We take a flight from Baracoa to Havana. On the way into Havana we stop by Revolution Square- where Fidel Castro always addressed the people. There is a very large profile of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos on the buildings near the corners and a sculpture of Jose Marti at the base of the huge “spire”.
We are joined in Havana by two Irish girls, who are here for the western part of the island. We thus swap our sedan taxi for a family van and have a new guide for this last week. Our meeting point was in the modern part of Havana, in the suburb of Vedado. It is strategically positioned 🙂 opposite the road to a super ice cream place- with a great deal of yummy flavours and not the price of Santiago ice cream of a few days ago nor the 3 hour queues of Copellia!!
We don’t have far to go the next day but have several stops as we head west. The first stop is by the street art/ religious sanctuary of Santeria. The artist that commissioned this street/ few blocks is Salvador Gonzales Escalona . Santeria is a mix of religious beliefs brought in by the African slaves (Yoruba and Catholicism). They practiced their beliefs underground as they did not have freedom of religion as slaves, and then after the revolution no one had freedom of religion.
