Hemingway in Cuba

It seems we are always crossing the path of Ernest Hemingway.  A few of our favorite boating areas seemed to have hosted the famous author, traveler, war correspondent,, fisherman.  Residents of the island of Bimini in the Bahamas are proud of their Hemingway connection. He spent lots of time there and their little one-room museum is full of Hemingway photos and memorabilia.  In fact, the grandfather of our Bimini fishing mate, Willie, used to mate for him when he came.  He was a great marlin fisherman and was a great drinker at the favorite Bimini watering hole, the Compleat Angler (which has since been destroyed by fire).  Key West is also a city where he had lived for a time and the bars he frequented as well as his house are important treasures in Key West history.

Now we have found Hemingway in Cuba and this is the best.  Here I see Hemingway with a touch of class and appreciation for quiet retreats in beautiful places.  

Attracted by his love for marlin fishing he came to Cuba in 1932.  But it wasn't until 1939 that he decided to move to the island. His temporary residence was a high corner room on the second floor of the hotel Ambos Mundos on a prominent street in the old section of Havana.  He made frequent visits to Havana with his girl friend, Martha Gellhorn, whom he married in1940.  Martha was not happy staying in a cramped hotel room so she sought to find more suitable accommodations.  

She found Finca La Viga on the outskirts of Havana.  It is a beautiful hilltop estate with a pool, gardens and a lovely villa overlooking Havana and the sea. Hemingway loved this place and it is said that he did some of his best writing here.

Hemingway's bond with Cuba lasted more than 20 years (up until his death), through the Batista period and the beginning of the Revolution, and longer, in fact, than his relationship with Martha.  His last wife, Mary Welsh (married in 1946) joined him in Cuba and lived with him at Finca La Viga.  They fixed up the property and added a tower room where Hemingway could write as he looked out over the sea.

Between travels, Hemingway and Mary spent their time at Finca La Viga.  He wrote and fished.  During World War II he would take his beautiful, fast fishing boat, the Pilar, out along the north coast of Cuba on the lookout for Nazi submarines that were trying to sink ships laden with Cuban sugarcane intended for the Allied troops.

In 1960 Hemingway and Mary returned to the US and in 1961 in Ketchum, Montana, Hemingway committed suicide.

Mary gave the villa to the Cuban government to be made into a museum and it has been carefully preserved eerily giving off a vibe that Hemingway is still there. We visited Finca La Viga on Monday afternoon and it is indeed beautiful.

Everything is just as it was, the furnishings, his books, his clothes, and his trophies from his many hunting trips in Africa.   I can see why he loved it. It was one of my favorite stops in all of Cuba.

My many photos will show you what a lovely place it still is.

  

There are a few things I found of particular interest.

Hemingway was a legendary drinker in the bars of Cuba.  He loved his rum. On the wall of the restaurant La Bodeguita de Medio he had hand written, "My Mojito in La Bodequita, my daiquiri in El Floridita".  It is also obvious he drank at home, in the living room between the two chairs you will see several rum bottles placed on the small table.  

       

    

Notice the hunting trophies throughout the house.  There is an interesting story of the Kudu trophy hanging on the dining room wall--the one with the long wavy antlers.  Hemingway shot it on safari in Africa in 1934. Mussolini had so admired it that he wanted to buy it. He sent Hemingway a blank check requesting the Kudu telling him to fill in the amount.  Hemingway returned the check with this message written on the back: "I do not hunt for a living, I live to hunt. Shoot your own." 

 

There is also a trophy in the bathroom.  It is a lizard preserved in a jar.  Hemingway had lots of cats.  They used to chase the lizards.  One day one of the cats caught one and proudly brought it into the house.  Hemingway had one of his workers preserve the lizard saying, "If I can have my trophies, so can my cat!"

    

 

In the bathroom are marks on the wall near the scales.  Apparently this is how Hemingway kept track of his weight.

The photo with the telescope is the tower where he did most of his writing.  I love the picture of his old Corona typewriter.

 

   

The boat is his famous Pilar, known throughout the Caribbean.

     

The black and whites photos were hanging in his pool house.