Hotel Riviera la habana -- Valentine's Day!

     . . .  The flight from JFK to Jose Marti was longer than ever experienced, due to the continuing winds from Tuesday's storms.  We could feel the plane fighting for every bit of headway.  As well, as we began the approach to Cuba this became the most turbulent flight on a commercial flight I've ever experienced.

As the weather forecasts had predicted, it was overcast and coolish in Havana.  What the forecasts did not predict though, was a big rainstorm, which began a few moments after we got into the bus, about 2 PM and continued all through the night. It's still overcast today but it does look as though it is clearing.

The Hotel Riviera is located right on the Malecon; the way Mayer Lanskey had it designed, there is a view of the sea from every room, yet one cannot see the highway and the cars on it that runs along the Malecon.  The view of the plunging, surging, exploding fireworks of wave and water -- the "penetration of the sea" in Havana idiom -- is spectacular through the floor to ceiling windows of the palacial space lobby. Here are a variety of decks and patios and lounging areas, as well as a bar, and the entrances to what used to be the casino and the nightclub and cocktail lounges. All afternoon and night guests were avidly videoing the landscape.

It brought so many memories of me spending hours back in 1999 - 2000 trying to capture these scene, where waves break in a line like aerial bombing against the sea walls of the Malecon.  I walked past the Riviera at least once a day on the way to the market and only 'store' in Havana in those days.  Nor had the Riviera been restored then.  But I did attend music events and have drinks with friends here (Cubans were not allowed up into Cuban hotel rooms then, either.)

The Postmambo travelers arrive in a little while.  Two hours after they check in we will take the mob history tour of the Riviera, go on to la Salon Benny More at la Tropical, then dinner in the hotel at the restaurant L'Aiglon, and then move over to the Bar Elegante for our celebration of Valentine's Day concert by the wonderful Haydee Melendez -- who happens also to be a most elegant musician in her personal appearance as well as magnificently talented -- her father is the, by now, mythic singer - musician, Pablo Melendez.

In the meantime, wifi is hard to do.  Have to buy wifi cards from the the hotel to use in the hotel, and nothing else will work here -- which is another way the hotels get revenue of course.  But one can't use the cards in one's room -- no service -- which also mean one can only use battery power down here in the lobby -- nowhere to plug in.  Morever, a lot of sites, like my little DM friends site can't be reached from Cuba at all.  And for some reason, on this little notebook, the display of any kind of image is all wonky too.  So no posting of photos from here, it looks like.

But there ya, go.  This is Cuba.  If one came here to hang out online, one is a silly willy.  Yet -- if one is doing business, even business that is good for Cuba, it's a real pita.

Unlike last month in Oriente, tourism seems to be doing OK here in Havana, though none of the hotels are full.  I wonder if these giant dream houses built by US mafia lords and their confreres and friends ever were filled even in the halcyon days of Havana US tourism in the 1950's?  My guess is the only time every room in Havana was filled was when President Obama came here -- not even the Pope did that, surely.

Damp and Grey Solstice Day

Here in NYC it's much warmer than yesterday.  By Christmas Eve it will be 70º.

Looks as though we'll have some 90º days in Cuba in the first two weeks of January.  That's warmer than usual for Cuba in January, at least in the west.

History in the Making -Minnesota Orchestra Broadcasting Concert Live From Havana

We're listening to this history-making live-in-concert via streaming. It seemed to be running on Cuban time, meaning things didn't start on time the way surely Minnesotans at least calculate such things.  But for Cuba it began astonishingly on the tick.

 It was 1:01 p.m. Wednesday when Delta Flight 8876 hit the tarmac at José Martí International Airport in Havana.

Habanera ticket holders waiting to enter the teatro natcional for last night's concert.

Last night's sold-out house.

Since there's no direct or compatible digital links to the U.S. the technical end of this has been very complicated.  The signals are being sent to Switzerland first, and then to the U.S.

The Minnesotans have learned the use of hand fans as well, since the Teatro Nacional is only lightly A/Ced.

They opened with the Cuban National Anthem, "El Himno de Bayamo", followed with the"Star Spangled Banner."

The orchestra began the program with classic Cuban composer Cartula's "Danson" , but they sound so gallego! i.e. like saying "Pat Boone has no soul."  Last night they did Beethoven.  Tonight, at least so far, the program is Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.

This event is, well, astounding.  Here is a description of last night's concert.  One can't help but wish though, that the Minnesota public radio announcer understood Cuba's music culture better and 'got it' that Cuba has brilliant national classical music orchestras -- that this is not the first time Cubans are hearing this music, played by brilliant musicians.

Eusebio Leal -- Last Tuesday Night's Speaker at the NYPL

The concept is excellent. With all the parts of extensive non-tourist urban daily life going on in habana vieja, and the twisty calles wide enough for carts and pedestrians only, it's the most intense, authentic time machine experience you can have -- and there are several eras into which can travel back.

I've also had the privilege of going on tours of habana vieja led by him, and others led by his students.

[ " All these years later, at 69, Leal’s mad passion has made him a beloved figure in Cuba and a globally admired hero of the historic preservation movement. With the unlikely title of city historian, he has rescued hundreds of landmark buildings in Old Havana — Habana Vieja — the colonial section of the city founded in 1519. He devised a mechanism to use tourist dollars to fund preservation, making the city more attractive to visitors — thus begetting more tourist dollars and more preservation.
He did it while taking a stand against gentrification, and against the theme-parking of history, by insisting that real people must continue to live, work, study and retire amid the historic plazas, palaces, museums and boutique hotels. " ]

Full feature article here.