Hemingway has been a theme this trip. This morning, we visited his Havana home. He rented the house in 1939, bought it a year later and lived in it until 1960 when he moved back to the US. He gave the house to the Cuban people, leaving it furnished complete with his hunting trophies and thousands of pages his private documents. Visitors are not allowed in the house, instead peering in the windows like peeping toms hoping for a glimpse of another time. Hemingway’s dear boat, Pilar is stored on the grounds. Seeing the sturdy fish fighting chair he had installed in the stern, I could visualize him hauling in the big one.
For the afternoon, I blew off the tour and spent the afternoon doing a girls outing with a couple of ladies from the tour. We went to lunch at another Hemingway haunt, La bodegatita del medio. You will find my signature on the wall behind the photo of Rita Hayworth. After lunch, we hired a cab, a 1955 chev. The driver and his brother took us around Havana for 2 1/2 hours helping us find propaganda billboards. We found many that are really works of art. Our “guide” was very open about his dislike for Fidel and Raul, his frustration with the travel restrictions most Cubans face and concern about what the future will look like after the old guard dies.
Paul’s afternoon was not nearly as much fun – he toured a 1970’s Soviet designed housing project. He is very glad not to live there.
More touring tomorrow.
