Medicine, Men, and (Sea) Mammals

All I can say about the Cuban medical system is that it's certainly not all it's cracked up to be. Most of what I have learned about the system does not come from my own direct experience but from that of others, so I won't go into details. Suffice to say that A) the doctors are not nearly as on top of their game as they should be; B) if they do diagnose you properly, good luck finding your medicine; and C) if by some miracle you actually find the medicine you are supposed to take, you better hope to the high heavens that it fully kills your infection and doesn't just mostly kill it, only to have it come back stronger in a week or two. This is one medicine we're not sure about.

I've been thinking about what it means to have a relationship with a Cuban. I can't even explain how incredibly complicated it can be at times. Most of the time, in fact. First, there's the language issue. While I speak fairly fluent Spanish, there are the occasional mix-ups that are bound to happen in any multi-lingual relationship. Then, there are the cultural differences that are bound to happen in any multi-national relationship. It's interesting, because I sometimes feel that our boyfriends expect us to adopt a completely Cuban outlook. While in the context of my study abroad, I want to learn as much as possible about their culture, in the context of a relationship there needs to be a willingness for each partner to try to understand the other equally. The best example I can give of this is that when Jose and Whitney or Yohandy and I have disagreements about something, the guys will eventually say, "oh, let's just forget about it, continuing to argue will only make things worse". On the other hand, Whitney and I both come from the school of "let's talk it out or the problem will fester and get worse". This makes arguments an interesting time, but for the record, we always end up discussing things.

So on top of all those challenges, there are specifically Cuban issues going on, too. One is that by virtue of them having no money, Whitney and I have to pay for everything if we want to go out. While we knew to expect this before coming , it's a very singular experience and as you can imagine it occasionally leads to some awkward times, like when we were all going to get tattooes because we thought it cost 5-10 CUC and then mine alone was 50 CUC, so we had to leave and the guys couldn't get tattooes.

Finally, we get to leave the country. The guys are stuck here. There are certain solutions to this (I refer you to my private blog for more info) but none that Whitney and I are willing to follow up on right now. So it adds another level of guilt because theoretically we have the power to change their lives and we're just leaving them here. As I said, there are so many layers of complexity to these relationships and sometimes it's a bit overwhelming, to say the least. If you're personally interested in more, ask me, but this is all that I feel I need to say on the blog for anthropological posterity.

In other news, we visited the aquarium this past week. There wasn't too much to see, except for the dolphin and sea lion shows- those were fun. Otherwise, it took us about a half hour to see everything that was there. It's interesting because (though we paid a considerably higher price of 7 CUC) the Cuban admission fee is only 4 MN. That means it's accessible for pretty much any Cuban to go, which is good. On the other hand, they are gaining access to crap. Interesting contrast to the US where maybe not everyone would pay $12 to go to the aquarium in Boston, but those who do choose to go get their money's worth. (Thanks to Songe for those reflections).

Other advice to students coming here: Don't bring band-aids or Tylenol. Just bring caramelos (candy), because that's all anyone will ever ask you for.