Gitmo

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Well, as tourist attractions go, it’s a bit of a weird one. But I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to see one of the most famous and controversial places in the World right now: the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay.

It took a lot of arranging. When I was at Sofía’s in Santiago, I had asked her if any of her previous guests had been and how I could go. To my surprise, no one had been but she made some phone calls and we found out that you have to get special permission and there are only two ways of getting a glimpse: the town of Caimanera, which is next to the base at one side of the bay, or Mirador Malones, a viewpoint overlooking the bay at the other side. Caimanera is now off limits, so the Mirador was the only way.

I had thought it would be more trouble than it was worth, but Pat was also keen to go. So she went to a travel agency in Santiago (while I was in Baracoa) to buy the permits. This was why I’d been expecting a phone call in Baracoa to know whether it was on or not. If I hadn’t grabbed the card off the jinetero who’d hussled me, I might have lost out!

Sofía had been a fantastic travel agent! She had also arranged a casa particular for me in the town of Guantánamo.

I was the only tourist to alight there from my Viazul bus. For some reason, “car” taxis are not allowed to operate from the station, so I had to get a motorcycle taxi. I held on the back and my pack went in the sidecar!

Priscila and her father Damián live in a nice house on the edge of the city centre of Guantánamo. Priscila was really friendly and drew me a sketch map of the town as there was no plan in my guide book and I felt completely disorientated.

Priscila gave me some informal dance lessons. I don’t have any natural rhythm but she reckoned I could learn! :-) It’s quite popular for tourists to do salsa lessons in Cuba. The local people all know how to dance and make it look so effortless. I considered taking some lessons, but it didn’t happen this trip as I wanted to concentrate on learning Spanish and avoiding the tourist infrastructure.

Music is one of the things Cuba is famous for and Cuban music has become quite fashionable in the West of late. It sounds fantastic and you hear music most places you go, blaring out of houses, cars. Quite a bit of the music you hear is not Cuban. I suppose it would be a bit much to expect everyone to live in a cliché, just for us tourists! Until recently, all foreign music was banned. The week I arrived in Havana, there was a ballet festival on: good cultural stuff meeting with the approval of the party.
So, on Armistice Sunday (as it happens), I met Pat at the bus station and we got a cycle taxi into the town centre in the hope of catching a car taxi from there. There were plenty of “taxis”, offering us lifts but as soon as we mentioned Mirador Malones, we realised that we could only get there in an official state taxi.

This posed a problem as there were none in the town centre (why - I do not know!). We had to get an illegal cab to the Guantánamo Hotel, quite some drive away, where we did manage to order a cab but it took ages to arrive. We were getting worried we’d miss our 1pm deadline after a morning of faffing about; but we made it with just 15 minutes to spare!

The Mirador is in a large military area. After entering the gate, we had to wait for a “guide” to take us up. Eventually, one arrived and we were just about to go up when some more tourists arrived.

Our cabs travelled in convoy along a straight road. Then, we saw an armed gate in the distance: the entrance to the base, with the Stars and Stripes flying. I’d have loved to have taken a picture! We turned left, through another gate and continued for 14km up an extremely steep and potholed road. Up and up we went. It was a proper hill!
At the top, there is a viewpoint, with powerful binoculars and a big café. There was loads of staff in the café, but no punters.

Anyway, we had not come here for the café!

The base is massive! It spans both sides of the bay and the boundary is “square”. This is clear when you see the perimeter fences and track.

Through the binoculars, I could see roads with 4x4s, some large “McMansions”, jetties and some very large flags. There are large runways on both sides of the bay. There were no big ships to be seen.

We were told that the detention centre was by the sea, just over the prow of the hill. I managed to pick out some buildings, far from the centre of the base. But it was not as if I was going to be able to spot any orange jump suits, was it?!

Much of the base is countryside, and very stunning too! It was an amazing view by any standards. Guantánamo Bay is very pretty. Damián had complained to me that all the best beaches in the bay are on the base and I do sympathise with him. This could be a large port of value to Cubans, but it’s not.

The history of the base is a strange and fascinating one! In short, after the US intervened in the Cuban War of Independence, in 1898, Cuba became a US colony. After “regaining” independence, Cuba leased the land to the USA. It’s a bit of an unfair deal as it’s sealed in perpetuity until both sides want to change it. The US sends a cheque for an amazingly low USD4085 each year as rent, which Fidel famously refuses to cash.

After the revolution, many Cubans fled across the border. It is now mined (on both sides by both sides) to stop this (in any case, any Cubans that do make it are sent back).

The famous detention centre was set up in April 2002 because of the ambiguous legal status. It’s not as if relations between Cuba and the USA would get any worse. Now, it’s the worst example of US hypocrisy in the world!

I’m surprised Cuba doesn’t make more of it. I had to go to a lot of hassle to come here, I’d have thought they’d make it easy and bus loads of tourists in to make a political point.

Anyway, we drank our complimentary cocktails and departed.

I asked my driver how many times he’d been up and he waved to say he couldn’t count. He goes several times a week, mainly taking tourists to the viewpoint, but occasionally Cuban workers into the base itself.

What? Cuban workers?? Into the Base??? Not much about this place makes sense and we heard a lot of contradictory information. Strangely, three Cubans work at the base. First of all, why any at all, but then, why only three? After doing some research when I came back, these are supposedly people who worked there since before the revolution (but that was 47 yeas ago!). Bizarre!

When Pat bought the tickets, she was told that after 15th November 2006, there will be no more tourists allowed at all to the Mirador (supposedly due to US pressure - really?). Yet, our taxi driver told us it would be closed for just two weeks for road repairs. Only two weeks to repair roads that bad?

We also heard rumours that the Sierra Maestra mountains (in SW Cuba where Fidel and his band launched the revolution) was now off limits because of his illness. Yet that was contradicted by other things we heard. It got to the point where we didn’t know what to believe.

Well, we returned to Guantánamo and had a meal at a palador. This is basically when someone opens up their home as a restaurant. We ate with the English couple who’d been in the other taxi. They’d day-tripped it from Santiago. It took a while for the food to arrive and it’s the only restaurant I’ve eaten in where they buy the food after ordering!

Then, Pat and I got a taxi to the bus station. It was the worst taxi situation I’ve ever been in. Thankfully, no harm came to us, but the driver was so aggressive. It took the shine off what had been a very interesting day.

I’m not sure if I like the town of Guantánamo or not. My taxi driver experience rather put me off. However, it has an authenticity about it and is definitely not touristy. It’s funny because Priscila says her ex-husband is in charge of tourism in the town and is looking at ways of promoting the place. The countryside is nice and the town centre has some attractive buildings in, but it’s very workaday and there’s not a lot to do here.

We made it back to Santiago and contended with the confusing situation to get back to Santiago. I made it just in time to make my connection to Trinidad. It was an 11.5 hour journey (after a two hour one).

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Photos

Main Panorama 1
The boundary can be seen very clearly as fences and perimeter roads.

Main Panorama 2
I'm sure there must have been a high-powered camera watching us at the viewpoint.

Close up 1
According to our guide, the detention centre is between the two high points. Some buildings could just be made out using binoculars.

Close up 2
Trying to get an image through the binoculars of the detention centre.

Gitmo Central
The centre of the base.

Islands in the bay 1
It would be a lovely place to go sailing...

Cuba Libre!
Drinking a Cuba Libre (that's Rum and Coke by the way) in Cuba's strangest tourist attraction.
Cheers!

Comments

[Mark]

Great stuff............