Art in Cuba is Public (and Political)

Havana's streets are peppered with whimsy.  Some of the public art in the streets is clever and amusing -- seeking smiles. 

Entrance to a movie theater. Brilliant box office

Mail slot in the Outdoor Wall of a Building

Sculptures sitting in the Plaza de San Francisco de Asis in Habana Vieja 

 Mirrored Windows in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, reflecting Old Buildings across the street

Artist Jose Fuster, who builds ceramic sculptures all over his property and his neighbors' homes. His mosaics look like Gaudi's work that appears in public places in Barcelona.

This wall and bench a block away from Jose Fuster's home offers Homage to Gaudi

 Havana's University of the Arts

Student demonstrating his art project, putting heads of figures on unlikely bodies -- Mother Teresa and Salvadore Dali naked.  It's a game.  Everything is political.

Huge mural of Che Guevara on Plaza de la Revolucion. The words "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Always toward Victory)  

This cartoon poster is on the wall of the first floor in the Museum of the Revolution. The museum is in the palace of Cuba's former president. The beautiful marble palace was designed by Tiffany of New York in the spirit of a European royal palace, with a second floor ballroom of mirrors fashioned after Versailles in France.  Each of the capitalist leaders in this line-up is insulted in three languages. The Rincon de los Cretinos ("Cretins' Corner") consists of unflattering cartoons of Batista, Reagan, George Bush and "W. Bush".  The message to W (pictured with a swastika on his helmet). is: "Thank you cretin for helping us to make socialism irrevocable". 

Artist Lester Campa lives and works in Las Terrazas, a community in rural Vinales, west of Havana.  His work has been called environmental political. I think it's just political.  He is standing next to a drawing of a tree casting a shadow. The reality is not as full of life as the shadow suggests.

This black coral jewelry is for sale in the gift shop of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.  The hotel is owned and managed by the government.  By the way, it is against the law in Cuba to take black coral or to sell it. How deliciously ironic that it is displayed for sale in a government-owned store?

No Cliche: Cuba Cars are 1950s USA

It is not just a photo op. It's true.

All over Cuba are time-warped 1950s American cars. Many are repainted in colors that Detroit never dreamed of.  These big old autos have clocked hundreds of thousands of miles. Drivers I spoke with don't know how many times the odometer dial has spun around. Four hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand? More?

Replacement parts have not been available for decades. There are mechanics who make parts that no longer exist.  Some cars have given in to wear and tear and have replaced the guts with old Soviet Lada engines or with newer engines taken from Toyotas.

Dreamy Colors 

In front of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba

 View from the backseat while riding in a taxi

Peering into a car parked on a Havana city street. Getting by.

Supposedly used by Fidel's first bodyguards 

 Rural Transport

Havana Tourist Buses are Asia de Cuba

Shiny blue tourist buses trundle around Havana. The buses are air conditioned, plush, comfortable and plentiful. And, they are Chinese. The sun visors in the front of every bus have a map of Cuba on one side and Chinese characters on the other.

One of many same, same tourist buses in Cuba. This one is on Havana's Malecon, its seaside drive.

Inside a China-made tour bus in Cuba 

 Shiny tour bus parked in front of Havana's historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba. It is in a line of buses waiting to pick up and disgorge tourists. 

In sharp contrast to the cushy coaches that tote tourists, the local buses are a different story. They are stuffed with standing travelers, arms hanging out of the windows, draped over the bars covering the glassless windows.

School bus for the locals

Cuba has few cars to travel its highways. It is just as common to see cars, trucks and buses as it is to see horse carts, walkers and hitchhikers.

A Tale of Two Currencies in Cuba

Before going to Cuba, I read about how travelers must exchange money into CUCs (pronounced like "kooks" or "cooks").  I got a headache trying to understand it. Locals use a different currency referred to as local pesos. The exchange rates between CUCs and pesos and what can and can't be done with each currency is confusing.  Predictably, CUCs are used for tourist commerce like restaurants, taxis, admissions to museums and tips. The government controls all currency exchange; and the sale of CUCs is an engine that drives foreign currency into Cuba.

However, locals, all of whom work for the government one way or another, are paid in local pesos. But, those Cubans who are fortunate enough to interact  with foreigners can expect to earn salaries in pesos and also to earn generous tips from tourists in CUCs. 

Why does that matter?  

CUCs can buy the good stuff.  CUCs and only CUCs can be used to buy things that are very hard to get in Cuba.  CUCs are the currency bridge to the outside world.  This gets really clear when you go into a store. Locals are forced into dreary, sadly stocked shops with paltry offerings and mostly bare shelves. 

 Selection of household goods, toiletries and plumbing supplies for sale in local pesos

Local peso offerings for house and garden products

Food rations for sale in local pesos. Each citizen is allowed to buy only one half chicken per month. The smiling clerk is weighing rice for a customer. The chalk board behind him shows what is available. Each Cuban receives an allotment according to their needs. Pregnant women, children and people with certain diseases are permitted to get more.

Used clothing for sale in local pesos

But, for foreigners who must shop in CUC stores, and for locals who work in tourism and can get access to CUCs, the gateway to goods is pretty wide open.  The stores that do business in CUCs feature extensive product offerings and are well stocked with goods from all over the world. You can buy Pringles and flat screen TVs in the CUC stores. And, CUC-denominated stores are much nicer -- well lit and air conditioned.  Below is a picture in a CUC store, showing a selection of canned fruits by Libby's.

This upscale shoe store in the restored section of Habana Vieja (Old Havana) is as first world as they come. Such stark contrast to the local peso stores selling a sad collection of castoffs.

This row of stores in Habana Vieja includes a Benetton and a British shop.

I have to wonder if access to foreigners and their CUCs explains the career changes of two doctors we met. One is a veterinarian who gave up practice and switched to being a tour guide for nature hikes. Another one said he was a family physician who quit practicing medicine in order to manage his father's art business full time. Instead of diagnosing and treating disease, he organizes dinners for gallery visitors and international expositions to increase visibility and value of his father's work. The lure to an occupation providing access to tourist currency is very compelling. We also met a rural family doctor whose monthly government salary in pesos is the equivalent of $40.  Of course, the state provides free education, food rations, housing, health care and more. But still, $40 is what a tourist pays to a Havana taxi driver to ride around for a day in a '57 Chevy. This particular doctor provided (really good, herbal oil) massages for tourists, for tips.  He figured out a way to practice medicine, while supplementing his income with a major amount of CUCs.

Cuban Cemetery: Knock and Walk Backwards

In Havana, the huge Necropolis Cristobal Colon is one of the largest cemeteries in the Americas. It is crammed with sparkling white ornate classical marble sculpture in tidy rows as far as the eye can see.  From its beginnings in 1870, many of the tombs' statues were commissioned in Florence, Italy. The tree-shaded avenues make for a lovely stroll between the tombs. 

A guide will explain the commonly used funerary symbols. 

An upside-down torch means a life snuffed out. 

An hourglass with wings means that time on earth has flown by too fast. 

 A mother pelican with babies gathered around suggests that she knows she is dying, pecks holes in her sides, and offers her own blood to her babies for nourishment.

One of the largest tombs in the cemetery is a tomb honoring firefighters. A heavy black iron chain encircles the monument. Hanging from the chain like charms on a bracelet are pendulous ovals that represent tears (which I mistook for symbols of bombs).

The tomb of Señora Amelia Goyri is the most frequently visited site. Visitors have left hundreds of plaques and notes to her.  

Amelia died in childbirth in 1901. Her heartbroken husband visited her grave several times each day. Every time he left, he knocked her stone slab with one of the four iron rings on the vault  (to try to awaken her) and then walked away backwards so he could look at her as long as possible. Legend has it that after he died, the bodies of Amelia and her baby were exhumed.  It was discovered that Amelia was a virgin and the baby, who had been buried at her feet, was found in her arms. Amelia is now known as La Milagrosa (the miraculous one) and she attracts thousands of visitors annually. Mostly women come to the tomb, touch the baby, pray for their wishes to come true, rap on the knockers, and then retreat backwards.  

Interestingly, there are very few live flowers seen in the expansive cemetery.  (Amelia's grave is a notable exception). As part of the government's control of the mosquito populations and related disease, any flowers placed at a gravesite are removed the same day before they can rot. 

Cemetery workers hand cut the grass.  In fact, just about everywhere in Havana where I saw yard work being done, it was done by hand like these guys.