100 Places in Cuba Every Woman Should Go. Conner Gorry
cowboys (and girls) from the surrounding countryside to compete in heavily contested calf roping events and the like, and the national dog breed show, while not Westminister, is a very serious affair, with well-heeled Cubans parading their pedigreed pooches, including the Cuban-bred Havanese, (called a bichón habanero by locals)—a white puff of a lap dog heavily sought after. If you happen upon a pigeon race, held occasionally here, do not hesitate to hang around to see tough looking characters taking bets, adding soiled pesos cubanos to growing wads as big as a bagel, while others coo at their birds and brandish heritage papers before potential buyers. When the competitors fly in to view, their owners whoop and holler, running flat out as they coax their birds to the finish line. The last one I went to was a Matanzas-Havana race—these birds flew over 70 miles without breaking a sweat!
Internationally sanctioned dog shows happen in Havana each April and November.
There’s a small amusement park, a lake for row boating and horseback riding as well here; for something more adrenaline-pumping, you can zoom around the palm-shaded meadows on an all-terrain motorcycle. Directly south of the park is the Jardín Botánico Nacional, with an astounding collection of palms from around the world and the oasis known as the Jardín Japonés, replete with a giant koi pond and the requisite pagoda. If you’re out this way, detour to the Parque Zoólogico Nacional, the highlight of which is an African safari bus jaunt with hippos, elephants, lions, tigers, and other exotic animals. Many of these beasts were imported in 2013 thanks to a bilateral agreement between Cuba and Namibia, which donated the animals; their travels and successful insertion into the zoo was splashed all over the news and papers for weeks.
RECIPE FOR A PERFECT DAY in Havana: shake off your mojito hangover with a double espresso accompanied by unparalleled views of the Capitolio on the roof of the Hotel Saratoga (preferred hotel of Jimmy Page, Beyoncé, Madonna, and Justin Bieber—who didn’t want to vacate the Presidential Suite for Pope Francisco’s visit), before heading next door to the Asociación Yoruba de Cuba for a crash course in Afro-Cuban religions—Santería, Abakuá, and Palo Monte. The first is the most popular, practiced widely, while Abakuá is a secret society (membership open only to men) flirting with black magic and ghoulish interventions. In Abakuá, the biblical precept of “an eye for an eye” is taken seriously: violence, sometimes fatal, is rained upon those crossing an adherent. Palo Monte falls somewhere in between, with herbal concoctions and communing with the dead employed to harness supernatural powers. If you’ve ever wondered why so many people are wearing white, from their head wraps to their umbrellas, this is the place to find out (they’re being initiated into Santería—the island’s most popular faith by far). Weave your way through Habana Vieja’s choked, cobblestoned streets to the new ferry terminal near the Plaza de Armas and hop on the ferry with gaggles of locals to Regla, across the bay.
Known as “Sierra Chiquita” for its revolutionary fervor, Regla transcends time and space when you step from the still-rocking boat. Suddenly, you’re in a small Cuban town in the countryside where pedestrians outnumber cars and many homes are listing wooden structures with signs reading “esta es tu casa, Fidel,” hanging askew on the front door. Regla is also known as a Santería hotspot. As soon as you disembark, you’ll see the spire of the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, housing the black Madonna (La Santísima Virgen de Regla). She’s a powerful deity, representing Yemayá, orisha of the sea and heartily worshipped, particularly on her saint day, September 8, when thousands come to this church to pay their respects and the Virgin is carried through the town’s narrow streets. On any given day, you can have your future read via shells by devotees outside the church. Leave some time to wander the narrow streets, where you can drink pru, a spicy concoction with a secret formula famous in Cuba’s eastern provinces. Folks from Regla are extraordinarily friendly—grab a bench in the town’s central park for a little mingling.
FOR ART LOVERS, COLLECTORS, AND CURATORS, Cuba is Paradise. There are museums, galleries, private studios, public art, installations, and performances all across the country, enriched by international events including the Bienal de la Habana (see Chapter 85), Holguín’s Romerías de Mayo, and workshops at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA, see Chapter 25). The last, Cuba’s equivalent to New York’s Julliard (and free for aspiring Cuban artists), is largely responsible for training and educating generations of the island’s top talent.
In fact, there’s a saying here that if you turn over a rock, half a dozen talented artists will run out—and this isn’t simply Cuban hyperbole. While artists can be found in every village, town, and mountain hamlet, certain cities are known for their concentration of fabulous art and artists, such as Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and of course, Havana. In the Cuban capital, the top places to see art under one roof are the Cuban collection at the Museo de Bellas Artes (see Chapter 21) and the Fábrica de Arte Cubano (see Chapter 30); the best location to buy art for its wide selection from exquisite to kitsch, is the Almacén de San José, a repurposed warehouse with hundreds of different artists and types of art; and the most accessible place to see art being created (and where you can buy what strikes your fancy), is the Taller Experimental de Gráfica.
Founded in 1962, this working lithographic studio in the heart of Habana Vieja is a fun place to visit even if you’re not in the market for original Cuban art. Tucked away at the end of a small, cobblestone alley (shared with Doña Eutimia, voted by Newsweek as one of the world’s top 100 restaurants) in the Plaza de la Catedral, Cuban printmakers create marvels under the languid spin of ceiling fans here every day. The air is thick with the stink of ink and paint, laced with the piquant aroma of uncut Cuban cigarettes, but it’s tolerable thanks to the large open space, high ceilings, and positive energy the workshop radiates. The artists here—some self-taught novices, others formally trained and established—are usually happy to chat about their process and craft and will show you around. There’s a small gallery upstairs and most of the limited-series prints are for sale. Visitors in town for a month or more should inquire about the printmaking workshops here. Offered regularly, they’re affordable and make a great excuse to play with ink and prints while scratching below the surface of Havana and experiencing Cuba more profoundly than most. Participants will take away memories of a lifetime and a dozen prints of their own creation.
WOMEN HAVE PLAYED A PIVOTAL role in the Cuban Revolution from before the final victory in 1959 until right now, as I type this. There’s Vilma Espín, who marshalled resources and organized personnel for the guerrilla war and founded the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC); Espín’s daughter Mariela Castro, who directs the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and leads the fight against homo- and transphobia; the tens of thousands of women and girls who taught the country to read and write during the Literacy Campaign; and the genius scientists of the country’s biotechnology sector, who developed unique vaccines and therapies unavailable anywhere else in the world. And then there’s Haydeé Santamaría. Her life story is heroic, tragic, epic—and eternal, thanks to her bravery and intellectual acumen.
The Cuban Revolution officially got underway during the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago