evelyn, our Santeria guide in Havana.  We all had a great farm-to-garden experience at this huge home on the outskirts of Havana. Especially the honey-soaked cake. 


Our guide was granddaughter of the founders, a Cuban and Italian, of this place where they converted some undesirable swampland into a thriving organic farm that also provides seniors and disabled with a place to gather, do crafts, and have free lunches. 



This fellow wanted everyone to take his picture so I obliged.


Our guide is telling us that the bees from these hives are non-stinging.  None of us wanted to test that theory though.



We again stopped for a short break at this mirador of the ocean and this large bridge.  I was able to get a picture of a vintage car crossing it.  Notice how few cars there are on this 4 lane highway.  On some portions of this 4 lane highway, we saw more horse-driven vehicles than cars or trucks.   Sized for growth I guess. 



Most of us also enjoyed their specialty drink here of a pina colada in a pineapple.


A short time later we pulled into Matanzas, considered the “Athens of Cuba” for its literary and artistic heritage.  After settling into our two casa particulars, our guide, Evelyn took us on a walking tour of the heart of the city.   

Here are pictures of our casa particulars in Matanzas. We would be having breakfast at the main one the Casa Manzaneda. Its owners and hosts Danae and Felix provided us with a warm welcome and guided some of us to the other casa particular where I and others would be staying.





We began walking down to the river area where they were busy putting in a cobbled promenade with antique street lights.  Many of the buildings there were undergoing major facelifts and contained art galleries and artists' studios.


We were invited into Lolo’s studio which was primarily a metal sculpture studio, along with ceramics and painting.  Much of Lolo’s art was on display.  

My particular favorite was “El  Burocrato” which featured a fellow comprised of several partially opened file cabinet drawers while standing on point on a balancing bar.  As a retired Federal bureaucrat of 35 years as a personnel manager, this work really spoke to me by displaying the immense files of paperwork and documentation requirements along with the delicate balancing act bureaucrats must achieve to survive the swings of partisan politics.




You can see the other sculptures call up different human conditions as well.








Lolo’s studio and the gallery were open to other artists as well.  I did a double-take when I saw this portrait because I had just seen what I thought was the woman who posed for this picture.  I asked her and it turned out that it was her self-portrait.  
 
Most of the ceramics on the wall and on shelves were for sale and were done by artists other than Lolo.



We continued on and were amazed to see how much revitalization work was taking place in painting the old buildings and repacking another walking street.  New paint on city buildings was a first for us in our Cuba Adventure—-except for El Cowboy’s pink palace back in Vinales.
The walking street was filled with art galleries as well and many of them were being remodeled apparently for some upcoming major anniversary.

Around sunset, we stopped for dinner at the San Severino restaurant which overlooked the La Libertad Plaza where workers were still installing new walkway cobbles in preparation for the big anniversary.

As we settled in for dinner we heard the sounds of thousands of birds flocking to the trees surrounding the plaza.  It was intense, just like the movie, “Birds” except they weren’t crashing into the doors and windows of the restaurant.


A cassoulet dish along with squash at the San Severino Restaurant.


The following day Evelyn would take us to learn more about Santeria from a priest named, Babalawo Oscar Rodriguez Pedrosa.  He spent quite a bit of time educating us on the Cabildo Arara branch of Santeria which comes out of Benin rather than the Yoruba tribal groups.   



Like many religions they have and honor spirits similar to many of the Catholic saints.  Worshippers call them using bells, dance and drums, and singing.  Some of them include spirits of humanity; motherhood—linked to the oceans and moon; female warrior—linked to wind, storm, and magic; love, beauty, and sex-linked to water; metal and tools—linked to war; teacher or prophet; and disease and sickness and money to poor.
 
Unfortunately, when we arrived that morning, the Babalawo informed us that the drummers, dancers, and singers would not be with us for they had worn themselves in the ceremony the night before.  The picture on the wall is one of the earlier priestesses who the current Babalawo Oscar learned from to call up the spirits for guidance and assistance for those to who he ministers.


Just before we left, Evelyn made an offering and sought out guidance at the Cabildo Arara shrine.


We visited the Museo Farmaceutico which was established in 1882 by the Triplett family and was the first of its type in Latin America. Thousands and thousands of compounds along with medical equipment and vats for cooking up compounds as well.  We had seen another like this in Havana, but this was much bigger and had a greater variety of stuff.





Our lunch was inside the 1902 built  Hotel Velazco in an elegant wood-paneled dining area just behind the long mahogany bar with tiled floors sprinkled with comfortable lounging chairs throughout.





Before leaving Matanzas, we drove up to the hilltop mirador to look at the city and surrounding areas spread below.  




This concludes my blog entries on my Cuba Adventures with www.crookedtrails.org.  If you found this kind of adventure to your liking, check out Crooked Trails and where else they go spreading their message of sustainable and responsible tourism.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  


If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Vinales, Cuba Adventures—October 2018--Part 2


Our minivan would take us about 100 miles west of Havana to the UNESCO World Heritage site with its rich farmlands that grow a variety of crops, especially tobacco and coffee.  Our highlight of this visit would be a horseback ride out to the tobacco farmers drying shed.



In between torrential rainstorms on our way, we stopped at San Diego de Los Banos for our visit to an old thermal bath, spa, and recuperation center.  Our guide indicated that the Cuban government provides therapeutic services for all Cubans free of charge.


Following our visit to the Spa, we crossed town to the nearby Tobacco factory where we saw scores of women rolling the inner part of the cigars as well as where they received,  aged, and sorted the tobacco leaves.  

They come into the factory in large bundles and then are opened.  The leaves are then spread out and then set up so the tobacco leaves reach the correct humidity so that the leaves are pliable for the women to size and then roll.





We then visited, Pedro, who made finishing cigars with the final “capo” leaf.  We then all tried his creations with mixed results.







We then made our way to visit and have lunch at the artist, Miguel Antonio Remedios whose art studio was in La Guira National Park  Part of his mission is to have a community space to teach art classes and folkloric music to kids.  Judy is posing with the portrait she bought from him.  My favorite picture is the one with the ballerina with the huge shoes on point. 





We continued on to our destination of Vinales where our host, Dunia, would greet us and arrange for our accommodations at her place and two other casa particulars.  On the way, we saw numerous farmers' fields of vegetables and tobacco being plowed by pairs of oxen.  

It had just stopped raining as we got out of our minivan taxi.  Erik, Dan, and I were staying at El Cowboy’s casa particular.  Our host, El Cowboy, also named Carlos greeted us with some welcomed Cervezas as he showed us to our rooms in a very, very pink home.






The horseback ride through all of the farms to the tobacco barn was beautiful, especially since yesterday’s rains had refreshened everything, but made the going a bit muddy.  

We were first given an explanation of how the farmers harvested the tobacco crops and then dried them out.  The farmers are allowed to keep 10% of the tobacco harvest and are allowed to keep the best for themselves as well as the vegetables they grow.




Some of us bought the bunches of local cigars with a special formula of lemons, herbs, and other spices infused into the cigars which were wrapped with a palm leaf.


Coffee plantation presentation



For a dinner at Dunia’s, we got to learn and participate in cooking the dinner meal during a big thundershower that shook the home.  We tasted two types of root vegetables along with marinaded chicken and pork.  

Other servings were the Moor and Christian—black beans and rice, and midwestern style over-cooked beans.  We lost power a few times before dinner was finished because of a peal of violent thunder and lightning storm. 


On another evening when we tried the local restaurant, we discovered a local nightclub where they not only played dance music—some of us may have even braved the dance floor to try out our new samba dance moves, but then they started a dance performance.  It too was interrupted for about 10 minutes by a power outage.  The dancing then resumed as we left for our rooms for the night.  




In the morning we drove to a beautiful white sand beach called Cayo Jutias about 65 km northwest of Vinales on the Gulf of Mexico.  Dunia and her husband, Luis, would meet us at a nearby cove of trees for a BBQ.   

Apparently, the Cuban government does not want the locals to use the tourist facilities we had which included a bathhouse, restaurants, beach chairs and umbrellas, and boats that would take you snorkeling to the nearby sea star beach, or diving at other sites.







It was then on to Matanzas, a budding artist enclave where we learned they were rehabbing the waterfront walks and walking streets filled with artists' workshops and galleries.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  


If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.