What fool can think of going for a tour in the rain when the sky is not beautifully adorned with fluffy clouds and their characteristic warm blue blanket on an island like ours? But let's make this even more extreme... what nutbag could come up with this on a bicycle?
👻
Yes, to me and another madman who has just arrived at Hive. Yesterday, in the rain, he got his account.
What can we say about these wet and sad days for those who let themselves be in this mood... that a hot chocolate, blankets, films and TV shows seem to be the appropriate things to do when the rain starts to fall very thinly, suddenly, and then unloads thousands of thick and cold drops as if someone was pouring jugs and jugs from somewhere in the sky.
However, madness has its rewards. And from now on, I'm going to tell you in detail about the route and all our adventures.
The route starts from my house in Marianao Municipality, on Calle 100, near Boyeros Avenue, looking for 41st Avenue. In 60th Street I picked up my companion and we continued pedalling along this road until 23rd Street in the Vedado neighbourhood. There we had to make our first protective stop because the rain was pouring down. The idea was to go along 23rd street, take San Lázaro and Infanta streets and approach Belascoaín. The gusts of wind on 23 as we approached the Malecón became stronger and stronger and forced us to get off our bikes. This made us laugh a lot, and I imagine the people who saw us in that situation did too.
The first mission we had was to buy a device to convert my newly repaired speakers to Bluetooth.
At the second spot where we had to protect ourselves from the rain, we saw a moving truck pass by, which did not escape the wind and it was a tremendous show to see the tarpaulin flying as if it had wings.
Finding the address was very easy with the help of local neighbours. So the mission was successful and we decided to continue to Old Havana to see if we could see some of the works of the Biennial of Art placed in its streets.
Like the graffiti that opens this post, we found these further on. Along the way we saw many more. There is so much to photograph in Havana!
When we arrived it was like that, and there was even a girl in a white dress all stained with mud, accompanied by photographers and assistants who apparently did not foresee the bad weather. She really had a face of sadness and regret... I was very sad to photograph that scene.
So I just took this picture of the tourists waiting for the drizzle to stop.
We went through doorways, dragging our bikes to see if we could get a coffee somewhere, and went around the block. It's possible to do it without getting wet, under the shelter of those big arcades.
We had no luck, but from there I also took some photos showing some very interesting buildings in terms of architecture.
As you can see, it has beautiful fluted columns with Corinthian capitals and a classical pediment, crowned with the coat of arms of the Republic of Cuba. The denticulated cornice serves as an eave and also has an ornamental purpose. The construction, dating back to 1922, is rather sober for its eclectic style.
(One day I have to give you an architectural tour... but let's move on)
We were standing at the back of the Martí Theatre, inaugurated in 1884 and originally called Irijoa, in honour of the man who built it.
This is an iconic building in our city, as it is the favourite place for buffo and musical theatre in Cuba, including the Cuban premiere of the opera ‘La Boheme’ by Giacomo Puccini. In 1900 it was renamed with the name of Martí, after our apostle, and a year later it was the seat of the Constituent Assembly in charge of writing the first Magna Carta for the Cuban Republic, to be released on May 20th 1902.
I can't really tell you what this was before it fell into ruin, but this is just around the corner. I thought it was beautiful in spite of everything.
One more photo and we headed down Prado Avenue towards our destination. I told @luisdrian that it wasn't going to rain any more. We had a good laugh when it started pouring again and we arrived soaked at the Asturiano where we had a good coffee and chocolate, peanut and lemon wafers.
They kindly served us what we asked for outside as we had our bikes with us and could not leave them alone.
When we finally reached the beginning of the Harbour Avenue, we found this marvel.
It is the work entitled ‘Equilibrium’, by the artist Osmany Betancourt, Lolo (Cuba) and David Griesmyer (USA).
I took all these pictures with my mobile phone because although I had my camera in my backpack, it was raining too much to mistreat it like this. So maybe very soon, with better weather, I will do a more detailed tour.
I love to see these boats floating in the sea, and the sound of the water gently lapping against them. The air is full of saltpetre here. And as it was Sunday, everything was calmer without so much noise from vehicles passing through the area. Sporadically one would pass over a puddle of water, splitting it in half and splashing to both sides.
We entered the square where the famous Templete is located... the one with the ceiba tree, where people do the ritual of circling it on the date of the foundation of Havana, and then we saw this work of art. It is made of mirror polished stainless steel and has a height of 12 metres.
We walk to the Ruben Martínez Villena Library behind the tree of a thousand voices. I really like that park which is right next to where I say our "little" Wall Street bull is.
But just to the side of the library there is something I also like to look at.
As we looked towards the horizon we could see a misty haze caused by the fine rain that was falling all over Havana. It was a very beautiful landscape, in my opinion.
They were the protagonists of this tour so they deserved a lot of portraits.
Luckily we were both warm because it's not that cold, but with the rain you feel it a bit more.
A Mercury crowning the dome of the Lonja del Comercio, in the Plaza de San Francisco, in the background, and several places of tourist interest as well as the headquarters of the harbour pilots, and much more we had to pass before reaching the Alameda de Paula where we would have a meeting with someone very special.
What you see over there will be presented in a better way in a few seconds.
But now, focus on what is in front of the Church of San Francisco de Paula.
I was going to tell you about the drizzle you can see on my glasses, but let's get to the point.
She is Enriqueta Faber (Lausanne, 1791 - New Orleans, 1845), the first woman to practice medicine in Cuba... dressed as a man. The author of this sculpture is José Ramón Villa Soberón and it was placed here in 2020. Soberón is also the creator of the statue of John Lennon in Vedado and of the Gentleman from Paris, which is located at the entrance of the Convent Auditorium San Francisco de Asís.
It's a great story to tell but for the moment I'll leave you with the trailer of the film Insumisas, which I loved, and which is great material to get to know the story of this great woman.
- Enrique Faber, a Swiss surgeon, arrives in Cuba to find his son, kidnapped by one of his aunts. Standing in front of the ruins of a coffee plantation, he was horrified to discover that both had died in a slave revolt. Settling in Baracoa, Enrique gradually comes to understand the complex and contradictory Cuban society. But three years after his marriage to Juana de León, his true identity is revealed: Enrique is in fact a woman who has dressed as a man in order to practice medicine. Sent to prison, Enriqueta Faber then faces the most scandalous trial in Cuban colonial history.
Across the street is this brewery and we intended to drink a pitcher of craft beer there, but the service was really bad and that annoyed us.
Of course, I did not miss the opportunity to admire this beautiful sculpture more closely.
Cuban artist Martha Jiménez paid tribute to the city on its 500th anniversary with this giant tricycle. The piece entitled ‘Contra viento y marea’ (Against Wind and Tide) stood out among the works presented as collateral exhibitions at the 13th Havana Biennial.
Here the walk is almost over. Well, I can't say that because it was time to go back. Up to here we had cycled several kilometres... so the way back, you know, the same thing. We headed towards the terminal where people board the so-called ‘Lanchita de Regla’ to cross the bay to that municipality, and there we had a close encounter with seagulls.
Although the sky wanted to show its blue, I didn't dare to say that it wouldn't rain anymore. Because... I came home soaked.
I accompanied my friend to his house, had a conversation with this feline and headed back to mine. I arrived really tired, cold... but there is nothing that a good "Guajira" malt can't alleviate.
Plus I played music on my Logitech speakers with my new bluetooth device.
(in my previous post is the explanation of that, if you missed it)
