January 29, 2025
We started the morning with a visit to the museum of the Sitial Moncada, or the Moncada Seat of Honor. The museum pays tribute to the 153 fighters who, along with Fidel Castro, launched the attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. A 2014 Al Jazeera article profiles the 93-year-old man who started the museum, using whatever scraps he could find. Unfortunately, it was closed when we got there. I hope they found someone to continue running it. I appreciated that he tried to lift the profile of women in the revolution.
Across the street from the museum was the bar where part of the satirical movie, Guantanamera, was shot. We met our friends from the AfroCubano neighborhood there and had some drink the bar specialized in—non-alcoholic for us. Carlos told us that Che Guevara used to have an office in the museum across the street.
Below, Michael is asking pertinent questions.
One of the nicest places to walk in Cuba is the Malecon, a five-mile seawall constructed around the Havana Harbor. I’m glad that nine years ago I didn’t know that the U.S. built it after Spain ceded its colonial power over Cuba to U.S. colonial power.
We did pick a lovely day for the walk.
On the walls of the derelict buildings across from the Malecón, some of which contained good restaurants, we saw interesting street art.
Maybe I should not have paid so much attention to the buildings on the other side of the street because I ended up tripping, falling, and nearly breaking my glasses. Major falls seem to be a motif for me on vacations. I was proud of myself for not picking at my blood blister for the rest of the trip.
Below the walls lay craggy rocks with channels of seawater running in between. Cubans were fishing on them and recreating in other ways. I knew that I did not have the physical coordination to make the drop to the rocks (the stairways ended before they met the rocks) and hop over the channels. Ken and Judy decided they would investigate ways of getting down to the shore, but also decided it was too dangerous.
We finished our walk at the Mirador de la Bahia La Habana (Havana Bay Lookout). The fortress in the distance, El Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro (Castle of the Three Kings of Morro) was built between 1547 and 1616. UNESCO includes it as part of Old Havana’s World Heritage site. The bronze map shows a layout the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, a fortress in Havana, Cuba, which was supposed to help guard Havana from pirates but was set too far back in the harbor to do any good.
The first bronze plaque says the the Malecon was constructed in 1901 under the auspices of the [U.S. Imperialist] Governor General of Cuba, Leonard Wood. The second I translated with AI as follows:
On this esplanade, the artistic lighting of the Castle of the Three Kings of Morro was inaugurated on November 16, 1997, in celebration of the 473rd anniversary of the Villa San Cristóbal de La Habana [The town established in 1519 that became the city of Havana]. The project was executed by the Lyon City Hall and various French companies, under the auspices of: Metropolitan Electricity Company
Led by Engineer Serge Ussorio
Office of the Historian of Havana
Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, General Coordinator
The project was named Margarita – Morro – Gaban in honor of the memory of Mme. Marguerite Ussorio. 1913-1992 Mother of Engineer Ussorio
Back in Old Havana, we came across this monument honoring the barbers and hairdressers of the world. December 27 is the “Day of the Barber.” Hairdressers in Old Havana come out to Barbers’ Alley, where the monument is located, and give free haircuts to people who ask for them.
On the same day, some lucky hairdresser receives the Juan Gomez award. It honors the first barber and surgeon to receive a license to practice the trade in the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana in 1552.
Tonsorialists from all over the world have sent in scissors to decorate the giant shears. One of the signs has the email, proyectoartecorte@gmail.com, for people who want to help with the project, which means, I assume, sending in more scissors.
This is part of a mural that was also in the Barber’s Alley. I think I wanted the picture because of the line from a Jose Martí poem: “I have two homelands—Cuba and the night.” Here’s a link to the entire poem, written when he was in exile.
From the square, we walked into the Old City to get some lunch. Instead we got ice cream. I remember my cone had some sherbet made of fruit I had never heard of. Turned out to be mamey, which I highly recommend.
We passed by Cathedral square, where Havana’s Main Cathedral is located. Consecrated in 1782, the Cathedral still holds 10 masses a week.
The last time we visited the Plaza de Armas, it was full of booksellers and sellers of other Cuban tchotchkes. I bought some political buttons and a Havana Freemason’s pin. This time, we saw only some Cuban dancers, dressed in brightly-colored satin, conversing quietly in the shade of a tree. No one could tell us what happened to the booksellers.
After that, we passed Havana’s mosque. Cuba has between 9000-10,000 Muslims, and a lot of them are recent converts.
Outside of one of Hemingway’s three favorite Havana Bars—La Bodeguita del Medio—we saw one of my favorite Cuban things: people dancing spontaneously in the street. I’m guessing the young woman was a tourist.
We ended up at the plaza of Plaza de San Francisco de Asís (Francis of Assisi) famous for all the birds who hang out there—which is a little weird. I mean, how could they know about his affinity for birds?
We also observed some notable statues in the Plaza, including “El Caballero de Paris.”
According to architect Cheo Malanga:
José María López Lledín was an elegant vagabond known as El Caballero de París (“The Gentleman From Paris”) who wandered the streets of Havana. According to Malanga, “El Caballero de París” was a cult figure in Havana in the 40s and 50s. He was of medium height, disheveled hair with some gray hair and a beard. He always wore black, with a long coat of the same color, even during the summer. He used to carry a folder full of papers. He was a gentle and educated man who roamed the streets and traveled by bus all over the city, greeting people and discussing philosophy, religion and politics. He never asked for alms or said bad words, he only accepted money from people he knew or liked.
People had various theories as to why he lost his sanity, but most trace it back to his imprisonment in 1920 for a crime he did not commit.
People rub the beard on his statue for luck.
A less auspicious statue in the Plaza is the one honoring Junipero Serra, whom some remember as a dedicated missionary whom Pope Francis has beatified, and whom Indigenous people consider an agent of the whole settler-colonial enterprise.
Then at the edge of the plaza, we found some more art. Etienne is French sculptor who just recently died in January 2025. The plaque says,
ETIENNE
“THE CONVERSATION”
SCULPTURE DONATED TO THE OFFICE OF THE
HISTORIAN OF THE
CITY OF HAVANA BY VITTORIO PERROTTA
25 MAY 2012
We had an awkward time getting home. The driver of the taxi we hailed was called over by the police in the square, who wanted to see his papers. Something was wrong with them. He kept assuring us that he was going to clear things up shortly, but eventually, we got another taxi.
That evening, Ken, Judy, and Michael attended a performance of Argentinean and Cuban musicians at open air venue called Pabellón Cuba. Camila went to a concert at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano. For Rochesterians, that venue is similar to Artisan Works, which profiles both musical and visual artists.
Then the three of them walked over to Bertolt Brecht Theater to hear Brazilian singer Myrlla Muñiz.
Afterwards, they met up with Jose and Dawn. They had a late dinner at Cafeteria Loretta, where personal pan pizzas cost the equivalent of 67 cents, or $1.00 with ham.
They brought extra pizzas home, and I enjoyed them for the next couple days.
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