Santiago de Cuba

You know you’re in Cuba when you get on your plane…from the back end…and your seat is in the front. Thus began our weekend trip to Santiago de Cuba. Other than that, the plane was fairly normal; a flight of about a hundred and fifty people lasting about an hour and a half. We then disembarked in the Santiago airport. As we were collecting our luggage, the power went out twice. This could have either been a normal Cuba occurrence or a specific product of the storm passing over Santiago at that moment. No one will ever know. After a long day of class and travel, I settled in to sleep for the night.

Friday was full of activities; in my opinion, the best excursions that we’ve gone on during any of our weekend trips. Frist we made a brief stop by the Plaza de la Revolucion en Santiago. Every major city has a plaza like this; while Havana’s is dedicated (with a huge phallic monument) to Jose Marti, Santiago’s honors Antonio Maceo, another hero of the War for Independence against Spain. After this, we headed to the church of the Virgen de la Caridad de Cobre. The literal translation is the Copper Virgen of Charity, and she is the patron saint of Cuba. People come from all over the country to pray in front of her for miracles. The church was beautifual, but even more amazing was the view from the church of the surrounding valley. We were among the mountains and looking down onto the nearby copper mines (for which the Virgen was named).

I have to comment again on the fallacy of statements made by Margarita Alarcon (see my private blog for notes on her identity). Anyway, during one of our classes, she told us that Cuba is better than the DR becauses here you don’t have people living in poverty in shacks on the banks of a river. Yes, maybe not right in the center of Havana, but yes, you do, around the outer edges, like on the banks of the Rio Almendares. And then here, in the eastern part of the country, MANY people live in such huts. It makes me so mad at Marg, not just at her as a person, but as a symbol for this entire furcked up situation where the government and its representatives think that they are doing such good things to help the people, but yet…I don’t know. And on the other hand, I was thinking of these people in the shacks and trying to put myself in their shoes. Granted, they live in crappy houses. But they lived in crappy houses before the Revolution, too. At least now they (or their kids) have free education, free health care (despite its low quality, I’m sure it’s better than what they had pre-Fidel), and guaranteed jobs and salaries. So maybe for them it really is so much better. I honestly don’t know. I’m leaving this country with even more questions than I had when I arrived.

Next we hiked up a mini-mountain to see a monument honoring the Cimarrones, or slaves who escapted and ran away to form their own communities in the mountains. We found what used to be a well, and its basically a big pit now used for African ceremonies. The best part of it was the artwork. Meg and I were exploring it for a while before anyone else came over, and it gave me this awe-inspiring sense of all the history that weighed down on the moments; on the idea of these people who had been free, then had to endure slavery, but then freed themselves and were able to celebrate and live life again. I can’t really explain it but it was a tremendous feeling, almost sacred in a way.

After this, we stopped in the house of an “espiritista”, or shaman of sorts who uses all different sorts of techniques and rituals from the different Afro-Cuban religions in order to perform healing (or other?) ceremonies. He had some of the most beautiful artwork I’ve ever seen on the walls of his house.

After lunch, we stopped by the “Morro” of Santiago. Just as the Morro in Havana, here it is a fort on the seacoast meant to defend the city. Santiago’s was built in 1515. After this, exhausted, I passed the rest of the day in bed.

Saturday morning we departed for Guantanamo. Despite being told by various people that it was not a city for tourists, we all insisted on seeing this town which has been so closely linked with the United States over time. The drive there felt like we’d been transported back to the time of dinosuars. I swear I saw the head of a brachiosaurus peeking out from the mist as we drove through the mountain valleys. It was so beautiful and unspoiled. It is so different from the western part of the island, and reminded me so much of the Dominican Republic. Actually, this whole trip reminded me of DR. I guess people are right when they say that the eastern part of the island is more Caribbean that Havana and its environs- I definitely felt that way. It gives you almost a thrill, an animalistic sense to look at the countryside here- you feel a raw energy flowing through you.

The other thing I noticed on the way was what I’ll call hero stones. Basically, a lot of people had in their front yards a group of stones with the names of the 5 Cubans who are imprisioned in the US. The people in here would also have stones saying things like “they will return”. Seeing things like that, or pro-Fidel graffiti, always makes me wonder if it’s genuine and spontaneous, or demanded by the local brqnch of the CDR (Committee in Defense of the Revolution). Again, who’ll ever know.

So everyone was right about Gitmo. Not a tourist town by any stretch of the imagination. It definitely was poorer than Havana, although prices also seemed lower. It’s also clear from the amount of attention that we received from men that they are not accustomed to having foreign women in town. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet and sleepy town. We walked around, had lunch, and headed bacck home. Much to our chagrin, you can no longer even see the American military base from a distance. Apparently, Cubans would go there to “visit” and swim from a certain lookout point to Gitmo to get asylum. So now the Cuban military prevents anyone from getting too close.

Saturday night we went to a tumba francesa. It’s descended from the French contredanse music, and was brought to Ccuba when French plantation owners brought their slaves with them from Haiti as they were fleeing the slave rebellion which became the Revolution. So what we saw was a mix of French singing and dancing with African drumming- a great blend of aesthetics, and I really enjoyed the show. Also very exciting were the roles that two women had in the ritual. There were some women singing, dancing, and playing the maracas. There was also one woman drumming, and another, who led the singing, filling in one of the male dancer roles. The latter may have just been because one male dancer couldn’t make it to the show, but to have seen a female drummer was especially exciting; this Arara African tradition is a huge departure from all the other African drumming ceremonies that we’d seen in the past. Very impressive, in my opinion.

After that, we went back to the hotel and relaxed all night. I felt like perhaps I didn’t take enough advantage of Santiago and the time we had there, but for me it’s like a rest period. I know that I’m heading back to spend the last week in Havana with my boyfriend, and I figure that we will be doing all different trips and sights that we never saw the past few weeks- aka, little sleep for Tara.

The last event of Santiago was a trova concert on Sunday morning. Trova is related to the old European troubadours, musicians who would roam with a guitar and sing about current events. Fun fact: later trova in Cuba turned into protest songs, and they were greatly influenced by American artists like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. I’ll close this blog by talking about the first singer. She paused between songs, and was talking about life. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but the general message was “we only have one life, and you have to live it”. I cannot count on all my fingers and toes the amount of Cubans who have said that same phrase to me during my time here. I think it explains a lot about their resilience and in some cases their willingness to break rules or defy authority. With so little to look forward to, there’s this necessity to seize every opportunity for happiness, however short it may be, or however much pain it brings you in the end.

Our country is so screwed...

,
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.