Cuba February 25 and 26 2013 Habana and Soroa

Monday, February 25 

After another delicious and attractively presented breakfast at Hotel San Felipe,

Fruit Tart for breakfast at Hotel San Felipe, Habana

 (the guava juice was so thick, a spoon would stand up in it), we went by our mini-bus to the outskirts of Habana to visit the  National Institute for the Research in Tropical Agriculture, the oldest institution of it’s kind in Latin America, founded in 1904.  Fun fact:  the Italian author Italo Calvino was born here when his father was director.  First an official administrator talked about the history and work of the Institute, which include research on sugar can and tobacco varieties and medicinal plants of Cuba.  Then the Alejandro Gonzalez Alvarez, the Curator of the Herbarium gave us a tour of their gardens and facilities. 

Alejandro, Curator of the Herbarium, showing us the INIFAT gardens
 

From there we drove through Central Habana, stopping at La Plaza de le Revolucion to see its tower (the tallest in Cuba) and statue memorial of Jose Marti, a national hero in the Cuban push against Spain in the nineteenth century, and a figure in Latin American literature. He is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence.” 

Plaza de la Revolution monument to Jose Marti in Havana, Cuba

 

 On important occasions, the Castros and even the Pope addressed crowds from this huge plaza.  Opposite, are office buildings with portraits of Che and Castro.  Imagine the space full of thousands of cheering people! 

 

Che and Fidel on Cuban government buildings in Havana

 

Trio of musicians at El Aljibe Restaurant in Habana

A delicious lunch at El Aljibe in the upscale Miramar neighborhood followed.  It specializes in pollo asado or roast chicken, which was served family-style with the usual accompaniments of white rice, black beans, fried plantain, French fries and salad. 

The bitter orange sauce is said to be a “state secret” and it made the chicken delicious.  The usual trio of musicians made for an enjoyable luncheon. 

When we finally got back to our room, we had elephants on our beds!

Elephant Towel Art at Hotel Palacio de San Felipe

 

Dane continued his cigar and beer romp with Steve and Bill, at the brewpub on Plaza Vieja while Joan, Ted, Dianne and Sarah walked along the Habana harbor to a pier hosting a huge artists’ fair, where we wandered for some time looking at paintings, prints, photographs, textiles and jewelry for sale by the talented artists of Cuba.  We resisted the temptation to buy anything just then, knowing we had one more free afternoon in Habana at the end of our trip, when it would be more convenient to buy art, one of the few things Americans are allowed to bring back into the USA from Cuba.  (NOT rum or cigars, alas.) 

On the walk back to our hotel, we stopped at Bar Dos Hermanos, another of those infamous old wooden dives where Hemmingway, Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn, Federico Garcia Lorca and others hung out in the 1930s.  The tourist factor made the mojitos a CUC (equivalent of a dollar) more, but the wonderful trio that entertained us was so worth the extra charge.  The salty atmosphere was just perfect.  (Have we mentioned that there was music everywhere, and most of it really good?!)

We met the smelly guys and the rest of our group for dinner at Café Mercurio, another government-run restaurant just across Plaza de San Francisco from our hotel.  The usual choices of chicken, pork or fish were supplemented by beef this time, and some of us regretted our choice, as while it was attractively presented, it was tough and flavorless. 

Beef entrée at Café Mercurio in Vieja Habana

 

Cuban Espresso Coffee

A delicious flan for dessert and a great cup of Cuban espresso made up for it. 

 

Palacio de San Felipe Hotel by night in Habana

There was not enough wine or mojitos to make up for the least enjoyable of our musical entertainers so far, a woman who sang Broadway songs accompanied by a pianist—so incongruous as to be amusing.    The walk back across the Plaza at night with the moon and the attractively lit buildings were almost enough to make us forget the poverty and difficulties of most of the residents of Habana.   

Tuesday, February 26

After one more delicious breakfast at Palacio de San Felipe (we would find we missed the attractively presented “gourmet” meals of Habana once we got to the countryside), we checked out of our hotel and headed to the 600 hectare Jardin Botanico Nacional on the outskirts of Habana. 

Admiring a Cycad at the Botanic Garden amidst the Royal Palms

Angela Leyva Sanchez, General Director gave us a power point talk about the garden, and then the Research Director Rosa Rankin walked with us  through the attractive greenhouse/display gardens then in our bus guided us around the huge area of pine forests, palm groves, serpentine forests and areas planted with indigenous plants from as close as the Americas and afar away as Australia and Japan. 

 

One of the Exposition Pavilions at the National Botanical Gardens

Lunch at Botanical Garden in the pine forest area was a real treat, with a delicious buffet in lush surroundings with, surprise, surprise, lots of veggies and fruit! 

Bountiful lunch buffet at the Jardin Botanico

 

 

 

Reserve de la Biosfera Sierra del Rosario

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That afternoon we drove west to the Sierra de Rosario in Northwest Cuba where we saw Las Terrazas, a quaint leafy community in eastern Pinar del Rio province that dates back to reforestation project in 1968.  The model community was charming, and we wish we had had time to stop in the village, but instead we had a stop at a local school, and talked with the administrator.  This seems to be an obligatory ritual for these types of tours, though it was fun to see the “Vas Bien Fidel” (You're Doing Fine, Fidel) stencil art on the school wall. 

Wall stencil at Las Terrazas School:  You'r Doing Fine, Fidel

Our next stop was the Reserva de la Biosfera, Sierra del Rosario, and where we had a talk with Fidel Fernandez, a forestry engineer.

An excellent talk by Forestry Engineer Fidel Fernandez

 

 

 

 

Our day complete, we arrived at the hotel Horizontes Villa Soroa. (pronounced so ROW a) It was a perfectly nice government-run hotel with nice flora on the grounds and clean, decent rooms, even with some little indigenous fauna to keep us company.  Cute, and not so bad once we got used to the idea they were there – hey we’re in the country, buck-up! 

Our froggy friend in our bathroom

 

This hotel did have a nice big swimming pool, and a poolside bar that had mastered mojitos--life’s not all bad.  The meal was buffet, no one went hungry, but the redeeming feature was the trio that provided the music

Musicians at dinnertime at the Villa Soroa Hotel

 

Again, government musicians, so with a very modest salary, but they were able to sell their CDs, which we brought because it makes for some pretty good listening.



Swimming Pool at Horizontes Villa Soroa Hotel