Our country is so screwed...

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The Marines know nothing about Cuba, despite the fact that they are stationed here. I have little hope for our country after hearing all that went on last night...

Here's the deal with the party last night. We take a taxi to the address we were given and get out on a dark street in front of a barbed-wire fence compound. It reminded me a great deal of the military compound that gets attacked in the movie "The Kingdom". Within the compound were some houses, a pool, a nice yard, and a gym. We show up and thankfully as we walk in we see one of the FSOs who had talked to us earlier in the day. She pointed out the bar and told us to head on in. The barmen and -woman in question were actually the Marines themselves, so upon ordering drinks we also began making friends. In particular, I was interested to talk to the girl. I found out she was only 21 and had been in the Marines since turning 18. She served in Iraq and Senegal before coming to Cuba, and during this has been working with the Department of Homeland Security to earn a degree in Terrorism (just a suggestion, they should probably call it something different, although in some ways the US has practiced that itself over the years). Annnyway, I asked her if it was difficult to be a woman in the Marines, and she said yes, because first, it's more physically demanding and you don't get any slack (which is ok, but...), while at the same time you have to work twice as hard to earn people's respect even when you can complete the physical tasks. Figures.

After three green (hey, it was St. Patty's round 1) Sprite and 7 Years Rum, I hit the road for a dance club with Whitney and our boys. Meanwhile at the Marine House, peeps kept drinking green beer and discussion slowly opened up. We probably would have better opinions of them if it hadn't. More or less, none of the people stationed there really like Cuba. Why? They mostly don't leave their house. When they do, they go out in Miramar- read, really touristy and rich area where no real Cuban will do. Are they allowed to date or even really fraternize with Cubans? Not so much. What do they really know about Cuba? Nothing. BUUUT, they think lots of hilarious things. Like that it's a really dangerous country. When the girls told them we leave the city, they asked what kind of security measures we have! Please, children. It shows not only a lack of knowledge about the country but also a lack of understanding of the politics between our two nations. THIS IS A VERY SAFE PLACE FOR AMERICANS. The Cubans want the embargo gone. Something happening to an American here would be a deathblow for that dream. We are fine. Speaking of the embargo, there was a Marine who was apparently oblivious to what that even means. REALLY?? They also are convinced that the Commies are spying on us all the time, and that they are so good at it, we don't even know. But...how would they know, if they never leave the barracks? Anyway, it was just really depressing to me in a lot of ways, because the Marines also work at the Interest Section. And the Interest Section is the info-gathering arm of the US in Cuba. AND NONE OF THEM KNOW JACK SHIT BECAUSE THEY DON'T MEET CUBANS. I'm thinking of Sarah Palin all over again... I really feel that I might know just as much about Cuba as our diplomats here. Mom, I know you think it's ludicrous when I make this claim. But it's true. And maybe the worst part of it is that it comes from the top- it's American-enforced that the Marines don't interact much with the Cubans. Plus, the only Marine here that speaks Spanish is the Sarge (or whatever) in charge of the operation. The rest of them? Maybe a little here and there. What use are they?? Barack needs to consult our group- or the other American groups studying here, for that matter- to create policy, as we actually talk to Cubans and know what's going on. Right now I feel so angry that I could almost cry. Ignorance is killing the world.

We Have to Go Back, Kate

We went back to America today. More correctly, we went to Switzerland. That is, we visited the American Interests Section in Cuba, which is formally a part of the Swiss Embassy here. The US doesn't have an actually embassy because we don't have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba. It was a terrific visit (MUCH better than the Egyptian embassy visit where we just got the party line), and I wanted to share with you all some edifying bits of information. This photo is our professor Dr. Brown getting us into the building.


-First of all, the purpose of the US interest section is A) to help US citizens living here; B) to help Cubans who want to visit the US or receive asylum there; C) gather as much information as possible to send to US for analysis, this is especially important right now because Obama is reviewing our policy on Cuba so all the information they can send at this point in time is good. Their job with C, however, is made difficult by the fact that the Cuban government is very closed and cautious, and although the US FSOs try to arrange meetings with people in the Cuban government, the Cubans are slow to do this, try to avoid it, and failing that, the meetings are often denied by the Cuban government anyway. So the US often has to go through third party countries like Spain or Mexico, although they don't get a whole lot more information that we do either.
-The US interest section actually runs an internet cafe in order to give Cubans better access to the internet, and specifically, to international news. They have between 40-45 computers and get 100s of people each day who come in to use them. The one downside for the Cubans is that having visited the American Interest Section can have a negative effect on career mobility; depending on your job, you might have a harder time getting promoted if you've used the internet.
-Also regarding giving Cubans access to news, there's a scrolling news bulletin on the side of the building (although the Cuban gov't erected about 50 flags in front of it in an attempt to block the news. This originally started because the US wanted to use Jose Marti (Cuban national her0) quotes which would improve the US in Cuban eyes. Nowadays, on 4 days of the week, they choose different national or international news stories to scroll on the board just so Cubans know what's going on. One of the most recent and most interesting examples was the murder of a priest in the Villa Clara province about a month ago, which was never reported in the Cuban press (Dale, this is a somewhat roundabout answer to what you asked me about the press before- they just don't bother with the things they don't want to report).
-Very interesting tidbit, which corrects some erroneous reporting that I did to you all earlier. The US does in fact have economic ties with Cuba- in fact, we are Cuba's 4th largest trading partner in the world (behind Venezuela, China, and Spain). Last year alone, we did $717,000,000 USD worth of sales to them, in the form of food, medicinal supplies, and telephone poles. Fascinating, and proves that Margarita Alarcon is as crazy as her father. See my private blog for the full scoop.
-One final interesting piece of info. For Americans who travel here illegally, if anything should happen to you, the US Interest Section does not get you in trouble with the government- they do not enforce the travel ban, and will help you if you have problems while in the country. Wish I had known that earlier, but it's good to know for future reference.

Today was a busy day; we also visited the University of La Habana for a brief tour (the photo on the left was taken on the steps of the school). We were supposed to meet with some students; somehow that didn't happen. Now I'm about to work on some Teach for America paperwork and rest up- while at the embassy, we got invited to a Saint Patrick's Day party at the Marine house in Miramar. Green beer and jello shots, they told us. I'm really curious to see a Marine compound and find out more about the American expat community here in Cuba, so I can't wait to go.

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.

Dale's Questions

Once again I have to thank Dale for the questions he asks that I would otherwise forget to talk about. Notes on a few topics:

-On Taxis
Much like the currency, there are two different types of taxis here as well. Some taxis you see appear to be on the newer side, say from the 90s or so, and might even have air conditioning. These are sure to be CUC taxis, where for instance it might cost you about 4CUC to get to Old Havana (about a 4 mile drive). Then there are the old American cars. These are not strictly taxis in the sense that they won't generally take you exactly where you want to go, but they'll leave you at a main intersection near where you are going (for instance, the other day we took one to the Capitolio, and then walked a few blocks to Chinatown to eat lunch). The insides of the cars are almost completely stripped down (definitely no AC!-here's a picture) and it's an interesting contrast to the gorgeous exterior. So these are the moneda nacional "taxis" that Cubans will take (and us as well). So the ride down to the Capitolio, which was about 3 miles, cost me 10 moneda nacional, or about 0.5 CUC. Granted, with the moneda nacional taxis, it's not private- when you hail one on the side of the road, there might already be people inside, so you have to ask if the taxi is going in the right direction that you want to go, etc. But it's fun and a lot cheaper. In addition to these types of taxis, you can also arrange a ride in a private car (OK, basically you pay to hitchhike)- people driving along a road that see you looking for a taxi will stop. The price of this is generally somewhere in between the other two types of taxis- a 3 mile ride back from Chinatown cost 2 CUC.

-On Cars in General
In terms of owning the cars, it basically seems like a lot of other things in Cuba- you need to know someone. My boyfriend's dad was a taxi driver but for the past 6 months he wasn't able to work; he had water in his lungs, had a tough surgery, and was recovering. He had to sell his car during that period. Now that he's able to work again, he needs a car, but it's nearly impossible to find one that you can afford. Even worse, the people that can sell cars ( I don't know how they can) often take advantage of the situation and squeeze people for every penny that they are worth. That doesn't really answer the question about how Cubans can afford to have one of those cars, but it's what I've been able to find out so far.

-Class Structure
Your choice of career can help you a good deal- although since pretty much everyone is at some level of poor, it won't help that much. It is interesting, though- tourism is one of the best industries to go into, because of the access to foreign currency or CUC, and there are doctors here who have to get side jobs because they aren't paid enough to save lives. And by interesting, I mostly mean sad and frustrating.

-Cuban Press
I also don't read the papers here that often. Pretty much every Cuban says they aren't worth the paper they are written on because it's all propaganda, and from the few articles that I've read, it seems to be true. It's so frustrating for me to see that, so I tend to stay away from reading them or I get too upset.

Only in Cuba...

I forgot to share about a nice little adventure we had one school day last week...the weather was crazy due to a cold front, and we bravely headed down the stairs on our way to school...only to be confronted with a mini-flood in the streets. We set off towards school, only to realize a few blocks away from our house that the road leading to school was completely awash. To our knees. As we turned towards home again, another wave washed up on the sidewalk- our exit was quickly being submersed as well. I don't want to know what things were in the water we walked through that day. But we couldn't go to first period because the streets were flooded. This was pretty much nothing, though- I can't even imagine what a hurricane would do. Here are some pictures.

Cienfuegos y Trinidad

If you’ll remember, the last weekend trip we went on to Matanzas ended up being agonizing, to say the least. Thus, with great apprehension we boarded the bus on Thursday afternoon to head for Cienfuegos and Trinidad. It was a long bus ride (about 5 hours), so Thursday ended with dinner and some Arrested Development.

Friday morning we boarded the bus early to head for Palmira, a center of santeria activity here in the country. We were dragged to god knows how many different cabildos, or societies, for different orisha-saints (here's Saint Barbara to Catholics, or Chango to Santeria creyentes). As not much was said, and they were all fairly siminlar, this was not an auspicious start to the weekend. Once we finally hit lunchtime, things improved greatly. The afternoon we had free in the city of Cienfuegos, and instead of doing a lot of tourist-like activities, we basically just milled around in one of the markets and then sat down on a pier to gossip about the boys. It made it quite an enjoyable day. My camera wasn't working well, so I have no pictures to show from Cienfuegos.

Saturday, though, was my favorite. We started out for Trinidad, which I was really excited to visit- it’s a UNESCO world heritage site, and we all know I’m a history nerd. Trinidad was gorgeous, it’s on a hill and you can see all the way down to the sea. All the buildings are quaint and old and painted in such Caribbean colors, and if you look behind the city you can see the mountain ranges. The only thing I must say against it is that there’s still a lot of disrepair; it’s a little like a poor man’s Santo Domingo- it has the potential to have that same level, only it’s not kept up as much. The other thing I wish I could show you in pictures was some reconstruction that I saw happening- only the material they used to brace the external structure wasn’t even cut wood; they were using actual trees. Granted they had hewn off the leaves, but it was the still-barky trunk of a tree holding up the restoration of an old church. Oh, Cuba.

So as soon as we arrived in Trinidad we basically had free time to do what we wanted. After spending time in an artisan fair, we then went to try the famous drink of the region, a canchacharra. Made of honey, water, and aguardiente, it is potent and dangerous. And so delicious. After three of those, well, we can just say the rest of the day was lots of fun. Our lunching spot had a huge tower that we were able to climb to see the countryside, which was more or less part of the Valle de los Ingenios, or the Valley of the Sugar Mills- an area where a lot of the old sugar plantations were concentrated. Following the tower excursion we made one more stop at a lookout point over the valley. It was beautiful. I keep looking at the photos I took and thinking that it is so perfect in a way that it looks fake. Interesting contrast considering the history that occurred there was so ugly. I’m a little disappointed; I thought we were going to visit an old plantation and talk more in depth about what actually happened, but I guess that wasn’t to be. All in all, though, it was a really fun and interesting day.

Hilarious Update: I did forget to share one fun moment of the trip, which was me poppin' a squat by the side of the road on the way home from Cienfuegos. Apparently we were over 70 kilometers away from the next rest stop...good times. So I hiked up over the bank by the side of the road and tried to hunch down behind a little hill, much to the amusement of the rest of the group, who was watching me from the van. So much fun.

Reflection of the Day: One of the Northeastern questions that we are supposed to answer is regarding advice to future students. Mine? If you come here, you’re going to feel guilty. All the time. Because of the advantages in life that you have that people here don’t and won’t, at least for a while. And if you don’t feel guilty here (even though you are conscious on another level that you’ve done nothing wrong), you are the coldest person ever.

Cannons and Cemetaries

One of the to-do attractions here in Havana is the Cañonazo. This happens at the Fortaleza Cabana, where the bookfair was as well. Basically, it’s a holdover from the times that this was a Spanish colony and there was a nightly curfew at 9 PM. A cannon at the fort was fired to let people know that the city gates were closing. This seemed like a romantic idea, so Whitney and I, Yohandy, Jose, Honorio, and Richard all went this past week. We arrived, but before entering, a guard warned us that it would cost 12CUC a person to enter, BUT, if we just paid him and his friend 5 CUC per American, they would sneak us in the back entrance. Ok, we thought, better take this deal, although I had premointions of fishiness. We follow the friend all the way through this field outside the forts, and we’re walking for a good five or ten minutes. We finally arrive at the back gates and have to cross the moat, which was a little frightening. Then we entered the back just in time to see a bunch of fellows in colonial dress doing a little drum and marching routine. They march all the way up to the cannon and after about 5 more minutes of commands and drumming, the cannon was lit and finally goes off. And that’s it. 5 CUC? Really? Not gonna lie, most of the night I kept thinking that it was probably free or 1 or 2 CUC at most to enter. Good news is, though, I just checked Meg's guidebook, and it would have been 6 CUC a person, plus 2 more to bring a camera. So while the guides lied to us, at the same time, it was cheaper than it should have been. The whole experience was very Cuba, either way.

The other main attraction this past week was going to the Cementario de Colon, which is an old cementary here in Havana. It was gorgeous, and basically this beauty was the result of a bunch of rich people competing to have better tombs (hence the pyramid, one fellow thought, hey, Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids so I too will be like a king if I'm buried in a pyramid, and I'll be the best in the cemetary). Our guide was very intense and dramatic, so it made the day rather amusing. Definitely worth the visit.

Captain's Log: Day Trip to Soroa in Pinar del Rio

Last Saturday a few of us intrepid adventurers set off for the province of Pinar del Rio, the only province further west of Havana Province. We were aiming for a day of nature and whatnot, with waterfalls, orchid gardens, mineral baths, and caves on our to-do list. As the areas we were aiming to hit were supposedly only an hour or two away, we thought that if we picked up our rental car shortly after breakfast, we’d be able to see all of that and return for dinner. We forgot that we are in Cuba.

9:15- Leave apartment building loaded down with our supplies for the day, including a tin of crackers about the size of a cubic foot.

9:24- Arrive at car rental place, slightly dismayed to find a rather large queue. Stand in the sun, deciding that at least working on the tan is a better use of time than standing in shade.

9:48- Line finally moves up enough that we are able to sit inside.

10:15- The majority of the group is able to move into the rental agent’s office (there is only one rental agent present). However, as the office is small and 6 of us are there, two of us wait in the foyer.

10:24- Danny signs his life away and we are finally able to head into the garage towards our car.

10:29- We finally have managed to cram four of us in the backseat and are more or less situated for the hour-long car ride. “Contact!”, as Poppy would say, and we are headed westbound.

10:52- Somehow we haven’t found the Autopista (the highway we needed to take) yet. Ask and receive set #1 of directions. We are apparently going in the wrong direction, and pull a U-turn.

10:54- We’ve gone past a road that we think was mentioned in set #1 of directions. Another U-turn and set #2 of directions, completely contrary to the first. Third U-turn of the trip.

11:02- We follow what we think is set 2 of directions. Apparently, all roads lead to Havana, because we’re entering the city again.

11:15- We’ve stopped at a food chain to ask for directions. We might have understood them. I open a beer and bless the absence of open container laws in this country. Tucker Max would be happy here.

12:45-Driving through a tiny town. We have no idea where we are, and as the majority of vehicles in this area are powered by live horses, we are receiving a goodly amount of stares.

1:00- We are on a road. We don’t care where we go anymore as long as we end up somewhere.

1:30- We finally got lucky and happened onto the Autopista. As this has already been a much longer trip than planned (though most of it occurred in Havana) we take a quick stop by the side of the highway.

2:15ish- Arrival in Soroa. Our crackers didn’t hold us over, so we promptly stop for lunch. Good news is that all in one complex, we can eat, see a waterfall, take mineral baths, and smell the orchids.

3:20- After an atypically fast lunch, we decide to hike to the waterfall. We are charged 3 CUC to do this, despite Chaunce’s arguments about us living here.

3:30- Arrive at waterfall, which, while gorgeous, is so far not worth the time it took to get here or the money it cost us. Spend some time swimming/sunbathing/being stared at by 14 yr. old Cuban boys, and decide to climb back up.

4:15- Out of breath from the steep climb back up from the waterfall, we sit and have the Tu Kola to which our 3 CUC apparently entitles us. Realize that most things close at 5:00, so we won’t be able to see the caves, which are about 35 minutes away. Orchid gardens or mineral baths? Having already done the botanical gardens, we opt for the mineral baths. So foolish.

4:30- Why would we ever have thought it was a good idea to swim in something that smells like rotten eggs? Though we don’t know it at the time, the smell is destined to stick with us for about 24 hours, despite thorough cleansings in the shower. Time for another beer.

4:50- After changing our clothes, we head for home. Cuba has defeated us once again.