Captivating Cuba

Hola, it's Hector here.

I thought I would share with you one very interesting festival I know - The Havana Biennial. This year, the festival will have been going for 25 years now, which I am very happy about. Let me tell you a little bit about why I like it so much.

The Havana Biennial is a festival which gets artists from very different backgrounds to display their works all together. There is such a big range of art, and all artists are welcome. The festival is about contemporary artwork from around the world, and it is about the thoughts of the Cuban people as well as thoughts around the globe.

It is a way for people to speak their minds freely. That is why I find it so special and important. There are projects from places like South America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and the Western countries. So it is really is a global festival.

The artwork is very interesting, and it is great to spend some looking at the displays when you're here in Havana. It is hosted in the colonial buildings of Havana's historical centre, which makes the festival even more historically fascinating. It was held in March and April this year, and more than 200 artists from 40 countries displayed their artwork.

I definitely recommend it for people visiting Havana during the festival time, as there are so many different art forms that there will be something for everyone here.

Hope to see you for Havana's next Biennial,

Hector

posted at: 12:21 | path: /hector | permanent link to this entry | 0 comments

I have a confession; I'm not a huge fan of creatures of the reptilian variety. Their scaly skin and quick movements usually send shivers down my spine. So I'm not the sort of person that you would find on the island of Cayo Iguana. However, if there's one thing that I do love its catamaran cruises and scuba diving excursions, so on my last trip to Cuba I thought that I'd brave the iguanas and take a cruise to the famous Cayo Largo. Cayo Largo is located near to Cayo Coco, Cuba, which is littered with a number of all-inclusive Cayo Coco hotels and resorts. However, I'd chosen to board the boat in Trinidad, where excursions to Cayo Iguana run daily.

The catamaran cruise was amazing and en-route we stopped off at the beautiful coral reef surrounding Cayo Coco, Cuba for a spot of snorkelling. The marine life around the reef was incredible and although it was too early in the year to spot sea turtles, I saw brightly coloured angel fish, blue tangs, clown fish and grouper. I could have stayed at Cayo Coco, Cuba all day, particularly as it would have meant missing the iguanas of Cayo Iguana.

Hector, who was with me on this trip, began slicing up bananas for the iguanas almost as soon as the boat left Cayo Coco, Cuba. He explained that it was the iguana's favourite food, but you had to feed them quickly as they could nip your fingers. This fact really was not helping my phobia and neither was the fact that on sailing up to the island, I could already spy hundreds of dark green shapes. I'm literally not joking when I say hundreds; you can not see the sand for the masses of Cuban iguanas that lounge on the beaches.

Apparently, the island was far more populated with iguanas prior to the onset of Hurricane Michelle in 2001. The hurricane killed many of the iguanas and the devastation that it caused to the island's vegetation had a negative effect on the remaining lizards. However, the population is slowly improving, and Hector told me that he spotted several baby iguanas on the islands. The baby iguanas were keen to eat the fresh banana from his hands and largely ignored the hordes of excitable tourists snapping pictures of them.

Okay, I admit Hector had to tell me all about the iguanas as I was far too 'chicken' to even get off the boat. But maybe on my next trip I'll actually get to see the iguanas for myself. Just don't hold your breath.

posted at: 12:16 | path: /jasna | permanent link to this entry | 0 comments

Hi there. Not everyone who first goes to Cuba knows it was the adopted home of one of the most famous writers of our time - Ernest Hemmingway. But once they get to Havana it soon becomes obvious! There are lots of tributes around the city pointing out his favourite haunts and points of interest relating to him. As I have always been a huge fan, one of the things I really wanted to do when I was there was to visit his former house - which is now a museum.

It is a little out of the way being about 15 km out of town, but it will only take about half an hour to get their from your Havana hotel. It is known as Finca Vigia which apparently is Spanish for 'Lookout Farm' and you can see why, because the views are really spectacular. The house is set in lovely gardens and has a really calm and relaxing aura about it. Although he visited Cuba for many years beforehand, Hemmingway also lived here permanently for over twenty years. It is easy to see why he loved it so much and how he drew such inspiration from his surroundings.

Inside the house, although it is called a museum, it's not set out like you would normally expect a museum to be. It is really just preserved as a residence, exactly how it would have been when he lived there with his wife. All the original furnishings are intact and the house contains around 9000 books from Hemmingway's personal collection. Most of them are now in reasonable condition even though, before a huge restoration project in the last few years, many valuable papers and books were lost due to the humidity. There are also around 3000 photographs throughout the house, either of Hemmingway, or ones that he took himself.

The Cubans really adopted the author as one of their own, even giving him the affectionate nickname 'Ernesto'. And he loved them just as much and his affection for the people as well as the country itself shows in many of his most famous novels - especially 'The Old Man and the Sea'. Inside the house, you can go into his study and see the typewriter on which he created all his famous work, and as you look out the window onto the fabulous views, it's almost possible to imagine that you could create a masterpiece from here too!

All in all, the Ernest Hemmingway Museum is a fantastic insight into this great man, and well worth a visit to learn about one of the most famous residents of Cuba. Hotel staff can organise a lift there for you even if you aren't a fan yet - you will be once you leave!

Til next time

Peter

posted at: 12:12 | path: /peter | permanent link to this entry | 0 comments