In spite all the naysayers regarding visiting Cuba here in the USA, there are plenty of people who include it on their "love to visit" lists. But even with newly "relaxed" restrictions, most US citizens get no closer than the big sign at Key West stating that Havana is ninety miles away, or perhaps a 30,000 foot fly-over en route to some Caribbean destination. The word "relaxed" restrictions is relative and perhaps misleading, for most of us see Cuba as a pariah due to our schizophrenic political relationship. Events such as the Bay of Pigs, the missile crisis, assassination attempts, embargoes, the Flight 455 bombing, Elian Gonsalez, Alan Gross, the Cuban Five, etc. won't easily be forgiven and certainly not forgotten in the midst of various attempts at diplomacy. And some of us are old enough to remember the drills, hunkering beneath our school desks, practicing to screen ourselves from imaginary nuclear fallout. And the conflicts continue - Cuba may not be North Korea, but it is one of the few places on our planet where its citizens risk drowning in the ocean to seek refuge from their own country, so perhaps there is some justification for the USA's condemnation, but of course there are two sides to every story.
The man in the airport was right. Cuba is a beautiful country and the Cuban people are friendly. But the beauty is masked behind decay, and out of bounds in some places due to the supreme authority. And friendly people - yes they are. But perceptable is their thirst for dialog about things of which they are afraid to speak, with someone whom they trust not to report their thoughts to an official who could destroy their already impoverished and anxious lives. I can't help feeling that they are just plodding on with virtually no hope, because what little hope they cling to has been dashed so many times that it eventually seems pointless. Without spending a great deal of time here, there is no way I can confirm I'm right, but I read and believe that most Cubans know only the distorted history that is told to them by the Castro regime. This is suported by those who choose to leave and discover newly found truths in places like Miami's Cuban community. Despite my negativity, I harbor not a scrap of disappointment about traveling there. It was worth every minute or effort and every penny spent.
Late November to early December is a very good time to visit Cuba - with the rainy season passed, the weather is perfect, upper 60s at night to near 80 during the day. Dengue fever threat is also very low then.
Despite warnings from travel advisors and articles, we saw no obvious prostitution except perhaps one or two in Havana Veija. I assume they are more likely to work near the large state-run, all inclusive hotels.
Despite warnings from my brother I did not need to use my get-out-of-Cuban-jail relief fund which he suggested I should raise before I left.
It is common courtesy to close the fragile old taxi doors gently, only hard enough to latch the door - don't slam. There are two other types of taxis found in Havana that are worth mentioning. Yellow, egg-shaped Cocotaxis have two stroke engines and room for only two people in back - some say riding in one of these demands a death wish. They put out lots of exhaust smoke and stink. Bicitaxi (bicycle taxis) can carry two but we hear that some drivers can barely carry one without wearing out, especially relying on the meager food rations allowed. The designs which can be very interesting to survey, are usually unique creations of the owners.
I regret the lack of additional day or two to visit the huge Cemetery de Colon and visit some of the parks near our casa. Also we all wished that we would have had the time to take a tour on one of the double decker busses through the city to some places we ran out time to visit. But overall, considering that we wasted a lot of time, a week should be adequate for a visit if only exploring Havana is the goal.
I think it would have been very interesting and enjoyable to spend more time in Guanabo, perhaps even an overnight. When Jake and I taxied into the town for pizza, the lively and disorderly activity and sights were really enticing. It was the kind of place you would say to your taxi driver, "stop!, let me off right here and come back in five hours - I have to see this place".
We encountered a number of US citizens during our visit, either touring with "People to People", or in Cuba illegally, entering via other countries. Our freedom to travel was clearly in the middle between the two. We had no schedule or itinerary which had to be followed. As diplomatic guests we were able to move about our limited area in and around Havana at will, excluding of course the government-restricted places. The illegal visitors evidentally had minimal restrictions, moving most anywhere about the country at will, but of course had notably more anxiety over what the outcome might be if something went wrong. The People to People visitors, on the other hand, apparently had to endorse strictly enforced agreements, following their tour guides through a prescribed schedule and meeting with predetermined Cuban citizens. Assuming only non-diplomatic choices were available, I would now, after having visited once, likely opt for the illegal process. But as a first (or even second) time visitor, I would likely attempt to seek out someone with prior experience with whom to travel.
Money is confusing because of the dual currencies. For most everything, you will use CUC$ or Cuban convertible currency, except if you shop for fruit or vegetables at the small agricultural markets. Sounds simple enough but once again, you run into fallout from our two countries' political love affair. Exchanging US dollars for CUCs will cost you a big surcharge (about 10%) plus the standard exchange commission (about 3%). So unless you find a way around it through some means (we did through our friends), it is crucial to change your US dollars to Euros, Canadian dollars, or some other major currency first, in order to save the 10% tax. Evidently the 3% commission rate is standard so you don't need to shop around as long as you exchange at a "CADECA" or exchange bureau. I hear it can be done on the street and through the black market, but you have to be sure you are getting CUCs and not Cuban pesos also known as moneda nacional or MN, which is worth 1/24th of a CUC, the currency that would be accepted at the small agricultural markets. Scams are common on the street so make sure you know what you are doing if you plan to go that direction. American-issued credit cards cannot be used in Cuba - so cash must be paid for everything. Even non-US issued credit cards are not accepted in most places except major hotels.
Renting a casa particular is in our opinion a better choice versus a hotel. There are now many to choose from - search online for "casa particular cuba". Despite the difficulty of language and arranging the rental, the experience was very satisfying. I wish that I spoke more fluent Spanish and could have gotten more personally acquainted with our hosts, but it was also clear after several conversations that they were very cautious and reticent about anything they would say, the paranoia pervasive in those living here. The charge for the entire week for our two rooms including a kitchen, dining area, two baths, and very large balcony, in a house across the street from the ocean, was 420 CUCs. And although I can theorize, I can't definitively explain the basis for the level of trust we experienced - no deposit was requested, no money up front for the rental was requested either. Cash was paid for the entire week on the way out the gate on the day of departure.
At our casa, the rooftop deck/balcony above us was under construction, being remodeled, depending on the day by either one, two, or three workers. When I first saw the huge pile of plaster debris on the ground outside the garage, I assumed that it was demolition material that would be hauled away. Rather, it was apparently hauled here, recycled from somewhere else - the hundreds of broken irregular pieces were being used for decorative siding. As the week went by it looked better every day and I could see that the final result would be very attractive. The same technique was used the finish the wall adjacent to or balcony. Cuba wastes nothing because they have so little.
Across the street from our casa is a school where there was a whirl of activity every weekday. It is a computer science institute, about which it was remarked that there is not a computer in the building.
We learned that sometimes Cuba runs out of essentials such as tampons and the like occasionally for extended durations. Often during those events, Cuban women choose stay home from work if they do not have enough to get them through the shortage.
The black market is part of daily life for many Cubans. Many can't imagine a day without the essentials provided through the shadow businesses that sustain them, essentials such as dairy products, peanuts, cooking oil, even the national newspaper, Granma, all of which are often unavailable at the rationed markets.
There is a sadness here. Although the Cubans are friendly, there is little or no celebrating and excitement as you might see in other countries - smiles from passers by often seem a bit painful.
The Cuban government is clearly afraid of it own people. In 60 years there has never been an election in which the common citizens could participate. Decades of psychological tactics have been used to control and suppress its citizens. An example from Yoani Sanchez's book, Havana Real, tells of her son's teacher announcing to the young students that someone in the classroom (anonymous for now) is on a list of those who misbehave. What the children are being taught is the paralysis caused by the sense of being watched, the fear of provoking denunciation. Having grown up with this, eventually as adults, they will always live with the feeling of suspicion and paranoia, doubting their neighbor who smiles at them, or a friend who visits at obviously strategic times. For the Castro government this has been a very effective path to national disunity.
Notes about Yoani Sanchez:
Reading Havana Real before our trip was very enlightening. Yoani Sanchez has outwardly dissented and done her best to expose the truth about the government through books, blogs, and other forms of social media. Her writings are a diary of daily life in Cuba, not open suggestions to protest or revolt. Cuban authorities consider the small community of outspoken dissidents on the island to be traitorous mercenaries who accept foreign money to try to undermine the government. For expressing herself, her life has been threatened, she's been kidnapped and beaten by members of the state, arrested numerous times, her blog has been shut down and restricted, and she is constantly under surveillance. As for the surveillance, she says that there is nothing they can find or learn because she withholds nothing, writing about and exposing everything she knows, does, and feels.
In one of her blogs she suggests advertising for a special tourism package for those who want a real Cuban experience - two weeks of living like a real Cuban citizen. You'd only be allowed to use Cuban pesos, with food rations barely enough to prevent starvation, 80 grams of bread a day, living in dingy rooms in central Havana tenements. Your budget would be the average two-week wage of a Cuban citizen - 300 pesos - and you'd be restricted to public transportation. If you want to travel around the island, you will have to spend three days in line waiting for a ticket. You will leave thinner, sadder, with an obsession for food and a disdain for the golden tourism ads promising mulatas, rum, music, and dancing.
Reading Yoani's blog and the comments is like looking through a window into the political battles being fought in the minds and lives of Cubans. Her biggest detractor, his identity obvious when you delve into the blog's comments section, although deficient in perfect english, is clearly educated in engagement tactics using politics, history, psychology, and other disciplines. It appears to me as if he is being paid specifically to watch Yoani and discredit her at any cost and without regard to how foolish he may sound. Her blog is supported by people all over the world and translated into many languages. If you are interested in reading the English translation go to -
Yoani's earlier blog prior to August 9, 2013:
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/
Yoani's new blog:
http://generacionyen.wordpress.com/
Another comment from Yoani:
The "high quality of Cuban education," held up by so many in the world, is a mirage that didn't manage to make it much beyond the eighties. Maintained by the Kremlin, this island was able to exhibit an educational infrastructure that had nothing to do with the real economic and productive opportunities. As if a sickly toothless man possessed an arm worthy of a powerful bodybuilder. This disproportion -- between what we enjoyed and what was really allowed to us -- was painfully evident when the Soviet subsidy ended and the country's schools entered a profound crisis from which they still haven't recovered. A crisis that includes not only the physical deterioration of the sites and the classrooms, but also the loss of quality instruction and the ethical and moral devaluation of education.
She states that as the travel restrictions are being lifted, "to transcend national frontiers I will make no concessions. If the Yoani Sanchez that I am cannot travel, I am not going to metamorphose myself into someone else to do it. Nor, once abroad, will I disguise my opinions so they will let me “leave again” or to please certain ears, nor will I take refuge in silence about that for which they can refuse to let me return. I will say what I think of my country and of the absence of freedoms we Cubans suffer. No passport will function as a gag for me, no trip as bait."
On February 18, 2013, after 22 denials of her requests to leave Cuba over the past five years, and almost a decade in Cuba, she has finally been granted a passport that enables her to travel around the world. Migration reforms that came into effect on January 13th, now allow Cubans to travel abroad with a passport and a visa for the country that they're headed to. But the new laws also enable the government to deny citizens a passport on "national interest," and "national security," grounds. The restrictions can be used to prevent activists, or highly skilled professionals from travelling outside the island. Nevertheless, she made it to Brazil, her first stop of many planned around the Americas and to Europe, including Florida and other locations in USA.
She was both cheered by admirers and booed by protesters in Recife, Brazil when she arrived. Her friends, supporters and journalists, welcomed her as well as about 20 pro-Cuban protesters who waved signs accusing her of being "Yoani agent of the CIA." and of being a spy. In her typical style her response was, "This is something you don't see in my country", "Long live democracy. I want this democracy in my country, too." The protesters also disrupted a screening of a documentary on human rights in which she appears, causing them to cancel the showing. Castro's reach is extensive.
She plans to return to Cuba and she doesn't think the Cuban government will prevent her return at the end of her planned three month tour.
