Cuba, 56^th country in my travels



Christopher Columbus Cemetery in Havana

Columbus arrived in Cuba from Spain in 1492. I got there with Paula on Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas, my 14^th cruise, to come ashore in Havana. It’s the 56^th country in my travels.

The Spaniards killed off the Guanahatabey, Ciboney, and Taíno inhabitants almost before the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria had returned to Spain. Fidel Castro, by refusing for four decades to allow new American cars into Cuba for purchase by its citizens, killed off the influx of new cars which led to today’s mobile classic car show – everyday traffic humming around Havana.

Since the cars are up to a half-century old, Cubans had to be creative when parts wore out. The magnificent bodies hide engines that don’t match the originals. John Deere is as likely to keep the car running as GM.

And convertibles are everywhere.

While 60% of Cubans are Catholic, only 5% attend Mass. We saw a mosque for Muslims and went inside the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, one of 11 cathedrals in Cuba, in the center of Old Havana.

We came aboard via Havana Harbor, which is lined with forts built in the 16^th and 18^th centuries. Overlooking the city on a hilltop in suburban Casablace is sculptor Jilma Madera’s 66-feet high, 320-ton marble Christ of Havana statue built in 1958. Fifteen days later, Fidel Castro marched into Havana.

Our onshore tour bused us to four squares and Colon cemetery (as in Cristbal Colon, aka Christopher Columbus). Colon cemetery started in 1876, built atop the original Espada cemetery. Its first occupant was Galician architect Calixto Arellano de Loira y Cardoso, a graduate of Madrid’s Royal Academy of Arts of San Fernando, and who died before his work was completed.

In the former Catholic cemetery was the flag of Cuba, created by Narciso López in 1849 and put together by Emilia Tolón.

Cuba’s capitol, in Havana, built in 1929, is similar the one in Washington, D.C.

Our only cruise stop was in Costa Maya, Mexico, a fishing village that the government turned into a tourist shopping center. The highlight was watching dolphins, walled away from the nearby Caribbean Sea, cavort with children who parents paid for that priviledge.

After centuries of neglectful Spanish rule, the creative Creole class turned Cuba into a major producer of sugar in the 19^th century.

After the USS Maine sank in Havana harbor in 1898 and the Spanish-American War, the United States replaced Spain as the main influence over Cuba.

Tolerating five years of USA military occupation, Cuba became a nation in 1902, with the United States intervening militarily from time to time as late as 1921.



Christ of Havana on hilltop

Closeup of statue

A string of dictatorships, including one by Batista, led to Fidel Castro’s takeover in 1959. Today, about 80% of Cubans earn $200 or less a month and use the equivalent of U.S. food stamps in a rationing procedure.

American Presidents have been trying to deal with a neighbor less than 100 miles away ever since. Americans who cruise to Cuba have to sign a document that pretends they are on an educational visit. Another case of businesses out-smarting politicians.







If you want to see 67 photos of our Cuba trip, click on
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOdRcFjgJWDxcjwoxLbjnBkFYdgA8FD5U6PA8Luqiw117aS97SIcspwGDKmmN1U5g?key=c2hrajhoM3JQS2w0bWpZRllERWFvSnc2eUNmTXdB