Capitolio Tour

So today I met up with one of the boys from the water polo team. We met up at the capital to spend the afternoon in that area. I had never been before and was looking forward to going. It was nice to have my own, six foot, strong, beautiful Cuban tour guide to fill me in on fun facts. He pointed out certain hotels, buildings, shops and other tidbits. We saw the old building where the famous Cuban ballet is performed, La Floridita restaurant where Hemingway supposedly had the best Daiquiri, a Cuban mall, the Granma monument, the building where the president used to live, and more. It was a beautiful afternoon and the sun was shining down on every landmark and warmed our skin as we strolled the streets talking about our lives, however different they are.
At one point we decided to check out the Museo de Bellas Artes, the art museum. We walked in and I went to pay since I knew that Reidel didn’t have much money. The woman looked past me, asked Reidel if he was Cuban, then said, “5 moneda for you but she has to pay the tourist rate”. So I paid 7 CUC and he paid 5 moneda. Five moneda is about .25 CUC. I paid about 2000% of what he did. Perfect example of why Cubans love tourists. So we walked around looking at old art which was great but the afternoon got sufficiently awkward when we found ourselves in the temporary exhibit called Erotica. I mean you can probably understand why this would be awkward, especially on a first date so I won’t go into detail. I will say that this exhibit was my first real taste of how open the Cuban culture is to sex, even in their fine art, which is refreshing in a way but nonetheless uncomfortable.
We recovered with some yummy moneda nacional pizza and sat in a park to watch as the sun set and a group of young kids played soccer on the concrete. We parted ways after he walked me halfway back to the Residencia, through Centro Habana. Centro Habana is one of the poorer parts of La Habana but to me is one of the most interesting and beautiful. The roads are bumpy and usually muddy from rain water or soapy water from people mopping their floors, the roads are lined with tall buildings on each side. A lot of these buildings, with crumbling, brightly colored paint and laundry hanging from the rusting metal porches, are called solares, where many people live together in one building. They are majestic and stately but crumbly and sad-looking at the same time. And just looking at them, you know that they are not easy places to live. Walking by the open doors and peeking in to the small Santeria altars, lace doorways, and people in rocking chairs, I try to picture their lives and feel it, if only for a moment.