The Two-Wheeled City

So yesterday we went on our weekly excursion out of Havana around Cuba.  One of our professors last week joked about the fact that the longer we stay here the more the travel bug infects us and we want to see the rest of the country.  She was so right.  So, as all eight of us piled into the van, we began our four-hour long trek to see more of this sun-drenched country, this time, Santa Clara.

The thing that Santa Clara is most known for is being the home of Che’s great revolutionary victory that ensured the success of the rebel arm against Batista’s army forces.  In late December of 1958, Che moved into the town and started waging war against the army forces that Batista had sent to beef up his last remaining stronghold between the rebel army and Havana.   On December 29, Che ordered a section of rail tracks pulled up with tractors.  That afternoon, the rebel army had attacked to the point that the remaining soldiers fled to an armored train and tried to flee the city for Havana.  The train moved out at tremendous speed and of course derailed in a horrific accident.  With that win over the armed forces, Che captured antiaircraft guns, machine guns, and a huge amount of ammunition.  It was a decisive victory for the rebels.

The train is still in Santa Clara as well as a monument to Che and his museum.  His body is buried there as well, but we didn’t get to see the tomb or the museum, because as luck would have it they were closed.  So we got to see his statue and read the farewell speech that he wrote to Fidel before leaving for Bolivia to start a guerrilla war there.  It was a beautiful spot outside the city and in an appropriately isolated spot (much like the legend himself).  I’ve been reading a biography about him called Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson which at times doubles as a door stop, so this was a great thing to be able to see the tribute to the guy that I’ve been reading so much about.

After the failed museum attempt, we went into the city of Santa Clara and spent some time just walking around and enjoying what the city had to offer.  I was struck by how few cars were actually on the road; most people were either on bicycles or walking.  Santa Clara only has about 150,000 people and is on the interior of Cuba so you can cover a lot of territory with two legs or two wheels.  Interestingly, in all of Havana with its 2 million plus in population, there is not one recognized gay bar.  The gay bar in Santa Clara is known all throughout Cuba and el Mejunje is a center for tolerance and acceptance.  Our professor for our Cuban-US Relations class is actually the one that told us about it and said that we had to go check it out, so now I can say that I have been to Cuba’s one gay bar.