After the walking tour we went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Arte Cubano. We had a excellent tour guide who showed us several painters who were painting after the revolution. We were not allowed to take pictures in the galleries we visited. The art was very good and our guides explanation of the artists and their motivations made it really interesting. We were allowed to take pictures in the courtyard (as shown on the side).
We ate lunch at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba. This is a famous hotel on the Malecón. It has been frequented by many famous people from the past and present. They had a hall of fame of pictures of the famous guests. It reminded us of the wall of photos in the west hotel at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. And, many of the people in the photos had visited both hotels. Not sure why, but we took no pictures. We must have been tired. There are lots of pictures on the web if you are interested.
After lunch we went to the Casa Comunitaria Cultural el Tanque. This was a fascinating visit to a project that combines art and community development with the object to improve the community and the life of the people. The walls of the community are covered with murals. Originally they were all painted but they discovered the effect of the sun and weather made them fade and require repainting or maintenance. They have begun to use more multi media as the mural on the right shows.
We were joined one of the founders of the project. They have been in neighborhood for 14 years. The HQ building where we were was a 5 year project. Artists from around the world come to the project to collaborate with them. There is art everywhere in the area of varying sizes and styles.
In the picture on the right, there is a small open space on the corner where I stood to take the picture. In order to build the wall and the open space they removed 8 trucks of garbage. It is now a small park for the community. He told us they have no problems with graffiti or vandalism. The community supports them and their mission.
In the building you can see in the background of the first picture is a courtyard with art and a bench. Before they could start construction they had to remove 65 trucks of garbage. Our guide told us they found skeletons in the garbage, lizard skeletons. He had a great sense of humor.
Besides visual art, musicians are part of the project. They give lessons to the neighborhood children and they have groups that perform. We were treated to a small concert from an accomplished band. During one of the numbers a small girl got up and was dancing with the band. Even at age 5(?), she had the moves. Here is a short video of the band with the girl dancing. The percussion instrument on the left is homemade out of cowbells, a battered old cymbal, bicycle handlebars, and other assorted things to bang on.
This project gets no government funds and relies on donations and sales of their art. We spent time in the gallery talking with the artists and buying two paintings and a CD. It was a fascinating visit.
Our last night in Havana was at a wonderful restaurant. Our trip there is described in the post entitled “Havana Cars”. Our "welcome drinks” were usually sweet concoctions of rum like a daiquiri. Our welcome drink at this restaurant was rum, lime juice, a touch Angostura bitters. I liked it much better than the others. It was a very nice end to our time in Havana.
We took the bus to the airport at 6:30 in the morning and had an uneventful check-in, flight, passage through immigration and customs in the US where we parted company with our group.
It was a great trip. Classic Journeys did a wonderful job (kudos to Frederique) and our Cuban guide was really good (thanks Lazaro).