April 29, 2016

 

We were up and on the bus at 8 AM.  I would like to mention our tour mates here.  We had a great group.  We looked out for each, laughed, sang, drank, ate and were amazed together.  No one in our group was ever late or held us up.  When one would hurt themselves, the rest of us would pitch in.  Walking down streets in Cuba can be dangerous.   Holes appear out of nowhere with no sign, there are rocky cobblestones, waterfront and all sorts of stuff to watch for.  Typically the first one in the line would yell out, “hole” and the rest of us would yell hole to those behind us when we got to the hole in the ground, (or dog poop).  We had some interesting tour characters, but they made the trip amusing. 

 

The Cubans are the nicest people.  But oh my, are they slow.  They are very disorganized, but we have noticed in communist countries organizational skills inherent in the population are discouraged.  And, do we really need to have everything fast? 

 

It only took 1.5 hours to get checked in and through Cuban TSA.  If you can imagine, we were there first in line with VIP express service, but it still took forever.  They know the flight leaves at 11am, but they have one person checking you in and one person in immigration, until it gets to the point all the people waiting to get on the flight will never be processed in time, or even that day!  So then more employees show up to assist with the lines.  Going through that check in/out procedure really had me frazzled for a couple of reasons.   

 

A couple of odd things happened which don’t bear repeating, but by the time I made it through the X-ray machine I was wild eyed.  Bob was several people behind me, so I was waiting for him when I saw TSA pull him aside.  He had mistakenly put a sealed bottle of rum in his carry-on bag.  So of course they took it away from him.  He even had to sign their official book that logged he "gave them" a fifth of rum.  Did I mention that we both had opened, half full bottles of water in our carry on which was perfectly alright to take through?  Hmmm.. Bob had a few CUCs left so he went over to the Duty Free store and bought his bottle of rum back.   

 

Our tour guide Alfredo had arranged for a special VIP room for us while we all got through check in/out.  Our VIP service included a private lounge with sandwiches, yes rum, etc.; peaceful, air conditioned and quiet.  Because everyone is equal, if you pay more you get to be more equal and that’s a good thing at the airport.  Escorted to board our plane first we were starting to get used to being more equal. 

 

 The views upon departure of the north Archipelagos of Cuba are spectacular.

 

We spent one night in Miami to rest a bit.  We swam, ate at a local restaurant and didn’t eat rice or beans. 

Miami

 The next day we flew to Pasco, Washington, where we were met by our grandson Parker and his dad Chris.  It brought tears to my eyes!

It was an amazing trip.  We enjoyed so much of it.  We were tired, weary, but so happy to have been able to see Cuba before it’s spoiled.  We are very glad to be US citizens.   The Cuban people are so kind and fun!

 

Some random thoughts and information.

If we never hear the song “Guantanamera” again it will be too soon.  Originally a song about an island love affair between warriors it has, with modified lyrics, become a protest anthem for many.  Pete Seger adapted the song writing a verse for Jose Marti and made it famous.  We heard that song, literally, every day and most days, several times a day.  Here’s another interesting story.  When I was in 6^th grade, our teacher would have “music” on Friday afternoons.  We would sing our hearts out to records he played.  I remember three of the songs we sang every Friday.  The Kent cigarette song (!), the ant who knocked over the dam and Guantanamera.   Every time I heard the Guantanamera song I thought of sitting in Mr. Farley’s class when I was 11.  It's amazing how life turns out.    

As the story is told, the word Cuba means land surrounded by water.   

The history of Cuban people is very interesting.  In 1530 approximately 2 million African slaves were brought to Cuba.  In 1840 to 1850 two hundred thousand Chinese slaves were brought to Cuba.  In 1880 the Americans wanted Cuba, at that time many French, British and Spanish were living in Cuba.  During WWI many Syrians and Europeans came to Cuba.  And in the 1960’s many Russians emigrated to Cuba.  Cubans are quite the melting pot.   

One thing in Cuba hasn’t changed since 1959.  The communist/socialist governance of the country that Fidel Castro and his brother Raul founded.  One realization  we came away from on this trip is that nothing significant will change in Cuba until the Castro regime is gone.  However one interesting thing that occurred during Cuba's recent election was that the government passed a law stating no one may hold office in the Cuban government if they are over 60 years old.  That’s probably a good idea.  I think that might be something our own Congress should take up.  Ha!

Cubans are very happy to see the US lift the blockade.  They want us to come and spend money.  They are eager, happy, nice people.  In my opinion, in a decade we will not recognize the Cuba we saw in 2016.  That is bittersweet.  I hope the Cubans will have a better standard of living, but I also hope they are able to keep their joie de’ vive.  The very last note I wrote in my diary was “or maybe the Americans should stay away and let paradise be.” 

We hope you enjoyed our trip and blog!  Take care, bc and gc

April 28, 2016

When I woke up this morning I stepped on the tile and tried to remember “does the tile have designs in it?”  Nah, that funny little thing is a small red legged crab on the floor next to the bathroom.   About 3 inches around it was “ushered’ outside.

 

 We visited a local Bed and Breakfast on the beach.  For 25 CUC a night you get a room with bath and breakfast.  Remember that’s about $28 a night.  One British gentleman had been in the unit he rented for months. Probably cheaper than living in his actual home in Europe.   But remember you must live local to survive here, translation, rustic.   This B&B was quite nice by normal Cuban standards.  I was impressed with the kitchen.  The owner showed us her bookkeeping duties for the state.  This is when an “aha!” moment happened for us.  In every hotel, B&B, short term rental or whatever, the owner must report to the state every day, who has checked in and who has checked out.  That’s why we had to turn over our passports at every hotel!  The listening people are also tracking us and anyone else who comes to Cuba.  And of course keeping track of how much money the owner is making in order to tax them.  

 "

"Long live Fidel, Raul and their family"

The Bed and Breakfast with a fabulous view

 A well equipped kitchen

 People transporters, old and new.         

 A souvenir for Parker

After the B&B we went to visit an indigenous group running a coconut farm/ranch, or whatever they call it.  Their name was Gruppo Nengo’n Kiriba’.  They have a traditional dance and music ensemble.  We danced and appreciated the fact that the 300 people of this group and their ancestors have lived here since the 1800’s.  But their dances and music were very, uh, boring.  Not at all like the lively Caribbean influenced dance and music we were used to seeing. The dancing was derived from using the sole of your foot to move the drying cocoa seeds around.  They were very gracious people.  Their homes were nicely painted, well-kept with beautiful flower gardens. Not at all like the shanties were we used to seeing.  They fed us a local lunch that was mostly good.  The soup was great as was the chocolate drink for desert.  In between was the very typical rice, beans etc. All the food was all the same color, kind of a orange brown.

Cocoa Farmer

and they danced... in the foreground are the soup bowls.  Hollowed out coconut shells.

 Gift shop

Chow line

 Aren't they sweet!?

Heading out for the drive back to Santiago de Cuba; 5 hours, bumpy, twisty, rough, slippery in the mountains, but we were fine.  We stopped at the Cuban lookout to see the US Naval base Guantanamo Bay.  The base is fairly far away.  You can’t get near it because the Cuban land around it is closed to all except residents.  The base is its own entity.  The Cubans (Fidel) turned off the water and electricity to the base so the base runs totally unconnected to the Island.  They generate their own electricity, desalinate all the needed water and everything they need is boated or flown in daily.  The compound, at best count, is home to between 6-7,000 people; families, service personnel, contractors and criminals.  There are public schools there.  Hmmm…. “So, where did you go to high school?”  “Guantanamo Bay High.” 

 

The bus stop bathrooms were exactly like most bathrooms in other countries.  (Except for China.  They are in a league of their own!  Ugh!) Actually, I believe Americans are the only people who really care about bathroom cleanliness.  I don’t mean in people’s homes, but rest stops, coffee shops, etc.  We generally expect that the toilets flush, water runs from the sink faucet and hopefully, maybe there would be some soap?  I mean, what is the lady sitting in front of the bathroom that you must pay, doing besides opening the door for you?  (Ah, that’s right.  Making extra money.)  In any case, the tour group ladies and I had a system.  A few of us would carry the little soaps from the nicer hotels we had stayed at and also toilet paper from home or a hotel.  At each stop the supplier would hand the first lady the soap.  The lady would take it in and use it and leave it there for the rest of us.  It feels so good to wash your hands after using some of those bathrooms!  Here’s a great story:  Before we left Bob took a couple rolls of toilet paper and unwound them into about a quarter of each roll.  Then he used our meal saver thingy and sucked all the air out of the toilet paper and sealed it.  We carried little packets of toilet paper and shared them.  Once at a stop, standing in a long line I was passing out toilet paper to the tour ladies and joking around saying “It’s so soft”.  The lady in front of me was not with our group but I gave her some anyway.  She was German and typically in Cuba the Germans didn’t like Americans.  But this lady was so happy and pleased.  When we saw each other later at the coffee bar she came over and said “thank you.”  That’s me, doncha know?  Improving German American relations with toilet paper! 

 A hazy day but the most distant land is “our” Guantanamo Naval Base

We got to the Melia Santiago De Cuba hotel about 6 pm.  Just enough time to change, have cigars and rum and then at 7:30 pile into a legend of 1950’s and go cruisin’  the streets of Santiago de Cuba.  It was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

We were sorry our trip was ending, but also glad.  We were weary, but filled with a wonderful sense of what Cuba really is like. 

    

April 27, 2016, 

Bob’s Birthday!  How many people can say they celebrated their birthday in Baracoa Cuba?!

 

We started our Baracoa tour with Mr. Hartman who is like the godfather of Baracoa.  Everyone knows him, everyone says hi and when you’re with him you are treated like royalty.  We visited the first Catholic church in Cuba.

Mr. Hartman

 The Baracoa Catholic Church

 This is a very special church.  They have the cross that was planted by Christopher Columbus in November 1492 on the beach in Baracoa where he landed.  It started at approximately 9 ft. tall, but now is about 2 feet tall.  This is due to important people being given “a piece of the cross” when they visited over the centuries.  It has now been secured behind glass.  

We met a man who had written to Pope John Paul asking the Pope to bless the cross during the Pope’s Cuba trip in 1997.  The townspeople sent two men, one of which was the gentleman speaking to us, to Santiago de Cuba to meet with the Pope and the Pope blessed the cross.   This was a very special place to be.  A group of Catholic churches in the United States paid to refurbish and have a splendid stained glass window made for the church.  The man who was speaking to us is pictured in the stained glass window speaking to the Pope while the cross was blessed.    

The Cross that Christopher Columbus planted in Baracoa in November 1492

After church we found it was hot, humid, and time for ice cream!  We went to a local chocolate shop where they serve, hot chocolate, cold chocolate drinks and ice cream, yes, chocolate.  We had ice cream to celebrate Bob’s birthday and it was delicious.  Alfredo our tour leader paid for all 23 of us to have ice cream.  He later told us the bill was approximately 86 cent US.  Yikes, that’s the same as free.  Alfredo paid them 10 cucs, about $13 US and they were overwhelmed.  Yes, it’s just a redistribution of wealth but for a good humanitarian, people-to-people relationship cause.  

 

The city of Baracoa was very nice.  It was small shops, cobblestone streets and lots of happy people walking around.  A couple of our tour mates got haircuts and shaves at the local barber shop. 

Gotta love the artist's take on capitalism!

 Taxi Stand

 Street Vendor

We continued our tour through Baracoa finally ending up at Matachin Fort a colonial fort in Baracoa.  Now this wasn’t your typical fort.  It looked more like an early Western US fort with lower walls.  It was primarily a gun emplacement to guard the harbor.

It is very tropical in Baracoa so it was hot, humid and sticky.  We opted to wander outside to the Christopher Columbus statue near the oceanside and enjoy the cool breezes; the beaches are amazing.

We had a fantastic lunch at Rancho Toa.  This was a beautiful place in the tropical forest on the Toa River.  They gave Bob the first “special bottomless rum drink” since it was his birthday.  He survived.  Lunch included soup in foot long bamboo bowls, and roasted pig, mmm.  There was lots of merriment and a wonderful band to play great music for us.

 We met a man who has 6 toes and fingers on both feet and hands.  I wanted to ask him about his family genetics but didn’t get the chance.  It’s very rare to find someone with 6 toes/fingers and especially rare to have both in both feet and hands.  He climbed a coconut tree for us.

Then we boarded rowboats for a leisurely tour up the river. 

What’s next, of course, a horse drawn cart ride to a coconut business to see the 94 year old proprietor and his wife.  Rafael the husband was, a coconut tree climber for most of his life, his feet are even curved from so much climbing.  His family says he can’t climb anymore but he just couldn’t resist one more climb; which might be his performance for all tour groups.  His wife is 82 and is a spiritualist which is a type of voodoo religion.  They live in what we would consider a “shanty” on a most beautiful beach.  They showed us through their “homey” home. 

Kitchen

 That's a 1930's quilt

Bathroom

And the beach right outside their abode.  Amazingly beautiful

Back to the donkey carts, back to the bus and off to the hotel for a cool dip in the pool.  Found a nice happy birthday note for Bob on the bed and a bottle of wine.   Donned swim suits, took the wine to the pool to share and cool off.  Bob and Doug, a tour mate, smoked cigars, drank rum and we all enjoyed “birthday celebratory activities”. 

 I love this picture of Bob!

 The never ending job of charging our devices!

Quickly dressing we got to the bus to head downtown for dinner at a fabulous waterfront restaurant.  Again, Bob was the guest of honor for his birthday. He was getting a little embarrassed at all the attention but the rum was working.  We had some wonderful shrimp followed by a birthday cake that said “Happy Birthday Carroll”, with a little last minute squiggled Bob on top that had kind of melted. It was a great party.  He won’t forget this birthday!

 We sat upstairs on the balcony

 My sweetie.....

I'm sure you can see why we are so tired at night.  We go nonstop all day and see so much!  Today was very special in many ways. 

bc and gc