Habana - Dancing To A Different Beat

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So, via this circuitous route, we landed in Cuba and it would take a far more eloquent scribe than yours truly to even begin to paint an accurate picture of it. I should say at the outset that we haven’t had enough time here to do any more than scratch the surface of this intensely complex country whose political and cultural values are cause for heated and bitter debate. The aim is to give a flavour of the place, not justify or condemn the Castro regime that is patently flawed - so was the one it replaced almost fifty years ago. I’ll explain how we’ve interpreted the situation by the places and events we’ve seen, what we’ve established by talking to all kinds of people here, what we’ve read etc; one thing is for certain though - the more you find out about Cuba, the more confusing it becomes and (as the great Johnny Mathis once sang) it generates many more questions than answers.

Just about everything that follows could be suffixed with a “but...........”. For example, as a Communist country everything is state owned BUT private enterprise makes up 20% of the economy. Or, the Cuban’s seem a happy go lucky, smiling people BUT every morning we walk past endless lines of them queuing outside the Spanish Embassy to apply for emigration. It simply isn’t possible to go into that level of detail so I’ll just try and give an honest account with the facts I have. What follows, however, will inevitably be an oversimplification of a deeply complicated and contradictory island.

That’s that out of the way!!

Let’s start with some facts. Cuba was discovered by Columbus in 1492 and is a 766 mile wide, thin island with around 11,000,000 people living on it. Enclosed by the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, its nearest neighbours are Jamaica to the South and America to the North (the Florida Keys are less than a hundred miles away). To say its past has been turbulent is a gross understatement and its ownership has been fought over constantly throughout its troubled history. It was governed by the Spanish for four hundred years until 1898, the Americans for a short time and the British for an even shorter period of eleven months. Mix that background in with slaves from Africa, pillaging French pirates and its indigenous Indian tribes and you’ll understand what a melting pot of colours and cultures its people are made up of.

Relaying the facts is the easy bit. Trying to convey the beauty, frustrations, atmosphere and millions of other elements that make up Cuba is much more difficult. We’re in Havana (or Habana as it’s known here) at the moment and after five days here we’ll be exploring other parts of the island. I think it’s fair to say our expectations of it have been far exceeded and is definitely one of the most (if not, THE most) aesthetically impressive cities we’ve been to. The buildings are simply breathtaking; built by the Spanish, they are opulent, ornate in the extreme but most are in a bad state and are slowly crumbling away. This is a very, very poor country and some people barely have enough money to eat let alone keep their houses in good repair. Oddly though, this just adds to Habana’s charm and perpetuates the feeling that this is a country stuck in a time warp.

On a very superficial level, life here doesn’t seem massively different than some of the other cities we’ve visited in The Americas, but actually that couldn’t be further from the truth. The money situation, for example. Cuba operates a dual currency system - peso’s for the islanders, Cuban Convertible Pesos (referred to as CUC’s) for everyone else. (This led to my rapier wit kicking in when, in a restaurant, I said to Angela I was glad my chicken soup wasn’t more expensive. She asked why and I quickly replied “Too many CUC’s spoil the broth”!! - are you having that? I was determined to wedge that one in, sorry).

Prices in CUC’s (i.e. those for tourists) are around twenty four times that of what the locals pay but this is fair enough as the average monthly wage here is about £10. In principle, this seems a fair way of doing things as it means the relatively wealthy travellers providing an invaluable revenue stream and tourism now forms Cuba’s biggest income (until 1996 it was tobacco and sugar cane).
The Government don’t seem to be trying too hard to help this burgeoning industry to grow though.

To even enter the place you need to buy a tourist card first, priced at $15 each and then pay 25 CUC’s to exit. Currency can only be obtained once you’re here and no foreign cash cards work in the limited number of ATM’s. This means the best way to have liquid funds is to bring sterling, Euro’s etc and change them into CUC’s. For this you’re charged a whopping 8% commission and don’t even think about credit cards as this adds another 11% to your bill!!

This place is incredibly anti American (no McDonalds, Starbuck’s or Coca Cola here) and, whilst you can change US dollars, this costs ADDITIONAL 10%. This charge was only introduced in 2004 and up until then the dollar was legal tender in Cuba. It was then that Bush Junior (who despises Fidel and all he stands for) drastically cut the amount of money American Cuban’s could send to their cash strapped relatives back home. Senor Castro immediately retaliated by taking the dollar out of circulation and slapping this extra 10% tax on - a measure that hurt his own people more than the Americans but he deemed it necessary to show defiance.

This anti US stance does make you chuckle though; all over the city are Government posters of Bush with simply “Terrorista” stamped on his head. There’s another one where his photo is accompanied by the phrase “Thanks, cretin, because you’ve helped us consolidate our revolution”!! The US Government has banned their citizens from coming here and the only way they can enter is through the “back door” like we did - via Cancun or The Bahamas’. Their passports remain unstamped at Cuban immigration meaning the visit can’t be traced - The Land of the Free, eh? (Therein lies another contradiction - Guantanamo Bay prison camp lies on the East coast of the island and is leased from Cuba by the US............).

For our time in Habana (pop. 3 million) we are staying with an old couple in one of the many “casa particulars” - a private house which rents out a room. Whilst being basic, it’s clean, has a private bathroom and gives you an insight into how the citizens live. It’s also very cheap (30 CUC’s a night - less than £20) and it doesn’t seem right that the city has many high quality hotel charging up to $400 per night whilst their staff earn a pittance. We’ve been into these hotels a few times (they’re just about the only place you can access the painfully slow and unreliable internet) and we certainly wouldn’t pay $400 per night for them. Whilst they’re luxurious and beautiful, the service is awful as this is a communist state and everyone is paid the same...........

Our casa is based in Habana Viejo (Old Havana), an area that contains nine hundred buildings deemed of historical importance - several of them are riddled with bullet holes sustained during the revolution. Located just a stone’s throw from The Malecon (a five mile sea wall built when the American’s were in power), the balcony of the 6th floor apartment affords us amazing views. On one side is Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro - a fortress built in 1589 to guard the eastern entrance to Havana bay from marauding French pirates. To the west we can see El Capitolia (a stunning old Government building similar to, but more grandiose than, Washington’s Capitol Building) and the former Presidential Palace, which now houses the Museum Of The Revolution.

Here you get a fascinating, if decidedly one sided, insight into the country’s recent history. If Hollywood were to make a blockbuster based on Cuba’s last 100 years, it would be slated for having too much action and being wildly unbelievable. I doubt this film will ever come to production though as, in the past - according to the museum - the American’s have tried to poison both the sugar cane and tobacco crops, along with their entire pig population too!!

Crime is no more of an issue here than any other city - be sensible with bags, camera’s etc. Whilst we’d like to believe this is because of the friendly nature of the “habernaros”, in truth it’s probably more down to the fact that there’s an armed policeman on every street corner. Tourism is becoming more and more important to the Cuban economy and they simply cannot risk losing this income. (Up until 1991, Cuba received massive financial support from the Soviet Union. It was, therefore, a disaster for them when the Eastern Bloc crumbled and this money stopped coming).
There are incredibly stiff penalties for crime against foreigners and every night we sit in a bar and watch the police constantly stopping locals and curtly demanding to see their papers. Having armed police can’t control incessant overcharging though and that’s been far and away our biggest irritation during our stay here.

This doesn’t happen on the odd occasion - it’s actually very unusual to be charged the RIGHT amount!! We know the drill now. You never, ever order anything without asking to see the menu or price list first - that would be a fundamental error and give a licence to fleece. Even then, you WILL be overcharged when the bill comes and we have to go through the same routine time and time again. You get the waiter to bring the menu over and compare it to the bill. He’ll then feign horror at the mistake, amend the amount and then we pay up. Once the bill is corrected, you then have to carefully check your change as this is the second most popular fleecing opportunity. I suppose this is understandable bearing in mind their financial circumstances but it happens with such unerring frequency it becomes tedious.

This minor annoyance can’t stop you falling in love with the place though. None of the cities we’ve been to come close to matching the charm and atmosphere of downtown Habana - not even nearly. The noise is incessant with “trovadores” (small bands of musicians who wander from bar to bar) belting out infectious rhythms of salsa, mamba and rumba that float for miles on the warm evening air. It’s great to sit in a bar and watch the tourists come through the saloon style doors; it’s as if the music instantly transforms them into Habernero’s as they dance, not walk, over to a table. (I think it was Lenny Henry who said Ecstasy must be a terribly strong drug as it makes white men think they can dance - Habana’s rhythms face the same charge).

A good proportion of both men and women constantly have huge cigars clamped between their teeth and you get the whispered question “cigars, Sir?” at least twenty times a day by “jinteros” - street hustlers who will do practically anything to part you from your hard earned cash. The smoke drifts on the air and is accompanied by incessant clamour from the locals who noisily argue about their domino match or who knows what.

On the edge of one of the beautiful plazas is “esquina caliente” - the hot corner. This is a gathering point where the national obsession of “pelota” (baseball) is debated in detail and at ear bursting volumes. Kids slug for home runs on every piece of open ground, their equipment nothing more than a stick for the bat and screwed up tin foil as the ball. Occasionally, a star Cuban player is lured to the USA by a multimillion dollar deal, but most stay loyal to their own league and earn the princely sum of $13 per month. I briefly contemplated standing amongst the throbbing masses at esquina caliente and venturing an opinion of my own for them to debate; this being that the reason more Cubans don’t play in the US is not because of loyalty to the regime, but because they’re crap and not wanted there. I think it was a wise choice not to do this...................

I had my hair cut whilst we were here and even that turned into a memorable experience. The shop was open fronted onto a busy street and I climbed into the chair which was absolutely ancient. The last time I’d been in one like this I was so young a wooden board had to be put across the arms for me to sit on and make my head reach the mirror!! Angela happily chatted in Spanish to the “salesman” who got me in there in the first place whilst the barber went about his work. This involved tucking me in so tightly with the protective sheet that even the great Houdini wouldn’t be able to escape and it reduced my circulation dramatically.

Once I was “secured”, the barber then pulled out his glasses which were so thick they made Mr Magoo’s look like contact lenses. “OK” I thought “worst case, I might get a bad haircut”; this relaxed attitude soon turned to panic when he started to sharpen the biggest open razor I’ve ever seen to shave me. Thoughts of Sweeney Todd flashed before me but the myopic maestro did a good job and I thankfully left with both ears (and throat) still intact.

And then, of course, there’s the cars................. Over fifty years old, enormous Chevy’s, Buick’s and Dodge’s cruise up and down the streets and many are still in excellent condition. “Yank tanks” as they are known were the preferred transport of the mafia who first arrived during the prohibition period in the US with the aim of turning Habana into another Vegas. All was rosy for them until the overthrow of the mafia friendly Batista regime by the revolution in 1959 which put paid to this on off love affair once and for all. Castro and Che Guevara marched into town and summarily sent the mob packing, telling them to take their gambling, prostitution and drinking dens with them (“but leave your cars”!!).

These aging vehicles often break down and it’s a common sight to see the driver steering towards the curb whilst pedestrians come to their aid with a helpful push. This type of community spirit is seen everywhere and is a necessity of day to day life where things are tough. Another example is that hitch hikers line the road at traffic lights and it’s just accepted that they’ll get a lift to their destination once they find a driver going in that direction. Words commonly used are ”conseguir” (to get by, manage) and “resolver” (to resolve, work out) and they encapsulate the Cuban psyche; do what it takes to make your own way in life whilst helping others do the same.

Our week in Habana has flown by and we are now off to explore more of this fascinating and chaotic island. This is a unique city where almost nothing is as it seems and planning has to be ultra fluid as events never seem to happen as expected. We found the whole experience incredibly interesting and fired question after question at our guide when we took a horse drawn city tour. As we neared the Spanish Embassy, we asked about the long, snaking queues of people we’d seen every time we passed. Our guide furtively looked around as if scared she may be overheard and whispered back “they’re trying to escape - we live in a big prison”.

That comment and a multitude of other factors have fired my interest in Cuba so I’ve invested in two books (in addition to the obligatory and indispensible Lonely Planet guide) about its post revolution past; one is “History Will Prove Me Right” by Castro himself and the second documents the “secret war” waged on Cuba by the CIA. Maybe I’ll find out if they did try and poison all the pigs...........................

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Photos

Downtown Habana
Full of life and atmosphere – there’s always something going on and it’s fascinating just to explore and observe.

A Beautiful City
El Capitolia to the left, Gran Teatro (Grand Theatre) to the right and a Jose Marti statue in the centre. Sights like this are common around the streets and plazas of Habana.

Yank Tanks
Left behind when the mafia were kicked out by Fidel, “yank tanks” cruise every street. Now well over fifty years old, they add to the impression that this is a country stuck in a time warp. Time will tell if his departure will change matters dramatically.

National Heroes
Jose Marti - instrumental in gaining independence from Spain after four hundred years of colonialism. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara – fought against impossible odds to overthrow the brutal and despised Batista regime. The three men deemed most vital in making Cuba what it is today.
And me............

No Love Lost
Not a lot to add really – other than it looks like it was drawn by the same “artist” who did the pictures of Angela and I in Buenos Aires.

The Malecon
The sea wall runs for five miles and was built by the Americans when they ruled. That’s Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro in the background - a fortress built in 1589 to guard the eastern entrance to Havana bay from marauding French pirates.

An Honourable Set of Values
This poster is from inside a Cuban junior school. Not a bad set of values to be brought up with.

Museo de la Revolucion
Housed in the former Presidential Palace, this gives an interesting if very one sided insight into Cuba and its recent past.

Viva la Revolucion!!
They’re Behind You...........Angela about to be pounced on by Fidel and Che.

Art Is Everywhere
Yet another city in The Americas where culture abounds.

Tanks and Yank Tanks
Could you get a photo like this anywhere outside Cuba?

The Myopic Barber of Habana
Glasses like bottle bottoms but I managed to escape without stitches.

Los Cannones
A testament to its troubled past, decommissioned cannons are used throughout the city. This bar became a lunch time favourite for us and was one of the very few that occasionally got the bill right!!