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A warm Cuban welcome
Why couldn’t we dock in Santiago de Cuba? Finally, after a 4 hour wait, we had the all clear to enter disembark. Gaby, Adi and I walked up the hill from the port to the Parque Cespedes flanked by colonial architecture. Stalls lined the side streets waiting for Japanese passengers. The beautiful architecture here was in need of a lick of paint. We stumbled onto a cultural performance put on for Japanese passengers, but soon left to find the local cafes and live house scene. We had a beer in a few courtyards and saw 2 live bands in the afternoon. They were good. Really tight. Think Buena Vista Social Club. We met some guys who helped me cut a deal for some cigars on the black market. The price of cigars is regulated for tourists. Tourism is especially good for Cuba’s economy as tourists are obliged to use the special ‘CUC’ currency rather than the local Pesos. The high rate of this ‘tourist’ currency is controlled by the government and this makes it the most expensive country in Latin America for tourists.
A little bit of Salsa
There aren’t a whole lot of restaurants around town, nor convenience stores or other shops that I’m used to seeing in tourist friendly cities. I understand that it is in part due to state control of private enterprise and also availability of produce. Private home owners can apply for permission to cook meals for foreigners instead and they can also provide lodging. We visited one house, but didn’t stay as the price was a little high and instead ate lamb and chicken down the road.
The GET teachers volunteered to help out at the Peace Boat organised fiesta that night so we made our way back down the hill to the port and bussed off to the event. For the longest time it was all speeches, Japanese drumming and a Japanese juggler which wasn’t quite the salsa fiesta I’d come to see, so at 10pm a few of us headed back into town to check out some of the live music scene. The Casa de la Trova is one of Santiago de Cuba’s famous spots and inside its hallowed walls was spicy Cuban salsa. It was a great vibe and between Cervecas and Mohitos we all had our moments on the floor dancing with Cubans. We didn’t stop after close, but moved on to another club with a cabaret where we met up with some locals. More salsa, more Mohitos. We wrapped up the night in a surreal park with new friends, Cervecas in hand, singing ‘Guantanamela’. Everyone in Cuba, it seems, is born with the gift of music and dance.
Cuban street talent
3 hours sleep later J and I were back in town trying to spend the last of our CUC’s before midday kisen limito. Problem was we couldn’t get a coffee anywhere because, it seemed, the town had run out. It was an odd thing to us to walk into a large store with only a few different products and no choice. Or a bakery where people are buying bread with coupons. People weren’t starving in Cuba, but they weren’t wealthy either. In some countries like Egypt kids beg for pens, so it’s strange to hear in Cuba grown men asking for pens to write with. It’s difficult to say whether the lack of market freedom in the communist system is limiting wealth or if this is the effect of more than 50 years of trade embargos by America.
As we crossed the Atlantic we listened to guest lectures and watched videos on Cuba and learnt a bit of salsa while we were at it. Its true Cuba doesn’t get a fair rap in American media and there are many socialist successes that it can be proud of since the ‘59 revolution. It’s health care and educational programmes are free to everyone, and its life expectancy and literacy rates rival America’s. And of course it does this with significantly less resources. It’s been though major crises such as the ’special period’ in the early 90’s when the USSR collapsed and Cuba lost its main trading partner and oil supplier. It came through that and remains the only communist country outside East Asia. American blockades continue to beat up on Cuba 50 years on despite America’s liberal attitude to trading with other communist countries, that it’s no military threat, and despite the fact that in UN annual votes every country except 4 now backs the lifting of these sanctions. America of course doesn’t mind using Cuba for its own ends. Cuba views the infamous American military base Guantanamo Bay (its oldest base in the world) as an occupation. Any aggressive action Cuba takes to remove this base would likely be used as a pretext for an invasion.
We departed Santiago de Cuba in the afternoon and from the top deck I watched as we navigated the beautiful and narrow channel to the sea against the backdrop of lush mountains. Yesterday’s entry had been delayed, I heard, because we had been waiting for the tide to rise. The harbour wasn’t deep enough. We exited out past the Castillo del Morro that watches over harbour.
I wouldn’t say I’d choose to live under the system of communist Cuba, but I think that programmes of quality, free health care and education for all are ideals that every country should strive for. What I would love to live under in Cuba is the Latino passion for music and dance.