Irina Pino’s Diary

Venecia (“Venice”), the latest film by Cuban director Enrique Alvarez, tells the stories of three young women in the span of 24 hours. The street settings – a restaurant, a bar, a disco – are a pretext to comment on different attitudes and ways of regarding life.

The phone wouldn’t stop ringing. News of a sudden death always draw attention. People want to find out the minutest detail (I don’t know why). There’s always a certain degree of morbid curiosity in the air, I suppose that’s normal.

My friend Inga was seduced by a Cuban hustler. They met at a party, danced salsa, had drinks, talked for hours and ended up having sex up on the roof terrace. A passionate string of events that left my foreign friend dazzled.

People talk of the 27 Club, where Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson and Jean Michel Basquiat are part of the list of those who died at the young age of 27.

Cartoons are part of the world of children, but many adults still enjoy them and retain – or have not managed to tear themselves from – the innocence of their childhood. I confess I’ve never stopped liking them.

Back when I was studying at the tourism school in Havana, a classmate and I used to go out with two young men from Cuba’s east. We went to parties, strolled together through Old Havana and practically became inseparable.

If I set out to write about illustrious mothers, the list would be endless. At any rate, today I would like to pay tribute to these progenitors of flesh-and-blood beings, those marvelous women who stand by their children during misfortunes, and throughout their lives.

Leaving the city of Santa Clara at the young age of fourteen, this octogenarian – an illustrious figure in the eyes of his family – would settle definitively in Havana, a destination recently declared one of the world’s “wonder cities.”

Recently, a friend was telling me about how hard it is to find a restaurant where you can eat while listening to agreeable background music. What you hear most at these establishments are dance pieces or catchy songs with tasteless lyrics.

I haven’t met anyone who is immune to his charms, who isn’t drawn into his stories, peopled by simple, flesh-and-blood characters, who doesn’t laugh and reflect at the same time. It is a unique experience, stepping into the skin of Charlot or any other character Chaplin played.