4/12/10

Sunday Veronika and I went to the bus station to go downtown again- this time with more of a plan, and more of a back up plan. On the one hand, we want to take advantage of downtown Havana more while we are still here, but on the other hand, we find ourselves more and more occupied with classes, readings, and visits. Such is life, is it not? It is strange, but I find myself wishing we had a more extensive bus system in Portland and Boston. In Cuba, the bus costs about two cents per person- it is often packed(!) and unpleasantly stifling, but it is also always an adventure. Sometimes you see some really sweet, or really funny, or really interesting things on the bus. Of course, frequently, all you see is someone’s elbow dangerously close to knocking you in the face at the next abrupt stop. Anyway we arrived downtown and Veronika led me to this artist’s gallery. It was really cool. The buildings were covered with his colorful murals. Weird sculptures and benches were in the street and funny or bizarre sayings were painted all around. Evidently he has some gallery spaces in the United States. The artist updates the area from time to time. I really enjoyed it.
My half of our adventure was a little less successful. There is a café/ movie house called Fresa y Chocolate, which was featured in the eponymous classic Cuban film. I had heard it was a hangout for an artsy movie buff crowd so we walked there on the way home for some coffee. The place was empty. Inside they had advertisements for Havana club rum and an empty room with chairs that they featured in the movie. There were posters of movie scenes on the walls too, but it was certainly not a happening place. We walked on past the city cemetery (which was closed) and headed home. We did stumble across a bookstore/café on the way however. It seems like a good place to bring some reading to in the future.