Here's another story I found on it.
Tropical humidity and politics threaten Hemingway's rambling estate in Cuba
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
HAVANA (AP) - Tropical fruit trees and manicured gardens greet visitors driving through Ernest Hemingway's sprawling estate on the outskirts of Havana, but the wooden home where the famed American novelist lived more than 20 years is falling apart.
Scaffolding covers the moulding house, where much of the furniture has been removed due to moisture damage and to make room for restoration work. Americans in Havana for an international forum on the writer this week were surprised at the sight.
"It's not like what you see in the photographs," University of Pennsylvania professor Paul Hendrickson said as he peered through the windows of Hemingway's study, where a leopard skin still stretched across a couch but several other items were covered with plastic tarps. "This is really in a more fragile state than I had guessed."
Erosion, tropical humidity and botched repairs are threatening the house where Hemingway spent some of his happiest years and wrote the prize-winning classic The Old Man and the Sea. The hacienda that has served as a cultural bridge for Cubans and Americans has also fallen victim to the politics dividing the countries.
A group of American preservationists who wanted to help save the estate were denied a licence to travel to Cuba last year. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has taken a tough stance on Cuba, steadily tightening long-standing trade and travel restrictions against the communist-run island.
But the Hemingway Preservation Foundation, based in Concord, Mass., joined forces with the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation to reapply, and got their licence this month. They plan to send a team of architects and engineers in June to do an architectural feasibility study at the estate, known as Finca Vigia, or Lookout Farm.
"Certainly we would have liked to move forward more quickly," Mary-Jo Adams, the foundation's executive director, said in a telephone interview. "But we are very pleased about being able to go in."
Licence in hand, the foundation is urgently trying to raise $150,000 US for the feasibility study, Adams said.
The licence does not cover requested permission to provide materials for repairs to the home and its preservation - an important element given Cuba's lack of material resources. Rehabilitation costs will run in the millions of dollars, Adams said.
With the Americans delayed, the Cubans launched their own projects. Renovation of the living room, bathroom and writing room began in December, with pieces of furniture and personal items removed to prevent further water damage. Roof repairs to stop leaks are also under way.
"We can't just stop working on this," said Gladys Rodriguez, one of Cuba's leading Hemingway experts.
The house was closed during a visit this week by Hemingway enthusiasts from the United States, Europe and Latin America.
"We know how the house used to be, and it makes us sad to see it like this," said Oscar Blas Fernandez, a 75-year-old Cuban who played baseball at Hemingway's hacienda as a child and served as a guide for the visitors.
Blas pointed out the poolside spot where the author had his afternoon drinks and recalled a pillow fight with Hemingway's children at a guest house on the grounds.
Further down a path from the giant, empty swimming pool are the graves of four of Hemingway's dogs, as well as the Pilar, the author's 12-metre fishing boat, now up on blocks.
Hendrickson has spent 2 1/2 years researching a book about the Pilar, and was reeling when he saw the boat for the first time.
"I feel like I have smoked a Cohiba," Hendrickson said, referring to a premium Cuban cigar. "This boat lasted through three wives, lasted through the Nobel Prize, lasted through all his ruin. Hemingway's gone now . . . but the boat is still there."
Hendrickson worried about the boat's condition. He welcomed the planned study, which includes a technical review of the Pilar.
Documents at the home have fared the best because American and Cubans have worked together since 2002 to preserve thousands of letters, manuscripts and photographs. The originals remain at the hacienda, but microfilm copies will go to Boston's John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which has the world's primary collection of Hemingway documents.
"This is technology that will last 500 years," said Susan Wrynn, the foundation's Hemingway curator.
The sounds of chirping birds and the rich smell of tropical flowers permeate the hacienda, prompting visitors like Hemingway scholar Sandra Spanier to wax poetic.
"The air is different here," said Spanier, who is editing a 12-volume collection of Hemingway's letters. "You can just imagine what a wonderful retreat this was for someone whose fame was so quickly catching up with him."
The author of works including A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises lived at the estate from 1939 to 1960. He committed suicide in 1961.
"You feel a presence here," said Spanier, sitting on the steps to the house. "It doesn't look pretty right now, but I'm heartened to see that this beautiful shrine will be preserved."
Topic: Re: Hemingway's Cuba Home (Read 1940 times)