- Places in transition are always appealing. You just never know what is going to happen or how your plans will become irrelevant and rearranged. Impose prejudice at your peril.
I arrived in Cuba a few weeks ago and like so many others I was there to see what all the talk of transition was about. It is a hard country to get to know. I read as much as I could, "Cuba, a New History" by Richard Gott, "History of Cuba" by Jose Canton Navarro and the ever delightful Dervla Murphy writing "The Island That Dared". It's good to do your homework. There is also a great canon of literature on Cuba but I didn't find much of this really helpful on the ground.
I wanted to see the eastern states and get off the very well defined Havana,Trinidad, Santiago trail. This proved to be somewhat interesting. The Cuban Government has made it easier to get around as an independent tourist but you are never able to forget that you are a tourist.
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| Back street in Trinidad |
I arrived in Varadero, the very heart of packaged Cuban tourism. A long stretch of white sand devoured by a long string of all inclusive hotels. The local Cubans I met called it a tourist ghetto. I arrived here as it is the cheapest point of entry from Canada. I left immediately but found that the tourist ghetto travelled with me. Via Azul is a very efficient bus line that is exclusively for tourists. So in my attempt to get out of tourist centre Varadero I was on a bus full of camera clicking Europeans. This was not what I was looking for. I tried the next day to board a long hall bus from Holguin to Santiago that was not the tourist bus. I was quickly informed that foreigners were not permitted to ride the subsidized Cuban buses. While this makes sense as there is no reason for the Cubans to subsidize tourist travel I really did not want to get back on the bus that carried exclusively my own likeness. So stubbornly I contracted a driver at hefty expense and continued. This was a good choice as I got a little more insight into the daily life in Cuba. The driver was overeducated and as I was to discover over and over again as he, like most Cubans I met was very proud of Cuba and while he wished for more opportunity he fully supported Fidel and Raul Castro. This is the thing. People feel they have done their bit. They are very proud of their grand experiment but now they want to see some variety in their lives. I met no one who claimed they would change socialism for a x box and flatscreen TV, but they are yearning for a little more. This is interesting as unlike many other places Cuba is not confronted by fellow citizens doing much better than they. They see Fidel Castro and his cohorts living modestly and there is a general sentiment that for better or worse "we are in this together:.
I decided on a night out at a local "Casa de Trova" in Santiago. It was all it was supposed to be but the night before I was lucky enough to have been a guest at a similar venue in Holguin that was far more interesting. I was the only Gringo in the Holguin music and rum grotto. The music in both places was as enthusiastically played as it was received. Dance and drink are the main entertainment everywhere in Cuba. My luck in Holguin was the result of the usual misadventure. I arrived well after sunset in the pouring rain and was without prearranged accommodation. A middle aged woman returning from work noticed the dull gaze of the clearly lost and escorted me to a Casa Particular owned by one of her friends. The small home was all I could have asked for. Quiet and clean. I later met the same woman in the town plaza. At this point I should explain the "jinetera/jinetero issue in Cuba. Jinatera means jockey as in those who ride the tourists. It can be a problem but sometimes it is just as simple as a desire to get into a tourist coffee shop or exchange conversation and local knowledge for ice cream or a beer. If this issue appalls you Cuba will be a challenge. She informed me that she was a singer. I soon realized that she was somewhat famous as people kept stopping by to chat. It was she who invited me to the tiny Holguin club. I was introduced to the band and some local writers. This was to be one of the few times in Cuba that I felt I was seeing the way Cubans live.
I travelled around the south eastern part of the island for a couple more weeks and I have to say I never did get close to understanding Cuba. Obviously on a month long trip you are foolish to think you can find the heart of a place.
Outside of the serious tourist areas you become somewhat invisible. Locals in very recent times were not to speak to foreigners. There is a nasty version of neighbourhood watch that still exists in Cuba.
The embargo is rightfully blamed for many of Cubas problems but along with the recent overtures to "market forces" there likely will arrive a corresponding change in attitudes to the big world we all now live in.
I think Cubas brave face will prevail. The new market forces will be governed by Cubans but some element of internationalism is clearly arriving. You see it in the dress of the young and salsa competes with hip hop at many a street corner rum shop.
The one thing I did learn in Cuba is that no island is an island.
