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