The most immediately noticeable thing about Havana was the buildings. Everything was full of color and life, incredibly vibrant, even the buildings that were falling down.
The streets were filled with beautiful oddities: a woman crocheting sweaters, a canopied bicycle, a man painting in the street, an enormous woman in a fluffy white dress selling fortunes and a wiener dog in a mesh shirt waiting for a ride.
This sweet little girl yelled "Ola!" cheerfully to all the pasty white folk who passed.
The people of Havana leave flowers for Mother Theresa on her book every morning.
According to our tour guide, Louis, Cuban citizens are given a very minimal amount of money for doing their job, barely enough to stay alive. Everyone gets the same amount, whether they are a doctor or street sweeper. In order to get by, everyone takes on second jobs or more. The best way to make money is to work where there are tips, like at the resorts (which is why sometimes the person bringing you wine could be a doctor).
The impression that I got was that the minimum standard of living is higher than in Canada, but the average is much, much lower. Knowing that there was need, we brought along toiletries to give to the maids in the resort, and we tipped plentifully where ever we went. I also brought a big bag of school supplies with me to Havana and asked Louis where a good place to donate them would be. Louis went above and beyond and took us to a nearby primary school. He gave the bag of nylons that I'd brought to the principal to distribute to the teachers. She then arranged for us to go into a classroom upstairs and they brought about a dozen students from each class through and we handed out the supplies to them.
The principal asked us to only give one item to each child, but what use is a pencil sharpener without a pencil, or pastels without paper? (You can see in the photo above, I'm sneaking this litle guy a sharpener.) Soon all of the goodies were gone and they led the disappointed stragglers away. My heart was just breaking that I hadn't brought more, that some children went without even these small inexpensive items. But as we walked back through the school to the street I saw that in the classrooms the children were all sharing the goodies with the rest of the class, without any sign of greed. This was the best part of the trip, for me. (If I ever go again I am bringing only the following: one giant bottle of sunscreen, camera, bathing suit, one shirt, one pair of shorts, chacos, and a giant suitcase full of the best school and medical supplies I can find. As a chronic over-packer, this is saying a lot.)
These women are paid by the government to wander the streets of Havana and kiss tourists for photos. They then demand "one cuban convertible" from the unsuspecting tourist. The male version of these women is in the background in the photo of the man painting on the side of the street above.
Louis then turned us loose in the arts market for 45 minutes, which wasn't nearly enough time. We wandered through a small city of stalls, examining the wares and fending off beggars who thought we should give them "souvenir for my baby" or money for having a Canada flag tattoo or 5 pesos to braid my hair (clearly they have not met my hair).
We picked up a little turtle carving, some carved Havana rum coasters and this painting, from perhaps the most laid-back man in the entire market, which we paid 10 pesos for and an arm and a leg to have framed in Canada.
All too soon we were running for the van and on our way to New Havana.
The view from the Capitol building.
Revolucion square.
Of course, you can't go to Cuba and miss out on having your photo taken with Che.
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