Visiting the capital
DC passed by quite fast. I was really just looking forward to getting into New York (which, by the looks of things, might just be the greatest city on Earth), so I spent a little over 24 hours in Washington DC, checking out the sights. This time I'll let the pictures tell the story, as there was little to say about the city besides its monuments (that for staying there a day).
The Bush residence, thank god not too long anymore:
Lincoln memorial and the famous sight (felt just like Clint Eastwood sitting on the stairs, just did not catch any pigeons there):
Washington memorial, yet another fallos symbol:
"The hill", admittedly much more impressive than the copies of it presented in Buenos Aires and Havana (I guess it is the overall setting and the white colour):
To finalize my DC experience, I went to spy on Pentagon and check out the Arlington cemetery on the other side of the Potomac river. The amount of identical, white-stone graves in Arlington really silenced me.
Will Smith: Miami
That song does have a point -it describes quite well the Miami and South Beach areas. The heat is definately on, the water is really clear and cars quite expensive -and the parties do go out until the break of dawn. And this seen from a point of view of a budget traveller! I was positively surprised by the city.
The journey out of Jamaica tested nerves, but I made it. I had hidden all the objects that indicated they were cuban made on my person and the 40-minute "chat" (as the customs official called it) plus extensive baggage search did not provide them with a reason to deny entry. Thanks to the recent terrorist activity I got my bag searched in every possible corner, unlike other passengers. I must look suspicious then..
Arriving I immediately sensed the total change of atmosphere, but after all this time it sure feels good to get some real service, on time and without something missing or wrong (ok, one has to pay up to 15% for it too, many times included in the price..). I also met 5 Finns during the past 3 days, one of whom accompanied me for a trip to the Florida Keys (and, coincidentally, who I had met in my student life adventures earlier). We rented a convertible (oh, yeah) and cruised for a day around the southern tip of Florida and Miami with all its beaches, clubs and celebrity homes. Enjoying the junk food culture and Mexican immigrants' cooking to the max, sipping rum runners and catching the last decent rays of sun on the trip -that's all that Miami was about. I can recommend it.
Art deco of Miami:
Hotel backyard of the rich and shameless (not including me just yet):
South Beach, not too sunny that day:
Cruisin' on the bay:
Shaq's flat and a typical boat passing by:
House of the champs:
On the road:
(in this one me and Kalle are breaking the law at 70 mph in the Florida Keys)
The Southernmost point of the continental USA, in Key West:
Irie, mon!
As the scenery changed to Jamaica, I could not help but feel a bit of relief to get out of Cuba. Yet, I was not too welcome as the customs official questioned me for nearly half an hour before being convinced that I can be allowed access. Makes me wonder what kind of a special treatment is waiting for me in Miami -just hope they let me in the country. Let's see.. passed trough Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba -all U.S. favourites - and now carries a passport issued in Brazil, with no info of entering the country.. Not the best starting point, but keeping the fingers crossed..
Anyway, two things hit me as soon as I landed here, both of which I did know of but were still a shock: I must be the only white person in Kingston (have not seen many in 4 days) and these people speak a non-english (or properly called patois english.. for those of you unfamiliar with it, an example would be "irie" in the headline that means basically alright) that is not within my range for a five-day visit. But other than that I stick out like a sore thumb and understand very little unless people make the effort to switch to real english, Jamaica is "irie". And yes reggae is everywhere, as well as ganja (the marihuana the rastafaris puff ritually, still illegal though).
I ended up staying in Kingston and never made it to the north coast to flock with fellow tourists (though intended to), as I got a major neck pain from shitty ergonomy of the local internet cafes (spent a day answering emails..), I actually could not move anymore. So there was I enjoying Jamaica in the no-aircon -room virtually paralyzed from the neck down.. Lucky I got some relaxants from the pharmacy, now I can move (like a robot, but still) and head for the plane tomorrow. Kingston itself is not all that beautiful, local highlight being the Bob Marley museum.. but here are some shots anyway:
Residencial area around Kingston:
Descriptive statues from the emancipation park (girls can zoom in):
Bob Marley museum:
The Jamaica house, residence of the prime minister (Queen is the english one):
And finally, disappointment to you who were waiting me to get rastas -I'm too fond of the long hair and decided to keep growing it, but I did get cornrows so I did not chicken out totally:
No McD's here by the way (did not do so well here!) though people are major junk food consumers and looks like they have a problem with fat people almost equal to the U.S. -I actually feared for my life when a small 130-kilo Mrs. was trying to get pass me in a local buss..
Best national dish: Patties (kind of meat pies) with salad and bacon
Best national beer: Red Stripe
Best experience/sight: Bob Marley museum
Hasta la victoria siempre
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara
So then it was time for Cuba. I have to admit I knew rather little of the country coming in, but now I have some kind of a picture. After all, this was the first contact with real communism as I never went to the Soviet Union before its downfall.
On a general level I'd summarize that every U.S. president since Eisenhower and their politics towards Cuba together with uncle Fidel and his response to it have f-ed it up for everybody in Cuba, for tourists and especially for the people living there. Still, Castro is beloved among his people and despite the poor conditions people live in he is still a revolutionary hero. Judging from what I came to learn during my stay the revolution was actually a good thing but the following socialism drove things to their current state. And to my ear the ultimate socialism, or communism, was just Castro's response to the U.S. politics. Man do the Cubans hate the Americans.. According to a popular theory the U.S. meddelled in the affairs with a poor excuse and eventually this led to the infamous Platt amendment that guarantees U.S. the right to intervene when ever it sees fit (that is why Guantanamo still exists).
So much for the history lesson, but eventually no matter what is the opinion about who is the guilty party, things are quite.. interesting there. What is good of the communism is that cubans have a health care system unparallelled by almost any country in the world -and the doctors are world famous for their skills and knowledge. On a general level all cubans are well educated and quite intelligent, plus the illiteracy rate is very low thanks to a huge
alfabetizacion campaign of the governement. Also, arts and sports are blooming (sports internationally as well: some 20 odd medals in the olympics is not bad..) though the actual money that artists and athletes see is pennies compared to other international equivalents. Cubans themselves have two favourite sports, it seems: baseball and domino (yes, it is a sport).
But then there are the downsides. I did not know wether to laugh or cry at the sight of the interior of a supermarket. Gimme a break.. there is virtually no choice, and you buy the one pasta there is, be it good or bad. If the market in Cuba ever opens, there is work for all you marketers and advertisers. A lot of work (see the sneak pic below). Internet is a luxury locals can't afford at 6-14 USD per hour (that is why I skipped updating the blog there) and functioning poorly anyway. Thanks to U.S. trade embargo there is scarcity of everything: you are given a 30 meal menu in a restaurant and all they really have is fried chicken. Many cars are barely functioning as they are repaired with the most imaginative of things, plus they pollute a hell of a lot. And when the only spare parts supplier, the Soviet fell, cubans had to import a million bicycles from China to keep Habana on the move. Thus, the ration card is still in use and everything personal is under control, even travelling within the country. Also incredible is that the intelligent university guys and gals drop out to scam the tourists, as that makes them a better living than practicing medicine for example. Still, the worst thing of all, in my opinion, is the lack of everything, especially opportunity and choice. Now it is official: I think commies suck big time!
For a tourist it gets even more interesting. The country fights to maintain a double economy, with two currencies, and some things allowed to cuban natives and some allwed only to tourists. Tourists do not have to wait for days to get on a intercity bus as the locals do, but in many cases tourists pay of the same product or service the same sum of money (say 5 for example), with the exception that 5 cuban pesos is 25 times less than the tourist money, 5 pesos convertibles!! Of course, one has to think that cubans have entered their workload for the common good to get these prices, plus that the average salary of a cuban is somewhere around 15 usd per month. But still it pisses a tourist off to get treated that way. There is just no way to live cheap there, I almost doubled my travel budget there and ended up slumming (or what of that is allowed for a tourist who can slum for a 20 usd a night equivalent at someone's home, a
casa particular) for several days. All the time the cuban government is sucking money off the tourists the people are poor and live their life in
lucha (struggle) and all cubans I talked to comment their lives by
no es facil, it's not easy. But people try to bend the rules, like as I was supposed to use only given taxis (tourist taxi), the 25-time fare a horse carriage driver was able to get from me (1 whole USD) made him beat the hell out of his horse to make it run faster to avoid capture by the police. And another great point about the double economy is that changing dollars to pesos convertibles there is always a 10% commission (excluding the exchange rate), that does not apply for euros. U.S. versus Cuba at its best. The export rules are interesting too: the beautiful and cheap artworks (see below) found all over Cuba are either not allowed to take out or then you need to queue for bureaucratic permits. You can take the famous cigars out ok, but then you are bound to hit a snag entering the U.S. as anything Cuban is forbidden. I cut the labels off my t-shirts bought in Cuba.
And the cuban government keeps stubbornly on going with all this. There was less propaganda than I thought, but some still is seen, especially around the U.S. affairs office. But in TV the only thing is educational programs and even the soap operas carry a message like "beware of aids". Of course the news coverage is "selective". And all the while people maintain a certain Caribbean carelessness and they are seemingly happy with music playing all around all the time. Incredible.
Some propaganda:
Here's some U.S. - Cuba play: the U.S. put some propaganda on the top floor of their building so the Cubans put up "some" black flags on the same height in front of it..
I decided that as I could not take any with me to U.S., I'd smoke a quality cigar every day, accompanied with some cuban rhum. I ended up liking, surprisingly, the Montecristos best, and Havana Club reserva took the prize among rhums as I did not get to taste any Matusalem which is supposedly even better.
Then there is one more thing that you can not miss in Cuba: Che. Che Guevara was everywhere with his motto that now decorates the headline of this post as well as my apartment wall. On this trip, I have really made an effort to get to know his life, work and thoughts as he is still among the most known and respected latin american men. The cuban kids rally on with "
seremos como el Che", we will be like Che, which I find a very noble goal.. It is not his politics he fought for but the way he did it that fascinates me. Here's him in the museum:
Followed by his monument in Santa Clara:
Myt 9 days in Cuba was spent mainly wondering around (walking to save money, lost at least 2 kilos there) and learning stuff about the culture and the country overall. 5 days in Havana was enough so I took off for a tour to Trinidad, a beautiful colonial town in the south coast, Santa Clara that was the place of the greatest (and decisive) victory by Che during the revolution, finishing off at Varadero, a gringo tourist hell that, though surrounded by beutiful beaches, sucked me dry of my money and gave me the urges to move on. On general Cuba is very safe even in the big cities, it has many incredible monuments but the system really gives me the creeps. A nice place to see and understand, but I do not think I want to return unless the economy opens some day -which cubans are proud to say will not happen when Castro dies.
Trinidad:
And the obligatory visit to the beach -view from my hotel lobby in Varadero:
Best national dish tasted: Lobster in chili sauce with arroz congri (also called moors and christians, meaning a mixture of rice and black beans)
Best national beer: Bucanero
Best experience/sight: The Che memorial in Santa Clara
The Picture show follows.. Some famous hotels of Havana, lower the Hotel Nacional:
Other Havanna shots:
Plaza de la Revolucion:
Fidel's Tank:
Bonus, a funky tree:
From the capitolio, modeled to look like..?
To finalize, some pics of the old cars:
