When I imagined Cuba...Old Havana is always what came to mind. Arched architecture...clay tiles...pastels building façades and (of course) all those lovely 50's vintage cars.
A jewel nestled in the midst of the urban sprawl that is Havana. A city of 2.2 Million people.
Dotted with Royal Palms and statues of Revolutionaries.
And not to disappoint
also the cars
and the cars
and yes...the cars
What could be more enjoyable than an island...where the average temperature year round is 74 degrees...a sugar white beach is never more than a few miles away...and you are surrounded by Royal Palms & 50's Automobiles???
Seriously.
But they are are Communists and have President Raul Castro, you say.
Right...and this year we have President Donald Trump.
What's your point?
So, yes. I have been smitten with the Island Life, Scruffy Bearded Beret'd Revolutionaries and The Vintage Cars since about 1974.
Most of the cars range in vintage from 1940's up to 1959. With the embargo beginning in 1960 and no American Imports since, Havana has become what one writer in Vancouver called "A Rolling Car Museum".
In Havana they take the care and restoration of these vehicles very seriously. They are a huge part of Havana's world-wide tourist industry. People come from all over the world to see these rolling beauties.
https://youtu.be/kUt0DZGQNxE
Check out this slideshow.
(I may need a smoke)
Also procured from my local library
Under the Royal Palms
A girl's life growing up in Cuba
And yet another Autobiography
dictated by
Fidel Castro
I have personally read 3 of them.
Yes...AUTOBIGRAPHIES
No idea how many biographies are floating around out there as well.
To be honest he kind of lost me in his last one released several years ago when he admitted (or a least boasted) that he was responsible ( and the informant to the CIA in Guatemala) for the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevera- who had
(direct quote)
"Outlived his Usefulness"
Around the same time Fidel also started referring to The People as
The Peasants.
Go figure.
The ravings of an egomaniac
or the bragging of an old man
who realized the end was near and
wanted the world to know?
Perhaps, at the time, he knew he was becoming more and more
like Batista and realized that Che
might one day rise up,
so Fidel would not give him that chance.
Or maybe he was just an uncaring vicious bastard.
A Narcissist that would not...could not
share the spotlight
any further.
A Walking Tour of Old Havana
https://youtu.be/5WgmOggFSrU
More anon...
