Giraldilla Water Bottle

Calm and sad, with her eyes on the horizon, a weathervane known as the Giraldilla, which is the symbol of Havana, is connected to a love story conceived back in the 16th century in Spain.

The figure represents Isabel de Bobadilla, the wife of Spanish Conquistador Hernando de Soto. It is said that, having watched her husband set sail one day, his wife spent hours at the watchtower of the Castle of the Royal Force anxiously awaiting his return. Cast in bronze, the statue remains dead still, watching the ships as they enter the bay of Havana, the same bay that one day had the happy couple set apart forever.

Shortly after the Spanish Crown named Hernando de Soto, 43, Governor of Cuba in 1537, he embarked on a costly trip to Florida looking for new adventures and treasures. Isabel was left in charge of the administration of colonial Cuba, yet she could not – even for one second – avoid thinking about him. Records from the colonial period have it that she spent lots of time at the highest point of the aforementioned castle; her tears crystallizing with the sea breeze and her sadness threatening the fading away of any rays of hope.