Havana - In the Footsteps of Hemingway

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April 7th 2009

Published: April 8th 2009

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Norma and John

Hotel Ambos Mundos

Where Hemingway wrote "For Whom The Bell Tolls."

HAVANA - IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HEMINGWAY

Second only to the iconic images of Che ,which appear everywhere in Cuba from coffee mugs and T-shirts to graffiti and Government billboards, are the images of Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway is a legend in the Havana area and three of the main tourist venues in Old Havana are links to him - first is the Hotel Ambos Mundos on Obispo Street where he wrote “For Whom The Bell Tolls” in the 1930’s and Room 511 is kept as it was when he lived there. Not far away are two bars which he used to frequent - La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita - and these are meccas for Hemingway aficionados, checking out why he said “My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita”. Both bars make a fortune from these two drinks, following the original recipes “Ernesto” loved.

Twelve kilometres from Havana in the little village of San Francisco de Paula is the Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s home for several years, open to the public and maintained as it was when he was in residence. It sits on a hilltop in a large wooded property and is chock full of

La Bodeguita del Medio

Famed for its mojitos

Hemingway memorabilia. When first opened visitors could stroll through the house but after considerable pilfering the closest you can get is to stand at the open windows and doors and marvel at the stuffed head trophies from his African safaris lining the walls, his guns, books, typewriter etc. Watchful attendants stand in every room but you can see everything and take as many photos as you want so it is no hardship. In the grounds and carefully protected under a huge shelter is the Pilar, his marlin fishing boat and the one he used as a coastal patrol vessel for the U.S. Navy on anti-submarine patrol in WW II. Also in the grounds are his swimming pool (a famous story claims movie star Ava Gardner swam naked in it) and the four little headstones marking the graves of his dogs. The whole thing is a great tribute frozen in time but somewhat cheapened by the gift shop beside the parking lot with shirts, hats, spoons, coffee mugs and many other items with the Hemingway image on them.

Just a short drive from the finca is the fishing village of Cojimar where he kept the Pilar, also the home until

Bronze bust at Hemingway Memorial in Cojimar

he died in January 2002 of Gregorio Fuentes, captain of the Pilar and the inspiration for the character of Santiago, the “old man” of “The Old Man and the Sea.” On my first visit to Cuba back in 1999 I interviewed Gregorio, who was then 101 but clear minded and with a powerful grasp in his handshake. He showed me his photo album of his days on the Pilar and, when I commented the Hemingway looked pretty inebriated in one shot, he said fondly “Senor, Ernesto was always drunk!” Their favourite watering hole in the village was La Terraza, still a classic wood-panelled bar with a great line in mojitos and the walls decorated with photos of Hemingway with his marlin catches and even one of him with Fidel. When Ernesto died an impressive monument was built in his memory, an arc of classical columns encircle a plinth with a bust of Hemingway on top, looking past the adjacent Spanish fortress to the harbour entrance. The bust is cast in bronze and the story is that every fisherman in the area donated their bronze boat propellers to be melted down and used in the tribute. The legend of Hemingway will