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.

Summer so far

 I haven’t written anything at all in almost a year since we returned from Alaska. Now it is nearing the anniversary of the start of our trip. I have thought occasionally about some of experiences and subjects about which I might write, but that is as far as it goes. Today, I have some blank space. Not that blank space is unusual in my life now but instead of puzzling, reading or moving the laundry around, I am here at my keyboard.

A New Car

We sold our Buick Enclave. It was somewhat unexpected in that we had just begun talking about replacing the car as it was getting a little tired. We cleaned out the glove box, and at the bottom was a handmade mask, a gift from my friend Karen Campion. The print is of the Stars and Stripes with wear and tear marks, like it was in a fire or run over. At the time, back in 2020, that seemed like an appropriate design for a COVID mask. It has little stretchy lace elastic for the ear straps, the only thing she could find at the fabric store. I think this mask should be a museum piece in the Vintage Covid 2020 section.

It just happened that our next-door neighbor in Minnesota had a low-mileage Toyota Highlander in his garage that he didn’t need and since that was one of the models at the top of our list of cars to look for, we offered him a good price and he accepted.

Then we drove the car to Kentucky and back at the end of May. It was a trip to connect up with long-time and old friends. Most of our long-time friends seem to be getting a little age on them. We stopped in Hannibal, MO to see Vivian who was married to Don’s boss from 1974-78 at the Tempo Store in Jacksonville, IL. Vivian and Dennis, who passed away in 2021, helped us in many ways and we enjoyed many holidays with them. She has 2 children, 7 grandchildren, and 15 greats. Talk about rich.

Then we went to St. Louis where we met up with Kay and Max Klinkenborg and Kathy and Jon Edwards with whom we used to ride bikes with the famous NOBEs (Numb on Both Ends) club back in the 90’s. We stayed at an old brick 2-story Air B&B in the Forest Park area where we went to theBotanical Gardens and spent an afternoon at the Zoo. We ate good food and enjoyed a couple of card games as we caught up on each other’s lives and remembered our good times together.

We spent a night in Springfield where we met up with a couple of other Tempo-era friends for dinner one night with Dwight Reese and breakfast the next morning with Chris Holloway.

We stopped in Lincoln, IL where was able to locate Mary Krusz’s grave and spend some time with her. What a privilege that I was able to share a friendship with her since we worked together in 1990.

Then we headed for Lexington, KY where we celebrated Graeme and Nancy Wilson’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary and got reacquainted with their children Chase and Drew, who are now middle-aged men. I still referred to them as “the boys” and we got some pictures that I will share here. The boys are close to my children’s age. We met Graeme and Nancy in Jacksonville when Don was selling radio advertising and Graeme worked for Sears. We celebrated Thanksgiving with them for many years as they moved around Illinois and Missouri following Graeme’s job.

Us with the celebrating couple

Graeme & Nancy with the boys

The Highlander traveled very well.

 

 

Camp Deer at Effie, MN

Way up North is a rustic resort with cabins built to house lumberjacks back in the 1930’s that still stand. In the 1950’s, my Uncle Harold who wasn’t my uncle yet, left the Air Force after fighting in WWII and purchased the place for a fishing camp. He advertised to find someone to clean cabins and my Dad’s younger sister, Aunt Ivy came to work for him. Ivy had been in California working in an airplane factory  (Rosie the Riveter) and came back to Minnesota after the war with a baby, my cousin Jim. She then married a lumber jack who took her up North and she had my cousin Kathy in 1948. Aunt Ivy then found herself the sole provider for her children so she was looking for work. She was a very hard worker and kept the place spotless as well as providing freshly baked bread for Harold and the campers. She became indispensable and of course Harold asked her to marry him at which time he became my Uncle Harold. They had a child together, my cousin Norman. Most of this story I never knew until I was an adult. Uncle Harold adopted Jim and Kathy and to me he was always their Dad.

These are all old pictures. I didn't get any this year.

Norman

The resort is still in business and looks much like it did when I visited as a young child. It is a beautiful place situated between Deer and Pickeral Lakes with the road running through it. The cabins on the Deer Lake side look out over the beach where they are provided with a splendid sunset almost every night. The cabins are rustic, meaning they have no running water. They do have electricity and a propane stove for cooking the fish that you catch out of the lakes. A bathhouse with a shower for Ma and Pa is a short walk from the cabins. The “Office” where Uncle Harold and then Norman held court and told stories is still there but there is no story-teller anymore. The coffee pot is set up to go in the morning and there are all the things you need:  night crawlers, ice, pizza, ice cream and water for purchase on the honor system. You make a note on a paper when you take an item and it gets added to your bill when you check out. It is a good system.

Jim’s widow Em is now running the place along with her sons. One son, Jeff comes up every weekend from the cities and mows the grass and helps with whatever needs to be done. Not sure how much longer this place will continue as a resort. It is just this last year that we lost both Kathy and Norman.

We went there with our boat and rented a cabin for the second week of June. My brother Dick also rented a cabin and we had visits from 2 other brothers, Mark and Doug. It was a good week. Did a little reading, fishing and enjoyed a glass of wine watching the sun set over Deer Lake several nights.

Now we are back in Coon Rapids with no more travel plans for the summer except to go the Blue Grass Festival in August. Kelly will join us for that

Rustina the Palmdale Chicken

 This story has been sitting in the back of my mind and it needs to be told though it might be old and stale by now. Chicken can get that way.

Last fall when we returned to Palmdale, our neighbor Jack, 2 doors down, had adopted an abandoned chicken that lived over the fence in the property behind the RV park. He fed her corn but he also got fed up because she was pestering him and hanging around the place all the time. Once we watched as he pitched her back over the fence to get her away. That was fine with us and we were somewhat amused. Then Jack did the unthinkable. He sold his camper, packed up and went back to Minnesota, abandoning the abandoned chicken. We discussed the best way for the chicken to travel with Jack and it was suggested that “plucked and frozen” might be best way but I don’t think he even considered that. By the way, this was a Rhode Island Red chicken we are talking about and since she was becoming a pet, people began calling her Rusty.

Once Jack left, Rusty began making friends with other Palmdale Residents. Our neighbors next door, Lyle and Judy fed her some happy hour snacks but once Rusty deposited some droppings on their patio, she was discouraged from coming back. Don fed her once, but I yelled at him that I didn’t want to encourage the chicken on our patio either.

At the Palmdale Tenant’s Committee meeting in December, Don made the announcement that Lyle and Judy would be taking charge of the chicken and her name was now Rustina because clearly Rusty is a rooster’s name and this was a hen. Our neighbors Mike and Deb across from us who live in a big fifth-wheel began feeding Rustina creamed corn and oatmeal, and making sure she had plenty of water as chickens need a lot of water. Rustina would follow us up to the Rec Center when we went up to exercise in the morning and she became quite popular around the place enjoying patio parties with various residents.

Rustina

One day, we were amused because Rustina was roosting on the chair in front of Lyle and Judy’s house. It didn’t look like a very good place to roost for a chicken. Up until then she had flown back across the fence to roost. Then things became much less amusing. We have a nicely sheltered railing by our front steps right next to our porch and Rustina decided that was her place to roost every night as the sun went down. She would have preferred being in the porch but that was never going to happen.  It didn’t take long for us to realize that this was not going to work. When we opened the door in the morning it swung across the landing and smeared chicken shit all over the place.

Christmas Eve Dinner (Dick, Terry Mike, Deb and Jean)

On Christmas Eve we hosted a dinner party and as our guests were preparing to leave we gave them instructions about how to exit our porch without disturbing Rustina too much and avoiding walking in the chicken shit. One time Deb found a white egg under her camper and brought it over to show it to us. I was skeptical about whether Rustina layed the egg as it was white but Deb was so excited that I didn’t want to disillusion her. So the story remains that Rustina laid an egg.

We decided to prevent the chicken from roosting on our porch. We shooed her away and I tried to get Don to throw her over the fence like we saw Jack do but he wasn’t into that. She kept coming back. So we started covering the porch landing with the Valley Star which we subscribe to. That worked fairly well at keeping the shit off the wood except when the wind blew the paper up on the siding. We still had the problem with the door and at times used the back door to walk around the porch. We decided to make the area uncomfortable for Rustina. Lyle provided us with some chicken wire which Don crumpled up and tied on the railing with tie straps. It didn’t take her long to get comfortable with that. Don found a board and a bunch of 3-inch self-tapping screws which he put in the board so the screws sharp ends projected up out of the board and there was no place for her to step that didn’t have a sharp screw. We watched her as she tried to settle down on the screws and the first night, she didn’t set her body down but neither did she leave. The second night she adapted to the screws and made herself at home. I googled ways to repel chickens and sprinkled cinnamon and cayenne pepper all over the board, but that didn’t make a difference.

Meanwhile, I was also talking to people and discussing where to get rid of a nuisance chicken since Rustina had clearly become that. Suggestions included calling animal control or making it the park’s problem since we are paying rent there. Meanwhile Deb continued to feed the chicken. I talked to her about how this couldn’t go on. She stopped feeding Rustina and the amount of poop was down about 90%. I felt bad about starving Rustina. Finally, I decided to call around to chicken farmers looking for advice. I found a CSA (CD&A Mini Ranch in San Benito). The lady I talked to said that they raise Rhode Island Reds and would take her off our hands.

Mike and Deb’s next-door neighbor, Grace had a couple of dog crates by their camper. They agreed to allow us to use a crate to relocate Rustina if we made sure to clean it out good which we were happy to do. Grace informed us that she is able to communicate with animals and she had discussed with Rustina the problems she was causing on our porch and our desire to be rid of her. She said that Rustina understood but she was apprehensive as you would expect her to be. She also said that we have the name wrong and her name was Beverly. So one morning in January, I rode along with Mike and Deb as we hauled Beverly in the back of their pick-up truck to the CSA and handed her off to the chicken farm where she belonged. Mike cleaned up the crate and returned it to Grace.