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Published: January 23rd 2011
You really have to sympathise with the Cuban government. It must be a constant challenge trying to run a command economy in a country where people are very adept at working out a way to deal with their issues. You try, for instance, to stop people buying and selling major assets like houses and cars, so you make that illegal. And no cars or houses change hands because that would be illegal. Thus, you might say, a true socialist ideal will be met. But in Cuba you don't count on anything. Very often something may be illegal but it it might still be possible.
In Cuba marriage is legal, even encouraged. If you marry someone, and then divorce, they have a right to half of the possessions of the partnership. So, just say you own a car – one of these wonderful old ones that are somehow kept going here – but you want to sell that car to someone else. First, you find a buyer. Then find a woman who is unmarried and known to both you and the buyer. Marry her and then, a period later, divorce her. She then marries the buyer. With any luck she is
also the girlfriend of the buyer and there wont need to be another marriage and divorce but, if that is necessary, then it is necessay. The title to the car moves perfectly legally to the appropriate party. And, of course, no money changes hands, or at least none that the government knows about.
The government knows this sort of thing happens of course. They brought in laws to fix a minimum period of marriage before property transfer can take place. So, now, just perhaps, in some places, you can be married retrospectively and thus speed up processes dramatically.
Wandering the streets of towns you do wonder a little at the proposition that you could control this population. People we meet are bright, happy, keen to make money and helpful. They love to sing and dance. Music is everywhere. Obviously, not everyone is happy but there is a good feeling in the parts of the country we have visited so far. There is very real control exercised though and you would have to conclude that there is a constant tension between those who want a different sort of control and those who don't. One key method of exercising control
seems to be the symbiotic relationship that, in my humble opinion, exists between the Cuban government and the continuing USA sanctions. It is so hard to be a god if you don't have a devil just as it is really handy to have someone big and ugly to blame for everything that goes wrong. For the other side, of course, it is handy to be able to show some of your people that you really hate commies and it is even better if you can do it at little cost to your own country.
Most people we have met seem to like tourists although perhaps we need to make just a bit of an exception for the people of Camaguey. This is an apparently relatively prosperous town in cattle and cane country. Camaguey seems to be pretty relaxed about its place in the world and asserts that it is really number 2 to Havana in most things. We weren't so impressed. There are some nice squares and many churches. Our local guide, Ramon, told us that at least 60% of Camaguey's population is Roman Catholic. There are a lot of churches. The art scene is strong and there are
some good galleries. There is apparently a very good orchestra and ballet and theatrical life is strong. But there were also more people looking for money for nothing than in other places. There seem always to be a few people about in most places looking for 'soap' or money but in most places they give up pretty quickly and leave you alone. Camaguey seemed to have more people on the sponge and they were more persistent. Never as persistent in some African and Asian countries but still a nuisance.
Santiago de Cuba used to be the capital of Cuba. We had to cross the Sierra Maestre mountains to get down to the coast passing through some interesting country and a church dedicated to an impression of the Virgin Mary that was found by some fishermen on a piece of wood floating in the sea over 500 years ago. This particular piece of wood is said to deliver luck to those who leave something at the church. Many seem to leave letters, cards or the like, but there is a large cabinet containing the baseball uniforms of many hopeful baseballers.
Because Santiago has to fit itself in between the
mountains and the sea, and because there are a lot of people in this place, the place is pretty squeezy compared to other Cuban towns we visited. The Revolution Square here sports a massive statue, and a pretty good one, of Antonio Maceo as well as a monument to Marti. We stayed in the casa particulare of Miquelina Millet Estevez. Another comfortable room and more good breakfasts. Also here a very good dinner.
We have heard reports that some people haven't enjoyed the food in the casas. That hasn't been our experience. Breakfasts can become pretty samey but that is really no different in any country. Here you get eggs, bread, butter, jam, coffee, often chocolate and normally a lot of fruit. Dinners are more variable but, for a price of between 5 and 10 CUCs you will normally get a pretty good home cooked meal, usually of at least 2 courses and possibly 3. You don't walk away hungry and we have found the meals good, some excellent.
Baseball is the Cuban national game. There are obvious inroads being made by soccer but it is baseball that is still king. As part of our cultural experience we
Bamayo Street
Very nice town and well set up decided we needed to take in a game. There were those among the group – actually only one person really – who was not keen at all but my lovely wife was over ruled and we were ushered into seats that seemed to be set aside for foreigners. They were good seats but there was a bit of distance from the other fans. Santiago, the home team, didn't seem to have their heart in the game. Apparently, they had won the previous two against the visitors from Granma (the name of the boat that the revolutionaries sailed over to Cuba in back in 1959). This time Granma turned the tables and the game was called off after the 7th inning because Granma were more than 10 runs ahead.
Perhaps our first experience of baseball was less than spectacular but the main topic of conversation after the game was on how to smarten up the game and get a bit of action going. Take the gloves off all of those fielders would be a start. It might also be possible to speed it up just a tad without too much lost.
Across the mountains again the next day to
Barracoa stopping on the way at a beach to mix up some of the local drink, canchancharra. The primary ingredients are rum, lime juice, honey and gassy mineral water or lemonade. Not too sweet but you couldn't drink a great amount of it.
While we are on drinking, this is a post on Cuba and I have just realised that I have spent too much time on politics and too little on rum. Bocanero and Crystal are the main breeds of beer. They are drinkable but that is about it. Rum is the drink. You can get both colours – brown and white. The white, and there is no Bacardi any more, is used normally for mixing. Cuba Libre is white rum and coke. The dark rum is better in my opinion. Havanna Club is the one we consumed most. It can be purchased aged up to 3 years, 3 – 5 years and 5 – 7 years. There may be more types but we never made it that far. The young stuff is not bad. Better than Bundy but stil a little raw when compared to the Special 3 – 5 year stuff. This is most definitely a
Old Soldiers
Getting set to fire the cannon long way from Bundy. The Reserve 5 – 7 years is very smooth and you could easily get used to it. A touch more expensive though at about $12 per litre. We were well satisfied with the Special at around $7 a litre.
Many drink rum with mixers. The typical Cuban bar table sports a large bottle of rum and a 2 litre bottle of coke. The barman will keep the ice coming and you mix your own Cubatas – coke and dark rum – or Cuba Libres – coke and white rum. You can, course, be a little more flash and drink Mohitos – with mint and sugar etc – or Cubanitos – a rum bloody mary. You don't have to drink mixes of course. Double shots are popular and the dark rum is well and truly good enough to drink straight. You do get tired of coke. I did try one white rum straight. This was a brand called Mulatto served to me by one of the people in a casa particulare. It was good and, in my view, well ahead of the other white rums.
Barracoa, in our humble opinion, was the nicest place in
Cuba. Much more tropical and fertile than other places, it faces the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Carribean Sea. The weather while we were there was warm and humid and the local produce much more like home. We stayed in the house of Alcides Navarro Reyes. Alcides currently lets out the regulation 2 rooms to tourists and he has just received a licence to operate a restaurant, provided he does not have more than 20 people at a time. We tested his food a couple of times and, with any luck, he will do very well. The meals were excellent and pretty much the best we experenced in Cuba, the service was excellent and he is setting the place up to be attractive and welcoming.
Barracoa reckons it has the best chocolate in the Carribean. There are a lot of other contenders for the title but here they actually grow the fruit and process it themselves. There is a lot of it about although most has not been sweetened so it is really only capable of being drunk. There are nice walks around the town, up the mountain and along a path to a rather lovely, if not terribly
spectacular, waterfall. A relaxed place where the people are used to tourists and happy to see them. There are many casa particulare in the town with the little blue anchor sign and if they are as good as ours then they provide an excellent alternative to the few large hotels dotted around.
From Barracoa it was back to Havana where we had the Last Supper with our guide Tony Mas. He has to stack up as close to the best guide we have ever had. Excellent English and with a good grasp of the Australian idiom, he combined top of the line organisational skills with humour and a great sense of fun. He introduced us to Cuban culture and ensured that we had as much information about the way Cuba lives as we could absorb over a 17 day period. Like any good guide he became quickly aware of the way the group related to each other and what sorts of things we liked and didn't.
Of course, the Last Supper was also our last with Trish, Tony, Graham and Alice, for the time being at least. They headed off the next morning to join an Intrepid trip
through parts of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It has been very enjoyable, particularly for Pat and I to have the chance to catch up on news from the Northern Territory and to travel with a group of friends we have travelled with before. Some more good memories to add to the stack we already have and more to reminisce over with a few bottles of good red when we are old and grey – or older and greyer.
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cabochick
Andrea
Nice one Mate.
Great blog. Thank you for the trip down memory lane, as I enjoyed this trip in 2009. Baracoa was my favorite. Did you make it to Vinales? I loved the casa particulares too and enjoyed their food more than the restaurants or paladors had to offer.