Hello Havana, Hello Communist Fervour !

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Right-didly-oh everybody,

Let’s talk about my week in Havana. There’s so much that I wanna write however, I fear that if I try to just blog it all down freely then I’ll ramble for ever and a day (as I’m prone to do). So, in an effort to limit this, I’ll break my blog up into sub-headings and see how I fair. Bombs away !

SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Havana is, without a doubt, the most fascinating city I have ever been too. This is perhaps the last place on earth where you can still observe the ostentatious (and indeed, ongoing) effects of the Cold War. The ideology that the United States is the world’s ‘great Satan’ is alive and well - check my pictures out from the ‘Museo de La Revolucion’ to emphasise this point. Contradicting this idiom, however, is that everywhere you look in Havana, you see US culture - dress, TV, baseball, etc. Citizens are informed through every medium: TV, radio, posters, placards and wall murals to march ‘Always Towards Victory’ (a favourite saying of Ché’s) and to ‘Continue to Revolution of 1958’. Yet, as with all good dictatorships, how they are fed this tripe is strictly controlled and how they are meant to achieve the outcome is not clearly defined. Given that the average Cuban lives on $US25-30 per month, I don’t think you’ll be seeing Cuba taking a seat at the G8 (or G20) at any time in the near future.

Not that it requires much justification, however, when one views the rampant poverty evident in Havana, only an idiot would believe that a communist / socialist style of government such as that imposed by Castro could be truly beneficial. Of course, his regime has endured for close on 50 years however so many of the ‘houses’ (and I use that term loosely) that I observed wouldn’t be fit for human occupation in the Western world, the fact that the average citizens still queues for food rations (I witness this on a number of occasions), HIV is as big a problem as it is in Africa and the roads crumble underfoot with effluent, stray animals and beggars mingling on the sidewalks.

This social picture would perhaps paint a very poor impression of Havana however, looking past these negatives is a city with a series of architectural marvels the likes of which would rival areas of Europe - the Capitolio (former House of Parliament) has to be seen to be believed; the San Cristobel Cathédral is a marvel and the Spanish fortresses - both in Havana and on Casablanca - are absolute gems. It is little wonder therefore that UNESCO has listed Havana’s old town (‘Vieja’) as a world heritage site.

Amazingly, Havana is an incredibly safe city. During my week long sojourn, I hoofed between 60 and 80kms at all times of the day through some very dimly lit backstreets and at no time did I feel unsafe. Poverty aside, the one thing that will perhaps take a few days to get over (for the ‘first timer’ such as myself) is the inordinate number of touts who besiege foreigners in the hopes of scoring quick cash. To be blunt, this experience is the worst of any city to which I have traveled. The number of times I heard ‘Where you from, man’, ‘You here on holidays’, ‘Wanna buy cheap Cuban cigars’, ‘You look lost man, where you headed’, etc. near drove me batty ! You do, however, quickly get used to it - I enjoyed telling people that I was from Iceland or breaking out in the odd French phrase or two … ha ha ha.

BACKGROUND ON BEING A TOURIST

So let’s be blunt - I love just about everything regarding Havana. It’s ideological conflicts, its architecture, its uniqueness, its history and its surrounding environs - namely Casablanca. There provided me with a great insight (as alluded to above) regarding what life must have (and perhaps continues to be like) in the Cold War, as the government certainly seems to be living as though the US is a nation that they regard as a genuine combatant nation. The hardest thing to come to terms with in Cuba is how much it costs - it ain’t cheap ! The Cubans have two types of currency - one for foreigners and one for locals. The local currency (referred to as ‘moneda nacionale’) is the peso whilst the ‘foreigners’ currency is the peso convertible (CUC). 25 of the local will buy 1 of the foreign.

As the Cubans don’t ‘float’ the CUC on the stock market, they can offer whatever exchange rates they see fit, charging a 10% commission to exchange Canadian dollars, Euros or UK pounds and a whopping 20% to exchange US dollars (hmmm … they really don’t like the US). I was spending $A60 per day on a tight ass budget with most of it going on accommodation. I spent my week with a local family which I highly recommend to get an unbridled insight into daily Cuban life. Basically, my family was a mother, grandmother and young daughter. The daughter would go to school and the mother / grandmother would clean all day. I think that the mother / father were divorced as the father would sporadically appear, talk to the daughter for a while and then leave.

Each morning, I’d have my breakfast made for me and believe me, it was interesting ‘fare’: a fried egg, a shriveled sausage, chopped tomato, cucumber and shredded red cabbage in salad dressing. As sides, I had a bun and butter, freshly squeezed orange juice and a jug of tea. I always ate everything as I wished to live up to the adage that was played each evening on the TV (after the ‘great revolutionaries born on this day’ segment’): the compare would remind everyone to “not waste anything”. This harks back to a time in the early 1990s known as the ‘periode especiale’, which I’ll leave to you to Google if you want to know more.

Given that costs were high and I was on a tight budget, I basically hoofed it everywhere. Fortunately, as ‘time was on my side’ I spent my first few days wandering the streets to acclimatize myself and pick out the sites that I wanted to pay money to see. Knowing the value of the tourist dollar (given the trade embargos imposed by the US) the Cubans charge for you to enter near on everything and if, within a particular site, there is a great vantage point such as a church tour or a mirador, then you bet that you’re paying for that too. On the odd occasion where you don’t have to pay to enter somewhere, then you will have a ‘security guard’ trail you throughout the building chiming in with (unwanted) information and then, at the end, they’ll expect a tip or two or three ! You really need to be on the ball !

SO WHAT DID I GET UP TO ?

From wandering along the Straits of Florida (the Malecon) to going through the Necropolis de Colon (the most amazing cemetery that I’ve ever seen), I covered a fair bit of ground. The Havana architecture could be best described as being grandiose with (as you would expect) a fair bit of Spanish influence. I insured that I took in the best of the Spanish forts, attended Sunday mass at their grand Cathedral - San Cristobal - and went through their Museo de la Revolucion (THE building that completely documents Cuba’s history from the time of the Indians to the present day). Going through the Museo, I continually thought of the phrase that states “History is always written by the victors” given that no where in here does it show the brutality meted against those who supported Batista; does it discuss the depressing times / oppressive nature of the ‘period especiale’ nor does it highlight how the country almost plunged into economic oblivion during the initial years of Castro. Instead the ‘greatness’ of communist achievement is very broadly referred to … however, I seriously digress.

As I like to do in all places, I took a bit of a ‘culinary journey’ through the best and worst of Cuban fare. By far the best are the ‘paladars’. These are restaurants that are private owned (and consequently, heavily taxed by the state). They essentially exist as extensions of people’s private kitchens however, don’t let this fool you - the food is top quality and modestly priced. The most interesting thing (as I found out) is that you can so easily walk right by them - they are generally do dingy back streets and are either obscured or unmarked (save for their street number). Once inside you are however, transported to another world. The décor is like a western restaurant and the food, whilst traditional Cuban criole fare, is brilliant ! So if anyone ventures to Havana, be sure to check out El Gingo in Vedado and La Paella in Miramar (I walked a 20km round trip just to get to this one … hey, I’m a man who loves his food !).

Cubans love ice-cream just about as much as they love baseball and pretty much everywhere you turn, not only will you see one sucking down a cone but you’ll also find a ‘Helados’ stand. My fav (by far) is a little treat called a ‘bocadito de helados’ - a handmade ice-cream sandwich … for $A1 you can’t go wrong … I would have had at least a dozen of the suckers in my week there. The other marvel of Cuban ice-cream is a place called La Coppelia (in Vedado). This is THE Cuban ice-cream house and as my family told me, most Cuban homes will have at least one barrel of La Coppelia in their freezer. The line-up for La Coppelia is a site to behold - four long lines merging into one where locals will queue for hours just to get their hands on a five scoop bowl with biscuits. So I managed (through ignorance) to jump this queue and head upstairs within 20 mins. For 2CUC I had some of the best ice-cream that I’ve ever eaten … amazing ! Again, here is another thing that you HAVE TO DO when you visit Havana.

Now the other end of the food spectrum revolves around the local peso. Whilst foreigners aren’t meant to get their hands on their, I managed to through dealing with street food stalls (where they only provide change only via moneda nacionale). Consequently, for the equivalent of 1CUC I enjoyed a ‘four course’ meal. This consisted of a 15cm ‘peso pizza’ (a pizza based with a glob of tomato sauce and cheese), a ‘hamburger’ (a ‘meat like substance’ in a pattie in a bun), a cajita serving of ‘fried rice’ (there was nothing ‘special’ about it as it contained a dash of soy sauce, a vegetable that I believed to be a carrot and a piece of pork fat) and for dessert I had a strawberry ice-cream cone. Whilst I was filled at the end of this, I wouldn’t like to have to live on such fare on a daily basis (much like I wouldn’t want to try out the ‘Super Size Me’ diet).

Fortunately, beer was relatively well priced at CUC1.2-1.65. The main local brew is called Bucanero (not a bad lager) however, I also had Mayabe, Hatatuey and a home brew from a local ale house that I came across in Plaza Vieja (highly recommended). Of course it wouldn’t be a Cuban experience without me downing a couple mojitos and some Cuban rum (on the street of course) ! Yum, yum, yum !

Having seen all this and lived with locals, it was interesting to then venture into the 5 star hotels (I did the four main ones) and see how the more well-off tourists were faring. The highlight for me was finding a baby grand piano at the top of Hotel Seville and kicking back to make some muzak for a few serene hours (check out the Face-crack vid). I went back yesterday (for one final dig) and actually managed to draw a crowd - of both locals and tourists … was tempted to ask for a tip at the end ! Ha ha ha

Speaking of music, the ‘trovadores’ - traditional roving Cuban musicians are amazing … and just about everywhere. The trick to enjoying the music is to occupy yourself with something else - such as writing in one’s journal - as that way, when they come by you don’t have to tip (of course, on some occasions I did but if I did so on every one, I’d be flat broke) ! Every street performer is amazing in that they can not only hold a note but can also really play their instruments - Australian buskers could learn a thing or two or three …

SUMMARY

Well guys, I do think I’ve rambled a bit however, believe it or not, there remains an absolute heap that I’d like to write ! The bottom line is that not only do I NEED to go back to experience more of Cuba, but if you’re thinking about it, get your ass over there for a completely different travel experience ! Be sure to stay with a local family in a ‘casa particulaire’ and you won’t regret it (by any means) … just take lots of spending $$.

My next stop ? La Paz, Bowel-livia and the start of South America 2008.

Until then my friends !

Love

Babs / Derek

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