Empty Tables / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: Unstated, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
While the official media speculates about the growth in tourism to the
largest of the Antilles, the reality in Havana is very distant to that
in past years when innumerable foreign delegations visited.
Commenting by word of mouth, traders and restaurant staff repeat it to
their friends. One of these restaurant staff attracted my attention and
obliged me by offering a tour this past Sunday of some of the places
most frequented by foreign visitors.
The tour started in the central area of near the Capitol, and later
continued walking along Obispo, the Plaza de San Francisco, the old
Plaza de Armes, and then the Cathedral. I finished the grueling walk in
Chinatown, witnessing in reality the decadence or the little tourism
that exists in the Cuban capital, to which we can add the number of
vacant stores.
There is a sculpture on permanent display in Havana in the patio of the
old St. Francis of Assisi Convent called The Silent Table, a work of an
unknown artist, but on seeing these images one might suggest that they
create a new work called: The Empty Table.
October 1 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/empty-tables-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/
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