• Submitted by: admin
• Culture and Traditions
• Havana
• 07 / 07 / 2010

  Once again Old Havana will show its charms and mysteries to Cuban families through “Rutas y Andares” (Walking Around) project, from July 6 through August 31.

The program reaches its tenth anniversary this year with attractive and interesting proposals, some of which extend beyond the oldest part of the city.

 The summer project, organized by the City Historian’s Office, suggests an approach to museums, new tours through the patrimonial environment and the current restoration process of the Historic Heart of the Cuban capital.

It also invites to enjoy different cultural proposals in the big stage of the old city. For the third time, interpretation service for deaf people joins several of the tours, thanks to the collaboration of “Cultura entre las manos” (Culture in Our Hands) project of Habana Radio station.

 This 2010, “Rutas y Andares”, experience recently awarded with the Ibero-American Education and Museum Prize, inserts itself within the celebrations of the International Year for the Reppraochment of Cultures, procalimed by the United Nations General Assembly, with tours through the cultural presences in the city.
 
For this year, organizers have again programmed the “Rutas” (Routes), which comprise free visits to the museums included in them, from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, and on Sundays, until 1:00 pm.

Also, the routes of memory, science, decorative arts and findings leave from different spots on Tuesdays, at 10:00 am. In each of them, the family will be guided from one museum to the other by specialized guides.  
 
On the other hand, there will be a special route for the Bicentenary of the Independence of America, with a look at Latin American tradition from contemporaneity, through diverse expressions of its culture such as cinema, music, among others.

This route announces didactic concerts and the screening of recently produced films, and will take place at the Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura (Hispanic American Center for Culture).

The events are scheduled on Thursdays and Fridays: on July 15th and 16th dedicated to Mexico; the 22nd and 23rd to Colombia; the 29th to Peru and Bolivia; on August 5th to Venezuela; the 12th to Argentina; and the 19th to Chile. The closing ceremony will take place on Thursday, August 26th.  

 
“Los Andares” (The Pathways) are conceived as thematic tours, with specialized guides who approach different edges of the proposed theme, and will always leave from Plaza de Armas, at 10:00 am. On Wednesdays, they will be dedicated to the “Andar con los andantes” (Walking with Walkers), which proposes a review of the main and most popular themes of previous editions, such as, from the universal art to contemporary art, the restoration of the Historic Center, the libraries of the City Historian’s Office, the hygiene and the art of curing in colonial Havana, archaeology in the Historic Center, the projects of international cooperation, and the Havana of Cecilia Valdes.

 
On Thursdays, organizers forsee the Andar la Arquitectura (Walking through Architecture), an approach to some of the most significant architectural styles and details of the city, streets, and rehab projects; whereas Fridays will see the “Andar por las presencias culturales” (Walking through cultural presences), which in the International Year of Repproachment of Cultures proposes a look at the different cultures that have left marks on the city.

By María del Carmen Vasallo

 
Cubasi Translation Staff