José Lezama Lima preferred to write in green ink whenever he had it, he used to do it in his studio-bedroom till late 1960s, in a chair, above which he placed a wooden board; in that room on the walls there three portraits by Mariano Rodriguez, his painter and friend, since the mid-30s. In the seventies he moved to the living room, and writes in front of the window since the previous room was very warm, in summer it was almost unbearable, also had more light. He used an old Westinghouse fan that he mentioned in Paradiso, his best novel.

There are in Cuba several ways to detect a gifted child at an early age, through the program “Educa” (Educate), a non-institutional way serving preschool-age infants in partnership with families. Those are children who advance faster than the rest of the school group they belong to, and stand out for their skills and capacities, according to the MSc. Jesus Rodriguez, methodologist of the National Primary Education in the Cuban Ministry of Education.

The Giraldilla stands stylized; it has become with the passing of time in a symbol and legend of Havana. A city which its oldest part brags elegant streets of  cobbles, and keeps buildings constructed centuries ago,  museums with stories and traditions of a city which turned 493 years old  last November 16.

To the historical and architectonic values possessed by the University of Havana in its streets, buildings, squares and staircase add others, considered treasures of the national patrimony, zealously kept in the Montané Museum of Anthropology, located in the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing, in the building bearing the name of Felipe Poey.

In addition to the pride of being birthplace of the renowned troubadour Silvio Rodríguez and of having majestic weeping willows bordering the Ariguanabo river, which flows across the town, the inhabitants of San Antonio de los Baños can justly boast of being Cuba’s most filmed town.

An unforgettable experience will fill your senses when you visit a tobacco factory; you will immediately perceive the intoxicating odor of the aromatic leaves being rolled by the workers sitting in their work posts; a short period of time will suffice to turn them into fabulous cigars, highly appreciated for their quality worldwide. As part of the atmosphere are the cigar factory readers, whose task it is to bring knowledge and culture to the cigar rollers while the latter, fully concentrated, carry out their creative work.

Photos: Michel Aguilar East of the Cuban capital, in the neighborhood of Alamar, there is a very special museum known as The Garden of Affection. Its creator is Héctor Pascual Gallo Portieles, known to everyone as Gallo (Rooster). The peculiar place invites to relax and is also a space to reflect; however, visitors are frequently seen laughing while visiting it.

The National School of Ballet trains dancers with very high technical and artistic level and a particular way of dancing that distinguishes them in any part of the world.

Improvised oral poetry has been part of Cuban culture since its introduction into the country by Spanish immigrants, mainly from the Canaries Islands, and grew as a spontaneous art, through interests, attitudes and particular skills, and has passed from one generation to another. Traditionally, repentismo (the art of singing improvised decimas (10-line stanzas) is preferred by those living in rural areas and the best exponents come from there, but there are very good examples of quality in cities.

You only have to walk the streets of Cuban cities, or visit any place, to realize that everywhere you find a great amount of old people, something that certainly has a good side and one not as good.

The 9th Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Second Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power ended a new work period that focused its analysis on economic, health and education issues, plus other matters of importance for the population.