A Sunday on Havana’s Paseo del Prado
The Paseo del Prado in Old Havana, built in 1772 to resemble the Paseo del Prado in Madrid, is a kilometer long and extends from Fraternity Park, to the Malecon seawall. It is one of the most popular avenues of the city both for inhabitants and visitors, with its marble benches under shady trees. (30 photos)
Cuba: The Advantages of Alzheimer’s
His hand, covered in blisters and thick veins, runs over the pile of plastic bags. With trembling fingers, he separates one from the bunch and places it on the buyer’s hand. His own hand closes to grab hold of the one-peso coin. He puts the coin away, then casts an empty stare towards the floor, towards the void. (13 photos)
My Friend’s Friend
It is a sad song that gets to me. But, even though the lyrics clearly evoke the figure of the former leader of Venezuela, the way he shared his country’s riches with sister nations and his struggle for Latin America, it is not Chavez that this song brings to mind when I hear it.
Internet Censorship in Cuba Backfires
The censors shot themselves in the foot, because the young bloggers decided to fight for their rights without foreign aid, using their own resources and securing the help of a number of Cuban bloggers, among whom they found a space to continue divulging their opinions.
Benedetti in Alamar, Cuba
Today, I remembered how Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti would walk down the streets of Alamar, a proletarian neighborhood in Havana conceived to harbor the socialist New Man, with his mustachioed face, his short temper and his immense dignity.
Cuba’s New Ice-Cream Carts
I still remember that, throughout my childhood and until the onslaught of the Special Period in the early 90s, the “Ice Cream Carts”, small trucks that sold ice-cream in the currency one’s salary was paid in (when one could make ends meet with these), would drive around Havana, announcing themselves with Johann Strauss’ “Blue Danube”, and that these were extremely popular in those happier times.
Motorcyles Get Around Venezuela’s Monster Traffic
Though automobile prices are sky-high, Venezuela is still one of the Latin American countries with the most cars per inhabitant. As one might expect, Venezuelan roads become jammed in the morning and afternoon rush hours. This is what has made Venezuela’s moto-cabs, or motorcycles plain and simple, a near-indispensable means of transportation. (24 photos)
Should We Criticize Mandela?
Some days ago, we saw a heated debate about the petition that a number of renowned Cuban dissidents have made to the US government, calling for hardline measures that would bring about the economic collapse of the country and thus definitively remove the Castro brothers from power.
The Traps of Nostalgia
That the pangs of nostalgia can deceive us, painting our memories of the past with bright colors, is a feeling I had for the first time some years ago, while reading a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As I’ve grown older I have become slightly more suspicious of any romantic perception of the past.
My Birthday Pants
Finding a skillful tailor or seamstress in Havana is no easy task. In fact, the last time it took me nearly a year of asking around to be able to order a pair of dress pants, pants I had intended to wear on my birthday for the first time.
Cuba: Moving Backwards
We are going backwards in time, journeying back to the bud, as Alejo Carpentier would have put it. This regression is gnawing away more and more of our integrity every day. In Cuba, Darwin’s theory about the evolution of the species is proven wrong again and again.
Cuba: The Business of Charity
Odalys, one of my mother’s neighbors, has a niece who’s made some significant additions to her wardrobe of late. She now has some rather expensive garments, but, no, she doesn’t have a salary that would make such luxury affordable.
Celebrating a Child’s Birthday in Cuba
Over the years, preparing a child’s birthday party in Cuba has become as elaborate and involved a process as those which people living in industrialized and “developed” nations often undertake to fulfill certain fantasies.
