Ariel Glaria, Author at Havana Times

A Burial and Wake in Havana

A few days ago, while standing on a street corner in Havana, Luis, an acquaintance who never misses a wake, told me about a burial and the last wake he’d been to.

Leaving or Staying in Cuba, That is the Question

Recenlty while standing at the bus stop on the intersection of Prado and Trocadero streets, right across the two bronze lions that keep watch over part of Old Havana’s promenade, I heard five young people debate the reasons for leaving or staying in Cuba. They were speaking openly and sincerely.

A Re-Encounter with Old Neighbors

Back when the complete works of Lenin adorned the living rooms of Cubans, there were no color TV sets, everyone went to the movies and US dollars were the Phantom of the Opera, Albert told his best friend that he was a homosexual. At the time, no one used the word “gay” and “homosexual” was a sophisticated and rather strange term. The common word people used was “faggot.”

Funeral Parlors in Havana

Three months ago, at the funeral parlor in La Lisa, Havana, Luis showed me why he is renowned for never missing a wake. He was among the first to arrive. “This is one of the ugliest, lesser known funeral parlors in Havana,” he said when he saw me.

Back To Havana’s Sewers

I had decided not to write about Pancho again, but, on the night of Thursday, October 8, Pancho confirmed everything I’d been told. The drain was to one side of a bank in Old Havana. Cucaracha showed up with a crowbar. They quickly lifted the lid.

A Child’s Cuba Memoirs

Caroline Wallace was only a little girl when she saw the rock fortress at the entrance to Santiago de Cuba’s port for the first time. She was accompanying her father, the new US consul to the Caribbean city, where she lived with hum for six years.

Old Windows in Havana

Her name was Felicia, and she was a prostitute back when it was good business to be one in Havana. She continued to be a hooker after 1959, when all gambling establishments were shut down and prostitution was declared illegal and actively persecuted.

Havana Down the Drain

Havana’s tomb raiders of old have today met their match. His name is Pancho. He doesn’t look for treasures in the world of the dead. He does so in the dark tunnels where the city’s shit ends up: the sewers.

Cuba: An Education in Values

In a previous article, I mentioned how adjusting education to daily life involves a challenge for society. We don’t only want children and young people to go to school. We also want them to learn what society needs them to learn there.

Freemasonry: Mother of the Cuban Nation

The ups and downs of history and ill intentions of individuals have made us forget the history – today incomplete – of an institution we could well call the mother of the Cuban nation: freemasonry. However we know more about freemasonry in the United States, whose symbols adorn cities and dollar bills, than about its significance to our own history.