Rugby
in Cuba has
come a long way since it began in 1992 and since Atlantis first
initiated a sevens tournament back in 2000. Part of the
reasons
for
both successes are Chukin Chao, a player (but also a leader)
during our
2000 tour who is now the driving force behind Cuban rugby, and
Karl
Fix, Canadian man about rugby tours for many years, and the main
supporter of Cuban rugby since the Dog River Howlers' visit in
2007.
This year's Habana
Howlers' Sevens tournament took place on February 27-28, 2010 and
featured 12 teams from at least seven different nations,
specifically
From Cuba, Cuba,
the
national
team Cuba
Development Eastern
Cuba
From Venezuela, Venezuela,
the
national
team Venezuela
Development Venezuela
Over-30
From Canada, Dog
River
Howlers
From Peru, Alumni
RFC
From Mexico, Mexico,
the
national
team
Miscellaneous: International
Students
in
Cuba Argentinean
Medical
Students
in
Cuba
and from the USA, Atlantis
USA
Sevens
Rugby
The Dog River Howlers
cruised through the tournament, crushing Atlantis 35-5 in the
final.
The Cuban national team played very well, whipping Mexico 21-12
for
third. As Mexico has been a 3-time participant in the World
Series of
Sevens tournament, this was a huge win for Cuba.
In addition, Atlantis'
players found the Cuba match - a 15-0 victory for Atlantis - to be
their most physical encounter of the weekend.
The final standings
were
1. Dog River Howlers
(Canada)
2. Atlantis (USA)
3. Cuba
4. Mexico
5. Venezuela
6. Alumni (Peru)
7. Venezuela Over 30
8. Venezuela
Development
9. Cuba Development
10. Eastern Cuba
11. Argentinean
Medical Students in Cuba
12. International
Students in Cuba
Dog River Howlers, Champions of
the 2010
Habana Howlers Sevens
This is my - and
Atlantis' - perspective on the tournament. But it's far
more
than that, it's my perspective on Atlantis' entire tour
experience.
Background.
Finding Cuban rugby.
Had
it
not
been
for
a
tournament
in
Trinidad & Tobago, I would not
even have dreamed of looking for rugby in Cuba.I
would
have
been
as
sure
as
sure
can be that it didn't
exist. Had I thought it did, I would have
been
preparing to go: my mother was born there and I have lots of
Cuban
relatives.
Thanks, however, to Mauricio Sanmartín, an
Argentinean
now living in the US, I found out that there was indeed rugby in
Cuba.I had met Mauricio in Trinidad in 1995 where he was
playing for,
I
believe, a
Venezuelan team.He directed me to
his web
page on Caribbean rugby.
At the same time I was getting this information, a
Dominican Republic contact e-mailed me and asked me if I wanted
to
bring a team
to Cuba and participate in a 3-way sevens tournament with them.He also told me there was only one
team
in Cuba (in Havana, of course). At
that time (early 1996) I wasn't quite ready to do that.
Nor did I
have the slightest idea how to do it legally.
By 1999, the time I made my first family trip to Cuba
since
before the Revolution, I was ready.
Mauricio's web page gave an e-mail address for Cuban
rugby, and when I contacted it, I got a brief response like
"Yes, we
play
rugby.Call our captain Ramón at
555-000 for information."I asked my Cuban cousin José Antonio to contact
Ramón, and
found out the team practiced on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:30
at the
University of Havana's stadium field.
A couple of days after I arrived in Cuba, José
Antonio brought me to the field at the University of Havana
where we
saw a few people throwing around a rugby ball. I met Indios Caribe club
president Chukin
Chao, captain Ramón
Rodríguez, and team doctor Osvaldo García González.They gave me the run down on the
history and
status of rugby
in Cuba.They also noted that there
were
now three teams in Cuba, all in Havana.
April
1999:
Chukin Chao, emilito, Ramón Rodríguez, Osvaldo
García González
History of Rugby in Cuba 1992-1999.
Ricardo
Martínez,
a
Catalan
rugby
coach
from
Barcelona
in
Havana
on business, founded Indios Caribe in 1992. From that
time
until 1998, it was the only team in Cuba, and
therefore could only compete against teams from other
countries.
Fortunately, they came fairly regularly,
and the club could always manage at least 7 or 8 games per year.
For
example in their first seven years they had played against teams
from
the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica,
the Cayman Islands, Guyana, Great Britain, France, Portugal,
Argentina,
even
Tahiti.
After five years of existence, the club went from a
minuscule number of members to about 100 or more.At
that
point,
a
second
club,
the
Giraldillos,
were formed, and at about
the time I arrived a third team, Martí, had just been formed.
As I was surprised that there was rugby in Cuba, the
Cubans were surprised that we played in the US; they had
originally thought when I referred to rugby I
probably meant American football.Furthermore, the entire concept of women playing rugby
was
beyond their
ken.
I asked Chukin if I could get an invitation to
visit; a
rugby
tour would be a nice cultural exchange.He says they would certainly be willing to entertain a
sevens
tournament. The first ever Havana Sevens?
Atlantis. I founded Atlantis
USA Sevens Rugby in 1986 as an invitational side formed on an
ad-hoc
basis to play in various tournaments in the US and around the
world. By 1999 we had played in 68 different tournaments
in 17
different countries. Perhaps my most enjoyable venture as
Atlantis coach was our 1995 victory in the Benidorm Sevens, a
tournament located just 25 miles from my father's home
town. To
bring a team to Havana would be to bring a team to my mother's
home
town. When I founded Atlantis I would never have dreamed of
doing
either. (In 1995 I wrote a little
piece
on
winning
the
tourney
in
Spain and closed it with a
reference to Cuba that I thought merely "cute"; I never dreamed
it
would come true.)
The following table shows - chronologically - the 29 countries
in which
Atlantis has participated (both men and women's sides). It
includes the
year we first participated in that country as well as the number
of
tournaments and also the number of tours (sometimes we've played
in 2
or more tournaments on the same tour).
Country
First year
# of
tourns/(tours)
USA
1986
49 (24 yrs)
England
1987
2 (1)
Scotland
1987
9 (4)
Spain
1988
16 (16)
New Zealand
1990
2 (2)
Ireland
1992
3 (3)
Northern Ireland
1993
1 (1)
Bulgaria
1995
1 (1)
Uruguay
1995
2 (2)
UAE (Dubai)
1995
1 (1)
Trinidad and Tobago
1995
12 (12)
Fiji
1996
3 (3)
Hong Kong
1996
1 (1)
Japan
1996
1 (1)
Australia
1997
2 (1)
Argentina
1997
2 (2)
Canada
1998
5 (5)
Netherlands
1999
1 (1)
Portugal
1999
1 (1)
Venezuela
2000
1 (1)
Cuba
2000
3 (3)
Cayman Islands
2001
3 (3)
Brazil
2002
1 (1)
Singapore
2002
3 (3)
Thailand
2005
1 (1)
Paraguay
2007
1 (1)
Malaysia (Borneo)
2008
1 (1)
Italy
2009
1 (1)
Tahiti
2009
1 (1)
2000 La Habana
Sevens.
To
make
a long story short, with the cooperation of Chukin and Frenchman
Marcel Garrigues, who was able to overcome lots of obstacles, the
first
ever Habana Sevens Tournament was organized: three Cuban clubs and
Atlantis plus a game featuring Atlantis against the Cuban national
side. Not surprisingly, Atlantis won, but that wasn't the
point.
Certainly, from my perspective, it was the event that was the
success.
September 2000: Atlantis and Cuba following
our game
For US rugby folks, getting on the cover of Rugby Magazine is a
big
deal, and our trip to Cuba got the team that cover:
September 29,
2000:
cover of Rugby Magazine
Left to right: Mike Coyner, Tom Brewer, Al Caravelli, Jim
Walier, Al
Dekin, Mike Skahan,
Keith McLean, Scott Stephens, Steve Robke, Brian Driscoll,
Omar Rivera,
Sue Bercuk, Emil Signes
2001. In 2001,
Atlantis
was invited to participate in a tournament in the Cayman Islands
and
also participated in a sevens tournament in Havana. After
that,
however, there seemed to be no progress.
One notable feature of 2001 was the beginning of youth rugby in
Cuba. The picture below is of Atlantis and a group of
youngsters
in the Cuban youth rugby program.
August 2001:
Atlantis
with Cuban kids
Karl Fix and the Dog River
Howlers.
It seems rather coincidental now - all things converging on one
point -
that I first met Karl Fix at the same time I met Mauricio
Sanmartín and
the Dominicans at the 1995 Caribbean Sevens in Trinidad and
Tobago. This was the time that my contact with Cuban rugby
was
initiated, and Karl would be the next non-Cuban rugby organizer to
find
himself attached to Cuban rugby.
Karl organized the Dog River Howlers in 2007. Based in Dog River,
Saskatchewan, the Howlers' goals are much like Atlantis': to
incorporate players of all ages, tour the world and enjoy and
share
unique cultural experiences.
In 2007, the Howlers became the first-ever Canadian team to play
in
Cuba (15s). They played five games, including vs. Cuba, and
finished
4-1.
In April 2009, the Howlers traveled to Cuba to participate in a
sevens
tournament as part of the 2009 ALBA games which included 2500
athletes,
coaches and officials from 33 countries competing in 25 sports. It
was
for them an unforgettable experience and for IRB representative
Niall
Brooks "the most impressive rugby event I have witnessed in the
Caribbean."
Karl had asked me to bring Atlantis but I just couldn't pull it
off.
Karl Fix, Havana, 2010
Karl then told me the Cubans were going to organize another sevens
tournament in 2010 and that they really wanted Atlantis, as the
original driving force behind sevens in Cuba, to
participate. I
couldn't say no, didn't want to say no, and therefore said yes. It
was
really phenomenal to find out that this tournament would be the
first
IRB (International Rugby Board) sanctioned rugby tournament in
Cuba.
Logistically and personally it was difficult for me because it
would be
just a month after a family trip I had planned to Cuba with
several
cousins to celebrate the 100th anniversary
of our grandparent's marriage there.
Also, partly because Havana isn't a cheap city for tourists in the
first place and largely because of the US's
embargo
against
Cuba, this
would be an expensive trip - most people went through most of
$2000* by
the time all was said and done - it was difficult to gather a
team. In the end, however, we put together a good mixture of
youth and experience and remained competitive throughout.
* If Havana were treated as
it
should be treated, as just another
tourist destination, it would probably cost me about $350 to fly
there
from New York. Instead, because of the embargo, I have to
fly to
either Nassau, or
Cancun, or even Miami, and from there start
an entirely new itinerary and fly
to Havana for another $350 or more (and
this is typical of everyone on this tour). This is just
one
beginning example of why Cuba is so much more expensive than it
should
be.
So, figure $700 for air, $400 for hotel (the tournament hotel was
a
snazzy place [it was very nice] where all the teams were expected
to
stay and just
breakfast was included), another $200 for meals, $100 cost-share
for
the tournament banquet (there was no way the Cubans could pay
for this, so the cost was shared among the non-third-world teams),
$60
for medical insurance coverage (this is free for Cubans, but Cuba
has
now
instituted a for-profit medical care system for foreigners
[Michael
Moore's entourage, I guess, excepted], and no
matter what your carrier may tell you, your
US-provided health
insurance is NOT
VALID here), $100
ground transport, $100 kit fee (although our
sweet guayaberas were donated by the Havana Sevens Atlantis "Class
of
2000"),
$70 visas (tourist plus exit), $20 miscellaneous admin fees, $25
for a
guided tour of Havana, and drinks (water for practice as well as
other), souvenirs, etc ... I.e. it was an expensive trip, but I
guess
that's to be expected when you're traveling to the only country
(not
even North Korea makes this list) that the US sanctions under the
Trading
with
the Enemy Act ...
And all the awkwardness of operating under this embargo is
compounded
by the fact that the US government makes travel to Cuba very
difficult
for both American citizens and residents. It's not illegal to
visit
Cuba, it's simply illegal - without a license - to spend any money
to
visit Cuba or during a visit to Cuba. Therefore, licenses to
visit Cuba must be granted, not by the State Department, but
rather by
the Treasury Department. (It's ridiculous, but I think it goes
back to
a couple of 5-4 Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s that a)
refused to
deny US citizens the right to travel but later b) agreed to the
financial restrictions Congress then passed in response to the
first
decision. Good old Congress... and SCOTUS.)
So one of the things we had to do was sit on players that had
expressed
a willingness to go while we waited on approval of the license,
which
seemed to take forever (but of course didn't). Manager Dave
McPhail was
the lucky man who had to deal with the Treasury Department, fill
out
forms, etc, to make this happen. (We were kind of in a Catch-22
situation; they wanted names, we needed approval to let people
know
they really could go, let them know it was OK to buy tickets,
which
they didn't want to do till they knew the trip was approved, etc
etc
etc.)
A part of the license
issued under the Treasury Department's "Cuban Assets Control
Regulations"
At any rate, besides Dave, our staff included Sarah Sall who came
as
trainer-videographer, and
Chris Ryan and I who were the coaches.
2/27/2010:
Left - Sarah
Sall settling into the video portion of her job. Right
[right on, that is] - Go
Phillies!
Left: Dave McPhail relaxes
as only
the games are left to go. Right: Pudge and emilito at
the banquet
Also supposed to join the tour party were Ray Cornbill and Aileen
Killen, but neither could make the trip. Ray, who was I believe
either
the first or second
coach of any US national sevens team back in the early 1980s, was
laid
up with a
bad back.
Ray Cornbill
profile
in Rugby in 1983
We ended up with a team of good players that were interested in
the
unique opportunities that travel to Cuba offered them.
Nevertheless it was not a balanced team, positionally - we had no
primary kicker, no primary jumper, no primary fly half.
Problem?
No problem - we made do with what we had. Those deficiencies
didn't hurt us till we met the Canadians. They had strength in all
three areas in which we had weakness and it made a difference.
In the end, we went with eleven players, as follows:
John Babb, captain, Baltimore. John was for several years a member
of
my home town Lehigh Valley team and is now playing in
Baltimore.
He is a veteran of several Atlantis tours.
2/28/10: John
Babb
and Alexis Figueras (player 2000, ref 2010) at banquet
Thaddeus Hill, Fort Worth. Although he plays as though
ageless,
Thadd is 42 and represented the US from 1993 through 1999 and
Atlantis
from 1995. He's now played for Atlantis in 13 tournaments in
6
different countries: Uruguay, Spain, Dubai, T&T, Paraguay and
Cuba.
2/28/2010: The
ageless wonder at the pitch
Marcus Respes, Media. Marcus is a hard-running center-wing who can
play
either - plus prop - in sevens. He's represented MARFU and
also
the US Sevens in 2006-07. He is currently coaching the Drexel
University RFC.
Marcus &
Cuban
friend:
impossible to tell from their expressions which one is more of
a wise
ass
Rick Medina, Austin. Rick is another 40-year old who has held up
remarkably well over the years. Rick has represented the Spanish
national team and also the
Classic Eagles. He has represented Atlantis in Trinidad and
Rome.
2/27/2010: Rick
Medina complemented? by Trotter ...
Kelly Kolberg, Dallas RFC. Kelly is a 24-year old from
Dallas who
was a member of the US U-19 team... He has also represented the
West
Sevens and has played a lot of rugby in New Zealand.
2/25/10: Kelly Kolberg
-
don't ask ...
Josh Campbell, Regina. Josh is a former football player from
Regina who
only recently embraced rugby; he is a strong go-ahead forward. He
was
also the most adventurous of our group, staying a few days after
the
tournament to explore the east of Cuba. (Of course as a
non-American he
wasn't subject to all the Draconian restrictions of the US
government.)
Matt Hayes, Houston. Matt plays for Houston and has
represented Texas
and played for Atlantis from 2008.
2/25/10: Matt
Hayes
prefers displaying the Atlantis jersey to his bare chest
Al Christian plays in Dallas, has represented Texas and the West
and
has played for Atlantis since 2005, in T&T, Spain and Italy.
2/27/10: Al has
too
many pages of notes for this fine session!
Ken Scott, Kansas City. At 20, Kenny was the team baby and also
one of
our true speedsters.
Kenny Scott
happy to
see a car not much longer than his reach.
Ryan Johnson, Wilmington. A strength and conditioning coach,
Ryan
is also a burner. Combined with Kenny, Ryan's presence meant
we
always had true speed on the wing.
Ryan Johnson (R)
keeping
bad company :)
Aron Pillard, Wilmington. Aron, AKA "Trotter," despite being a
flanker
in 15s often finds himself playing scrumhalf in sevens. He has
represented MARFU Collegiate All-Stars and MARFU Sevens. He was
also
the funniest guy on tour. (Although Trotter would give that nod to
Al
Christian, whom he called the Katt Williams of 7s rugby. Not that
I
have a clue what that means.)
Trotter, like many others on the team, was profoundly affected by
this
tour. He wrote (and I leave in the reference to me because I
like
it) "It was an eye-opening and, in many ways, life-changing trip.
To
feel sport bridging social and cultural differences; to travel
into a
'forbidden land' to play on a team of new faces and to come
together
under the tutelage of the 'Bill Gates/Godfather (you choose) of
USA 7s
rugby' Emil Signes, was an unforgettable experience."
2/25/10: Trotter
shows unity with both Che's communism and Chevy's capitalism
Given the complexities of travel, manager Dave gave
everyone the
freedom to sort out their own travel arrangements. We were split
about
half and half between Nassau and Cancun, with Rick Medina being
the
only one to come directly from Miami.
I don't recommend Rick's route: I've now come to Cuba via Toronto,
Nassau and Miami; the first two were fine but for me coming from
Miami
was a real hassle. But he didn't
seem to have much of a problem.
My January trip. I
was a
part of a group of seven grandchildren of Antonio Lagos and Pepita
Besteiro, married in Havana on December 20, 1909, who
visited
Havana
just
after
New
Year to celebrate our grandparents'
100th wedding anniversary. While there, we met Chukin Chao,
Juan
Carlos Núñez and Alexis Figueras, who took me out to the
field (where we'd played in 2000) and to the beautiful tournament
hotel, not too far from the field.
1/8/2010: emilito,
Chukin,
Juan Carlos, Alexis at the Sevilla
The early arrivals. Because
I
wanted
to
do
a
lot
of
family visiting while I was in Cuba, I headed
down two days early (and in the end stayed two days later as
well). I
was joined by many-time partner in rugby trips, Chris (Pudge)
Ryan. We met in Nassau where we spent the first night
enjoying an
excellent meal at the "Big Ten" restaurant, part of a larger area
called "The Fish Fry."
The use, acquisition and
circulation
of money in Cuba. When we arrived at the airport we
met
José, our tournament
travel agent, and Gladys of Havanatur. Part of our
tournament
package was transportation from the airport and José organized
us
a ride in. But first he took us to the airport CADECA (CAsa DE
CAmbio). CADECAs
are the only official money-changing places in Cuba. On my
earlier trips to
Cuba (1999-2001) dollars were accepted in exchange (though the new
convertible peso was just being introduced), but in 2003 Cuba
outlawed the circulation of dollars and replaced them with the CUC (pesos CUbanos
Convertibles). Some Americans I know just call them kooks (as CUC
is
pronounced). Cubans speaking with
foreigners, however, usually call
them “pesos,” if they're in a situations where it's obvious what
they're talking about. Otherwise they may use the entire
term
"pesos convertibles." Or they may call them CUCs, where they
pronounce each letter: "se-oo-se" (but not kooks).
The peso
in
which Cubans are paid and spend for their monthly rations, and
which trades with the CUC at 24 to 1, they call the “peso
Cubano” (CUP). One must be careful in examining bills and coins as
in some cases there are similarities between the
currencies. The peso cubano is often
abbreviated “M.N.” for “moneda
nacional.” Both sets of pesos are
“closed currencies,” meaning they only exist in Cuba.
Kind of a "virtual currency," if you will, fixed at one CUC =
US$0.80 (you know they had to make it worth more than the
dollar:).
I had euros and the exchange rate was, as I recall, $1.24 CUCs per
euro.
There are other places where you can change money, but they
usually
don't compare favorably with CADECA rates. When I was here in
January I
changed money at our hotel but ended up losing about $7 - compared
to a
CADECA - when changing
approximately $250. People with whom I spoke on my last trip
told
me it was probably possible to get better rates "on the street,"
but I
stuck with the CADECA.
The reason I had brought euros to change is
that
Cuba imposes a 10% fee on US Dollars.
Thus the posted rate at the CADECA was 89 cents on the CUC. With
the 10% fee we were only able to get 80 centavos on the peso
convertible for a dollar. Again, on
the
street one can supposedly avoid this fee, but – yet again –
we chose to just go the legal and safe route. By the way, although dollars are
not allowed to
circulate, Cubans who get them are able to trade them in for pesos
so if that’s all you have in your pocket, you can
survive.
At the time, I believe the $ to euro exchange was approximately
$1.39
per euro.
So, $1.24 CUC per euro and .89 CUC per US dollar comes out to
$1.39 per
euro. But with a 10% fee added to dollar
exchange, if I could get euros for less than $1.24/.80 = $1.55 per
euro, I would make out by changing dollars to euros. Of
course
there are fees associated with exchanging to euros from dollars,
but
one should still make out a bit. With fees, at that time I could
have
gotten euros at about $1.45 per.
(I had actually changed dollars to euros while I was in Germany
visiting my in-laws in December; at that time the dollar-euro
exchange
was $1.50, so I ended up just about [maybe not even] breaking
even, but
... the
principle is correct.)
Incidentally, Cuba is the only country of which I know that has
released a bill with a value of "3": below is the CUC $3 bill,
worth
about US$3.50. Given Cuba's dual currencies, sometimes this
note
(and this goes for others) is confused with a CUP $3 bill.
The
latter (CUban Pesos) is worth 1/24 the
former
or about 15 US cents. The CUP $3 is popular with tourists because
it
has Che on the face, but it shouldn't be confused with the CUC $3
for
value.
3 pesos
convertibles
- this is the currency foreigners (and Cubans that enter the
"non-Cuban
world") use It's worth about
US
$3.50 (in Cuba).
3 pesos cubanos
-
this is the currency used by Cubans for most of their
transactions It's worth about
US
0.15
Following the CADECA experience, and after
passing the obligatory two dozen signs
praising the revolution on the cab ride in, we got settled in to
our
digs at the Hotel
Lido. This was a true budget hotel, at $21 per night per
person
(double residency) including breakfast. It wasn't great, and
it
wasn't in a fabulous part of town (to say the least - though it
was the
area in which my ancestors lived 100 years ago), but it was clean
and
it was a 2 minute walk from Old Havana, which is where we wanted
to
spend most of our time. And it was a third the rate of the team
hotel.
We contacted my cousin José Antonio and he and his wife Magda
joined us for a walk through Old Havana and then dinner in
Havana's
Barrio Chino (Chinatown).
Havana's Cathedral
Square
(Plaza de la Catedral) at night, 2/21/10
Pudge, Emil,
Magda,
José Antonio at Viejo Amigo, Barrio Chino, 2/21/10
It doesn't rain that much in Havana in the winter, but it rained a
lot
while I was here in January, and this morning, when we awoke, it
was
positively pissing down with rain. Breakfast at the Lido is held
on the
rooftop and, despite a large canopy covering the tables, it was
hard to
stay dry ... nor warm, for that manner.
The picture that follows was taken from breakfast at the top of
the Lido. The green treetops are on the Prado,
which represents the dividing line between Central and Old Havana
(being on one side or other of the Prado is like being on the
right or
wrong side of the tracks in the US), and the tall building in the
back
- in Old Havana - is the Hotel Sevilla, one of the more expensive
hotels in the city at nearly quintuple the rate of the Lido. The
Sevilla is where my family stayed when we visited in January to
celebrate my grandparents' 100th wedding anniversary in Havana.
2/22/10: View from the
Hotel Lido rooftop.
Foreground is Central Havana; background is Old Havana.
The green treetops in the middle are on the Prado.
The tallest building is the luxury Hotel Sevilla where my family
stayed
in January.
2/22/10: View of the Capitolio
from
Room 507 at the Lido. About halfway to the Capitolio
down
this street is where my grandfather lived just before he was
married,
100 years ago.
Following breakfast
we
wandered through the raindrops
the 15 minutes or so to José Antonio's hotel, the Florida, on
Calle
Obispo, the heart of Old Havana. José runs the IT
department there and
is in charge of their Cyber Cafe. We were able to get
online and
later
José took us around Old Havana. It was a unique tour in
the
sense that -
including our breakfast at the Lido, we got to see a lot of
Havana from
hotel rooftops.
2/22/10: Views
from
the roof of the Ambos Mundos Hotel.
Left: Calle
Obispo.
The near canopy covers La Mina, one of my favorite music stops. La Plaza de Armas is the
tree-covered
area to the left, the Hotel Santa Isabel is behind that.
In the background of the left picture is East Havana, with the
"Cristo
de Habana" on the left.
Right: to the
right
of Obispo, some really nice old rooftops
2/22/10: Upper
left
is the Castillo de la Real Fuerza.
Tradition has it that the tree in the middle of the picture
represents
the spot where Havana was founded in 1519
2/22/10: From
the
Hotel Santa Isabel rooftop - façade and restaurant
2/22/10: From
Santa
Isabel - the fires of industry in East Havana
In the evening we head out to Vedado and
accompany
another
set of relatives - my cousin Diana, husband Simón and grandson
Fernando
- to dinner at La Roca, a well-known restaurant in the area of
their
home. Looks like both of us forgot to bring our cameras; at least
I
have no pictures.
Every time I go to Havana I try to make a visit to La Mina, a
restaurant on Calle Obispo that features traditional Cuban music
(or
perhaps more accurately, popular Cuban music from the first half
of the
20th century). Today is no exception. When we return from
dinner
in Vedado we wander over. There is a wonderful sextet
playing,
shown below; listen to part of one of their songs
by
clicking here or on the picture below.
2/22/10: Sextet
playing at La Mina
Late Monday night Josh Campbell arrived from Regina and we got to
sleep
expecting the rest of the team to arrive on Tuesday.
