Traveling to Havana is not for the timid. If you truly want to discover what lies behind its monuments, you need a local guide who will take you beyond the postcards and the superficial “free tours.”
University of Havana: What You Won’t See on a “Free Tour”
The University of Havana was not always located where it proudly stands today. Founded in 1728 in a Dominican convent, it was only in 1902 that it moved to the top of San Lázaro Street, the very heart of Havana, where today it dominates with its 88-step staircase and its most recognizable symbol: the Alma Mater. A place full of history, rebellion, and secrets that no pocket guidebook or random street guide will ever tell you as it deserves.
Did you know that before the University was built, this very spot housed the barracks of the U.S. occupation army? Or that the model for the Alma Mater statue was the daughter of a colonel from Cuba’s independence wars? Or that the faculties we see today were gradually built over forty years, during a time of political tension and repeated closures by governments that feared their students?
None of this appears in the typical cliché phrases of travel guides. Because the University of Havana is not just a pretty monument for a photo: it is a mirror of social struggles, of Latin American rebellious spirit, and of Cuba’s complex identity.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you visit this place only following a tourist map or by joining one of those so-called free tours, you will see only the surface. You’ll hear the obvious, the visible, but you won’t hear the intimate stories, the contradictions, the details that make the University and its surrounding area (Vedado, San Lázaro, the Calixto García hospital, the scattered faculties throughout the city) a living fabric of culture, science, and resistance.
In the nearby streets, generations of students have crossed paths, protests were born, cafés hosted conspiracies, and buildings still keep traces of both Republican architecture and military occupation. All of this is lost if you rely on improvisation from someone who just wants to take you to a restaurant or sell you a souvenir.
Traveling to Cuba demands courage to be different. To avoid following the herd that settles for a sugary tourist version. Hiring a local guide who knows the history, art, and society of Cuba is not a luxury: it is the only way to connect with the real Cuba, the one that breathes at every corner, not the one wrapped in a glossy brochure.
Those who come to Havana without opening themselves to these deeper layers return with a postcard. Those who dare to explore it with a local guide return with an unforgettable story.
HUmberto. Tours. History. Arts. Society. Whatssap +5352646921
