Henry had arrangements with our convertible driver the day prior to take us for two hours out to Hemingway's house. We arranged for a 2pm pick-up, which was incredibly fortunate and lucky on our part, because I didn't realize our panel ended at 1pm. If we had arranged for a 1pm pick-up, it would have gone badly.
Well, we didn't see him in the lobby or outside. Or his car (we didn't see it outside, silly, it wouldn't have been parked inside!). We thought maybe since we were a couple minutes late, that he left. He had called up to the room, but Carol wasn't by the phone, and I had no idea what he (Armando) was saying, because he was speaking 100% Spanish, and I understand about 1% of Spanish.
Finally, someone who wasn't our driver showed us his cell phone, and a text about Bolger. Since it is not a common Cuban name, we realized: that's us! Our previous driver couldn't do it, so Armando was dispatched for the job.
He gave us a quick tour past Old Havana and through Central City again. When you are stylin' in the back seat of a Ford Fairlane 500 from 1958, seeing the brilliant sights of those areas was not duplicative -- just cool. Armando was happy Carol speaks Spanish, so he even told us the names of all the buildings we already knew. Heck, a few times I already knew what was around the corner.
The car is older than we are. Really!
(For two hours, this baby was ours!)
By the way, I had heard about the old cars in Havana, but never realized just how cool they look. Some are rundown, but most -- especially those serving as taxis -- are in amazing shape. They all now have more recent diesel engines, but the rest of the car is amazing. If I could figure out how to buy one and get it back to the States, I would. Whoa, they are amazing.
After that quick tour, we headed out of town. The neighborhoods and buildings were not in as good shape, but we saw lots of Cubans out and about, passing schools, restaurants, factories, and homes. The temperature dropped as we headed up to the surrounding hills, and then reached the finca (farmette).
Unless you are with a special tour group, you can't go into the house, but you could look in all the windows and open doors. Lots of books (shocking, I know!), and animal trophies. Even though you can't go in, seeing his library and various rooms, with the original furniture and wall hangings is pretty cool. We could go up the small tower next to house, and get good views into Havana. He had a writing room on top of the tower, and we could peer into that.
Looking through his front door.
Hemingway's sitting room
Bullfighting poster from Spain
Half of his library, and some rando dude.
The other half of his library.
Any bullfighting poster owned by
Hemingway is worthy of a picture.
A Hemingway-owned Picasso bull.
Mind officially blown.
After the Tower (the stairs were crowded at first, then no one), we walked down to his old pool -- at one point it was the biggest in Havana until Meyer Lansky built a bigger one, saw his boat -- the Pilar, and the old cockfighting area. There was also a small cemetery for his favorite pets. It was quite peaceful, and cooler than down in the city. Built in 1886, it felt like the kind of house you'd want to own in the tropics.
Old slide projector in Hemingway's room
Palm tree on his property, but
you already figured that out.
The Tower
Side of the house
The pool. I wanted to jump in,
but, you know, it's empty!
Cool root system next to the pool
His boat, Pilar, and fishing chair.
Part of the front of the house
Hemingway had written "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "The Old Man and the Sea" at the Finca.
After our short tour there (30 minutes at the most), we headed back to the car.
I wasn't given the chance to drive.
Carol's nail polish matched the pink in the seats.
We headed back to the city, with a quick spin on the eastern bank -- past El Morro, the Bay of Pigs weapons display, and the Christ Statue that overlooks the city (more on that in a future post).
On the ride back, we drove past the domes
of the Russian Orthodox Church
Guns on the Eastern side of Havana Harbor
Bay of Pigs weaponary
Christo de la Habana
Havana from the car
Armando, back at the hotel.
1 comment:
Wait. You are saying that straw bull was made by Picasso?! And nothing more? How do you know this? What Picasso "era" was this?
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