Day 7, February 18, 2020: Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba was founded in 1515 by Spaniard Diego Velazquez. From 1522 to 1589 it was the capital of Spanish Cuba. It is still informally the “capital” of eastern Cuba. Situated on an enclosed harbor with a narrow neck, the city persisted once firmly established. It offered shelter, Indian slaves, and provisioning to outfit other Spanish expeditions into the Gulf of Mexico, including those of Hernán Córtes and Hernando de Soto. Santiago has a rich, complex history, and we'll try to touch on some of the salient points over the next several posts.

Hotel Melía in Santiago de Cuba is Spanish-owned, so US citizens traveling on American visas are permitted, for now, to stay there. Although a little worn, it’s a luxury hotel in all respects, modern with luxurious grounds. An in-house tobacco shop specializes in the best-known Cuban cigars.

"Dañino - harmful."

There were a few very minor inconveniences. The escalator which ascends from lobby to mezzanine dining (or descends, depending) was shut down during our stay. Looked as though it had been for a while. Moreover, after the first morning we knew that it’s better to shower in the evening, if hot water is important. Breakfast buffets in Cuba are, like those most anywhere, just breakfast buffets. We remember Jonathan F. cruising, perusing the buffet, looking for something, anything at all, appealing to eat. That’s what a working life filled with breakfast buffet experiences does, right, Jonathan? All in all, though, an elegant, excellent place to stay. Exceptionally friendly staff and management.

Coffee comes in 2-3 oz servings, even Café Americano. It shocks Cubans, the volume of coffee that Americans drink.

We woke to these two panoramas:

Morning in Santiago de Cuba, from the Hotel Melía. The light yellow building on the ridge top, with radio tower, is the famed Moncada Barracks (Cuartel Moncada). On July 26, 1953, 150+/- revolutionaries under then-obscure Fidel and Raúl Castro executed a sneak attack against this outpost of the regular army. The "putsch" failed, Fulgencio Batista remained in power, and a trial followed after the leaders were captured. The Castros went to prison for 2 years. "Movimiento 26 Julio" became the watchword of the Castro's movement. The phrase is ubiquitous in Cuba. The Barracks is now a combined high school/museum.

A good short summary of the attack on Moncada:
http://www.cubahistory.org/en/corruption-a-coups/attack-on-moncada-barracks.html

A contemporary propagandized US report:

https://www.globalimageworks.com/stock/clip/2165_019/attack-on-moncada-barracks

Entrance Drive Hotel Melía

Today was intended up front to be more lax, after the long hours riding of the day before. Mid-morning we bused to Parque Céspedes, in central Santiago, disembarked, and proceeded past the plaza and the downtown cathedral to the Cultural Center of Santiago. Omar López is the city architect and director of Santiago’s architectural preservation and restoration project. Other people from a different tour joined us for his informative audiovisual presentation, offered in Spanish and translated into English by Viviana. Apparently the other tourists understood English, also, or enough of it. At least in architectural terms, Santiago is hanging on to its colonial heritage. It’s an ambitious project, given the challenges of funding, the age of many of the buildings, occasional earthquakes, and the adjacent ocean with its degradative salt-water air and periodic tropical storms and hurricanes.

Old centro Santiago. Parque Céspedes left center.

Nuestra Señora de la Asunción has stood exactly here on the east side of Parque Céspedes, in one form or another, since the 1520's.

Omar López, Santiago architect and historian.

Just a short walk brought us to a century-old building which now holds the rehearsal and private performance space for Coro Orfeón de Santiago de Cuba. Coro Orfeón, one of the prestigious chorales of Cuba, is on par with the Cuban National Chorus for reputation and demand. They sing a cappella. We had the gift of a private performance. The acoustics of the old foyer and front room, the high ceilings, were wonderful, harmonically reverberative. The current director is Daria Abreu Feraud. For decades after the chorus was founded in 1961, its director was the founder, Electo Silva, much revered in Santiago.

Recognition at their 50th anniversary

These videos present Coro Orfeón. They sing many traditional Spanish/Cuban songs, but we choose on our blog to portray the breadth of their repertoire:

Monteverdi, "Cantate Domine."
https://youtu.be/WbrG7YMzNhE

Runestad, "Let My Love be Heard" (accompaniment by the Motocicletas of Calle Heredia).
https://youtu.be/mUIZNUvw8qM

"Judgement's Coming", Spiritual.
https://youtu.be/rFdLvsmJdSw

Their version of "Guantanamera."
https://youtu.be/XXZ-f6SkXaw

Elvis:
https://youtu.be/5R1mGxE785o

Jeff Marx/Glee Cast, "You Have More Friends Than You Know."
https://youtu.be/Cy9ad_9A2YQ


From Plaza Céspedes, streets going west slope down to the harbor. This area is active with businesses, workshops and tourist spots. A few blocks from the cathedral is Galería Bayate. The gallery shows works by Grupo Bayate, a consortium of "naive" artists from the region, headquartered in the town of Mella. Greeting us there was Luís Rodriguez Ricardo, AKA “El Estudiante.” Luís’s father, Luís Rodriguez Arias, AKA “El Maestro,” is a group founder (“Vamos Para Baracoa”, Day 6, is his). Grupo Bayate has a tight, mutually beneficial bond with IFAM. More will be said of Grupo Bayate in the post for Day 9. These works below are emblematic of Cuban arte naíf.

Second from the right is gorgeous. It's now got a great home with Gabe and Elizabeth.

Paladar Thoms y Yadira is on the second floor of an old building around the corner from the front of the cathedral. They specialize in PASTA AND PIZZA! BOOYAH!

After lunch, we were unloosed to stroll for an hour or so, go into shops on and around Calle Heredia, look about some. A few stuck around briefly at Thoms y Yadira for a little extra albeit out-of-pocket imbibing. A few others lazed about the plaza and people-watched.

Céspedes fronts the Cathedral in Parque Céspedes.

From the front steps of the Cathedral, across Parque Céspedes. The building on the other side of the plaza is the Ayuntamiento (public government). From the balcony above the front entrance, Fidel Castro formally announced victory over Batista and the success of the Revolution in 1959.

Bar at Restaurante Thoms y Yadira

Closeup of bar at Thoms y Yadira

Facade of Casa de la Trova, famed music venue. Interior shots below.

With human subject.

Without human subject.

Small galleries, bookshops, crafts abound:

The museum displays objects and costumes which characterize the mid-July Carnaval de Santiago. Carnaval has African roots, with parading, drumming, instrumental music, and grandiose displays of clothing and dance. This one is the largest in the Caribbean. Drawing crowds as it does, and happening in the hottest, most humid time of year, the locals see it as a mixed blessing, mostly positive. We don't remember much detail of this museum, electing not to pay to take pictures.

Motorized traffic does not stop for pedestrians in Cuba. This woman knows the (unwritten?) rules.

MJ chats with this señora ciega (blind woman), a fixture at Parque Céspedes. She's visually impaired but not completely blind. The cigar is a prop. We never saw it lit, or for that matter in her mouth.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT #1:

All were anticipating our evening private reception on the outdoor deck of the 11th floor rooftop bar. There are stunning views of the city from there. Six or 8 of us congregated at the door, a few minutes before opening at 5 p.m. A trio of strangers (two women, one man) showed up just after, not friendly, loitered about. The smiling host unlocked the door. All hell broke loose. Of an instant, those three bulled past us, elbows flying, through the door onto the deck, and began gathering tables and chairs, dragging and scraping, next to the rail on the sunset side. No apology, no explanation, no eye contact, nada.

The manager, apologetic and a little sheepish, said that, yes, we were expected and they weren’t, but the bar actually didn’t offer reservations. When the rest of them arrived, they were Germans all, having a sort-of Euro-prole look, maybe ten in number. They commandeered half the total space. We had more than twice as many people. They aggressively ordered their drinks first, before we could, then lit cigarettes and cigars (every single one smoked). They had a grand old talk-and-cough-a-thon. Seated inches behind MJ, one guy smoked a cigar and a cigarette simultaneously, one in each hand, holding his puro right next to her head and blowing smoke into her hair.

We cogitated what, if anything, to do about this belligerency. Dave’s motion, seconded and third-ed but dying without passage, was to try and run them off: get bombed and obnoxious on Ron Santiago 11 años, and start group-chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” Surely they’d be disgusted by that. In about an hour, though, as suddenly as they had stormed in, they got up and left. But we had our travel theme for the next several days: any minor glitch or inconvenience would be laid on “the Germans.”

Our Tucson friend Barbara, who is from West Germany, assures us that such comportment is seen only for German tourists from the old East Germany.

So we had the subsequent DJ’ed music and salsa dancing lessons to ourselves. Does someone have videos to share? We all know who the wild women are!

And there one of them is!  Thank you, Susan B.!

*********** 

Dinner at El Madrileño, a very nice restaurant in a mostly residential, leafy neighborhood. We ate outside in their central courtyard. Memorable night.

From the roof bar at Hotel Melía.