Bay of Pigs, Cienfuegos, and Santa Clara

On Tuesday morning January 12th, we got on the bus, and headed southeast on highway 1, a multi-lane road with very little traffic, including horse drawn wagons.  Our destination was the Bay of Pigs, best known for a failed invasion attempt by Cuban Exiles, backed by the CIA.

On the long drive, Gulliermo showed us his ration book.   The government gives each person or family a ration book, which allows them to get a certain amount of food very cheaply, to compensate for the very low wages.  As Gulliermo said, they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.


However, our first stop had nothing to do with the invasion, and instead was focused on the Zapata Park, a huge wetland.   We had lunch at Enrique's hostel at Playa Larga.  Enrique is a successful entrepreneur, who just bought two other nearby buildings.  He offers accommodations, dinner, and adventure booking.   His car was an Audi A6 wagon, which sharply contrasted with the 1950s american cars on the streets.

The road is the one right in front of Enrique's hostal.  In addition to the old car, note the piles of sand, gravel, and other construction materials.   Houses are being built or fixed up to cater to the increasing tourist trade.  Many houses have signs offering rooms.  Things are changing in Playa Larga, and in Cuba in general.

Our lunch speaker was a retired professor and birding guide.  He spoke about the many birds only found in this park, including the world's tiniest hummingbird.  They also have US and Cuban crocodiles.   There are mosquitoes, but he says that they do not carry disease.  The park offers fishing to a few anglers each day, as well as diving, kayaking, and many other activities.  Zapata Swamp park is over one million acres.

We went on to the Bay of Pigs museum, in Playa Girón, which celebrates the victory of revolutionary army against the Cuban Exiles.  There are many artifacts there, including guns, mortars, and tanks, as well as photos and text telling the story.  I won't bore you with photos of tanks......  What Sandi noted was how quiet our gorup was while in the museum.  It was intersting to read the Cuban perpective of the "imperialist invasion."

When we arrived in Cienfuegos, our group was split up into several casas particulares (B&Bs).  We were in one with two rooms, with one other guest from our party.   Our bathroom was impressive, with spanish tile, nicer than the bathrooms that I have at home.  This was quite a feat in Cuba, where supplies are a problem.  Overall we thought that the accommodations were good, although the pillows left something to be desired.  We learned later that if you want good pillows, you have to bring them home from the USA in your luggage!

Our hostess, Yeni, was delightful, petite and a bit shy.  She spoke almost no English; our guide assured her when we arrived that I spoke good Spanish, so we heard no English from her.  ;-)  Her husband fixed us perhaps the best fish dinner that we had on the trip.  Her husband and her parents work for the government hotels for the usual pittance.  Her price was $30 US per room per night, with dinner $12 per person, and breakfast $5.  She reported that she was booked every night, generally with tour groups from the Netherlands.

On Wednesday we started at the market in Cienfuegos.  Cubans shop daily in the market for fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat.  Their monthly food allowance is pennies by our American standards.  The meat, mostly pork, was set out in the open, without refrigeration.  We learned about Yucca, a starchy vegetable.  We purchased some garlic and veggies for our hosts.

The vendor is offering us coconut shavings, which he made using his own homemade grinder.  The Cubans are nothing if not resourceful.

We then got on the bus for a long ride to Santa Clara.  This area is known for sugar cane, and we were surrounded by sugar cane fields for most of the trip.  Sometimes you could see the smoke coming out of the stack of the sugar cane mill.  However, Cuba produces a lot less sugar than in the past.

The truck is carrying sugar cane to the mill.

We also saw many horse drawn wagons, both in the country and in the city.  The wagon shown is a popular type in the city.  Note that it is covered, and has benches on each side for passengers.  The ladies behind the wagon are about to step up and get on.

In the country, we saw almost as many horse drawn vehicles as cars.

Here you can see a line of wagons waiting for customers.

I believe that in many cases they were operating as a kind of collective taxi or mini-bus, running a fixed route, with people getting off and on.  We also saw automobile taxis stuffed with people, apparently doing the same thing.

We visited a group of seniors, who danced Danzon, and explained a game similar to baseball using a tubular "ball" and a stick.  A
couple of people played the game, and then they got us dancing.   Sandi spent some time with lovely grandmother who was crocheting.

We had a nice lunch in the Pergola restaurant, a beautiful old house which has won restoration awards.

We also visited the Che memorial and museum, where we took off our hats to show respect, and were not allowed to take photos inside.  The eternal flame is similar to that of JFK.

I spoke to a horse drawn wagon driver, who was on a fixed route from the Che memorial to downtown.

Finally we drove back to Cienfuegos for dinner at a restaurant next to the water, and then back to our B&B.

Havana Cuba

We met our tour group and guide at the hotel on January 7th.  The group was Road Scholar, formerly Elderhostel.  Our guide was Maria, a Columbian/American who loves Cuba.  She started by telling us that there were two important things to remember: be flexible, and keep your heart open.  Sandi was impressed that she started that way, and we learned that her advice was good.  We spent the rest of the evening filling out forms.

On the morning of the 8th, we headed for the airport, where check in was a bit hectic.  The other passengers seemed to be Cubans bringing gifts or products wrapped in stretch wrap, so very strange luggage.  We got on an XTRA Airlines charter flight to Miami.  Our flight was routine.   After we got through immigration, we paused in the luggage claim area to regroup, and wait for our bus and Cuban guide, Gulliermo.  Guillermo is a former middle school teacher, paid the equivalent of $20 US a month.  He decided to be a guide to make life better for his family.  He taught us much over the course of the week we spent with him.  

The first thing we saw when we left the terminal were many 1950s American cars, kept running by creative Cuban mechanics.   

The bus took us to see a modern dance performance by an independent dance company, Malpaso.  (Malpaso is a bit of a play on words, as it means misstep).

Our next stop was the Christopher Columbus Cemetery, which was pretty amazing.  The mausoleum shown was made of Italian marble, modeled on Italian churches, similar to what we saw on our 2015 trip.

In the photo below, we are going through a popular ritual to request a wish or a child from Amelia, who died in childbirth.  She is revered in Cuban culture.  First you knock on the grave with the ring, then you reach up and touch the baby, and then walk the rest of the way around the grave backwards, facing the grave.   There are many plaques (exvotos) giving thanks for a child or other favor.  I have seen this kind of plaque before, but in churches addressed to saints.  We heard the following day in our lecture that Cubans are a superstitious people.

We had a lunch in La Moraleza private restaurant, and checked into the Hotel National, built in the 1930s and used by celebrities and VIPs since then, including Fred Astaire and Churchill.  It was like stepping back in time.  The hotel is run by the government.

Our group is educated and globally aware.  Maria likes our group because we are not focused on shopping.   Gulliermo likes our group because we are not about piña coladas. 

On the 9th we started with a scholar of the history of religion.  She took the view that Cubans have never been very religious, but tend to turn to religion in times of crisis.   Their Afro-Cuban beliefs are masked in Catholicism.

We walked in the Plaza de Armas and the Plaza de Catedral.  We had a nice lunch in O'Reilly's restaurant, and a cup of Cuban coffee for Sandi.  Richard bought a book written by Che from a street vendor; he was once a military lawyer, but found that selling used books paid better.   This became a theme of the trip, as government employees' wages are only around $30 US per month!

We visited the Fort of San Carlos de la Cabaña, which offered a view of Havana across the bay.   We got on the bus, but were then told that the bus was broken, so we would have to take taxis.   This was really a trick to get us all in classic convertibles for a tour of Havana.  Our group of 24 was treated to a ride along the Malecon (seawall) of Havana.

The driver explained that the owner of the car was a mechanic, and that the driver got 25% of the income.  He had a recent LG smartphone.  His wife, working for the government, makes $20 US per month.

Dinner was at "1958" restaurant.  However, it was somewhat marred by an attempted mugging and a loud Mariachi band.  Our guides said that they had not seen a mugging before, so they were not watching out for it.  Luckily, the victim was not hurt.  Generally, the Cubans are happy to see Americans.  They realize that we bring dollars and jobs.

Sunday January 10 started with a talk on the history of US-Cuban relations, focused mostly on the recent normalization of relations.  We then went to the Cuban Fine Art museum for Cuban art; most of the art there was dark in color and in theme.  We had lunch at La Moneda Cubana restaurant, and stopped by the craft market.  Dinner was at the La Fontaine restaurant; entertainment was by an all-female choir.  The women are all music teachers by day; Sandi was amazed by their harmonies.

Gulliermo, our guide

On the 11th we walked in the old Plaza and Plaza San Francisco, and got on the bus to Hemmingway's house.  

Hemmingway's typewriter

 

Outside Hemmingway's house

We had a great lunch at La Bonita restaurant, which had only been open a few months, with most of the employees being family.  The bathroom was amazingly nice, far superior to most of what we saw elsewhere.

In the afternoon we had an excellent talk from the Architect Pedro Vasquez.  He basically preemptively answered all my questions.   After the revolution, everyone became owner of their own apartment, but no one owned the building as a whole.  No one could be evicted, so no one could be forced to pay for repairs, which means that the buildings have been deteriorating for 50 years.   This is still unresolved in terms of the law.  They have been working on the old city in recent years, so much of what we saw has been restored.   We essentially saw no buildings built after 1959, except for some ugly concrete apartment buildings.   All the buildings that we were taken to in the tour were built before the revolution, which suggests that whatever was built after the revolution was not anything to be proud of. Or perhaps that not a lot has been built since the revolution.

Before dinner, we met with a young man with a jewelry business. He rents a table in a market, and has an employee man the table.  It sounds like a pretty marginal business by our standards, but what choice does he have?  We discussed loans with interest, but that struck him as unfair; apparently credit is not part of their society, only loans from family.  His sister is in Miami, but he does not want to leave Cuba. 

Miami Beach

We were on our way to Cuba, and ended up with extra time in Miami before we met our tour group.   We decided to visit Miami Beach, and look at the Art Deco there.

We took a tour through the Art Deco Museum.  Our tour guide was an enthusiastic volunteer.



 

The restoration work is excellent, done in recent years, after years of neglect.

The Tides Hotel was beautiful inside and out.

Versace's house

 We met Sandi's old friends, Sandy and Dale, for a nice lunch.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to meet our group.

Rome, the Eternal City

We said goodbye to Sr. Marcelina, and took a taxi to the train station. The train from Assisi to Rome was on time. However our first class car did not have air conditioning, and the electrical outlet did not work. That is Italy, we said.

After meeting our host, and dropping our bags, we walked around the neighborhood. The Colosseum was only a short walk, so we went to admire it.  For dinner, we bought some pizza from our host's favorite place, right next door,  Our host says that it is some of the best pizza in Rome.  

On Friday we walked to the Colosseum, only to find it closed for a union meeting. We decided to walk out the Appian Way, the original Roman road, about 2000 years old.  We walked about three miles to the Catacombs of St. Stephen.  There are about seven miles of underground passageways, and up to 100,000 people buried there.   The remains of St. Peter and St. Paul were held and venerated there for about fifty years, and there are many inscriptions to them.

We took the bus back to downtown Rome.  On the bus ride, we discovered that we had walked out into the country, with fields and farms.  The Catacombs were outside the city of Rome, and still are.

In the afternoon, we walked to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.   It was large and lavish.  The gold on the ceiling came from Ferdinand and Isabella from the first gold from the Americas.

We continued to the National Roman Museum, where we found a wide range of statues and artifacts from ancient Rome.  Every time you dig in Rome, you find ancient artifacts, so much so that the delays in the third subway line are the butt of jokes.  As usual, I liked the mosaics; Sandi liked the painted frescoes.  Some of the metalwork was amazing.

We had nice dinner at the nearby Taverna Romano, which was a very popular place.   

Saturday morning we got up and went to see the Colosseum.  We had considered a tour, and tripped over one near the entrance.  It was 13 euros per person for a tour of the Colosseum and the Forum.  The tour was good, especially the tour of the Forum, by Alexander Mariotti.  We decided to join his secrets of Rome tour in the evening.

It is interesting to realize that the Colosseum was not the largest stadium in Rome, which was the Circus Maximas, (Circo Massimo).

Selfie sticks were the tourist item of the trip, with street vendors selling them everywhere, and people using them everywhere. We toyed with making a movie of people using selfie sticks.  The funniest example occurred here, when we saw a group of nuns using a selfie stick. 

The secrets of Rome tour was interesting, and included multiple tombs of Michelangelo.   Apparently he died in Rome, and the pope wanted him buried in Rome, but the Medici's stole his body.  He is buried in Florence, in the Santa Croce church.  We also went into the basement of the Trattoria de Pallaro, where the stone work suggests that it was part of the the Roman theatre where Julius Caesar was killed.   Shakespeare says that he was killed at the Roman Senate, but he was actually killed at Pompey's theatre.  The buildings today still show the curved shape of the theatre.   We had a nice dinner at the Trattoria de Pallaro, with a cranky Italian grandmother managing the place.

On Sunday morning we went to the local church, where we watched a woman take her dog up to communion with her.

After church we went for a stroll, and wandered into a museum that was free that day, the Museo dei Fori Imperiali.  The  most interesting thing was the juxtaposition of modern sculpture with ancient ruins.  The sculptor was Pablo Atchugarry.

We walked to the Plaza Navona, with a fountain by Bernini.  We bought a small turtle hand-crafted by an oriental woman.  The plaza was a happening place, including someone who looked like he was a yogi levitating.

Bernini fountain

We stopped for lunch at the Pizzeria Monte Carlo.   The food was good and inexpensive; he wrote the receipt on the paper tablecloth!  Tax avoidance is a way of life in Italy.

We continued our walk to the to the Vatican, where we wandered around St. Peters Basilica.  It was fairly calm, and we enjoyed hearing vespers.   We took the bus home.

We had tickets to the Vatican museum on Monday morning.  We took the overcrowded subway to avoid the notorious pickpockets on the 64 bus.

The Vatican museums are overwhelming, like the Metropolitan museum of art.  So many styles and eras, starting with the Egyptians.  We both enjoyed the Sistine Chapel, where we admired the Rafael murals, but were truly impressed with the Michelangelo, who clearly took painting to the next level, with imagination and flair.

In the afternoon we went to San Giovanni Laterano, which was the seat of the Papacy for many years, and is still the pope's church in rome.   We strolled home through neighborhoods, including a park built around ancient ruins.  

After a nice pasta dinner by Sandi, we took a walk, and saw a soup kitchen and a laser light show.

On Tuesday, we took the train to the ancient Roman city of Ostia. It is a bit like Pompeii, except it was preserved by mud, not ash. The area covered by excavated ruins was very large. This was the primary port of Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber. It was definitely worth the trip.

Our trip home was uneventful, although our flight home from Europe was a bit late.   We flew Lufthansa through Frankfurt.     We got up at 3 AM Europe time, and got home after midnight Europe time.

All in all, a great trip.

Assisi

We left about 11 am for the train station. On our way out the door we met our host, Allessandro; we had previously met his spouse, Asadeh.   He was just as gracious as she was, and promised to consider carefully our comments, especially since we had stayed for six nights, while most of their guests only stay for two nights.   He explained that they have five apartments that they rent out, but they do not own them, they rent them from others.   He said that they have learned a lot about what is appealing to their visitors, and are perhaps now ready to buy a property.

The train station was busy and a bit chaotic.  Sandi waited in line at the pharmacy, and gave up, due to a long line.  We took a number to buy a train ticket from a human, but realized that the wait would be measured in hours, not minutes.  We tried again to use the ticket machine, with an attendant to help us if needed, and this time the machine worked, we were able to buy a ticket from Assisi to Rome.  I made a mistake and bought first class tickets instead of second class, but that was only a few dollars difference, and now we will get to ride the first class cars of a local (regional) train to Rome.

We waited to find out our track number, and it came up on the board about 10 minutes before departure.  As we were getting to the train, someone took our bags and hauled them on board.  Not too surprisingly, they wanted a tip.  A learning experience.

The train ride was pleasant, through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside.  The train stopped every few minutes.   We chatted with some Australians in the adjacent seats, and exchanged travel tips.  We took a cab to the convent of St. Brigida.  The sisters have a ministry of hospitality, including similar houses in Rome and other cities.   After we dropped off our luggage, we walked up to town, taking elevators and escalators to do so.    

Our first stop was at the church of St. Chiara (St. Clare), who was the first female follower of St. Francis, and founded the order of the Poor Clares.   We happened to be there when a Spanish language mass was starting, for a group of pilgrims from Lima Peru.  We stayed for mass  The Spanish mass really made me feel at home.  Afterwords I chatted with a couple of the pilgrims, impressing Sandi with my Spanish.  This church, like most of the churches here, is in alternating pink and white marble.

We continued walking, and saw a sign for St. Damiano.  I remembered that San Damiano was where the cross spoke to Francis, telling him to "rebuild my church, which is falling into ruins."   San Damiano was a very tranquil and spiritual place, with only a handful of pilgrims.   We both liked San  Damiano very much.   However, the walk back up to town was long and steep.

The sisters served us and the other guests dinner.  The sisters have a unique habit, including white bands with red dots on their heads.   Our room is simple, like a convent room.  The wifi is only available in the sitting room downstairs.  The patio is divine, with a view of the surrounding countryside.  

On Wednesday we headed back up to town to follow the Rick Steves audio walking tour of the town, which was quite interesting, including the Roman  colliseum, and finishing in fromt of the Basilica.  After lunch, we used his audio guide to the Basilica, paying special attention to the Giotto frescoes.

The photo is of Richard with Sr. Marcelina, the Mother Superior and manager of the guest house. 

More Florence

Saturday morning we slept in, and went shopping in the very nice central mercado. 

Saturday afternoon, we visited the San Lorenzo church, one of the major churches in Florence.  Interestingly, they never installed the facade, it is still rough. This included some bronze panels by Michelangelo.

In the evening, we went to the English language mass at the Duomo. While waiting for the Saturday evening mass, we sat and people watched near the Duomo

On Sunday, we got up early and visited the Acadamia, where the original statue of Daviid is located.  We had an early admission ticket, so we were ahead of the masses.  In addition to MIchaelanglo's statue of David, there was an exhibit of art related to St. Francis.    In a separate part of the museum, there were also interesting musical instruments, including Stradivarius violins By the time we were ready to leave, the place was packed with tour groups.     

After the Acadamia, we went to the central market, where we had lunch.

Sunday evening, we went to vespers, and then to a mass with an organ.   Yes, we have been attending several masses at the Duomo, each for it's own reason.

We ended up sitting right next to the organist.   After mass we chatted with him for a few minutes.   Sandi's sister Peg is the music director for her church, so we had something in common with him.  He was a super-nice guy, and suggested that if Peg visited she could play his amazing organ.  His name is David Jackson; he has a father from Birmingham and a mother from Florence.  He has two PhDs, including one in composition.   The closing music was improvised, which made it especially impressive.   We made a video of him playing the closing music, putting it up as a private video on Youtube.   

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant off the main square, with a very nice waiter,  watching his family eat dinner, and then went to a chamber orchestra concert, including Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Mozaart's A Little Night Music.

On Monday morning, we headed for the church of the Santa Croce, another huge and impressive church, containing the tombs of Dante, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Michelangelo.  An amazing collection of people to be in one city, let alone buried in one church.

We went to our favorite panini place, for the third time; they remembered us.   

After lunch we headed for the church of Santa Maria Novelle, near the train station.  It was perhaps a bit less impressive than the other churches, but had interesting frescos.

Sandi needed to make a business call, but we easily made it back to the apartment in time.  

Tuesday we will leave at noon for Assisi.

  

Florence and Siena

We took the vaporetto to the train station, where we took the frecciargento  high speed train to Florence. It was not truly high speed on that trip, but nice. It speeds up as it gets closer to Rome. Our seat mate was a mischievous English teacher, who bantered with us, and told us that all Italians would try to cheat us.

We bumped our luggage down the bumpy sidewalks of Florence to our apartment, where Asadeh met us in the street, recognizing my photo. The apartment is a studio, and felt like a NYC apartment, but perfectly adequate, with a great  location. We can see the Duomo church from our balcony. 

We found a great panini place and walked around the amazing Duomo church. We bought tickets to the Uffuzi museum, and then walked across the Ponte Vecchio, and up a steep walkway to the Plaza Michelangelo, with a great view of the city.

We had dinner in Bevo Vino, a funky cafe near the river.

Thursday we got up early to go the Uffuzi; we had tickets for 8:15, so we were ahead of the masses.   It was a bit overwhelming.  It was amazing to think of one family with so much wealth and art.  Sandi thinks that she has a better understanding of the Renaissance.  We admired the open air statues in the Plaza Veccio.  At that point we were on art overload, so we went back to the panini place, and took an afternoon nap.  In the evening we went to mass at the Duomo. We went to bed early to get ready for a big day on Friday.

Friday was an all day tour to San Gimagnano and Sienna.  We started at San Gimignano, a hill town and a UNESCO world heritage site.  it is well preserved, and unique for the towers found on many of the houses.  The town was full of busloads of tourists, but it was possible to get off the main road and see a little on our own.  Sandi spent some time and money in the leather market, but managed to show some restraint.

For lunch, we went to a vinyard, tasting wines, olive oil, and truffle oil, which they would be happy to ship to your home.  The guy was quite a saleman.

In Siena, we had a short tour of the town, and then just spent time in the plazas people watching.  The town's peak was earlier than others, so the archtecture is Gothic.  A lot of the economy of the town is and has been based on banking, for hundreds of years.  Siena is famous for the Palio horse race in the square, with neighborhoods competing with each other.  If you want to see it, you need to book a year in advance.   

On the way back to Florence, we stopped at another smaller hill town and fortress, Monteriggoni.  Many movies have been shot there.   Monteriggoni and Sienna are on the pilgrimage route to Rome, the Via Francigena.  Like the camino a Santiago, this has undergone a resurgence of popularily.   

A long day but a good day.

Saturday we slept in, and had a liesurely breakfast.   We headed for the central market, which was very busy and somewhat upscale, but with vegetables and other market products along with fancy food.  We spent $10 to stock our larder.      

In the afternoon, we visited the San Lorenzo church, another amazing church, where Michelangelo and other great artists worked.  

We went to the English mass at the Duomo, and then sat for an hour watching people. Sandi prepared a nice pasta meal.