Paris1972-Versailles2003

Ok so September was a nostalgic month as both I and my dear late wife Martine had our birthdays. Let me tell you a bit more on a personal note as to where I was born. Intrigue.? It has been a long trip of four nationalities now and 81 countries visited, and 5 countries live/work and 4 languages. Ok here is where started it all;  my birthplace of Punta Brava !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

Punta Brava is a small town located just to the southwest of  Havana or La Habana, at about 24 km (14 mi) with roughly 1500 inhabitants, and now part of the municipal district of La Lisa (which was and still is a town of my days). I left is 52 years ago! with my Mom, my Dad left it 57 years ago. Me and my Dad Elio in the front of the house; the one on the right is my paternal grandparents house!!!

There is lots of confusion as to its origins as my family claims it was around 1870 when the point coming from the Tabacco plantations and its wealth in Vuelta Abajo,  Pinar del Rio province passed by here on its way to the port of Havana and onwards to Spain. However, around this point bandits always ransacked the convoy so it became a punta brava or hot point. The other is that the origin of the town baptized as San Vicente de Punta Brava, located on the banks of the Camino Real de Vuelta Abajo (royal road of vuelta abajo or downward road) ,but with no mention of the bandits. In Punta Brava, at the time of its appearance as a town, there was a tile manufacture factory who made bricks. Its producs were famous for its quality, and were considered then, as the best brick tile in Cuba. In this town there were also large pineapple packers ((and as boy it was gone and we played baseball!), destemming, packing and tobacco picking workshops, cart and car workshop, and Maidenform women undergarment (my mother worked) as well as other establishments that show the economic development reached by Punta Brava at the end of the 19C.

Initially, this area is made up of four large farms owned by Valencians, (Valencia, Spain)  which were called: Armonía, Señorita Tarafa, Tejar Grande or Punta Diamante and Divina Pastora. A certain ,Judge Francisco Castro Palomino remained in charge of them, once the owners left for Spain. Towards 1870 without news of the original owners, it was decided that these farms were subdivided into plots of land, the owners of these paid a small practical monthly payment that was maintained until January 1959. Photo showing my deeper roots!

A major event that was celebrated nationally until the revolution stopped it took place on December 7, marking the death in combat of Cuba’s greatest general. This was on the San Pedro farm, loma or hill of Cacahual, near Punta Brava, on December 7,1896, General Antonio Maceo y Grajales fell in combat. It has been the scene of different military encounters during Cuba’s fight for independence, and is most notable as the site where Maceo died at the hands of Spanish troops. For the anecdote the revolutionary dictator Castro’s father, Ángel Castro Argiz,was happy of this event as his company was the one involved in the killing of the General Maceo on this day. Angel was born in Lugo, Galicia, Spain. Fidel’s father.

During the missile crisis,1962, the Soviets reportedly built a missile site in Guayabal near Punta Brava. By Punta Brava, passed the old Central Highway, which connects with all of Cuba, going to Arroyo Arenas, Lisa, Marianao and Havana and beyond to Pinar del Rio, and the other way going by Bauta and into the Matanzas and the rest of Cuba. It was connected by rail with its own station from at least 1909. There are several airports in relatively close proximity to Punta Brava including Baracoa Airport which has been mostly used by the military and some permitted passenger service. The Havana Jose Marti international airport is at Rancho Boyeros not far at 15 km (about 9 mi).

In continuing my saga of remembrance of my life’s corners and meandering places I now take you back to where it all began for me a looong time ago, Punta Brava.  I was born there ! Now with the new revolution, all that history is gone and hardly ever mentioned. Cuba has change a lot, it’s not the same , and for me,  it will never be the same…. Now, only memories lingered, and some places of share family values and love. Far far away, it seems difficult to even write that upon my latest visit in 2012, the area where I grew up seems different….well unrecognizable…. well poorer. It seems to me like I was not from there. It required some days of adjustment for things to come back again.

This post is to all and especially to me as  a reminder of what it was, a lingering space in time of a once upon a time place call Punta Brava, city of Havana metropolitan area, Republic of Cuba.

Enjoy the stories, I read them myself once in a while just to keep my feet on the ground. Glance my personal old photos, all meaningful as a source of my DNA. Enjoy the pictures, as my dear late mom Gladys took me to El Arte photo studio, and feel the people when visiting , they are the main things, the regular guy on the street. In 1998 I took my dear late wife Martine to visit with our boys very little and it was a hit with the family!

My native town Church is the Iglesia Nuestra Senora de la Caridad ( Church of Our Lady of Charity,) which is also Cuba’s Patron Saint  located at Ave. 249  betwen  42 and 44 streets, This church now is dilipated with hardly any statues and call the Christian church…..I grew up at Ave 247 in Punta Brava. Again not much on it just for the memories. When Pope John Paul II visited Cuba shortly after the Virgin of  Charity (Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre) or the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary , patron Saint of Cuba was brought all over and passed by Punta Brava! My family sent me the photo below

There you go folks, no tourist webpage for this, just real story real memories to lingered forever and seeking new lands, always look back, it is you. Punta Brava is me, forever! Again, hope you enjoy the post as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!