Travel Guides | Havana Travel Guide
Havana Travel Guide
Talkin’ about the Revolution
With the Revolution, out went Uncle Sam, fetish and free wheeler-dealing, and in came the beret-clad Messiah. While Fidel shuns the cult of personality, the image of Che is everywhere, from revolutionary slogans to steel sculptures and tourist market tat. At the pinnacle of Cuba's revolutionary pantheon is José Martí, who dedicated his life to bringing about the end of Spanish colonial rule. His pen definitely proved mightier than his sword. His much admired poems “Versos sencillos”, are now more famously rebranded as the song Guantánamera.
Sensual healing
Havana is not for the inhibited. In a city where Big Brother is always watching, music and sex are the sacred means to freedom of expression. Music pumps into every nook and cranny, from the Grammy-winning home-grown talent of Los Van Van to The Beatles, and the hip hop of the roquero youth. The bodies of lithe young women and muscular men gyrate through the streets. And, when it comes to flirting, habaneros take the Oscar. With the wiggle of a hip, the toss of the hair and the coo coo of the piropo, the locals engage freely. Appearance is everything. Habaneros struggle to make ends meet but nails get filed, lips are puckered, hair is curled and pooches get pampered. And, while their dwellings slouch into rubble-strewn alleyways, residents still dust off the ornaments, polish their antiques and surgically scrub the floors.
Urban hymns
Havana’s not short on A-list attractions with galleries, museums and architecture. The city’s heterogenous history has spawned vices, ingrained new ideologies and created iconic legends, leaving in its wake a volatile, but compelling landscape. Sights aside, Havana’s enigmatic allure lies in engaging with habanero life, wandering into crooked streets or ambling along coastal esplanades, partaking of three of Cuba's essential ingredients: rum, rumba and revelry.
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