El Templete, a Landmark in Havana

 Today I want tell you about one of my favorite places in Havana, El Templete. It´s my favorite place to talk about this city with tourists in my travels.

 The building situated exactly in front of the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales (today The City Museum) is a comparatively small building constructed in the neoclassicist style. Today it is used for commemorative ceremonies marking the founding of Villa San Cristobal de la Habana (Havana).

This small Greco-Roman temple was inaugurated on March 19, 1828, in homage to Queen Josefa Amalia, the wife of Spain’s King Fernando VII.

Inside were hung three large canvases that represent the holding of the first mass, the first town council, and a central canvas (painted later) where there appears the blessing of the site at a mass led by the bishop of Espada in presence of the General Captain, the aristocracy and high officials of the colonial government. These works were created by the French painter Jean Baptiste Vermay, whose remains and those of his wife are in the interior in a cenotaph made of Carrara marble.

The paintings have only been taken down on one occasion for restoration.

The Templete is among the symbols of the city, one of the most beautiful and old traditions on the island, and served to determine the area that marked the beginning of the Plaza and Havana when it was founded on the north coast of the island in 1519.

This marking of the city was perpetuated first by the planting of a commemorative Ceiba tree, later by the stone in the Column Cagigal (1754), and after with the construction of the neoclassical Templete and its interior canvases (1828). Such monuments attest to this site being the setting of the first mass and session of town council, both held under the leafy tree.

The only remnant of the original Ceiba tree is in people’s memories, but now another equally powerful one has grown and is worshipped by the practitioners and believers of religions that originated in Africa. Each year on November 16, thousands of people of different ages, origins, races and sexes turn out to make three circles around the tree (without stopping to touch it) and to toss coins at its base while making three wishes.

Only on that day of the year is this tradition celebrated. It is attracting more and more people hoping for miracles, though it is now becoming more of a social event than a religious one.

People come from all parts of the world from very distant countries. If you’re in Cuba on that day, don’t miss making three turns around the Ceiba tree, tossing a few coins and — with much faith — hope for love, health and good luck to accompany you.

Colors of the black Cuba

   Before getting to the Island Johann asked me about the places we were going to visit. He wanted to take advantage of his holidays in Havana and asked me especially about the black Cuba.

   As soon as he did that I thought about Callejón de Hammel. It is a very important place when talking about the influence of the black slaves that came from Africa, in the Cuban identity and culture.

Actually Johann enjoyed this visit a lot and he was lucky enough to meet Salvador, the artist who dreamt and built such a project.

  

 The truth is the black Cuba is full of colors. Black, white, yellow, red, blue, have a special meaning in this cultural event.

In Callejón de Hammel you can enjoy the rhythm and energy of what we cannot call “black Cuba” but  just Cuba.

My experience as a Tour Guide

   Each tour in Havana is a new chance to learn. I think I have said this several times and I guess I will repeat it again and again. Mijaila and Thomas, from Germany  taught me a lot. They specially made me understood how important it is to learn about traffic code.

   I always share with you the good moments I live as a tour guide but I also have had some bad experiences. The second worst moment was to guide Thomas through the streets of Havana at night time. He was driving the car he rented and I was supposed to tell him how to get to some places.

   Unfortunately I don´t know how to drive and I can´t stop thinking like a pedestrian. So imagine how hard it was to guide him and his wife from one place to the other. I never knew when or where to turn right or left!!!

 There is something else, I didn´t know it was so hard to find Insects killing sprays in Cuba, so please, if you intend to have some holidays in this Island, I recommend you to bring your own spray against mosquitos.
  Finally we had a great time together and could enjoy each place we visited like this coffe in Obispo street.

    Mijaila could mark in yellow all the pages she had selected in her traveller´s book and I felt very proud to show her things she didn´t expect.

   Thanks both of you for your tenderness and specially for recommending my service as a guide to 4 wonderful people from England.

Making friends in Havana

Working as a tour guide in Havana is like having a walk with a friend. You start giving the best of you, showing your reality, your city and you can´t stop involving your own memories, experiences and dreams.

So, at the end of each tour you feel you have a new friend. It may come true or not, but that´s exactly how you feel. Glenn was one of those tourists who wanted to know about the real Havana. He wanted to share common places like Coppelia, where we had some ice-cream and a tocinillo sweet and especially he wanted to walk a lot.

Fortunately I´m in good shape and although it was sunny in the morning, by the afternoon it was raining so that our walk was not that hard.

We took the bustur as a means of transportation for him to have a better idea of the city. I recommended him not to stand up there to avoid the branches of the trees in some avenues.

 Back to Vedado we visited the Jazz Café and then came back to Casa Delia in Old Havana. It was a very big walk along Malecón. The waves wet the long walk and they almost wet us.

Here are some of the photos of this day. I hope you can enjoy them as much as I did.

No blue sky today in Havana

   Glenn came to Havana from London. He told me he had some expectations about this visit and guess which was number one? He was anxious to see our sunny sky…but, unfortunately, there was no blue sky today.

   It was cloudy all day long. Glenn doesn´t know it was easier to walk our narrowed streets and climb to see the Christ of Havana without the strong sun rays killing us, but even I missed the blue of our sky, especially when I saw these photos.  I hope tomorrow Glenn can finally discover the real colors of this island.

 

 

 

   For our second day tour we are planning to visit the modern part of the city and of course I’m going to share some details about it with you. (Glenn gave me permission to share these special moments)

   I promised him more than 4 paragraphs, but we walked so hard today that my feet hurt. So I swear I´m going to write a longer text after tomorrow (only if my feet survive these long walks)

No matter how hard life can be, Art always brings happiness.

Once I heard that slogan and I felt it was a strong idea. Sometimes people wonder how could cubans resist so many adversities. Then I always have an answer “we bet on art”

I had the chance to make a tour with a very peculiar couple. She was born in Peru and he is a British man. Both of them wanted to know a little about Cuba and I shared the last 3 hours of his holidays in this Island.

This was not a common tour. We visited the wonderful squares, we talked about the arquitecture and History of Havana, but we specially devoted some time to art. That´s  how we entered that singular workshop and met some artists.

Together we admired that amazing painting and finally bought some books from Carilda Oliver Labra, Carpentier, and Daniel Chavarría. I hope Susi and her daughter can enjoy them they I did.

 Art and love are an endless source of inspiration. We Cubans know that. So I hope Susi and her friendly husband Paco, took some inspiration from us.

The Revolution Square, a special stop in our tour

The Revolution Square is a very special stop in our tours. Jan, Jennifer and Carl did enjoy that visit. From the view point they could admire the great views of Vedado, so different from Old Havana.

 Jennifer´s passion for photography, Carl´s nice smile and Jan´s useful comments made the difference during the tour.

I really appreciated their company and I hope my own experience helped a lot to have a better understanding of my people.

 

 Jan is going to love these photos and she is probably going to smile and cherish the diges she bought in Havana for her gold chain.