Cuba diaries: Mint green houses

It's not everywhere that you can get away with painting your house mint green and have it work.  The colors in Cuba are amazing - and it's the clothes as well as the buildings.  After 20 years in Seattle and seeing every possible shade of "forest green" it's quite eye-popping to see pinks, yellows, greens, bright blues, and every other color in a Skittles bag.  Many of the buildings are just sandstone, but then there's bunches painted Easter-egg colors with laundry on the line and brightly-colored cars out front.  It's really quite cool.

Cuba sketchbook

Online on Issuu: http://issuu.com/margplum/docs/cubasketchbook  Some painting done on the plane, which is always a challenge since the air pressure changes do odd things to your waterbrush, sometimes pushing the water out unexpectedly and sometimes sucking it dry.

Cuba diaries: Harry Potter apothecary

On the way to Varadero, we stopped at the Harry Potter apothecary.  OK, it wasn't really called that, but that's sure what it felt like!

Cuba Diaries: Umbrellas and cigar boxes

The day after visiting the foundation, we paid a visit to the home/studio/gallery of a local artist.  I like his art and I LOVED his house!  Same floor plan as every other house in Havana, but nicely appointed with wood and stone, and of course his art.  The living room:

Dining room.  Note the cigar boxes on the wall.  These are collages with a variety of images inside via layers of resin.  I suspect that these and the stamp works are the pieces that he enjoys doing, whereas the overgrown flowers are the gallery pieces that pay for his living.

 Like any good artist, his garage is filled with paintings and any vehicles are out in the driveway:

Sitting on his back patio.  Lovely stone work, and note the umbrella - yes it's from one of the paintings in the living room.  One of the museums sells these sporting work from several local artists.

He also has a series of these stamp drawings. They are of real buildings around Cuba, and the stamps he had specially made in Vegas.  

You can make a living as an artist in Cuba, but it's hard to buy supplies since there is only one art store in Havana (run by the government).  We met a number of artists who have galleries in the U.S. or other countries, and they have bank accounts there as well.  So when that gallery sponsors them out for their opening, they use that bank account to go shopping in that country and bring the supplies back with them.  The new triangle trade.

Last but not least, his front door:

Cuba diaries: The art scene is hot

Our first full day in Cuba we went to the art museum, and it is hot stuff!  Seriously: The air conditioning was out, and apparently had been for months.  Art museums of course don't have loads of windows, so it was broiling in there.  I was worried about the art, not to mentioned myself.  The collection is fantastic though!  Here's just a few that we saw:

Wifredo Lam - my favorite:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfredo_Lam

Amelia Peláez

Carlos Enríquez

Fidelio Ponce de León  (very thick paint!)

Servando Cabrera Moreno

Manuel Mendive

After the museum, we headed for lunch in a little place that's actually a courtyard.  Sangria for the Welcome Drink, and lobster for lunch.

Then we walked to one of the squares and the Cuban equivalent of the Bryant Park Reading Room - only these books are for sale.

Then it was on to an art school.  Highly competitive: 200 students apply and 15 are accepted. Once you're in, your tuition, room and board are covered.  The campus is this series of brick buildings that are only subtly modeled after the female form...

The insides of the studios are nice.  Here's the printmaking studio.  I fell in love with some lithographs, but the students aren't allowed to sell from the classrooms (so it doesn't turn into a cheesy tourist shop) and getting in touch with the artist afterward proved a challenge.

And a woodcut and print - note edge of the door for scale:

Ceramics studio:

After school it was back to the hotel for an hour, then off to a German art foundation.  Well, it's Cuban, but the money comes from a German family.  It's the Ludwig Foundation and aside from being connected with American art institutions and hosting monthly shows for local artists, they also have nice digs.  We had dinner with them on their penthouse deck, and I was talking to one of their computer guys who was able to get his hands on a Mac via the Foundation, but the software is black market. They can get hardware through their connections, but the software takes different connections.  Internet is a problem for everyone in Cuba: It's dial-up to a satellite, and when the storms come in the connection gets worse.  He made an interesting comment: "The computer is almost useless without the internet."  I've had a computer since 1982, so while I feel it when I don't have my connection, I've never considered it useless!

Beautiful view of the sunset, and it's odd not watching a city light up at night!  Any city in the US and it would be glowing, but in Cuba it was just a few lights here and there.

Cuba Diaries: The Missile Crisis

While in Havana, we stayed at the Hotel Nacional.  Aside from having style, it also has a history, and some of it is still there.  A lot has happened there, from gangsters to movie stars, but the part that you can still see is a little piece of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"Peligro" is right.  Not only was the hotel Fidel's HQ during the crisis, but there was also a nice supply of ammunition under the back lawn.  There are trenches with windows aimed toward the water, and "aimed" is the right word here since this was where you protected the bay. There are tunnels from those points all the way into the hotel, and they are disguised  to look like nothing more than a back lawn from the air.  That wouldn't work today, of course, with the technology that we have now, but back then a lump of lawn with peacocks wandering around looked like a lump of lawn.

There's a display in the main section with some posters (in English and Spanish) with info on the Crisis and maps showing what was parked where (the whole freaking island had serious sh!t parked somewhere) and then the tunnels.  You can walk down these tunnels - there's someone with you to make sure you don't get lost - and it's really something.  They go on and on and I had no sense of direction and was actually surprised to find that I'd walked in a loop.  They are made out of stacked shale, tight, narrow, low ceilings... If you have the slightest problem with enclosed spaces - don't go! I didn't take any pictures (I was focused on not hitting my head), but walking through things like this and putting your hands on the walls is good for you - it makes it very real.

A few random sketches

Eventually I'll scan the whole book, but for now here's a few random sketches from my Cuba sketchbook.

Cuba Diaries: They charge for the water, but the rum is free

Seriously, you sit down for lunch or dinner and you are immediately served your "welcome drink."  This is not to be confused with the two other drinks that are included in the price of your meal.  Your welcome drink is generally a mojito, but could also be sangria.  The mojito is also known as Cuban Gatorade:  If all you drink is water then you end up washing the salt and electrolytes out of your system so you actually get dehydrated, so you also need some sugar and the mint and lime make the fizzy water taste better.  The rum is just because you are in Cuba.

Portable bar at the all-inclusive resort in Varadero:

They also have Coke there.  You can get it in cans that say "Coke" on them (from Mexico) or there is this other brand, which is Coke.  There is also a Sprite that is not called that, but is.

There is food to go with the drink.  Here's a fabulous number called the Banana Republic, which is like this banana chocolate mousse that absolutely dissolves in your mouth:

And a fish.  He tasted good!

Grocery store.  Everything comes from a Farmer's Market!

On the whole, food is a variable.  Like any trip I had some so-so food and some spectacular food.  There was this amazing shrimp dish that we had in two different places that was fantastic, and a pork dish that we had on the penthouse overlooking the city that was as good as the view.  But there's a lot of chicken that's just sort of flattened and cooked.  We had lobster a few times, and it's that Florida lobster not the guys from Maine, but still good.  Plenty of fish that was good.  The breakfast buffets usually had a wide spread.  But the best part of any tropical island is the fruit!  I was having mango every day with at least one meal - I can't even look at it here because I know it won't be nearly as good!

Cuba Diaries: Arriving in Havana

Breakfast at the hotel in Miami, a short walk (not much walking to do at an airport hotel, even a nice one), then the load to the shuttle to the airport. Once we got to the airport there was a woman there whose job it was to just navigate the tickets:  We hand her the yellow sheet, the white sheet and our passport, hang out, have a Dunkin Donut, she comes back with tickets - wa-la! Then there was another line, then another one - it's a little fuzzy since we were all standing about getting to know each other while waiting. The charter company has pretty strict weight limits, and they weigh your carry-on as well as your checked bag (but not your purse!) since it's your total weight.  A few of us were pretty sure that we were over, but they put us all in a pool since some are over and some are under and it works out OK. Then at 11:33 am we were through security and at the gate!

We could see the plane out the window - you're half-expecting some old wonder with a propeller on the nose and some guy out there spinning it, but it was a Boeing 737. Unmarked!  I have never seen a blank white airplane before, but we flew in to Cuba in an unmarked aircraft! When they made the call to start boarding, it was the biggest mad crush I have ever seen outside of a rock concert. I calmly made my way to my assigned seat, then went back another row since that was an empty exit row and I could have a window. It was an uneventful flight, but at 1:06pm I got my first view of Cuba - beautiful. When we touched down there was applause from the back - I think some people were home. Then there was another rock-concert rush to get off the plane, then you go through this line, then that line, then you go through a metal detector to get in to the country - I think they just have it go bzzt! then wand you all down. Then you hand the white piece of paper to someone, then you wait for your luggage. They have two carousels, and your bag could come one either one so you're watching them both.

We finally all got our bags and headed out - to find another mad crush greeting us. Then it was on to the bus and to lunch, and we went to a restaurant that was on the 30-umpth floor with a 360 view of Havana - wow. Great introduction to the city.

Transportation in Havana is a kick - it's a combination of old American cars and what we lovingly referred to as "Peeps":  These crazy little 3-wheeled deals that aren't the most stable things in the world.

We went on a little driving tour of the city, seeing some monuments, including one to John Lennon (and there's a guy there guarding his glasses), then on to the hotel.

Our hotel has style.  It's this 1930s wonder with Moroccan influences in the decor and these awesome old light fixtures that have been updated to have the latest in energy-saving bulbs.  It was Fidel Castro's hangout during the Cuban Missile Crises and every gangster who ever made it to Havana also came here (along with movie stars). With a view of the bay and palm trees swaying the breeze you can understand why.  You rather feel like doing something illegal.

The room is tiny, but I can see the ocean, even if I can't quite figure out the shower contraption.

The back yard of the hotel is on the bay, and they have some genuine cannons out there from the Cuban-Spanish-American war (don't forget the "Cuban") along with a bunker that's a museum on the missile crisis (more on that later).

And that's just Day 1!

Paintings I bought in Cuba

The paper is made from banana pulp, then you make an imprint of an actual fish, then you paint. 

A few pictures

I have a ton to go through, but here's a few to wet your whistle.  View from my hotel room in Havana:

View of the hotel (Hotel Nacional):

Random street scenes in Havana:

 

 

Sunset in Havana:

 

Countryside:

 

 

The beach in Veradero

 

the hotel (all-inclusive resort):

 

Children's choir.  What does a Cuban look like?  One thing that struck me was that usually when you go to a tropical island you can identify the locals by looking at them (i.e. dark skin).  Not true in Cuba.  The mix is incredible.  Somebody that I was talking to one morning said that he thought I looked Cuban.  You won't find blond hair, but it's a mix of Spanish and African with every color of skin and eyes.  (And this girl could sing!)