Where's the beef?
Doggy in the window
Numerous people have complained privately about the dearth of dog and cat photos being posted from Havana. This won't make up for it, but it's at least a start....
This means something
It's my own private mash potato scene from Close Encounters every time I walk by this building, which is several times a week. But still no answers.
Surely it'll all make sense eventually though. And if we're lucky, maybe some extraterrestrial chaps will even turn up here in Havana. It's 2025, so literally anything is possible....
Moon over Neptuno
Both the moon and the bell tower were much more impressive sights in real life, but you'll have to take my word for it. Or be spontaneous and book that flight the Havana! You only live once, right?
NB: I'm actually a strong believer in reincarnation, or something of the sort, so that last bit was purely rhetorical 😉
‘Big Water’
Don't forget that childishly renaming bodies of water is meant to distract you from other much more important things that are happening these days.
Also, speaking of childishness, don't forget that the great renamer in chief once said of Puerto Rico: “This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water.” Touché. Truly a quote for the ages.
Say what you want, the man is clearly an expert on water, both big and small....
NB: Was this post just an excuse to show that blue dot in Havana? Yes, yes it was.
Sun of America
Glitch in the Matrix Alert: A few hours after posting about all this water naming nonsense earlier today, I was out for a stroll in a fairly random neighbourhood quite a bit outside the centre of Havana and by total coincidence happened upon the ‘Sun of America'. Couldn't make this stuff up if you tried....
Where's the beef?
Ropa Vieja - literally ‘old clothes’ - is one of the national dishes of Cuba, although since beef is a luxury (for locals) these days, it's most commonly seen on the menus of tourist restaurants, while more modestly priced establishments will often use pork as a substitute.
This was the real thing though - slow cooked shredded beef in a super flavourful tangy tomato sauce - and homemade, so obviously much tastier than anything you'd find in a restaurant. Mmmm mmmm....
Not pictured: The obligatory floss accompaniment. This was Sunday lunch, but just looking at the photo makes me feel like I need to floss again.
🎶 Where the streets have ironic names 🎶
If only one street in all of Havana could permanently have a river flowing down it (due to a broken pipe bubbling up through the asphalt) with the goal of maximizing irony, Neptuno would be an excellent choice. And so it was....
NB1: Can't say for sure that this urban creek is actually permanent, but it has been flowing for at least a solid two months at this point.
NB2: There's another river street right next to where I've been living called Desague, which means ‘drain’ and is therefore strictly speaking even more ironic, but I've never taken any photos of it.
Supermax reminders (of slavery in ‘Murica)
When your fancy new department store sounds like it's a high security American prison....
Fun Fact: Did you know that slavery actually isn't completely prohibited in the United States? That's right, it's totally legal for prisoners to be used as literal indentured slaves, and they are in many states, increasingly so in fact. Luckily, the US only has...[checks notes, oh, wow]...some 2.2 million prisoners - by far more than any other country, ever, in all of recorded human history.
Well, that post sure went off the rails and ended up in a dark place. Sorry, folks. I honestly only meant to make fun of this shop's name when I started typing....
It's got your name on it!
When you take a photo of a building because it looks cool and the afternoon light is nice. Only to realize days later that it's literally got your name on it....
Soviet Air
Dropped by the old Soviet Air office to check flight options back to the USSR, but it was unfortunately already closed up early for the day. Or perhaps their flux capacitor was undergoing maintenance. Typical....
NB: Pretty sure this is just someone's house, not a Soviet Air office. In fact, I couldn't even find any evidence on the internet of a ‘Soviet Air’ ever existing. But that just makes the sign more random and thus even cooler.
From Stephan J Cox on Facebook: "It's a fragment of a sign for Aeroflot Soviet Airlines. Aeroflot still exists, albeit as Aeroflot Russian Airlines. Despite the Soviet regime being long since departed from this world, the airline still uses a winged hammer & sickle as its logo.“
Magic Hour
San Rafael street in Centro Habana just before 7pm on a Wednesday night in February....
Last minute gift ideas
Still no idea what to get that special someone who's already got everything for Valentine's Day? Perhaps I can interest you in some wooden cobblestones?
Valentine's Day dinner
What's more romantic than a seafood lunch at home with the (adoptive) family? Especially when this year Valentine's fell on the Cuban equivalent of a snow day* in Havana - ie schools and lots of businesses closed on account of planned rolling blackouts.
*Or in the not at all exaggerated headline of an article from The Independent: "Cuba in lockdown as island hit by more blackouts“
Just to be clear, this was in no way whatsoever an ‘lockdown’, and in the neighbourhood of Havana where I'm staying the power was only out for a few hours total, and everything seemed back to normal the following day. Apparently some work was being done on one of the few remaining active power plants on the island, but it was back online the next day.
Hard Rock Cafe at home
I wanna go to Hard Rock Cafe for a fancy Valentine's dinner!
But we have Hard Rock Cafe at home!
Hard Rock Cafe at home:
ACAB, but…
Setting aside the well-known fact that All Cats Are Beautiful for just a second, this is an objectively pretty cool police station (actually the police HQ for Havana).
What's more, even in the 21st century, Caribbean cities can never be too cautious when it comes to deterring British pirates. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that....
No fio
At first glance I thought that the proprietor of this living room market was simply a stickler for grammar and/or pronunciation. But ‘No fio’ is actually a way of saying ‘no credit’ (or more accurately ‘We don't sell on credit, muchacho, so don't even think about asking’) in Cuban Spanish. If you've got the cash, the cerveza is cold though!
NB: Prices for small (ie 330ml) cans of beer from these living room markets currently range from 170-240 pesos, or $0.50-0.70 at the current black market exchange rate.
Transition to Socialism: Theory and history
Window shopping at a university bookshop....
Fidel the Barbarian
Whether you view him as a hero or a villain, something in between or a bit of both, Fidel was an incredibly interesting, incredibly complicated, larger than life figure. And this entire story - especially the quote at end of it, the words of a well known Cuban poet - is absolutely amazing regardless:
Fidel cut cane with the Vietnamese youth who came to help with the harvest. Afterward he cut cane with young North Americans. The last day that the North Americans cut cane the Vietnamese joined them, and they had a contest to see which group would cut more cane for Cuba. Fidel came that day and cut cane first with one group and then with the other. In the afternoon they had a soccer match.
I remember that Time once reported ironically that Fidel was considered the Cuban “champion” in cutting sugar cane. But it is really true that he has a great record and that he can compete with professionals in cutting. They tell me that he has a very good cane-cutting technique (there are many techniques) which he learned from a famous cane-cutter. And Fidel is a very strong man. “Fidel is a barbarian,” said the poet Cintio Vitier, puffing his cigar. “He cuts sugar cane like an animal.”
- Ernesto Cardenal, In Cuba (1972)
No toilet paper for you, terrorist!
A billboard near Plaza de la Revolución here in Havana. While it's technically more an embargo and sanctions regime than a blockade, the end result has been the same.
"Sorry, there is no game. It has American rubber.”
“This paper is American. Sanctions against that business too.”
“No strings for you, that's terrorist music.”
“Knock down the blockade.”
Also worth noting that every year for the past 32 years the UN general assembly has held a vote denouncing the embargo and demanding its end, and in recent years only the US (and one of its colonial entities) has voted against the measure. Literally the entire world is in agreement. Yet the US persists. Classic Yankee exceptionalism....
Umbrella at Night
Lots of people carry umbrellas in Havana to block the oppressive Caribbean sun. But this shot was obviously taken at night - a time of day notorious for its dearth of sunlight.
And there has barely been a cloud in the sky for weeks, let alone actual rain, which means the second most common use for an umbrella also wasn't applicable.
Thus, it stands to reason that the young lady carrying this umbrella was doing so because she thought that it’d look super cool casting a shadow under these sodium vapour street lights. And she was correct....
Beware of Dog
If the aim of this sign is to scare off would-be intruders, it fails miserably. But if it's meant to solicit some play dates for a bored homebound pupper dog, then mission accomplished!
Plaza de la Catedral
Havana Cathedral, or for Spanish speakers, who are notoriously not into the whole brevity thing: La Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La Habana.
Originally opened in 1777, it's probably most known for being the place where they kept the old bones of Christopher Columbus for most of the 19th century, before shipping them back to the old world.
And eagle-eyed viewers might also notice the nativity set up on the bottom right there, which means this photo was indeed taken back in December - giving you some idea about the size of the backlog of posts from these months in Havana....