our first view of Havana - the natural habour that made the site so attractive to Europeans.

We spent most of our 10 days in Havana ...

 the conference, organized by Department of Socio-religious Studies of the Center for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment of Cuba, was hosted at the Capitol.

I'd organized a panel "Researching Paganisms" that comprised papers by three of my current PhD students: (left to right) Adrian Harris, Amy Whitehead and Mika Lassander.

A dark picture - the lights were out so our powerpoint presentations could be seen. But Mika and Maarit's website has some lighter views.

And I'd also organised a panel about "Studying Indigenous Religions and indigeneity. This finally comprised Paul Johnson and Christina Welch ...

and ...

Olu Taiwo.

Sadly, the US government refused to let Charles Thompson and Kenneth Lokensgard participate. Maybe next time ...

the hotel is home (?) to turtles in a pool

(Discuss ...)

after dinner we retired to the rooftop ... and Olu and Paul smoked cigars at us

ahh! shiver me timbers, pieces of eight, and all that.

this is Mika's photo of me and a parrot that was getting friendly at Al Medina Lebanese restaurant (another fine meal, another fine band: Trio Dominica)

For more of Mika and Maarit's photos, click here

Los Hebreos poster in the Cathedral - Molly particularly likes the bottom left hand square:

Thunderstorm coming in - about every three days at about 4.30pm for about 45 minutes ... warm, heavy rain. wait it out, or dance in it.

this is the Theatre and Capitol from the Parque Central

another wall, another truth ...

or do I mean, another anti-Bush slogan?

another street, another bar, another mojito:

La Bodeguito del Medio

Inside the building, Granma (the boat that brought Fidel and co back to Cuba in one phase of the Revolution).

Outside, bits of a US spy plane and a missile like the one that shot it down ...

here's the wrapper of a fine bar of chocolate with almonds. (Not as much chocolate as in Hotel Chocolat's Cuban mini-slabs - highly recommended - but nonetheless excellent).

Guamá was an indigenous leader who resisted the Spanish conquest for ten years until he was killed in 1532. Presumably he's here mostly as a revolutionary hero - but what's his connection with the man at the wheel? Is that an indigenous or African slave? Is this meant to be a happy image?

I'm sure there's a museum somewhere in Havana with Taino artefacts - if so, we'll find it on our next visit.

Finally in this quest for rumours of Taino indigenous presence, there is this ceiba tree outside El Templete in the Plaza del Armas. It is possibly a descendent of the one that grew here and was the site of the first mass celebrated by the Spanish. Some representations of this include a local "Indian", and one has an unfortunate being dispatched by fire to the afterlife with the blessing of some Christian clergy.

So, not a lot of indigeneity so far.

Oh, perhaps I should mention the use of "cohiba" as a brand on cigars here. Apparently, in the journal of his second voyage to the Caribbean, Columbus describes a trip inland in Cuba where he saw people smoking rolled dried leaves in religious rituals ... shamans maybe?

At the end of the conference we were treated to a cultural presentation at the Yoruba Cultural Centre - which hosts a fine museum / temple, but rightly does not allow photography. So, these photos of the Yoruba / Afro-Cuban deities' performance is a poor representation of a memorable event. I like the movement in these photos - I have some movie footage too but I think these blurred images might be better really. You really want to see deities clear in every detail?

Of course, you miss the sound here too.

Look, just get yourself on a plane and go there, ok? And take an offering.

If not "indigenous" in some senses, these Afro-Cuban movements are, at least, illustrative of what Paul C. Johnson calls "indigenizing".

See Johnson, Paul C. 2005. “Migrating Bodies, Circulating Signs: Brazilian Candomblé and the Garifuna of the Caribbean and the Category of Indigenous Religions”, in Graham Harvey and Charles D. Thomson (eds) Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations. Aldershot: Ashgate. pp. 37-51

Eleggua, Oya, Yemaya, Chango, Ochun

Guanabacoa - on the east side of Havana harbour, past Regla - has a church with a Black Madonna with a white child ... This probably isn't her (she's dark but not black, Asian maybe, not African).

But the museum of Guanabacoa is another holy place. They produce an excellent booklet describing the place as having "a wealth of Afro-Cuban traditions". Maybe it'll become a website some day soon.

It has not only La Regla de Ocha, Santeria, displays, but also Las Reglas Congas, and Abakua Society material too.

After the conference, Molly and I went with Olu and Tina to Las Terrazas, west of Havana in the Pinar del Rio province. In the early nineteenth century, in slavery times, the rainforest here was destroyed so that the hills could be planted with coffee to benefit "owners" who'd fled Haiti ...

In the 1960s Cubans began to re-establish the rainforest. Eco- and heritage-tourism, managed leisure activities, and crafts, support these continuing ecological activities and a sustainable community. The area is recognised by UNESCO - oh, and offers some of the best food we had in Cuba: recommended for vegans and carnivores.

they serve coffee, sweetened with local honey, beneath a mango tree - and the mangos drop on to the table ready to eat ...

my first coffee in 20+ years I think. the mix of bitter and sweet somehow matching the bitter and sweet feel of the place. horror and hope. neither masking or over-riding the other ...