[By Mario Luz in Lyttelton, New Zealand]
Meeting
our family half the way between Portugal and New Zealand seems to be
the way to go, it´s less expensive, we fly less hours and we can see
something new so, why not Cuba. The plan was to meet Liliana´s parents
there. Hopefully get a plane before the cyclone Cook arrived to
Auckland and get back before the tornado season there. A direct flight
from Los Angeles took us to see the biggest island in the Caribe.
Habana
is a remarkable place to sketch, layers of history and layers of bright
paint with unexpected and creative ways of using the old buildings can
be seen all around the city. Every place would give a good drawing so
the frustration of not sketching enough was almost guaranteed.
The
transports in Habana are very diversified and follow the Cuban
creativity. Starting with the bicitaxi, a tricycle mostly used by
cubans, the cocotaxi a motorized tricycle which Eva loved and the horse
with carriage for tourists. In terms cars there are a mix of old
russian and american cars, none of each remains original, the old
russian Volga car that took us until Trinidade had a Kia engine and
several other parts from different cars. The music pumping loud from the
speakers is a must. There is always something being repaired on the
road side and it feels like those cars can last another 50 years.
Eva
forgot her sketch book but wanted to sketch people and was constantly
asking Liliana for pages of her book, we decided to find her a
sketchbook or school book with blank pages, we went
to the main art shop in Habana but there were only books with lines.
According with the guy working there, last time he had a book with blank
pages for sale was 5 years ago… “But we have free health care and good
weather” he added with an amazing sense of humor. The Cubans are happy
persons.