April 23, 2016 

This was a walking day all over Camaguey, hot and humid.  We went to several artists’ studios, one made all his art from goat leather, one painted pictures and we saw a ballet school for children. 

 The Artist with our local guide

Another artist and his work.  He made beautiful leather art. 

 

Only a few children are chose for this “elite” school.  The young girls live at the school.  These girls are “more equal”.  Oh, let’s explain that.  In Cuba, everyone has the same things so they consider themselves “equal”. That makes them feel better.  But when we asked about what was obviously a vicinity of “upper class” Cubans it was explained to us that they were “more equal”.  So by that standard, everyone is equal, some are just more equal. 

The ballet girls were so cute and a pleasure to meet.  We sang “You are my sunshine” to them. 

Then we went to an improvisational, vs classical ballet.  As we started up the stairs we were enveloped by a kind of fog, finding out in short order it wasn’t part of the ballet; it was the building being fumigated, yeeeech!  We have no idea what we were breathing but it is standard for all of Cuba so who knows.   I stood on the balcony and watched some amazing and beautiful dancing.

 

As we were leaving the building an elderly woman stopped to speak to me.  I have a kinship with older people.  They make my heart melt.  (They and toddlers!)  Luckily Rene was standing with us and translated.  Hermania wanted to know where I was from and was so pleased to meet me.  I asked her about living in Cuba and she said she likes it.  She told me that she doesn’t know how old she is, just that she was born in January!  I hugged her and it was so sweet.  If I could explain the best part of this trip it was meeting the people.  Ordinary, regular people just like us.  Hermania is in my heart forever.

Off to more dancers.  This time it was a troop of Flamenco dancers.  That was truly amazing but our feet still hurt and we only watched.  A great feature of this tour is when the performance is done we get to mingle with the artists and discuss their work, dance and lives.  Many of these people were given State paid training and as a result have to work for 2 years to pay for their education so many have full time jobs in the field they were educated in and have side jobs like dance, art, etc to make extra money.  They hope to be able to show the state that their art is worthwhile and can support them so that they can do their art full time instead of their regular state job. 

After all the dancing we took a crowded bicitaxi ride back to the bus then back to our hotel. 

 We went back to our hotel, freshened up a bit after all that humidity and walking.  Once again it was an amazing day in Cuba.  bc and gc

April 22, 2016  We left our bungalow and Santa Clara and began our journey to Camaguey.  (Pronounced Camma-way)

 

Another long drive on rough roads. 

Underpass art

Tobacco Wagon

“This is a battle of people’s ideas”

Very common transportation as two worlds meet.

Waiting for a ride, again.

In Cuba, we’re all equal…..

Then there’s the “more equal”…..

 After lunch…….

…and it wouldn’t be a meal with a  mojito!

But watch your step when you leave

Then we went to the Martha Jimenez art studio.  She is an amazing woman/artist.  I  bought one of her sewing machine art pieces (surprise!). The sewing machine ‘is special to Martha because it is the way women around the world make money.’  Also she remembers her mother sewing a lot when she was young.  Martha signed the back of my art piece.  I showed her my passport so she could write my name.  “Geneva Alberta y Carroll”  Martha doesn’t speak English however we had no problem communicating.  She is one of the most famous Cuban female artists.  Her work was been shown all over the world and she does get to travel with her artwork.  A rare treat for a Cuban artist.  Martha is a very special person. 

Sometimes you find an interesting artist, and if you are lucky you get to meet someone as special as Martha Jiminez!

The Plaza Hotel in Camaguey was very rustic.  Not certain how long the elevator had been out of service but by the looks of it possibly since “La Revolucion”, circa 1959.  We encountered a huge tropical rain storm on the way to dinner so had to take the bus.  But we did get a ride back from dinner on bicitaxis.  It was a lot of fun riding a “rattletrap” bike taxi back through the wet dark streets of Camaguey.  The bikers play a racing game with each other, grabbing on to be towed, slingshotting off another taxi, etc.  It was loads of fun.

Our hotel

Across the street from our hotel is the rail station

Just like everywhere else, traffic waits for the train to pass.

I'm sure the electricity is fool proof

No ma’am it all looks fine to me. I don’t know why your light doesn’t work, but I’m here with your water?!?!



 

And with that another wonderful day in Cuba ends!  bc and gc

April 21, 2016

We left Habana for a 5 hour drive to Santa Clara, Cuba.  We traveled about 2-3 hours on a “reasonably” constructed road the Russians had built.  In 1990 when the Russians pulled out of Cuba due to the fall of the Soviet Empire, the road construction stopped and no additional road was built. The road just ended.  It was odd.  We turned onto some regular streets to continue our journey to Santa Clara.  So needless to say the travel comfort lessened dramatically when we left the Russian highway; and that’s a big step down.   Here’s a thought that came to mind.  In the past 26 years Cuba has not been able to finish the road that is the only road between the west and east coasts of Cuba. 

“In Giron they fought for Socialism”      

Waiting for a ride

Once we got to Santa Clara we stopped at the Provincial Art Gallery.  Santa Clara is a pretty town with lots of artists.  A  dozen young children performed a skit for us in funny clown attire.  They were very good and so cute.  Everything was “mimed” as they did not say a word during their presentation.  Then members of the Piquete Melodias Antilanas band played 19^th century Cuban music on 200 year old instruments.  Six elderly Cubans taught us the “courting dance.”  We know how to use a fan to win a lover!  It was fun. 

Our last stop before getting to our hotel in Santa Clara was a stop at the Che Guevara memorial/mausoleum.  Cubans worship Che.  The memorial and museum were huge.  There was a special room lit by candles with very cold air conditioning, which most Cubans do not have.  This room held Che’s remains and those of other fighters that were sent from Bolivia back to Cuba.  There were large pictures of Fidel and Hugo Chavez.  There was another larger room with other artifacts like clothes, guns, letters and pictures.  Did you know that Che was a doctor?  Che Guevara was not a nice person.  After the 1959 revolution Fidel and Che had a friendly parting of the ways.  There’s only room for one leader.  Fidel suggested Che go to Bolivia and help with a revolution there and after that Che went to Angola to participate in their revolution.   I guess one person’s hero is another person’s villain. 

Che Guevara

“Ever Onward Toward Victory”

Everywhere you went around the monument everything was “bigger than life” and always above you.

Our hotel in Santa Clara was actually a bungalow in a very tropical area, bugs and all.  The hotel was a bit rustic but rather fun.  Our bungalow had a thatched roof with lots of bugs.  It rained as it is very tropical in Santa Clara.  We had a reasonably good buffet dinner, though I had spaghetti with red sauce and cucumbers being tired of rice, beans, pork and chicken, and the mojitos were good too!



See you tomorrow!  bc and gc