Pilote's travel blog. no. 9 - Final thoughts on Cuba

I’m really not being fair to Cuba in my partial assessment after all we’ve only explored a tiny fraction of what Cuba has to offer since most of our time was spent in an extremely touristy area.  Regardless I would like to offer a few parting thoughts on the country.  We ended up not liking it as much as we would have wanted to.  I feel that the all inclusive format doesn’t work well for us, it’s limiting in terms of food options, people one associates with, activities etc… I felt marooned there and if I were to consider the all inclusive again it would be for one week and a place where there’s still some freedom of movement.  Varadero doesn’t offer a lot of options in terms of dining or shopping. Never even noticed a grocery store there, still not sure how people get their drinking water, never saw any delivery of water.  To buy it in bottle format was quite expensive even for us, I can’t see Cubans doing that on a regular basis would be too costly unless they drink the regular tap water which I’m assuming a lot of them do.  We started off brushing our teeth with bottled water but gave that up pretty quickly, just too much of a bother, never did it before not even in South America.

Getting back to my rudimentary assessment in point form.

-Nobody’s starving in Cuba, even if food options are limited, also one doesn’t see the extremes of wealth and poverty prevalent in so many other countries.

-There’s very little begging, only witnessed it in Havana which predictably being a big city of 3 millions it would have its share of.

-People will forgo a career in a chosen field to work in tourism simply because it gives you access to those valuable Cuban convertible pesos.

-If you work with tourists you live better than the average Cuban who must deal with a paltry monthly wage.

-The infrastructure needs a lot of work - Many of Havana’s heritage buildings are in need of repair and according to our guide it’s not getting done.  She’s seen repair structures go up but 5 years later it’s still the same.

-The Cubans we met we’re not unhappy although they would like more freedom in terms of purchasing power especially.  There really isn’t that much to buy even when you have the money.  The U.S. embargo which has been going on for so long really limit’s the flow of goods and technology.

-The fact that there is so little internet available is a deal breaker for me in terms of going there again.  Even 5 star hotels have limited capabilities. 

-They don’t seem to grow any avocados or mangos even though they have the perfect climate to grow them, that’s just weird.

-They don’t spice their food at all, pepper is very hard to find, one pepper shaker for the entire dining room, you had to seek it out and “steal” it from other tables.

-Che Guevara is as popular as ever and so is Fidel Castro. Their images are everywhere. The song Commandante Che Guevara is well known and sung everywhere,must really learn the lyrics by hard, file that under things to do when I get back home.

-Crime is mostly of a petty nature, you don’t feel threatened at all and the no guns law has of course a lot to do with that.

-Cubans have learned to be inventive in finding ways to skirt the system, they’re particularly ingenious when it comes to repairs of those old cars which seem to all work very well for the most part.

-Only saw a few gas stations, not sure where most Cubans get their gas, then again very few actually own vehicles, they travel in groups, get picked up and dropped off at work mostly by buses or camions.

-With a little tweaking and the allowance of more free enterprise Cuba would not be such a bad place to live - Something more balanced like what they have in the Scandinavian countries might work really well here, a sensible mix of government involvement with some free enterprise.

-It’s nice to not have an endless barrage of advertisement either on t.v. in the newspaper or on the side of the roads.  That’s truly refreshing, we forget how bombarded we are with ads from everywhere back home where free enterprise reigns supreme.

Hope you enjoyed reading my travel posts, know I can get a little professorial at times, legacy of many years of teaching.

Adios Cuba.

Pilote's Blog. no. 8 - A little digression about beach reading

Beach and reading seem to go hand in hand.  Nobody can stay on a beach waiting to be fried to a crisp without a book, preferably a good one.  This trip was not successful in that department.  I should have really downloaded some good books on my Kobo but have been weirdly resistant to that technology, not usually so squeamish.  I guess I’m more of an old fashioned paper and ink girl, must get over that and fast.

Back to reading, finished Carol O’Connell’s The Chalk Girl, never read this author and would not recommend her.  I had to force myself to finish the book.  The heroine she created, Kate Mallory, has been favourably compared to Lisbeth Salinger, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It’s a totally unjustified comparison.  Mallory is dead on the page, the author never succeeds in bringing her to life and takes great pains insisting on how weird and fierce she is but it never ignites,telling is not feeling. 

When we were in Havana I was able to score a book by Jeffry Deaver, The Twelfth Card, only picked that one because it was the biggest one on the shelf.  Read it, was not impressed. Totally preposterous beginning and it didn’t get much better the further along one got in the book. One thing which bugged me about the Deaver book.  In it he describes one of the characters as being Woody Allen like, therefore no great beauty.  Nevertheless, the author takes great pains to tell us, looks can be deceiving since this nebish looking man has been going out with a curvaceous, leggy bombshell blond.  I've read statements like that in far too many books. For men intelligence trumps everything else even bad breath and crappy looks (remember Jean-Paul Sartre, he was an ugly bastard if ever there was one).  I don't really care about that what I do care about is reading a sentence where a perfectly ordinary, plain but intellectually gifted woman, snags the male babe, I don't remember reading about that ever happening, silly I know but rubs me the wrong way.

 Lastly was stuck with Patricia Cornwell’s Southern Cross.  I can deal with this author when her stories feature Scarpetta, unfortunately this one did not.  Every single character screams STUPID on a big scale, including the chief of police.  Richmond, Virginia looks like a city inhabited by morons where nobody, it seems, has a credible name.  Most of the names were in this vein:  Bubba, Smoke, Weed, Muskrat,  Jeb, Roop, Twister (thankfully dead character), Smudge, Miss Sink and on and on it goes.  It’s meant to be satirical but satire is a hard genre to master, it requires subtlety and intelligence.  This author’s attempt just strikes me as dumb and boring, not a great addition to the literature “cannon”.   

Do remember a few great books from travel past in particular one called Mountains of the Moon about the great British explorer Sir Richard Burton, not to be confused with actor of the same name.  Bought the book in Panajachel, Guatemala, it was tattered and torn but turned out to be a phenomenal read so good in fact I wouldn’t mind reading it again.

This little digression was meant to impress upon future travelers the importance of good reading material.  I’m not going to get caught again, next time I’ll be more prepared.

 

Pilote's Travel Blog no. 7 - Catamaran and an encounter with a dolphin

Although we were a little worried about today’s adventure, fearing it might be too hot on the catamaran, the day was very hot but overcast and there was protection and shade on the catamaran itself.  Our catamaran’s name was Intrepido and it was very big, big enough for at least 60 to be comfortably seated + 3 crew members.  I had never been on a catamaran so it was a novel experience although we didn’t use the sails, it was motoring the whole way.  The sails just went up at the end of the trip mostly for show since there was little wind and the motor was still doing its job.  We set off first for a little bit of snorkeling  the reef where we were was degraded and not as rich with sea life as it should have been but still pretty nonetheless with the coral lace fan like and some colorful fishes which took off as soon as too many people hit the water.  I just caught a glimpse of them at the beginning, I was the only one of us two to go in the water, chose to wear a belt even though I’m a strong swimmer but our last experience with snorkeling near Puerto Vallarta was not a successful one, taught me a thing or two about unpredictable currents.  After about 15 or 20 minutes of snorkeling we all climbed back aboard and headed for the delphinarium.  This particular delphinarium is unusual in that it’s not a pool it’s broken up into pens in the middle of the ocean which is a lot better for the dolphins.  Our dolphin was 5 years old (a juvenile), his name was Nemo.  We all lined up on this platform in the water and we were allowed to pet him each in turn.  Next was the kiss.  When it came to my turn I said his name and hello and he made that weird clicking noise, opened up his mouth and stuck out his tongue, wow! He really liked me.  I’ve always maintained I have a special affinity with dolphins and I think that proves it again….haha  Some people will remain skeptical but I know, in my heart, this to be true.  There was a little bit more cajoling with Nemo, he showered us with his flippers and then back on the catamaran to our final destination Cayo Blanco where we were to have lunch and a rest on the beach.  The sand is pure white and fine like powder much like the sand I remember from Isla Mujeres in the Yucatan.  

The trip is run like a finely oiled machine.  There are many many catamarans and we had to wait for some people to board theirs before we could dock and settle in for lunch.  One thing to note.  All the foreigners in Varadero are tagged just like birds or homing pigeons, tagged with the colors of the hotel where they’re staying and because there are overlaps in colors the name is also printed on the band.  Don’t really like having to wear a tag for 2 weeks but that’s the way it is when you’re in an all inclusive and there are no other wayward travelers coming in.  If you’re in Varadero there’s no escaping the tagging.

Back to lunch which took place in a huge wooden building with all the groups marched in to their respective areas.  The lunch was a disappointment.  It featured “langouste” ( similar to lobster) with no butter, no garlic, no salt, overcooked tough and chewy, a medley of over processed vegetables, equally tasteless, rice with a few tiny shrimps thrown in and two exceedingly bone dry, fried to a crisp, pieces of fish.  Like I said, total disappointment, wasn’t expecting too much though since I haven’t been impressed with the finer “art” of Cuban cuisine.  A pre-packaged cake was offered for desert.  Entertainment was provided by a live band and it seemed to be every Tom Dick and Joe’s birthday because we kept having to sing happy birthday to someone.  Got out of there as fast as we could and headed for the beach.  Scored some chairs after paying a tip and relaxed for an hour.  

The trip back was pretty uneventful except for a bout of dancing initiated by one of the crew members forcing everybody to participate on pain of being thrown overboard….haha  Of course not everybody enjoyed that particular activity.  I didn’t mind it, thought it was fun. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the music which was blasting non-stop during the whole duration of the trip, incredibly annoying but unavoidable on these so-called cruises where silence is certainly not prized as golden.

All it all a pretty good day and it broke the monotony of being stuck in one place, namely Club Karey.

After today we will only have a few days left.  Came back to discover that the electricity was off.  There was only a trickle left in the shower while I was still shampooing my hair, trickle which became nothing shortly thereafter.  Had to step out of the shower with my hair still full of shampoo, got some in my eyes while trying to rinse off with the trickle still coming out from the tap sink.  Finally had to get the ice cold drinking water from the fridge and pour some over my head, first time I’ve ever had to do that.  Meanwhile some gurgling sounds issued forth announcing the return of water was imminent.  Luckily was able to step back into the shower and rinse off.  Got to love Cuba!  Since the electricity was off, the t.v. cable had stopped working as well and now there was no t.v.  only white noise.  It may seem unimportant but there really isn’t much to do at Club Karey once dinner is over.  It’s going to be a long, bloody night.  Hasta luego.  Managed to get a guy over to fix the t.v. it was a cable thing, he also fixed the toilet while he was at it.  We will be able to have a flushing, functioning toilet for the next few days, hallelujah!

Pilote's Travel Blog, no. 6 -More little bits

Today the weather was perfect….again.  If anything it was a little too hot, usually there’s a bit of a breeze but no breeze to be had on this day.  The line up for eggs or omelette, at breakfast, was unusually long due to some late arrivals yesterday, not too sure where they’re all from.  It appears to be a smattering of French-Canadians, Russians (ubiquitous) and ????  Didn’t get a chance to ascertain the nationalities of others.

Spent some time swimming, water is getting warmer both in the sea and in the pool which is great.  I’m always surprised by the fact that so many people come to the tropics, sunbathe but never swim.  We’re usually the only ones who use the pool on a regular basis.  Met this really loco (crazy) guy today whose nationality shall remain undisclosed.  Between him and his son they packed 20 kilos extra of food in their luggage.   He was a complainer of the highest order.  He complained about the food which isn’t that great but we keep reminding ourselves that Cubans don’t have it nearly as good when it comes to food options. He complained about the state of his room, the windows in the dining room which were fogged up, the bugs (there were a couple of flies in the dining room), the beach, man he even complained about the water.  If there’s one thing you can’t complain about it’s the water.  It’s clear, it’s warm, it’s a gorgeous shade of turquoise, it’s clean, in any case you get the picture.  He was going on and on like he had never traveled in a third world country before furthermore if you want 5 star treatment you don’t book into a 3 star hotel.  

We’ve had our own share of misadventures and we’re dealing with them. We didn’t have water at all for about 3 hours one day.  Next the hot water quit on us, it’s back today.  For the last 3 days the toilet flushing mechanism hasn’t worked.  We’ve used the shower head nozzle to fill up the tank (my idea) and then manually flush as needed.  We’re adaptable not the end of the world certainly.  The tank eventually fills up but it takes 3 to 4 hours , that’s not really working in my book because you can only do one flush.  I’ve lodged 3 complaints so far.  Two hombres came yesterday, they looked and that’s about all they did…LOOK.  We’re still waiting for them to get back to us and not holding our breath.  Today is the Academy Awards, the t.v. is worse than ever but we did manage to get CTV.  It’s very blurry though, I don’t think we’ll be enjoying the show that much.  It’s the first time, in a long time, that we haven’t filled out our ballots to try and guess who’s going to win.  We started that tradition a while back but didn’t get around to it this year.  We don’t have many traditions in our family so the few we have are precious.   I’m going to keep a tally and try my hand at guessing  who’s going to win even if I’m only competing against myself.

Pilote's Blog No. 5 - La Havana

We got picked up in front of our hotel at 8:30 a.m. 

the last to get on the bus and discovered it was filled with French-Canadians, the tour was to be conducted in French which was great.  The guide was extremely proficient in the language,much better in fact than with a lot of other English guided tours we’ve had in the past.  In Cuba there are only 3 tour operators and Transgaviota the one we had booked is by far the biggest and most common.  All the prices are fixed and the same regardless of who you book with as there is no competition.

Two and a half hours later and after a pretty thorough history lesson, we arrived in old Havana.  The buses, all Chinese make by the way, park on the outskirts and then you walk.  Old Havana is delightful.  If you’ve seen documentaries of Havana that’s pretty well the way it looks.  Candy colored mansions, old Colonial buildings some crumbling, some restored, cobblestone streets, little parks, it’s a lovely little city to walk in.  It’s not congested with traffic because there are not very many cars around, it’s a pedestrian heaven.  We headed for the main museum in Cuba, it’s the repository of so much Cuban history and it’s a grand old building with sweeping staircases and an inner courtyard.  We spent some time in the flag room which has tattered and beaten up flags from a lot of different countries which have tried to put their stamp on Cuba. As with any guided tour time is of the essence and we couldn’t spend as much as we might have liked.  We continued on to a store where cigars and rum are sold, a little café was upstairs.  Rum flows like water in Cuba they are extremely liberal with it, if you love rum Cuba is the place to be.  

Once our tour of old Havana was over we made our way to new Havana which is what you would expect, buildings of a more modern nature, broader streets, boulevards but also some old mansions with impossibly large acreage which have been recuperated by the government for various offices.  Some of these old houses which housed only one family in the days of the U.S. supported Batista regime, have been broken up into apartments with many different tenant families.  Rent is “free” in Cuba but you have to pay the cost of electricity which can be quite high. I’m still unclear about how homes are attributed if rent is free, couldn’t really get a clear answer from our guide.  In addition to free rent, education is free up to and including university, health care is provided as well as medicines.   Cuba fulfills the most important U.N. mandate in terms of providing for its people but like all political systems it’s far from perfect.  With respect to the second economy the one involving Cuban convertible pesos the government has relaxed the rules somewhat and Cubans who can get their hands on these can now use them in so-called tourist stores, with the attendant tourist prices but stocked with goods which are not necessarily available in other regular stores.

Another little known fact about Cuba, GUNS ARE ILLEGAL and the crime rate is extremely low and mostly consists of burglary, petty theft and crimes of opportunities involving property.  There aren’t too many inmates in Cuban jails.  It’s not a military dictatorship in the way we understand that to be, there are way more military and police in Mexico than can be found in all of Cuba, that’s refreshing.  

We finished with a nice lunch in one of the more modern buildings in Havana.  We also tasted a really excellent pina colada along the way, one of the best I’ve had so far in my travels.  We bid Havana adieu but not before a visit to the greatest craft market in all of Cuba.  Most of the stands sold the same things which is quite typical of these kinds of places.  We scored a few items none of them for us, we have enough souvenirs from other travels and frankly the quality of the work just isn’t there.  Tired but happy with our day we got back to the hotel around 7:30 p.m.

Pilote's Travel Blog no. 4 - Pre- La Havana

Stating the days won’t be helpful since I will be posting these on my blog upon my return, if nobody reads them so be it.  They will be a memento for me, memory gets very spotty as one ages.  A few days ago I was finally able to hit the pool, completed 15 laps but the water was very cold.  Swimming in the ocean was a no go as the waves were still too big and the wind too powerful.  Not an ideal day but we made time as best we could and the Russians kept on coming.  There seems to be two somewhat distinct groups, a younger set with the girls all willowy and the guys all fairly muscled up or skinny as well.  The second set is older and of the more paunchy variety for both sexes.  They pretty well stick to themselves which is understandable, the linguistic barrier is a hard one to overcome and they’re not all that friendly in any case.  

The weather improved remarkably after my pool expedition and we were finally able to lounge on beach chairs in the sand and play in the ocean which is basically what a tropical vacation is mostly about.  The water in Varadero is the nicest we have ever had the pleasure of swimming in.  It’s warm, the waves are gentle, there’s no garbage and the color is unbelievable.  The sand is white but not as powdery and fine as the one in the Yucatan, here nature hasn’t quite finished pulverizing the rocks and the shells which can be painful to walk on if you’re not careful.

A few words about the food.  This all inclusive is probably on the lower rung of the echelon of all inclusives the quality of the food being a dead give away.  No croissants, no bacon, no sausages, no French toast for breakfast but the usual eggs (plain) and omelettes with an assortment of recycled whatever food is left over from the dinner of the night before such as macaroni, yes they serve it  for breakfast!  This particular macaroni has been reincarnated many many times in a variety of fashions with a variety of sauces none of which are remotely appetizing.  Generally food which is grey and black and semi-gelatinous looking is not appealing to the taste buds, we did have a dish which fits this description.  The lunch and dinner don’t vary too much from each other except at dinner you can expect something grilled like fish or a big ham or turkey. The salads are non descript, the cheese is wafer thin and we saw a mouse jump out from the ornamental bread display. O.K. that wasn’t pleasant but hey take it in stride, I’m sure the 4 and 5 stars outfits have mice too they just keep theirs better hidden.  The resort employs a lot of people although it's difficult to figure out what they really do.  They walk around and fill out a lot of forms and appear very busy or not depending on the time of day.  They’re all working for the government since there are no huge corporations or mega enterprises here. A recent article on Cuba in the National Geographic had this telling quote: "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us".  The state is definitely in charge nevertheless small c capitalism has made some in roads in mom and pop type businesses which is a good thing.  There are two types of economies and currencies in Cuba.  There is the regular economy for ordinary Cubans who get paid and buy their stuff with the Cuban peso and then there is the peso Cubano convertible which is the currency all foreigners use.  Cubans can also use this currency if they can get their hands on it.  Since the average wage is very low about 300 pesos a month mas o menos there is a definite advantage to scoring those convertible pesos which allow you greater buying power and access to better goods but more on that later.  Tomorrow we’ve booked a trip to La Havana so breaking down this post into two. See you in Havana tomorrow, Cuban style.

Before tackling Havana wanted to add a few more comments about the food.  Came back from another excellent dining adventure (chuckle, chuckle) actually there was rice and fresh fish, the tablecloths even looked fresh and we risked having another glass of white wine which was a tiny bit better than the last time we had it.  It’s either a different batch or our taste buds are adjusting.  The mood was very convivial which is the plus side of being in a smallish place, it’s not very formal at all which we like.  A couple of guys with guitars and strong voices show up almost every evening to sing classics like Besame, Guantanamera, La Bamba and by personal request Hotel California, yes that song has “legs”, it’s made it all around the world more than once and it just keeps on going.  Listening to news of snow in Quebec on CTV, very very shitty reception but caught enough of the weather forecast to make us feel happy that we’re here and not there.

La Havana: