So How was Cuba?

22 August 2015

The souvenir I shoulda bought: a camera folded from soda cans.

It was impossible to blog while in Cuba. I did have an app called Mars Edit that let me write some posts, but half were written after we got home, and the very last, just tonight. It's brief and more of a log than a thoughtful entry. I did want it down for some completeness.

Flying out of Havana is notorious for its delays. Our trip was no exception and we arrived in Miami late. Miami is pretty far down on my list of pleasant way to re-enter the USA, and efficient, it is not. When I finally got to bed that night, I felt like I was coming down with a cold.

The man in black is Enrique Inglasias. He is a singing sensation
in Cuba and everyone wanted a photo with him. He was kind to his fans.
But even he had the same long wait with us!

Our return to the New York was also a much longer trip and I felt awful. Two days after getting home, I finally went to the doctor to find out that I had strep throat, for, I believe, the first time in my life. At school I am never far from a case of the stuff, and have never succumbed.

So, my idea for a great sci-fi story is that the embargo has locked 1960's strains of strep captive on the island, and all of us post-embargo "babies," are especially vulnerable. It's revenge.

In the weeks since we've been back, school has started and there have been so many other things to think about. Even through that, though, Cuba has not been far from my thoughts. Grency, our guide, told us not to try to understand Cuba; that's a pretty tall order for an analytical traveller. I certainly can't claim to understand Cuba after a week, but still, some bottom lines for me are:

1. It is hard to understand "everything," being state run. One quote was, "In Cuba, time is not money." So, for many people, working hard doesn't yield more. Being an artist is one way, though.

2. I hope change will happen, and that it will happen at a pace that will allow Cuba to not be reliant on another country so much.

3. It is really hard and really expensive for a Cuban to travel to the USA. This is because of us, not them.

4. It is ironic that an embargo against a totalitarian state led a democratic state to make travel of its own citizens illegal. We have Cuban stamps in our passports, and can be asked to explain our travel to Cuba at any time when we are re-entering from abroad. Our trip was legal because it was a People-to-People tour, and we carry a letter saying that our trip met the conditions of the State Department.

5. The embargo was cruel and didn't work. It just has to stop.

An Artist on the Roof and a Unique Estate

7 August 2015

Our last full day in Cuba; a rather mellow one that left some time to enjoy the resort.

The lobby of the resort is open to the air, and very humid. The rooms run off the center like spokes on a wheel and only then are you in air conditioning.

We spent the morning visiting Mariella, a fabric artist and designer. As an artist, she has a special permit from the government to be self-employed, and she also pays high taxes. (Most people don't pay any taxes in Cuba because most people are state employed.)

Her work was very vivid and creative. She used found object and objects from nature, and then some stitching to paint on fabric. Sometime the work was just for the color blend, like below.

But on the day we were there, she had been doing a series of portraits of Frida Kahlo.

Look carefully. Kahlo's face is facing Mariella. The eyes are below the petal-like wreath at the top and the beads are around Kahlo's neck at the bottom.

Mariella's husband is a woodworker who makes humidors.

Our last tour stop was to visit the home and farm, Finca Coincidencia, of Hector, a very big fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He has a large estate where he lives with his sons who are grown and raising families of their own and helping to run the farm. They also made pottery. He made the farm in order to transmit the message that people should not be separated from nature.

Organic farming in Cuba has garnered much attention, and Hector's production is organic. However, he has a very moderate opinion of organic farming and society. He believes that people have to eat and that organic farming is not necessarily going to work to feed all the people that need to be fed. "You can't go against the times...none of the inventions of mankind will stop." It's worth listening to his perspective because Cuba is a country where people may more or less have enough to eat, most of the time, but as a whole, people spend a lot of time wondering if they will have enough. Organic, then, can easily seem like a luxury of the wealthy.

And so, the wealthy sat to eat at Hector's table. It was one of the best meals we had because the food was very fresh. The okra and pumpkin dishes were especially good.

And then back to the hotel. A last afternoon in the ocean, a farewell dinner and a long evening spent talking afterwards, with just about everyone in our group.