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| June 2008 | Cuban cabarets—Socialism and sensuality! Travel features |
by Christopher P. Baker |
The lights go down... as a troupe of near-naked showgirls in silver thigh-high boots and glowing chandeliers atop their heads appears at the back of the auditorium. Their see-through fishnet body suits drip with silver baubles that dangle like still-wet tiny fishes, and they strut down the aisle like sex washing up from the sea. |
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| Mar 2008 | Calle Honda Hamejon – Havana rumba Travel features |
by Silvia Gomez |
Callejón de Hammel is one of the shortest streets in the city, barely 200 meters long, delimited by Aramburu and Espada streets. It owes its name to Fernando Belleau Hammel, of French-German descent, who smuggled weapons during the American Civil War and who in the early 20th century, settled down in Havana, at this dead-end street which now bears his name. He opened a foundry and built houses for his workers. The alley’s first fame came during the 1940s and 50s when the home of trovador Tirso Díaz became the gathering place for a group of singers and composers—friends of Ángel Díaz, Tirso’s son—who constituted the founding members of filin, |
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| Jan 2008 | Cigar smoking in Havana – A visitor’s guide Travel features |
by Amir Simoney |
Havana is the Mecca for cigar smokers and one that is open all year round. Knowledge, experience, glamour and authenticity are all present in abundance on the tropical island that is home to the best cigars in the world. Cigars in Cuba are not just a part of the economy but are an intricate component of the country’s history, culture and everyday life. |
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| Dec 2007 | Cool Days, Hot Nights-Parque Metropolitano Travel features |
by Conner Gorry |
On a hot summer night a little riverside amphitheater thrums with a thousand voices, the sweaty, cathartic chorus reaching deep into the surrounding woods. While young punks and pretty debutantes perch in giant jacarandas for a bird’s eye view of the onstage party, Cuba’s future IM their friends about what they’re missing. And what they’re missing is historic. |
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| Nov 2007 | The Malecon: Havana’s smile Travel features |
by Silvia Gomez |
No one can question the femininity of the city of Havana. The great Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén discovered her "sonorous hips" and many have succumbed to her flirtatiousness and elusiveness, attracted by an irresistible smile. It is a smile of nearly seven kilometres that reveals the city's character shaped over almost five centuries: outgoing, noisy, multicoloured, although with intervals of withdrawal and even adolescent-like shyness; open to all influences, heterogeneous and eclectic, determined to be herself, and not like any other; proud of her age and at the same time ready to take the risks of modernity. |
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| Apr 2006 | In search of music in Cuba Travel features |
by Karolien Verheyen |
Holguin was the place to visit the workshop of organ makers, in business since 1886, and the Malecon in Havana was a great place to attend some amazing jam sessions or 'penas'. On one of my daily strolls I dropped into Julia Valdes' visual arts gallery in Old Havana. The man who was looking after the place asked me why I was visiting Cuba. He gave me his card and told me he was a cultural promoter, after which he picked up the phone and then gestured to me I needed to speak with this person. That person was no one less than Bobby Carcasses… |
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| Feb 2007 | Havana's Renaissance Travel features |
by Juliet Barclay |
The restoration of Old Havana is internationally acclaimed as one of the world’s most innovative and exciting projects of urban renaissance. It is all more the remarkable for the context in which it is taking place: Cuba’s ongoing struggle to establish itself as a political and economic force to be reckoned with. |
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| Mar 2007 | The 2007 Hemmingway fishing tournament Travel features |
by Steve Gibbs |
Like all the best fishing stories, mine began in a bar. One evening in Havana, I was introduced to a man called Stewart, an affable commercial manager in a London building firm. It turned out he was part of the English team in this year's Hemingway fishing tournament. In fact he was the only Englishman on his boat, and he was taking on recruits. |
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| Feb 2007 | Havana: an intensely inhabited city Travel features |
by Daniel Barclay |
Visitors to the Cuban capital frequently remark on how busy the city seems to be, how the life of the city is inescapable and either delightful or irritating, depending on their disposition and expectations as a tourist in a socialist Caribbean island. The fabric of the city is often crumbling, yet Cuban life goes on with a kind of cheerful self-absorption and confidence despite (or because of?) the lack of material trappings and 'advances' that we are used to in western cities |
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| Jan 2007 | Havana Blue Travel features |
by Juliet Barclay |
Beneath the centuries of multi-coloured limewash in Old Havana’s eighteenth century mansions, archaeologists often discover elaborate and beautiful mural paintings in which an exquisite powdery blue predominates. This has come to be known as ‘Havana Blue’ and the colour is still used all over the city, gently echoing the triumphant azure of the Cuban sky. |
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| Jan 2010 | 20 Favorite Moments in Cuba Travel features |
by Clair Boobbyer |
The weather-beaten coastal road between Pilón and Santiago de Cuba is remote and dramatic. It takes you past a canvas of lashing waves and cliffs that drop vertically onto the ocean road, which itself lie just yards from the sea. At times the road rollercoasters and the panoramic scenery unfold below. After hurricanes and bad storms, parts of the road and bridges are lost, making for some hair-raising driving; this is not a trip for the faint hearted but it’s the best drive in Cuba. |
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