Mary's Musings and More: TOURING CUBA: PART ONE

Gerry and I recently returned from a fascinating 11 day trip to Cuba. My mother, brother Paul, and sister-in-law Corinne also joined us on this excellent Road Scholar program, The Best of Cuba: People, Life and Culture: Camaguey to Havana.

A typical street scene in downtown Havana

The instructors were excellent, and they went overboard in their efforts to help us understand and enjoy Cuba. Cameron Harris, our group leader, handled all of the logistics. He was assisted by Enedis Tamayo, our local Cuban guide.

Cameron and Enedis, who provided a wealth of information

We were a group of 19. Our fellow Road Scholars were interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them on our journey. The program began in Miami on Thursday evening, March 9, with an orientation and a welcome dinner at the host hotel, the DoubleTree near the Miami Airport.

Early Friday afternoon we boarded our flight to Camaguey, Cuba's third largest city, over 500 years old. Our first outing in Cuba was a visit via motor coach to the home of the Casanova family. We met the father and son team of artisan ceramists, and were shown the distinctive urns, called tinajones, which are wide-mouthed earthenware jugs that were traditionally used in Camaguey to store water.

The Casanovas with the tinajones they have created.

Next was a live demonstration. The son went first, and showed us how the larger pieces are made. The 69-year-old father then made a few of the smaller pieces.

He whipped this bowl up in a flash!

It is the 69-year-old papa's turn. He appeared to be quite the perfectionist.

Finished products: a bowl, a mushroom, and a sombrero hat

Our hotel in Camaguey was the Hotel E Santa Maria, centrally located on a main street in this town of 320,000 people. We stayed here three nights. The rooms were clean and comfortable, and the common areas were also spotless.

Home sweet home for 3 nights in Camaguey

A local band serenades us in the lobby bar of the E. Santa Maria

Our room was located on the third floor of the hotel. Unfortunately, it was right across the street from the church bell tower. We had a rude awakening each morning as the bells loudly chimed at 6:30 a.m. So much for getting my 8 hours sleep...

We indulge in delicious decorative cappuccinos in the mornings

The breakfast buffet was served on the "roof garden", the fifth floor outdoor patio, with an excellent view of Camaguey.

Saturday's program began with a visit to a local dance company, located a block from our hotel. The flamenco dancers treated us to a 40 minute performance. My mother and I watched from the upstairs balcony, the best seats in the house.

The talented dancers were young, between 18 and 22 years of age

Afterwards we explored the main squares of the city via pedicabs, which were colorful and decorated by local artists.

Ten pedicabs lined up ready for our group.

We chose to ride in this pedicab, with our young driver who told us he's a boxer

Off we go! We visited "Plaza de los Trabajadores", also known as the Workers Square. The attractive blue building at the square, St. Cecilia, was built in 1929 and was the former Culture House.

Parque Ignacio Agramonte is the main square, with a dramatic statue of Agramonte mounted upon his horse.

Statue of local hero, Ignacio Agramonte

The third square we visited was Plaza de San Juan, restored from the 18th Century. It is surrounded by brightly colored houses, artist studios and galleries.

Peering down a street adjacent to Plaza de San Juan

The fourth and final square on our tour was my favorite, the Plaza del Carmen. It featured sculptures by Martha Jimenez Perez, one of Cuba's greatest living artists.

Ms. Perez sculpture of gossiping women


And here we see a courting couple

These sculptures were created fourteen years ago in 2003. I was fortunate to see the real-life version of the man (now age 81) sitting by his sculpture.

He hasn't aged much, has he?

We worked up an appetite for a delicious lunch in the El Paso restaurant, and were served the tastiest black beans on the island (according to our guide Cameron.) They were pretty darned good.

My mother in front of El Paso

Later in the evening, it was our privilege to visit the home of husband and wife Joel Jover and Ileana Sanchez, two of Cuba's most creative and prodigious contemporary painters. Their magnificent home, with the walls of most rooms covered with their paintings, was itself a piece of art!

Everywhere you look in this home, you view art!

Sunday, March 12, was our journey into the countryside with a visit to King Ranch. A 75-minute bus ride from downtown Camaguey brought us to the ranch, where we were warmly greeted by Vicente, the ranch manager. He gave us a brief history of the ranch while we were served a welcome sangria cocktail.

King was an American from Orange, NY who purchased his first ranch in Texas. He expanded his holdings and later bought land in Cuba. He operated his Cuban ranch from 1952 to 1955. The 40,000 acre ranch was well known for it's cross-breed of cattle, and also its sugar production.

After the 1959 revolution, the government nationalized and took over the ranch. Fidel visited King Ranch on three occasions - in 1953, 1983 and 1989. The current size of the ranch is only 3,000 acres.

Vicente is a happy personable Cuban, perhaps 50 years of age

We were serenaded by this band as we sipped our sangria

We piled into wooden horse-drawn carts and were transported along a bumpy gravel dirt road to the small town of Cafetal, less than 5 km from the ranch.

Along the dusty road to Cafetal

Cafetal is a sleepy town of 250 people who live in small humble houses. We were invited into the home of Juana. She offered us fresh sugarcane juice, coconut cookies and coffee.

Outside Juana's home

Although rural Cubans do not have many material goods, they have peace and harmony in their homes and seem to be happy people.

A colorful bedspread in Juana's very primitive bedroom with a thatched roof

Our hostess Juana sets up a table of drinks and snacks in her back yard

Our visit was on a Sunday, so school was not in session. The 2-room elementary school house is for children from kindergarten through 4th grade. It has two computers and two TVs for the 25 students, who learn English via the TV. It is mandatory the students learn how to write in cursive (unlike the USA these days.)

Written in Spanish to the left of the boy painted on the school is this motto, (English translation): A good pioneer wears his uniform correctly, takes care of books, does not commit fraud, and studies every day.

Three words written to the right of the girl are: Buenos Dias, Permiso and Gracias

Welcomed back at the ranch, we were treated to a pig roast, which was served family-style, with plenty of pork and fixings to go around. Bowls of fresh mojito sauce were placed in the center of the table, and we were encouraged to spoon it over any or every thing.