Cuba

Cuba… where to begin. 

I returned from Cuba 2 days ago. A week ago I was boarding a flight out of Harlingen

to begin my journey. It seems like much longer than that. I had some anxiety about traveling alone, worried about how I would handle problems in airports and such. Turns out that this trip was set up to seduce me into thinking that traveling is easy and predictable. All of my flights were on time and I had no problems finding the gates or with customs either going or coming. Air travel to a foreign country really is a piece of cake. 

Speaking of cake, we were overfed at every meal which always ended with dessert. One dessert was Quatros Leches (Four Milk) Cake. That’s one more leches than the tres leches cake we have in Texas. It was pretty yummy, but by the time we got to dessert I was normally too full to finish my dessert. Poor planning on my part.

Our room

I traveled with Road Scholars which is a group that organizes educational travel for seniors. I was met at the airport by our amazing group leader, Lian who got me on a bus where I met Raoul who took me to a brand new 25 story hotel.

The Malecon

From our room on the 9th floor, we could look out and see the waves crashing over the Malecon, the sea wall in Havana on the Gulf of Mexico. See, the world is not so big. Where I’m sitting now, I’m only 20 miles from that very same Gulf. 

Lian and the group 

Lian - photo by group 
member Steven

There were 21 of us in our group, all from the United States and over 55. A good group a people whowere open to all kinds of experiences, including getting up and learning a few steps of a Cuban dance in a warm humid dance studio. We had a lot of fun together. I traveled with my long-time friend Kathy who came from Springfield, Illinois. We met at the hotel and enjoyed getting reconnected. I met Kathy in graduate school back in the mid-eighties and have been friends ever since. When Don backed out of this trip, she was the first person I thought about inviting and I’m so glad she chose to join me. 

 I need to write about our leader, Lian. I can’t think of the right superlatives to describe her. She worked hard, she was so knowledgeable about Cuban history and culture, shared so much of herself, had an amazing sense of humor and managed a changing schedule so that we were all overfed and learned so much. We all fell in love with her. 

Vitamin R and meals. 

Breakfast was a buffet at the hotel that included eggs to order, omelets, cheeses, fruit, juice, a variety of meat, cake and, of course, champagne. We learned quickly to have a light breakfast because lunch and dinner were both full meals with a drink, appetizer, main course with rice and black beans and dessert. We always started a meal with a cold fruity drink which was supplemented with as much Vitamin R (aka rum) as we needed. Some of us needed more than others depending on our dietary requirements.

Money 

There are 3 kinds of money in Cuba but everyone wants US dollars. Much of it I don’t understand but this was my experience. When I arrived, I was encouraged to purchase a debit card that could be used in government owned businesses such as the hotel. We were told that we could get a $50 card but when I went to the currency exchange, they only had $100 cards. I bought one and when Kathy arrived, I told her not to get one that we could both use mine. I thought that there would be plenty of opportunities to spend it. I bought lunch on day one and I think that was it. The rest of our meals were included in the trip. All of the private businesses wanted US dollars and service people preferred tips that way too. A couple of times I needed regular Pesos so I changed a $5.00 bill for 540 pesos for Kathy and me to use for something. The debit card could not be changed back into USD but I was able to convert it to Euros and Kathy bought the Euros from me because she has high hopes of going back to Italy soon. I think all of those transactions only cost me about $15. I think it is a way of getting more USD into Cuba and they need it because their Peso is losing value so fast. It is very sad and the US needs to lift the stupid embargo. It has long since lost any strategic purpose if it ever had any. 

Gifts

We were encouraged to bring gifts for the Cuban people . . . things like art supplies, powdered milk, baby formula, band aids, toothbrushes, stuff that is in short supply. We turned in those items to Lian and she distributed them to the places we visited. I like to think the art supplies I brought are being used by the people at the art studio. 

Day 1 – Architecture – History – Synagogue – Day at the Farm 

We started our first day with orientation at 8:00 AM. We had to introduce ourselves with 3 words (our first name, where we were from, and what we were interested in learning). I had about 3 minutes to decide where I was from. I chose Brownsville… because I just came from around there and that’s a city that most people know about. It’s never easy to answer that question. 

Then we listened to a lecture from an architect and city planner. We learned a lot about Cuban history and how it was settled. Our speaker was a professor from the University of Havana and also had

designed some buildings. He was very interesting. We visited a synagogue in old Havana where the rabbi talked about the history of Judaism in Cuba. 

Roast Pig

Then we all got on the bus and Raoul took us to the country where we visited an organic farm, had lunch and toured the farm. Cuba was covered in tropical forest when the Spanish first came here and it is still a lush green land with many different kinds of trees and plants. That is mostly what we saw as we traveled in the country with some small kind of run-down homes here and there. The farm we went to had been in the family for many years and was completely organic. As we came up the lane, I saw water buffalo and cattle herds. We started with cheeses that were made at the farm. These included goat and water buffalo cheese. They served us lunch which consisted of a small roast pig which they cut up in front of us. The restaurant was outside and we had chickens and a couple of dogs wandering around the tables hoping for us to drop our food. We, of course, began the meal with a dose of Vitamin R. 

Day 2 - Music – Lunch at Paladar – Squares of Old Havana 

 We began day 2 with a lecture by a Cuban professor of music and musician. He spoke about the culture and development of Cuban music. The culture of the original inhabitants has been totally lost as their music was considered “noise” by the Spanish conquerors. Music from classical Spanish and Africa together formed the basis of Cuban music. By the time that slavery was abolished in Cuba in the 1873, Africans were the majority of the population. Cuban music evolved much as music in the US did from African roots. 

Barbecue Pork

We visited Riera Studio where people with mental disadvantages are able to express themselves through art. We were able to purchase some artwork and see some of the artists working. We had lunch at a paladar. In 1992, the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost their market for sugar which was their economic lifeline. They were totally unprepared and one thing they did was to make it possible for people to own a small business with limitations. People turned their homes into small restaurants called paladars. The word paladar came from a word used in a soap opera that was universally popular in Cuba at the time. Eventually restrictions were lifted and those paladars developed into larger restaurants. That is where we had a lunch in Old Havana. There we were served barbecue pork ribs, chicken, or shredded beef.  After lunch, we toured some squares in Old Havana.

Lunch at a paladar

 

 Day 3 – Classic Car Parade – Dance – Visited Squares – Shopping – Dinner – Choir

Our ride

Lian surprised us. As we were waiting for Raoul to arrive on the bus in front of our hotel, 7 colorful classic convertibles pulled up to the curb and that was our transportation. I should have known something was up because before our ride came, she gave her tour guide speech about what we would be seeing. We were taken through the streets of Miramar which is the area in Havana where the wealthy built beautiful mansions and lived before the revolution. In 1959 they all left their homes and mostly went to Florida where they thought they would live briefly until they could get rid of Fidel Castro. That didn’t work out and their homes were taken over by the government. Many of them are now used as embassies and we drove by them and saw flags from all over the world flying in front of them. 

Kathy and me

We then drove by the Christopher Columbus Cemetery a huge cemetery with many elaborate mausoleums. We didn’t stop so I have no good pictures. You can find those online. We also drove by some incredibly beautiful woods that reminded me of the woods that were created for the Avatar movies. 

We stopped at a dance studio and watched some students do a performance for us. Then the teacher invited us up to the dance floor where she proceeded to try to teach us some Cuban dance moves. We were then invited to have private conversations with the students. The language barrier prevented us from learning a lot, but we met William, a 19-year-old man who is studying dance. I think he has 4 more years at the school. 

Dancers

Then we went back to old Havana where we toured the San Francisco Square where we could visit some shops and have lunch on our own. Kathy and I decided to have ice cream so we would be hungry for dinner. Part of our group went to the Art Museum, but we went to the square. Lian introduced us to a man who never spoke but communicated with hand gestures. She said that he would also be our guide and he was looking out for us. Kathy and I started going down a side street and he immediately caught up to us and directed us back towards the square. After that he showed us a few

San Francis Cathedral

shops to go in and I found a few souvenirs to bring home. We were being watched out for and I have no idea what danger we might have been in or if there was any. We then visited a craft market where I found a pair of earrings. 

 We sat down for dinner on a rooftop in a paladar in Old Havana. It isn’t exactly like being on a roof top as it is partially covered by a roof and there are walls. It’s too windy in Havana to be truly eating out in the open. We were given a choice of rum drinks and served some appetizers. We were enjoying some lively conversation about things happening in the US when we were surrounded by about 20 women who began to sing for us. 

The choir is called Vocal Luna and with just their voices they silenced us and wrapped us in beautiful music. The acoustics were perfect for their voice. They sang several numbers and then sold CDs. I bought one but

Vocal Luna

have no equipment to play it. Someone in this park surely has a CD player. Then we were served our last supper. Amazing. Our meal was ended when the wind picked up and was blowing tablecloths off the unused tables while the serving staff ran to clear off those tables. Fortunately, by then we were finished with our Quatros Leches cake. We returned to the hotel with waves coming over the Malecon. Lovely finish to an amazing trip.