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Thanks For The Miracle

Still in Vedado

Our now slightly more purposeful strolls around Vedado bring us to the Plaza De La Revolucion. This is the large square {suitable for political rallies} with the pictures of Camilo and Che. Here there is yet another statue of Jose Marti and the large towering memorial built in his honour. This is the tallest building in Havana and the lift up to the top gives views over the whole city. When we go there are workmen hanging from the top of the tower. When we get to the top we see lots of turkey vultures flying around the tower – I guess that they must be clearing the nest away.

Necropolis Cristobal Colon

The Necropolis Cristobal Colon is well worth a visit. I go there one afternoon with Fernando. There’s an admission price {for a cemetery!} of $5 for non-Cubans. We decline the services of a guide but soon find that a young man sweeping the cemetery is happy to abandon his work and show us some of the more interesting tombs for a tip. {He seems to have perfected his technique – the next day Hedi visits and seems to have acquired the same informal ”guide”.}

The cemetery claims to be the 3rd largest in the world with an area of 4 km2. There are no modest tombs here! It’s strictly a place for the rich or for the organizations which pool their resources to build a tomb. We spend a couple of hours there but could easily have stayed longer. Fernando is an expert on Cuban history and culture and keeps finding tombs of people or of families who have played an important role in Cuba. He is upset, though, to find the tombs of some of his sporting heroes whom he didn’t realize had died.

The most popular tomb is that of Amelia La Milagrosa. Amelia is said to perform miracles. The tomb has fresh flowers and there are many small plaques nearby from people thanking her for answering their prayers. When we arrive there are several groups of people praying at the tomb.

The other highlights for me include the tomb of Alfredo Korda {the photographer who took that photograph of Che}, the tomb of a former domino champion (!!), and the tomb of the gangsters who were “victims” of a gang shoot-out.

Parque Lennon

I’ve been in Havana for nearly three weeks now and I have not yet found a statue of Fidel {and very few portraits}. I had wrongly assumed that there would be a personality cult. I’m sure they could take one of the countless statues they have of Jose Marti and swap it for Fidel. They have statues of many South American presidents, they have Malcolm X and Martin Luther King together but they don’t seem to have Fidel.

They do, however, have a small statue of John Lennon. At some point John stopped being a product of the decadent West and was recognised in Cuba. There is a small statue of him sitting on a bench in the re-named Parque Lennon. John’s glasses have been stolen from the statue three times so now there is in old gentleman {he tells us that he’s 90} who has the full-time job of looking after John’s specs and putting them on if anyone shows an interest in the statue.

In the corner of Parque Lennon is the club Submarino Amarillo {I don’t think I need to translate that!}. It’s a bit of a bizarre experience coming off the streets Havana into a dark basement where Beatles music and videos are playing! I’m told that the club has only just opened today. On the following day there is to be a performance by one of the top Cuban rock bands from the ‘60s – I might give that a miss!

Click here to see a slideshow of the photos

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