Cuban Departure

Breakfast then a quick group photo and then off to the airport.  I got put on a 'list' - because my rolled up painting in my backpack did not have a 3 CUC sticker on the back. I guess they needed to fill a quota - Paula had her painting in her luggage and she didn't have her name put on the list or pay the 3 CUC.... Not fair ....

Miami customs took a REALLY long time. Great trip - go soon before it changes too much

My Cuba Photo Link is located on the right
More Cuba Photos and blogs from our group, as well as some other Road Scholar and Cuba Information are located here

Cienfuegos & Santa Clara - Day 7

First stop on our last 'tour day' was the local Ration Store. It was a very tiny building with a large storeroom in the back. Every family gets a ration book which can be used anytime during the month to get their rations. Monthly rations of rice, beans, sugar and a few other staples are given for each person in a family. Ration books keep track of the distributions. Jose said that in recent years the quality and well as the number of items that are supplied (like soap) have gone down.  The shelves on the left were the items that they had available for rationing.

We went to the local farmers market - definitely not USDA approved - good thing their meats are well cooked (but the dogs roaming around were all very happy with the scraps being thrown out).

Bus ride to Santa Clara for a visit to an senior citizen center. It is generally the norm in Cuba for the young to take care of their elderly. They were in their 70's and 80's and seemed very active and aware. I wonder if the purple hair was by accident or on purpose.

Lunch at a hostel then a trip to the Che Memorial. I can see why he was popular - in his younger days without the scruffy beard he was a 'hunk' (Brad Pitt type of handsome). Very idealistic and still very popular with the Cuban people living here. Neat story about how they used a bulldozer to push a supply train off the tracks making it one of the last battles of the 1958 revolution. Batista left Cuba 12 hours after this battle.

After the memorial we hopped on the bus for our trip back to Cienfuegos for another choral performance and the opportunity to purchase the yo-yo spread that I coveted on our first day. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash with me to purchase it then and needed to exchange $ at the hotel. Remember there are currently NO credit cards or ATMs anywhere, which sort of controls 'impulse buying'.

Cuba Side Notes

It's Complicated 

Two types of money - one for citizens (pesos) and one for non-citizens (CUCs)

Can't Mail to the US

Inability to buy supplies from the US to repair American made products

Rules for American Visitors (can't do 'touristy things)

Rail system is 'narrow gauge' - dates back to sugar plantation times - can't support normal cargo

Equal pay for all government jobs (60% of the population) (20$ per month) no matter whether you are a MD Doctor or the Hotel Clerk 

Flexible rules ....... better known as corruption.

Can not own land - so if you buy an apartment -you own the apartment but not the infrastructure. So the plumbing, balconies, elevators, roof, outside areas and public areas are not maintained by anyone.  

Welcome Drinks

I would bet my next pension check on the fact that I drank more in Cuba in one week than I have in an entire year. I LIKE CUBAN RUM and I LIKE BUCANEROs. At almost every restaurant for lunch AND dinner, we were given a free welcome drink with rum and the choice of ordering a beer and/or wine for our second drink.  Another bonus was the fact that my body didn't seem to react with sneezing and itching as it does here when I 'partake' with USDA approved beverages. (no preservatives? or some additive?). And yes, I brought back a bottle of Cuban Rum.

Beggars

Yes, a few asked for money but the surprise were the number of women that asked for soap. We found out later that soap had been taken off the government ration card list of supplies. So if you get the chance to visit Cuba in the near future - make sure you carry a bunch of those small hotel packets of soap in your purse or backpack to give out. (Don't worry both our hotels had the normal soap, and shampoo offerings - but take a wash cloth) 

The Food

Lots of beans and rice but that staple course was very good especially when you added a little hot sauce to them. I had a pre-conceived notion that the food would be spicy. It wasn't. I followed my trustworthy China rule - I only ate food that had been cooked and did not eat any uncooked vegetables or fruit I could not peel.  Bottle water for everything - including brushing my teeth. Some of our group ate the nice looking salads that were offered but after a few meals some of them felt the consequences.  Their lobster was wonderful. When I have had lobster in the states it seemed too rich for my tastes but the Cuban version seemed to have a milder taste. Yummy!  I kept forgetting to take a photo of my food when it arrived at my seat - probably too many 'welcoming drinks'. 

Cienfuegos & Trinidad- Day 6

This morning we had a tour of the Benny More Art School with performances of clarinetists, dancers and a guitar player. They were very talented students in a school that needed some major renovation.
Bus ride to Trinidad where we had a delicious lunch at a terrace top restaurant. I had my fifth meal of lobster.

Then a nice walk through the Trinidad streets and a delightful visit to a B & B Hostel. The wife, Lia, was a female version of Robin Williams with the added talent of singing. A big thanks to Tom White for asking the question that encouraged Lia into telling her hilarious British lady tourist story.

Another cobblestone stroll to the famous 25 cent CUC square where we took the touristy photo infront of the tower and building found on the coin.

We had a little shopping time - I bought a small colorful painting that later caused me to be put on the 'trying to smuggle art' LIST as we left the country. I'll probably never be allowed back into Cuba.

Bus ride back to Cienfuegos, dinner at a paladar (private restaurant) with the expected .... a welcome drink, rice and beans and the CD selling singers and musicians.

Day 5 in Transit

Guess who we saw last night...... Conan O'Brian.... and yes he is that tall. We heard that he will air some shows from here. 

We checked out of the nicer hotel in Havana and little did we know the LAST internet of the trip. It was one of those things that you think you can't live without - but you can - but it was a little painful. Every once in while I looked longingly at the 3 computers sitting in Cienfuegos Jagua Hotel. They actually HAD internet but you had to have a "card" and they ran out of "cards" so ......no internet.    

Anyway back to the Nacional Hotel.... I mailed 3 postcards from the hotel using their fancy antique "drop letters from any floor" post box. Supposedly they go to Mexico first to get to the US. We will see if Zac, Katrina and the girls get theirs.

3 hour bus ride to Cienfuegos with a couple of side trips. We drove past lots of farms, both big (government owned) and small (privately owned). It was the dry season so we did not see a lot of heavy farming equipment. Crops we did see were bananas, papayas. sugar cane, and beans. Animals - cows, horses and goats.  Halfway we made a bathroom stop in the middle of a cow patty field. We figured that the private enterprise "Toilet Tissue Selling Lady" probably made way more than a college professor. Remember all government workers get the same salary, doctors, teachers, office workers, and anyone else that worked for a government owned business. a big 20 dollars a month. Yes, the rest stop was owned by the government but the extra service the TT lady was supplying was allowing her to quietly supplement her government income.

 A lot of cookie cutter small cement block/flat roof houses in the country - I would guess less than 700 sq ft. Fences were usually the 'living" kind - like cactus or prickly bushes. In this section of Cuba you see very few cars, mostly horse drawn carts.

During this ride Jose Luis showed us a subtitled documentary on the old cars of Havana. To be able to read the subtitles, you sort of had to grab the front seat and 'post' during the bumpy parts. We decided that for a large majority of the owners the cars are a part of their soul and culture and that they would never sell them.  When asked the question "If they had to give up their car or their wife, which one would they choose" - A few of the guys hesitated a little too long before answering. Even though they look like the real thing - when you get close you can see all the repairs, bondo, and bad paint jobs,  The movie also confessed that a lot of them had exchanged their engines for Chinese diesel engines because they were better gas mileage. Gasoline is still running about 5 dollars a gallon (US prices at this date are about $2.25/gal. I didn't see ONE woman driver during the entire week we were there - in ANY car. What's with that?

We stopped for lunch at Enrique's Hostel located on the beach very close to the Bay of Pigs area. We had a lecture from the local park ranger and then we went for a little "tropical fish research" in the clear blue water. (Remember Americans are only allowed to come to Cuba on a cultural exchange, education, research or medical reasons. We are not supposed to do tourist things like sit on the beach or swim in the water.)

The water was so clear - The Photo below is of a starfish 12 inches below the surface -  

Lunch was nice with the requisite serving of beans and rice, followed with a choice of lobster, shrimp, snapper, octopus or pork. Interesting fact: We saw the pork being delivered in a horse drawn cart (obviously no refrigeration aboard)

Bay of Pigs Museum added a lot of information to an event that was generally skimmed over in American history books. Big surprise to me is that it was actually PLANNED by Eisenhower not Kennedy. It was funded mostly by the exiled Cubans living in Miami and trained by the CIA. It took place only 3 months after Kennedy took office so he got blamed for it.

We arrive in Cienfuegos later that afternoon with a quick walk around the empty square - just our tour bus, 1 bike taxi and 1 horse drawn cart. In the local bar we had a pushy but humorous guy wringing coins out of us for the privilege to use the nastiest bathrooms we have seen so far.

Youth Dance group performance then off to our Ex Hilton Hotel. It was finished in January 1960. It was nationalized (taken away) in April '60 so that Hilton only made 3 months worth of profits before they lost it. It appeared that it hadn't changed too much since 1960. BUT the location and the view were great. Our room had a great water view from both balconies. Mattresses and pillows needed replacing and the chair looked like it had some animal living in it. Housekeeping in this hotel seemed to be lacking a little - Kate and Barb were pretty sure they had a dirty towel on the floor refolded and put back on the shelve as if it was clean. The floor in the shower was extremely slippery. But in both hotels the housekeeping staff were very fluent in their good-bye notes that they left - grubbing for tips. Both places we left a few CUCs - because living on 20$ a month has got to be hard even with Ration Books.

Havana Cuba Day 4

Day 4 lecture was about Architecture with a little bit of history thrown in. Spanish occupied Cuba in the 1500's because Havana harbor was such a well protected harbor. By 1592 there were almost 5000 sailors and only 500 inhabitants. Underwater canals were built to bring fresh river water to the harbor for the ships. 

 To protect the harbor the Spanish built a fort and put a quarter mile long chain across the mouth of the harbor. In 1762 the British avoided the chain and fort by marching 28000 soldiers across land from the east.

There was lots of sugar trading with the American colonies. Most of the cobblestones in Havana city's roads were from Massachusetts used as ballast. Eventually the English traded Havana back to the Spanish for Florida and built a fort on the east side to prevent a similar so invasion.

Fun facts :

1. Havana is a little piece of Europe because of kids being educated in Europe not Spain

2. The old Stained glass in a lot of the buildings were built with WOOD not lead between the glass pieces

3. Carrara marble cemetery 60 city blocks

4. The Capital building was copied after the US capital but is 6 feet taller

5. 1950's big mafia gambling with lots of building 

6. The day after the revolution the government burned all the gambling machines 

After the lecture we went to see the capital and watched the longest line wait for buses to take the people to the book fair at the fort. We saw many buildings being restored or in major need of restoration. The professor said that 3 old buildings collapse every day. Scary thing is that people still live in some of them. 

Craft Market was our next stop for a little shopping and bartering. 

Lunch at a nice restaurant with a tour at the modern art museum. Dinner at a government owned restaurant and an antique car ride home. 

Havana Cuba Day 3

Retired female professor who also worked for the ministry of culture was our speaker today on "Relgion in Cuba". Even though the statistics say that 72% of Cubans are Catholic, she feels that is not really true. In Cuba, society is divided by color and class not by religious origin. Cubans are not programmed for rigid theological or political structures. They have a mixed and pragmatic approach to life, religion and politics.

There are 2 main STRUCTURED organizations in Cuba - communism and the Catholic Church - so if there is some sort of upheaval - those two are able to start back up quickly and get their foot in the door. But Cathaloism and Communism are too rigid for Cubans. Also history shows that the Catholic Church was usually on the wrong side of the Cubans. IE - the church blessed the Spanish soldiers and not the Cubans, they supported the government not the revolution (Fidel and Che) and many more similar examples. 55% of the Catholic clergy are foreigners. 

Basically it reminds me of religion in China. In that the Chinese participated in religious activities when there was a festival, for good luck, to network to or for socialization. They identified themselves as Chinese first with little importance or energy given to one specific religion.  The Cubans have that same nationalistic feel about them using different religious practices when it was convenient or favorable.

Next on our scholarly endeavors was a road trip to Hemingway's home. Hemingway's house was located 20 kilometers south of Havana. From the back of his home you could see the skyline of Havana. There were bookcases in every room (even the bathroom) totaling over 9000 books. 

His walls contained many animal heads and bull fighting posters. 

He wrote The Old Man and the Sea here. Fun fact: He liked to compose and type standing up and pacing so his typewriter was on the top of a shelf in his office/siesta room.

 His fishing boat was also displayed on the property next to the empty pool and the graves of his four favorite dogs. 

Lunch at Italian restaurant in the middle of a very unrestored neighborhood (slummy). Food was great! 

We past by this beautifully restored Lincoln -- where is Mathew McConaughey when you need him.

Fort was our next adventure which included a cigar, coffee, and rum store as well as a book fair inside the fort.

Havana Cuba Day 2

Free hotel breakfast followed by a lecture about Cuba / America relationships.

The lecturer was an elderly ex Cuban diplomat with a government approved opinion. He definitely wanted Cuba removed from terrorist list, which increases sanctions even more than our US embargo. 

After listening to the lecturer it dawned on me that Cuba sees the US as a pushy Paula. The thing is ... Since being friends with Paula for 30 plus years - most of her pushyness directed at me has made me move in life directions that ended up being a good thing, just don't ask her opinion on what you are wearing... She will say you look fine no matter what you put on.... Ask her mom. She will tell you the truth and then say " I think you need a little more lipstick"

Our lecturer thinks that the time is ripe for change - Raul Castro ends his term in 2018 - Obama ends his term in 2016. He is predicting another anti-Cuba Bush or Rubio plus he thinks that Cuba 's  future possible presidents, being so young, will be more hostile to the USA because of having lived only during the embargo. Is he trying to scare us into making the changes quicker and to give up more of the US requirements? 

Side Note: it seems that maybe Cuba has a little bit of a Napoleon complex

After the lecture we went to the four ancient squares of old Havana. 

Lots of cobblestone roads except in front of the governors house where the road was paved with the much quieter and way more expensive iron wood bricks. Go figure... Tour of a local printing gallery/studio which had lots of old printing presses and limestone printing stones. 

The ten of us had lunch at a local restaurant. Definitely not a fast food restaurant but the lobster skewers and sandwiches were very good. We did have to hurry to to be on time for the rest of the old Havana tour. Lots of restored buildings and a chocolate candy surprise.

Next stop was at a Cuba libra with a talk with an expat. The place provided books, and free American made condoms. The Cuban government provides free condoms but they are made by the Chinese. Our tour guide said since the government condoms were Chinese sized - that they liked American made Trojans better.

Got back to the hotel and decided to try the internet......MUCH better than we expected. For dinner the ten of us rode in 2 old convertibles. Hilarious! Good Italian dinner with very powerful drinks. I had 2 Cuba libras - Paula wouldn't let me start the second one till my meal had arrived ( very slow service ). 

After getting back to the hotel we worked on our blogs and then charged our devices the only way we could with the strange outlets.

Havana Cuba Day 1

Really really early wake up call for our flight to Cuba. Airport was filled with lots of blue plastic cocoons (strangely wrapped objects such as bikes, stoves, TVs, wheelchairs, etc.) flight was full and short. We got through customs and immigration with no problems. We met our guide Jose Luis and climbed on to a nice new shiny Chinese tour bus.

Being in Havana Cuba is sort of like watching an antique car show - until you get a closer look. Lots of sloppy bondo and missing pieces. I like the old Belairs the best even though I grew up  in a Oldsmobile family (neat family back story on that but too long to type on the iPad).

We are so fortunate to have Issac with us. Not only can he translate for us in an emergency. He gave us an impromptu lecture at the revolutionary park (a huge parking lot with a tower and some famously known building art. 

Lunch at a private restaurant and our first introduction to Cuban food. Good choice. Plates, silver wear and glasses were beautifully mismatched and antique ('40 & '50's) pieces. Rice and beans, lamb dopa vieja, ( translated to "old clothes" ). Everything was yummy. 

Next on our list of 'cultural/educational' experiences was attending an "independent" dance performance that is not supported by the government. I am not much of a dance expert so I can only describe it as ....9 dancers with hunky bodies that moved with a combination of dance poses, yoga stretches, and tumbling moves built on a ménage-a-tois theme with strange jazz type music.

We arrived at our hotel which reminded me so much of the old Sea Island Cloister. Photos to follow.

People over 50 should not be allowed to take selfies

Pre Cuba

After a long wait for the hotel shuttle we finally arrived at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Hotel. Check in was fast and had an added bonus of a yummy warm chocolate chip cookie. We had a nice lunch at a local sandwich shop and now the 10 of us are waiting for this afternoons introduction meeting. Sign by check in told us to bring our passports, name tags, a pen and our READING GLASSES. Guess that sort lets us know that we are on a Senior Citizen tour..... Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel). 

Side note- when we went to the elevators to go to our room - we pushed the button which opened to find  Mimi and Tom standing inside -- they hadn't figured out how to use the room card to get the elevator to go to their floor - snicker

Issac was "Cookie's " FIRST,