A Love Letter to Havana

Let me be perfectly clear.  I absolutely love Havana.  Carol shares that feeling, but my remarks here may go beyond even what she is comfortable in expressing.

After not quite 72 hours in this city, I have already crowned it as the most remarkable, coolest, vibrant city I have been in the New World, and it competes on equal footing for the title of the most impressive in the world with London, Paris, Rome, Prague, Vienna and Seville.  (I haven’t been everywhere, but I doubt much can compete with Havana).

The architecture is stunning – colonial Spanish with squares, colorful buildings that have been redone as of late.  Havana is certainly benefitting from UNESCO money meant to fix it up before the 500th anniversary in 2019.  The squares are stunning and alive.

Whether on foot or in car, there is a delight around every corner in Old Havana and in City Center.  While some of the buildings are crumbling and rundown, many more recently renovated and painted, retaining the historic charm but looking clean and fresh.  There is a vibrancy to the city, sometimes no one is around, whilst other streets are packed.  Perhaps we are foolish, but we felt completely safe walking the streets – no worries about pickpockets such as in Barcelona (irregardless, don’t be stupid!).

(Homage to my mom the English teacher – it would drive her nuts when my dad would say “irregardless” because the “ir” isn’t needed – which of course is why he would say it!  Now, don’t get me started on the ironic overuse of “literally” and the nearly literal death of “figuratively.”  That’s not what this blog is about – if it was, I’d be pointing out improper use of apostrophes and that people have no idea how to use quotes.  Or, should I say “quotes.”  Glen, get back on track here!)

Many of the buildings are open to the public to just walk in and gawk at the courtyards.  Those that are not open are either government buildings, or they are museums with a reasonable fee of (essentially) $2 or $5, depending.  I can’t think of any city where you can go inside as many facades as Havana.

Every restaurant we ate at is fabulous.  I know, I know – the average Cuban can not eat at those restaurants.  Hey, that’s why America needs to stay engaged in Cuba and cannot undo what Obama started – more American involvement, investment, and tourism will help lift more Cubans out of their lower economic strata.  The paradars (private restaurants) prove that capitalism works (not perfectly, but profit motive results in hard work by many).  And remember, not every American can afford to eat at great restaurants in the States.

One advantage of a lack of cars (although the ratio of well-maintained pre-Revolution cars to those which are not well-maintained is probably greater than five to one) is that there are no back-ups, even in City Center.  Which means that Cubans cross the road where ever they damn well please.  No “cross at the green and not in-between” ad campaigns here.  Most times there is no traffic coming, other times you may have to wait for two-five cars to go, and as you are waiting, you are slowly venturing out into the curb lane, cutting off the drivers’ options.

Is everything perfect in Havana?  Of course not, but that also is part of its charm (having no hot water to shower in is decidedly not charming, but it concentrates the mind on soaping up, shampooing, rinsing, and finishing!).

At the National Hotel (hangout for mobsters in the 1950s), there were quite a few foreign tour groups – including many Americans.  One minute the lobby would clog with an incoming group fresh off the bus, and the next minute we would make ourselves scarce and leave.  Given the Cuban inefficiency of doing almost everything by paper, check-in must have been a nightmare.

Problems aside, the National is a great, historic hotel.  Its fame as a hangout for the American mob, movie stars, Frank Sinatra, and others is not just what makes it cool, although that helps.

Sitting up high on the famed Santa Clara bluff (what, you’ve never heard of that bluff – well, famed in Cuba!), it has great views of the Atlantic, across to the El Morro fort, with a huge lawn in the back for drinks and relaxation.  There are also trenches that were used during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and cannons from the Spanish-American war that fired on American ships.  The lobby is huge, with people from many nations milling about, looking dazed and confused.

I developed a tradition (three times counts as a tradition) of, at the end of a hot day of sightseeing, of heading down to the cafeteria (nicest “cafeteria” I’ve ever been in) and buying two sparkling waters and two chocolate ice creams.  The third day the gentlemen working there just started putting it together when I walked in, and they joked that I knew how much it cost (which I did!).  One fellow handed me a card for his small hotel in Havana, urging us to stay there next time!

Opportunity is knocking, and many Cubans want to answer the door!

Other Americans at the conference was Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster and my partner in crime, and Charlie Cook and three of his family (wife Lucy, son/girlfriend).  Talk about old-fashioned – we would have to see them to make dinner plans – texting was not an option, and we never knew when any of us would be on email.  It was like the 1950s, or 60s, or 70s, or 80s.  Basically, it was life pre-Blackberry (if you are too young to know what a revolutionary device the Blackberry was before it was supplanted by smartphones, well, then you have know idea what I mean!).

(By the way, having some people to go out to dinner with every night – and then get a drink or two back at the hotel with, really made the trip even that much more special.  As old friends do, we could discuss American politics without venom or anger, which seems rare these days, and also share in the delights of our days doing our separate tourist things.  We really enjoyed their company.)

Two last points for this posting:

1.   Cubans do not walk around with their heads down, focused only on their smart phones, ear buds in.  Instead they do weird things like engage in conversation.  Weird stuff.

2. If you haven’t figured out, I absolutely love Havana, and can not wait to come back.