• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 01 / 31 / 2011

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Beauty, energy found in big city, tiny towns. Special to The Post and Courier. Sunday, January 30, 2011. Political slogans on billboards and walls, like a reference to loyalty and flag, are as common a sight in Cuba as old American cars.

Cuba is a country rich in imagery. It is the essence of exotic beauty, lush topography and dazzling sensuality. It is a country filled with a population that is culturally sophisticated, highly educated and, in the midst of poverty, generous.

The country's soul is palpable. You sense it in its music, its dance, its art, even in the mournful and majestic patina of its crumbling buildings.

I have been to Cuba many times over the years as a filmmaker and journalist. I have traveled through most of the country, from the lush tobacco-growing regions of Pinar del Rio to the rugged and forlorn Sierra Maestra Mountains.

I have journeyed east to west, north to south, and three places stand out as the most fascinating and reflective of the beauty, energy and pathos of the country and its people: the grand Cristobal Colon

Necropolis in Havana, the tiny town of Nuevitas in Camaguey Province, and El Cobre on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba in the Sierra Maestra Mountains.

Cristobal Colon

There is a strange legend about the ornate sloping archway that forms the main entrance to Havana's resplendent Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) Necropolis. Three beautiful sculptures representing faith, hope and charity crown the 71-foot-tall stone structure, and many Cubans have told me it actually is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Farfetched? Not really. Columbus died in 1506 and was buried in Valladolid, Spain, but in 1526 his body was exhumed and moved to Seville, Spain, to be buried with his eldest son. In 1542, his widow had his body moved to the Dominican Republic. In 1795, the Spanish sent his remains to Cuba for safekeeping from the French, demanding that they be returned to Spain after the Spanish-American War. However, the Cubans say, his body was never returned to Spain. Instead, in what is called the switch conspiracy, another body was sent to Spain in its place. Interestingly, the archway/tomb remains the tallest tomb in all of Cuba.

True or not, the cemetery is dazzling. Occupying 7.5 percent of the surface area of the city of Havana, it remains the largest monumental and fourth largest marble statuary in the world. Its statues, monuments, mausoleums, pantheons and tombs represent every architectural style from Romanesque-Byzantine to art deco. Declared a national monument by the Cuban government, this breathtaking cemetery with its broad, tree-lined avenue is an open book of legends, stories and history conveyed in stone and marble.

Symbolism is rampant among the graves. Crosses, lambs, circles, garlands, emblems, scales and Masonic symbols are intricately carved in marble and limestone. The epitaphs are intriguing, powerful and often tender. There are poems, quotes from literature, intricate mosaics and breathtaking stained glass.

This home to some of the loveliest imagery in the world is an egalitarian place of rest. Here lie everyday Cubans as well as famous artists, writers, scientists and revolutionary patriots. There are monuments to Cuban victims of World War II, ball players and firemen. There is even a monument to the American Legion.

The regal, black-marble pantheon is adorned with an Imperial Eagle and honors veterans of the American Civil War as well as Americans who died in the Spanish-American War. You will be surprised at the number of Americans buried and honored throughout this grand Cuban necropolis (open 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; admission is $1).

Nuevitas

Nuevitas is a sleepy little town that hovers on a peninsula jutting out into the sheltered Nuevitas Bay. It lies on the northeast coast of Cuba, about 45 miles from the provincial capital city of Camaguey.

More than any small town, its sweeping sea view and colorful wooden houses with their ambling, sturdy porches make one continuous line from block to block, offering a glimpse into rural Cuba.

Reachable only by water at one time, today this provincial village remains a secluded gem, rarely visited by tourists. Automobiles are almost nonexistent, and the narrow, dusty streets are peppered with meandering ox carts, horse-drawn carriages, old Russian tractors, makeshift food stands and women hanging laundry along their porches. It is a cross between a remote fishing village and a factory town.

Electrical wires crisscross the sky, roosters crow and the scent of mangoes and sea fills the air.

It is here in Nuevitas that Columbus initially sought a safe harbor, and here that the first American settlers landed to begin colonizing Cuba after the Spanish-American War. The Port of Nuevitas serviced Fidel Castro's revolutionaries smuggling arms from Miami, and today it maintains a Coast Guard station and a thermoelectric plant.

The people are friendly, crime is low and you can always find someone to cook you a tasty meal of fish or lobster for a few pesos.

This is not a town where you will find tourists or tourist amenities. For that, stay in Camaguey, or across the bay in one of the all-inclusive resorts in Santa Lucia. Rather, Nuevitas is a place to wander, to stroll through the tiny plaza and meandering streets. A place to take in the rhythm of everyday life and to feel the vestiges of both rural and colonial Cuba.

And there is something else. If you stand at the corner of Angel Gutierrez and Camilo Cienfuegos, you will see the home of a Santero priest, a Masonic Hall and a Rosicrucian Temple. Odd, even for Cuba.

El Cobre

Nine miles west of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second-largest city, a narrow two-lane highway climbs through the foothills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains amid spectacularly vibrant foliage. Materializing quite majestically in the distance and appearing as some glittering apparition, is the most important shrine for Cubans and the country's most famous church: El Cobre.

For most Cubans, a pilgrimage to El Santuario de Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre to make an offering, pay their respects or ask for protection is a must. It's an enchanting, triple-domed basilica that rises on Maboa Hill, but it is so much more. Castro's mother deposited a medal here to seek her son's protection during the revolution.

The display case on the first floor is full of Olympic medals, personal mementos, letters and family treasures. Ernest Hemingway donated his Nobel Prize for Literature for "The Old Man and the Sea." The pope donated a crown and rosary during his 1998 visit. There are even banners calling for the release of political prisoners. This is the only place I know of in Cuba where anti-government statements are publicly displayed.

It also is home to the Virgen de la Caridad (Virgin of Charity), the patron saint of Cuba. Her statue resides in a glass case above the high altar. During Mass, the statue is mechanically turned to face into the church. After the service, it is turned to face a small chapel where pilgrims come with votive gifts.

Most Cubans who visit this shrine are not Catholic. Many are followers of the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. On any given day, you can see a wedding party, members of the military and ordinary Cuban men, women and children bearing gifts, asking for miracles or giving thanks.

"Here is the soul of Cuba," an old veteran of the Cuban Revolution once told me. And so it is.

Note: An embargo remains in force by the U.S. government prohibiting travel to Cuba. Check the Department of Treasury (www.treasury.gov) to see if you are eligible for authorized travel. For more on restrictions, see Page 8E. Margaret Ford Rogers is a filmmaker and writer based in Charleston.

Source: www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/30/the-soul-of-cuba/