BajaNomad - Havana Memories 2001

Havana Memories 2001

Marc - 7-13-2011 at 08:00 AM

I dug up these grainy scanned images from my office computer. I have an album of prints but laziness prevents me from doing anything digital with them.

Leda was our guide. Nat, to her right, used her on a previous trip. She has advanced degrees but is only able to scrape together a living as a guide earning about $200 USD a month (this was 2001) She has a chronic illness which she treats with medicine Nat sends her through friends in the Bahamas.
Picture was taken from the fortress across he harbor channel. The National Hotel is just out of view.

There are many squares like this with mostly abandoned houses. Typically these were single family dwellings. Kitchen and servants on the ground floor, family on the upper levels. All surrounding an interior courtyard with a fountain.

I do not remember the name of this hotel. We paid a fee see the room Hemingway used while writing For Whom The Bell Tolls. His window looks out to the harbor. Directly under his window across the street in the image to the right is the worlds ugliest building. Built by the Russians. Havana is dotted with these monstrosities.
Hemingway drank at the bar just through the corner doorway.

Typical cafe scene. The weather was rainy and warm. We were issued tourist scrip.

The girls love me! And my $5 tip.

We had a rather stressful flight back to Nassau. Same plane Tony was on I think. We got int a jam with customs there but we did manage to get $2,000 worth of cigars into the US….but thats another story.

capt. mike - 7-13-2011 at 11:05 AM

what outstanding architecture!

would be nice to acquire a city villa and rehab it to pre revolutionary standards.

once free enterprize and capital incentives come to cuba it is going to really see some positive change.

Ken Cooke - 7-13-2011 at 12:56 PM

Awesome thread, Marc! Thanks!

BajaBlanca - 7-13-2011 at 02:29 PM

Marc those are great photos

pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee digitalize some of the others you have

:biggrin:

bill erhardt - 7-13-2011 at 03:30 PM

The hotel where Hemingway had a room is the Ambos Mundos. I once stayed there in the late 90's after sailing from Tampa Bay to Marina Hemingway. Rented a car the next morning in the lobby and drove to The Bay of Pigs where reportedly there are salt flats with some of the best bonefishing in the world. The army for some reason was not allowing anybody on the flats, so I ended up catching tarpon and snook in a stream/river 10 or 15 miles inland that had upwellings of saltwater.
Outside Havana Cuba has a very similar feel to Baja. The people I met were very friendly and curious about the US.
It was a great trip and I recommend it. I'd like to get back myself before the embargo is lifted. It won't be the same after.

tjBill - 7-14-2011 at 06:42 PM

I would like to visit Cuba. I think Mexicana goes out of Mexico City.

But Customs and Border Protection will take your Sentri pass if you go.

Sidamone - 7-14-2011 at 07:00 PM

And of course you would immediately, upon return, tell them you'd been.

Sidamone - 7-14-2011 at 07:09 PM

She has a chronic illness which she treats with medicine Nat sends her through friends in the Bahamas.

For that, you may thank your government. With over thirty thousand doctors, all of whom received their training at Cuban government expense, she would not lack attention; so her need of drugs must be related to the embargo. No matter, China is stepping in, as it is in Africa and elsewhere, and the Helms/Burton Act will reap its own reward in time.

[Edited on 7-15-2011 by Sidamone]

Sidamone - 7-14-2011 at 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by capt. mike
what outstanding architecture!

would be nice to acquire a city villa and rehab it to pre revolutionary standards.

once free enterprize and capital incentives come to cuba it is going to really see some positive change.

Then we may see if free "enterprize" inflicts on Cuba, what it has on your country.

bajamigo - 7-14-2011 at 09:21 PM

Whatever free enterprise inflicted on me, it has dulled my senses. Could you refresh my memory and tell me what that may be?

DENNIS - 7-14-2011 at 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajamigo
Whatever free enterprise inflicted on me, it has dulled my senses. Could you refresh my memory and tell me what that may be?

It's just the word, free, that is causing the confusion.

Packoderm - 7-14-2011 at 11:44 PM

Quote:

Yes, we'll many of those unprofitable old buildings razed and replaced with fast food and Walgreens.

ok, well tell us where do YOU live

capt. mike - 7-15-2011 at 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sidamone

Quote:

Then we may see if free "enterprize" inflicts on Cuba, what it has on your country.

and how great your system works.
nuthin's perfect but i'd rather be free to make my own way - which have managed to do for a long time! GBA!!!

Roberto - 7-18-2011 at 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Packoderm
Yes, we'll many of those unprofitable old buildings razed and replaced with fast food and Walgreens.

I acknowledge your point about Walgreens and fast food, but it would be hard to say that Castro has done much for those old buildings, don't you think? Good thing they were well-built to begin with, because the Communist regime has just left them to rot.

Bob H - 7-18-2011 at 06:40 PM

Wow, Marc, love the photos. A trip to Cuba is one of my dreams after growing up in Miami with most of my friends from Cuba.

My wife and I have traveled all over the world, and Cuba is high on our bucket list.

Would love to hear the "... but that's another story" about the $2,000 worth of Cuban cigars you were able to get through US Customs and any other tidbits about travel in and out of Havana (and did you explore other areas of Cuba while you were there?)

Marc - 7-23-2011 at 02:59 PM

I'll try to post part two sometime soon. Need to scan prints.