Cuba Travelogue

First things first- Cuba is not what you have been lead to believe it is. It is not an enemy nation full of beaten-down, savagely oppressed poor people. There is, as with Mexico, a certain narrative that is forwarded by the US Government and believed by Americans about the country that simply is not true. Although it is very true that there is crumbling architecture (which is incredible) everywhere and many people are at least to American eyes "poor", this is a country with a great deal of pride in its independence from Imperialist nations, that offers its people education, healthcare, food security, and an almost crime-free existence. It is true that you can't go into a supermarket and choose from 25 different brands of shampoo. It is true that certain luxuries such as free Wi-Fi and sometimes even things like toilet paper are sometimes non-existent. It's true that there isn't a free press and you don't really want to be viewed as a dissident. And it is true that the people don't get to vote for their leaders, but the truth of it is that unless you are a corporate CEO or a billionaire you really don't get to do that in the US either.

I found myself really questioning what the American notion of "wealth" means as I looked around and saw healthy people that were happy, kids having the time of their lives actually playing kick the can, families gathered around actually talking and spending time together, and a willingness to use the things you have for as long as you can, fixing them and keeping things running, rather than constantly running on the wasteful consumer treadmill corporate capitalism wants to keep you on. I found myself asking if the "freedom" we enjoy at the leisure of what is essentially a modern form of Feudalism where we work on the corporate manor where your ability to carry debt determines your relative value is worth it. There is a middle class, especially outside of Havana. There are monied people, and there is private business. Once out of the city, it was almost indistinguishable from Miami. We stayed at a house on the Hemingway Marina that would probably be a VP's summer house in the US, and it was completely comparable to a house in America.

We stayed in one area that in the US would be regarded as a warzone, rubble everywhere, people that make maybe $20 a month hanging out. And we were completely safe with absolutely zero threat. It was so safe I could leave our suitcases out on the side of the road and go back into our casa for 20 minutes and they were still there. We saw zero homeless. There were some folks- kids- asking for money but it wasn't really unwelcome, I actually enjoyed the kids coming up on their battered skateboards and asking for some pesos or a bottle of water. Women and children are highly valued and protected- far more so than in the US. I mean, these kids can go to school and not have active shooter drills. From what I saw, France is far more militarized and restrictive than Cuba. So is the US.

It's true that what we saw is only a small percentage of the "real Cuba", and there are issues surrounding human rights violations (like the US doesn't commit them these days), there is no recycling or green initiative, pollution is really bad (everything is diesel), and certain government-controlled aspects of enterprise, infrastructure and commerce are inefficient and limited. Government corruption is rampant, but for pete's sake, look at our rotten government. But people are countries, not governments. And I left with an appreciation of how the Cuban people live- resourcefully, respectfully, almost completely without exploitation, without theft, with decency, and with pride. If there is ever an apocalypse- these people and this country will be totally fine.

Now, politics out of the way...some notes:

- Getting there- To be blunt, the US State Department lies about how hard it is to travel to Cuba. Supposedly it's illegal following some new restrictions that Trump and his flunky Marco Rubio put into place in 2017 as part of their racist and racist-appeasing "undo Obama" campaign. But we had more trouble going to France. Not a single question about it, why we were going, what we were taking. No bags searched, no forms filled out, no applications required. We had to buy a $50 visa directly from Delta, but that was the only real restriction. The tourist currency does impose a 10% tax on exchanging for USD, but that is a Cuban thing to discourage Cubans from taking USD. In their airport (which is kind of incredible- decaying, rotten planes abandoned in some areas), it took us approximately 20 minutes to deplane (old timey way, steps on the side of the plane) and get into a taxi.

The ride into Havana was amazing- a cross of modern highways and dirt roads. Images of Che and Fidel everywhere. Old Soviet beaters and horse-drawn carts sharing the road with the ubiquitous midcentury American cars (more on that on down). Everyone driving CAREFULLY and SENSIBLY. Which was kind of weird!

- Our first Casa- We stayed sort of between Vedado, which is where Meyer Lansky and the US Mafia investors were sort of buying up all of the land in the 1940s-1950s (see: Godfather II), and Habana Vieja, which is the "old town" that has been there for 500 years. I didn't really take enough pictures of it because I was in a daze, but it would kind of blow your mind. Entire buildings collapsed into rubble for who knows how long. Cats and dogs everywhere (which I loved). You'd walk by open doors and see folks selling all kinds of random stuff out of their homes or just hanging out with their families. At first I was like "whoa, this is bad", but then I realized that it was all totally normal, and as I said, safe. The house was a Casa Particular, a privately owned rental (aka AirBnB). It was...kind of unreal. It was a building maybe 300 years old with three apartments and a huge common area. The furniture in this place would probably be worth a million dollars. We had a house servant, which kind of freaked me out because I do not like to see any folks in servitude but it was the way it was. His name was Joel, and he wore like this weird outfit. He made us great breakfasts every day we were there. The place was across the street from La Guarida, which is regarded as one of the top restaraunts in Havana. It's state-owned, not private. It was good, but not great. The building it is in is absolutely incredible though. Everywhere you go there are old Spanish and Midcentury buildings falling to pieces, propped up by wooden planks, and sometimes with trees growing inside them. And still used as homes.

- Communication breakdown- It hit my wife more than me, but the kids didn't miss a beat and actually complained that mom was so worried about the internet. Once we realized that our phones were pretty much bricks, it did get a little scary as we had no connection home or with any kind of web research. But we soon realized that the reason that there were people gathered around certain areas with their phones was that they were in areas where they could get on either government or hotel hotspots. You have to buy these cards that give you an hour of access for $1 to get on. It was a major hassle at first, but then I realized that I didn't care. So I didn't get to check Twitter every 20 minutes. *shrug* One time we needed to buy a card so we went into this apparently disused building and bought some from this family that sold them...at a $1 markup. There was also a cellphone shop- it was two guys in a stairwell with a laptop. At our second Casa we had TV...on the 4-5 channels were Forrest Gump, Saving Mr. Banks, the 2019 Super Bowl, the 1949 Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly musical "On the Town", and a couple of talk shows that I think were state news programs.

- The food- Cuban food is very odd. It's actually quite bland. We did have a couple of traditional Cuban meals (vegan), and they were good- moros y cristianos, plantains, etc. Like the rest of the world, they love pizza and spaghetti, but they are kind of cartoon versions of those dishes. There's only one kind of cheese as there is very little importation, and it's odd because it tastes and feels just like vegan cheese. We did find one newer, modern pizza joint that was a good as anything in the US. One fun highlight was going to Coppelia, which is a gigantic ice cream parlor Castro built in the 60s. Cubans line up around the block to get in, tourists go straight in but don't get to go into the main building and have to order from this little stand on the grounds. It was really good- sort of a honey vanilla thing. The best meal we had though was made by this family in a little fishing village we went to on our excursion day- it was a little tupperware container of beans, rice, potatoes, and vegetables and it was just amazing. We did have some very nice bakery stuff, I am BIG on pastries and what we had was quite good.

- The drink- Good god I drank a lot of rum. They have a national brand, Havana Club, and it's pretty good if not exceptional. I believe I drank an average of four mojitos a day. We didn't make it to the main mojito bar, but showcasing some A-grade parenting we did take the kids to La Floridita, the bar where the daiquiri was invented. I freaking loved this place. Hemingway did too, they have a statue of him at the bar. The bartenders all wear red and white Regency-style suits. The daiquiris were absolutely the best I've ever had. As for soft drinks...heh. Everything - Coca Cola, Fanta, the national Ciego Montero brands - had Sucralose (Splenda), which we don't drink because it's toxic poison. But they apparently have a law that dictates that sodas be low sugar for public health purposes.

- American brands- They wear pretty much the same clothes we do. Actually, they dress nicer- no slouchy, slobby apparel. There were several Puma and Adidas stores. They have Hennessy and Moet et Chandon. Coca-Cola. Pringles. What they don't have is American toiletries. At the upscale hotels, you can buy US brands of soap, shampoo, etc. at a 300% markup. They keep them in glass cases and treat them like luxury brands.

- The cars- Yep, 1950s cars everywhere, including taxis. It's pretty neat, they drive these things until the wheels fall off then they find new wheels or make new wheels. One 1953 Chevrolet we got in had this rigged up AC unit from another car bolted onto the roof, its cables and hoses going all the way to the hood. Another was a 1950 Ford that had a dashboard from a 1990s Buick. I talked to this guy fixing his car and he had somehow put a freaking Volvo engine in his, it was amazing. Some of the cars are incredibly well preserved, others have like 25 layers of house paint on them.

- Habana Vieja- The "old town" is a UNESCO protected world heritage site, and they have been trying to repair it since the 1970s but Hurricane Ike in the 1990s sort of undid a lot of the work. But it is a beautiful area, kind of more touristy, but there is still lots of authentic local character despite huge, $700 a night hotels close by. The Catedral de San Cristobal is here, as well as all of the original buildings from 500 years ago. Deep in Habana Vieja we saw what I think was the highlight of the trip- looking through a window, we watched a Santeria ritual dance performance and it was just the most incredible thing. Machetes were involved, lots of traditional African call-and-response.There is a lot of Santeria there. We also befriended tons of cats and dogs, because they are everywhere. The funniest thing that happened there was that we saw this guy walking down the road and all of the dogs HATED him. Normally calm, normally watching people all day, these dogs just LIT UP when he got around them. We had some leftover pizza to feed the animals, so I threw some to this dog. This guy goes over there and STEALS THE PIZZA from the dog and eats it. And I'm just like "OK, that explains everything". We also visited this open studio where all of these artists were doing experimental printmaking using old fashioned equipment- these artists were doing some -incredible- work that few outside of Cuba will likely ever see.

- Pool theft- We met this Australian that works for one of the big expensive hotels and he told us to go to the pool there. So the kids got to swim in a rooftop pool at a $700 a night hotel. Americans everywhere acting like Americans. Asking if the water was filtered, getting pissy when the food was slow. It was a little gross. But I met this cool lady from New Jersey and we complained about the "Italian" food together so that was fun. We got a little nervous about using the guest-only pool so we fled.

- Canasi Nature Preserve- Tuesday we met up with this environmental engineer guy Jose and his friends (all scientists) that offer an AirBnB experience to go into a wild area about an hour out of Havana. It's really rural. We got into this 1960s Dodge Pioneer wagon and drove through the countryside. We got to Mayabeque, this fishing village (where that amazing lunch came from) that has been there for hundreds of years. We had to cross a shallow river on foot, with all of our stuff and kids on a makeshift raft. Then there was some climbing, and a walk through the jungle. You come out on these cliffs overlooking the ocean. Leigh Ann, River, and Scarlett all jumped off a 30 foot cliff into the ocean, I didn't want to do it because I am _not_ a water person. But I climbed down, got tossed in the rough water, and attacked by a crab. So I didn't do the snorkeling part, but they loved it. The guys we were with were awesome; they go into this wild area and clean it up and work - on their own without pay - to preserve it. On the way back I drank a Pina Colada out of a pineapple we picked up at a roadside stand.

- Hemingway Marina- Wednesday we left Joel and the Casa to go this house on the Marina. The family that owned it were just incredibly nice- apparently very well-off. They had a dock the kids could play on, there were monkeys next door, and it was right next to this neat little marina restaurant where I had the best Pina Colada I've ever had. I actually got pretty lunch-drunk there. After lunch, we walked down to the actual Marina, which was the weirdest thing ever. There's a HUGE state-run luxury hotel but it was completely empty except for a bartender and a clerk. But it was open for business. There were all of these little shops and a bowling alley, a Chinese restaurant...but there was NO ONE there except for the people working. I suppose the government keeps it all open through slow seasons or whatever, I don't know. It was eerie and strange. Totally apocalyptic.

- Weirdly out of place music heard- "Daddy Cool", Boney M; "I To Know What Love Is", Foreigner; "Sussudio", Phil Collins; "Hypnotize", Notorious B.I.G.; about 20 different salsa renditions of Beatles songs (they LOVE the Beatles- there is a John Lennon park and a Yellow Submarine bar next to it).

We left Thursday, and once again it was far smoother and far less restrictive and regulated than the US. Coming back to America, it felt immediately more oppressive. Granted, we were just there for a few days visiting, not living, and mostly in tourist-friendly areas.

It definitely takes a day to get into the way life goes there, but once you integrate it is a wonderful place.

Sounds fun! I’d love to go some day.

Saving my vacation to Cuba for the day I’ll actually need health care.

That’s an interesting thing. As part of your plane ticket, there is a Cuba insurance fee that basically pays for anything that may happen. One of our hosts told us they had a guest that had to get an X-ray and a cast and it can’t out to a grand total of $70.
Imagine that in the US.

The healthcare is excellent- world class- except for the fact that supplies and medicines are in short supply almost completely due to the US embargo. They have to get everything from China and Russia, so you might get free chemo...if they have the drugs and DME to administer it to you.

Sounds like a great trip! But what we really need to know is... how many people did you see playing board games?

Dominoes everywhere. Everyone plays dominoes. Other than that- games are completely non-existent.

I did go into one toy store that had all dollar store class junk and about 200 copies of Pictionary Jr.

Michael Barnes wrote: Dominoes everywhere. Everyone plays dominoes. Other than that- games are completely non-existent.

I did go into one toy store that had all dollar store class junk and about 200 copies of Pictionary Jr.

Yeah, but what kickstarter extras are we talking about here?

Oh man that sounds incredible.

Yeah, I keep thinking “wow, I was in Cuba a few days ago”.

Hey Barnes, thanks for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts. It was a good read.

The thoughts shared seem identical to the experiences I've heard/watched from Henry Rollins and Conan O'Brian. Rollins' take on Cuba being especially exuberant, to illustrate exactly how good the experience was.

I agree with Rollins that everyone should travel. Especially insular Americans, who are the people most in need of their minds being broadened, and least likely to do undertake the effort.

I can understand being protective of your children. I don't blame them for that.

But if my kid was that hellbent on going, the best thing you could do is prepare them the best you can.

Otherwise, you're actively trying to stop another human being (regardless if they are your kid or not) from growing. That is quite unforgivable and such control measures are abusive in my mind.

Why would anyone stop you from going to Denmark of all places? I now we have trouble with pretty racist right wing politics when it comes to refugees and such, but other than that it's one of the safest and least troubled countries in the world. Also, it's pretty nice here in the spring.

My parents are xenophobic and racist, as are many Fox News-watching white Americans of their generation. I got all kinds of “why would you want to go to Cuba” comments including dire warnings about taking our children into a country rife with child trafficking. Which isn’t even true, there is a fraction of a fraction of that kind of thing going on there versus the US. We also got it going to Mexico, including “you couldn’t pay me to go to Mexico”. And, we also got it in France- we were going to get caught in a terrorist attack because they just let the Muslims run amuck. Neither of my parents have set foot outside of the US in their lifetime.

I’ve only just gotten to where I can afford to travel and without having kids really too young for it. And having been to three countries in less than a year, it is totally true that visiting other cultures and people that don’t look like you, talk like you, and live like you changes you. Your perspective becomes broader, and you realize that common folks are common folks everywhere you go.

I think, how could conservative people that have a lot of money travel and still be so racist and callow...but then I realize that when they go to Mexico, they go to white people resorts and comfortable Americanized areas and going out into the actual culture is a sort of a novelty excursion. When we go, we explicitly avoid those areas and do our best to meet the common folk and get stuck in with real, day to day life and the way folks live.

This time around coming back to the US felt awful. It felt like coming from a culture of vibrancy, pride, and kindness to one of competition, division, and resentment. There are lots of great things about America, but when you get out in the world you really start to see how there are sometimes better ways of living.

Anyone preventing a kid from seeing the world outside the US is a terrible parent.

Michael Barnes wrote: I’ve only just gotten to where I can afford to travel and without having kids really too young for it.

The affording it is a big part for a lot of people. I was one of three kids, and my middle class parents, based on however they managed their finances and prioritized things could only afford to take us to nearby states. Don't know how a single mother is gonna take anyone to Cuba. With marriage on the decline and divorce high...

Then like you said, there's a big resort industry, so even if people go to Florida or somewhere in Latin America, they're probably in a resort getting talked into buying a timeshare.

I went to Germany (Hamburg) as cheaply as possible a couple years ago (stayed on my wife's friend's couch) and it was a lot of fun.* I was mostly blown away by how well behaved the dogs were, and the fact that even though everyone had tickets for the trains, it was basically on the honor system to have them- no turnstiles or anything.

*We were kind of warned (by other Germans there) that Hamburg was one of the least friendly and fun places around, because everyone just kinda sticks to themselves. We're introverts so kinda liked that small talk and yelling were virtually nonexistent. Ha. We saw a car accident and neither person yelled or even looked angry. Kind of surreal.

While I agree that actively preventing your child from experiencing the world is a bad idea, there's a huge percentage of the population that just can't swing it. The cost of travel is really high if you don't live in a big city. A huge chunk of people living elsewhere are living paycheck to paycheck, and the fixed cost of travel (plane ticket) is something that doesn't fluctuate with your income bracket in the same way as other things related to cost of living.