The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2011 10:53 PM PDT  A sculpture of Hemingway at the Floridita bar in Havana. — AFP/Relaxnews file pic In Cuba, devotees can walk in the footsteps of the Nobel Prize-winning author at destinations dedicated to Hemingway's life on the island. In Old Havana, the Hotel Ambos Mundos offers a tour of the room where Hemingway spent the first months of his 21 years in Cuba, between 1939 and 1960. In the centre of the small room, a typewriter sits as a throne while a sheet of white paper rests in the carriage. The writer's glasses and a drawing pencil wait on the table and a fisherman's vest and bullfighters jacket hang in the dresser. Books and magazines rest on the bed. "In America, Hemingway is known through his books, through libraries and museums, but in Cuba there is an oral tradition about his life. He belongs to the Cuban scene. To understand him, you have to come to Havana," said Jenny Phillips, the granddaughter of Hemingway's editor. For this young woman, giving a conference at the Hotel Ambos Mundos for the 50th anniversary of Hemingway's death, the suicide of the writer on July 2, 1961 at his home in Ketchum, Idaho left no doubt he was preoccupied with death and, in a way, fated to commit suicide after he fell ill. "I'm from the town where Hemingway was born (Oak Park, near Chicago). It's very emotional to be here, in Havana, where he spent so many of these important years in his life," Nancy Sindecar, an expert on Hemingway, told AFP after the inevitable mojito at the Bodeguita del Medio. In this small bar near the cathedral of Havana, Reinaldo Lima, also known as "Rey" (king), pours all his 26 years of experience into Cuba's classic cocktail: lime, mint, sugar, sparkling water and, of course, rum. "The best in all of Cuba," said Rey, placing down the drink without skipping a beat.  Hemingway, with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, killed himself on July 2, 1961. — gogirlcafe.jennyo.net pic To the side of the bar is a painting that depicts the author clinking glasses with Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen, in front of flags from the United States and Cuba, who broke diplomatic ties in 1961. A little further into Old Havana, the Floridita honors the writer with a statue of Hemingway leaning on the bar where a daiquiri special is dedicated to him: no sugar, but double the rum. "My daiquiri at the Floridita, my mojito at the Bodeguita," wrote Hemingway who lived some 30km from the bars in his home, Finca Vigia, a colonial structure in the tropical jungle west of Havana. Offered to Cuba by his widow Mary Welsh, today the home is a small Hemingway museum where furniture, books, hunting trophies, clothing and his fishing boat, El Pilar, are all available for viewing. Not far from Finca, the Barlovento Marina served as a frequent point of departure for the novelist's many fishing expeditions. It was here, in May of 1960, where Hemingway met a young Fidel Castro, who had just come to power in Cuba. Renamed Hemingway Marina, the port is now a base for big game fishing competitions. Hemingway also lives on at Cojimar, a small fishing port on the other side of Havana where Gregorio Fuentes, Hemingway's inspiration for "The Old Man and the Sea," lived. The novel earned Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and was cited when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Ill and under pressure from the American authorities, who looked poorly on his stay in Cuba, Hemingway left the island on July 25 1960, less than a year before he blew his brains out with a shotgun — a fact many here still find hard to digest. "He is not dead," insisted Ada Rosa Alfonso, the director of Finca. "In Cuba, he is always alive. Hemingway is immortal." — AFP/Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Indonesia’s ‘paradise lost’ opens up to intrepid tourists Posted: 02 Jul 2011 09:27 PM PDT  Papuan tribesmen ride a ceremonial boat during the Lake Sentani festival. — AFP/Relaxnews file pic But the vast, western half of New Guinea island is slowly opening its doors to tourists as a "hidden paradise", a land of ancient tribal cultures, glittering reefs, soaring glaciers and teeming wildlife. Recreational travellers are still few, at most a few thousand a year; people like Sarah Gabel, a 29-year-old American who says she is "captivated by people who live in harmony with nature". That's what she found in the Baliem valley, the long-isolated home of the Dani tribe high in the Papuan central highlands, outside the town of Wamena. "I made a one-week trek. I crossed rivers in the wild, slept in huts and met semi-naked men hunting wild boars with arrows," she said. This kind of "ethnic tourism" has become the main market for New Guinea, the largest island in Asia, where a thousand indigenous tribes are divided between the independent state of Papua New Guinea to the east and the Indonesian-controlled provinces of Papua and West Papua to the west. "The clients come mostly from Europe and the US. They don't look for five-star hotels but want to discover unknown territories and authenticity," explained Iwanta Perangin-Angin, whose agency, Papua Adventure, offers stays in Baliem. Packed with exotic wildlife, Papua also attracts nature buffs and ornithologists in search of birds of paradise and cockatoos. Environment group WWF this week announced the discovery of more than 1,000 new species on New Guinea, including a frog with fangs and a round-headed dolphin. The Raja Ampat marine park has also earned a reputation as a diving mecca, with more and more liveaboard boats offering extended voyages around the area's dozens of pristine reefs. "Papua is a hidden paradise. It's a unique destination with a lot to offer, from wild beaches to high mountains and deep jungle, with a strong culture and beautiful art," Trisakti University Institute of Tourism Professor Azril Azahari said. "It's a niche market because it's very expensive and visitors need to be in good shape to support the climate, the hilly landscape and the very basic transport." And then there's the political situation. Indonesian troops are accused of widespread human rights abuses against indigenous tribes which have been waging a low-level separatist war since the 1960s, often armed with little more than slings and arrows. Foreign journalists and aid workers are barred from visiting the resource-rich provinces of Papua to report on the rebellion. "The political situation has been quiet for some time but Papua is still seen abroad as an unsafe destination. The government has to do something to change this reputation," Azahari said. "It is essential to develop grassroots, community-based tourism which benefits local people and increases their incomes. The future doesn't lie with luxury resorts." Others warn against the worst outcomes of "ethnic tourism", such as promoting tribal people as "primitive" when they are not. This is already happening in the form of reconstructions of tribal wars. When tourists arrive, the Dani men take off their shorts and T-shirts, paint their bodies and attach traditional penis gourds known as "kotekas". "Papuans are very proud of their traditions but they are weakened by the modern world," said Yotam Yorgen Fonataba, organiser of an annual cultural festival at Sentani Lake, near the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura. "I'm still optimistic our culture is strong and we want to protect it. For this, we need to show the world our creativity." Launched four years ago, the festival brings together thousands of people from 24 communities scattered around the huge lake. To the rhythm of traditional drums known as "tibas", warriors sing haunting tribal songs while dancers, clad in richly colored costumes, sway on boats that glide across the still lake. A student choir sings a song which goes: "I am Papuan, I have dark skin, I have curly hair. Papua, a piece of heaven fallen on the Earth." — AFP/Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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