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Fábrica de Arte Cubano.
(Photo: Mene/Cuba Absolutely) |
Hemingway Didn’t Drink Here
Just because the Americans have been kept away doesn’t mean Havana doesn’t have its share of tourist traps. Here, alternatives to the standbys.
Bar
Instead of: Visiting any bar associated with Ernest Hemingway (La Bodeguita del Medio, El Floridita, etc.), which peddle overpriced and poorly made cocktails that are often sitting premade behind the bar
Do This:
Take a taxi to an old cooking-oil factory on the outskirts of Vedado that was turned into buzzy bar Fábrica de Arte Cubano (Calle 26, at Calle 11; 537-838-2260) in February by hip-hop artist X Alfonso. In addition to its excellent cocktails (try the Canchánchara), the building houses an avant-garde art gallery and a performance space where you might hear a Senegalese bass player or take in an impromptu fashion show.
Day Trip
Instead of: Taking a standard cigar-themed bus tour of the Viñales Valley two hours northwest of the city, home to beautiful limestone outcroppings but inferior-quality tobacco
Do This:
Visit the Bordeaux of tobacco, the fertile Vuelta Abajo fields, two hours west of Havana. Rent a ’57 Chevy convertible with a driver (from $120 per day; arrange with your hotel) and head to the Robaina plantation, which supplies leaves for Cohiba and Hoyo de Monterrey. A $4 tour (call in advance; 534-879-7470) will take you through the growing and drying processes, and one of the family members will teach you how to roll your own.
Show
Instead of: Sitting among the throngs of tour groups for a bland meal and kitschy cabaret act at the Tropicana in Marianao
Do This:
Get to unassuming music club El Jelengue de Areito (San Miguel 410; 537-862-0673), located on a gritty street in El Centro. There are bongos for bar stools and Afro-Cubano acts playing on the backroom soundstage every evening starting at five.
View
Instead of: Catching a quick glimpse of La Habana Vieja in a dark room for 20 minutes through the gimmicky Camera Obscura
Do This:
Head to the roof of the Art Deco Bacardi Building (Avenida Bélgica 261). For 1 CUC, the doorman will allow you to take the elevator for a spectacular view of the old-town center and bay. You can stay for as long as you want, and you’ll likely be the only one there.
See a Play in Spanish (or With No Words at All)
Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, director of El Ingenio theater group, picks out the key players of the city’s rising indie-theater scene.
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Teatro El Público.
(Photo: Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde) |
Carlos Díaz: He won the national theater prize in January for his work with Teatro El Público (Calle Líneam, at Paseo; 537-830-9648), which is known for unconventional approaches and eclectic themes, whether it’s Tennessee Williams or prostitution. Right now, he’s directing El Decamerón, a very young (and funny) production of the Boccaccio classic that has been adapted to the Cuban situation.
Carlos Celdran: He runs the Argos Teatro (Ayestarán 307; 537-878-5551) and is known for loading his productions with visual imagery. He just did The Cherry Orchard and set it in Cuba.
Nelda Castillo: Castillo is rebuilding her avant-garde El Ciervo Encantado (Calle 18, at Linea; 537-833-6982) with new actors at a space in Vedado they moved into in 2014. It’s an experimental group that sometimes performs entirely without words.
Raúl Martín: His Teatro de la Luna (various theaters) returned to prominence after resurrecting Afro-Cuban playwright Alberto Pedro’s musical Delirio Habanero late last year. The mostly female cast is known for weaving together their own singular style of music and dance. They jump around from theater to theater, from the Teatro Bertolt Brecht to the Fábrica de Arte, so ask at the tourist office where their next performance will be.