RTW: Exchange in Chile: Hasta la victoria siempre

Thursday, August 17, 2006

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: