{"id":836,"date":"2009-01-21T21:38:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T02:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/?p=836"},"modified":"2009-01-21T21:38:26","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T02:38:26","slug":"guest-travelogue-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/?p=836","title":{"rendered":"Guest Travelogue: Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

About The Contributer<\/strong>
\nLiz Hendrickson is a San Francisco bay area resident, grandmother, lawyer, and founding member of Women Drummers International<\/a>. (All photographs (c) Francis Eatherington.)<\/p>\n

1\/11\/09<\/p>\n

\"havana-waterfront-and-sky\"<\/a>It’s hard to believe, but a week ago today I was in Havana, hanging out along the waterfront, in the open air market and in the old town tourist district. Bus loads of European tourists clogged the streets and reminded me of Fisherman’s wharf. Today I’m home doing my laundry; it’s a little shocking.<\/p>\n

In case you’re interested, a couple tidbits from my trip:<\/p>\n

Transportation
\n<\/strong>\"tour-by-bici-taxi\"<\/a>With the embargo, and general economic distress, there are few private autos, which isn’t a bad thing if you ask me. The result is that traffic (except a few places in Havana) is not bad and neither is pollution. The private cars are vintage and worth millions: 1940s Chevys, Fords, etc in beautiful condition. The airport parking lot looked like a classic car convention. There are buses in the cities. In the rural provinces there are not. There are lots of bicycles, horses, horse drawn wagons, bici-taxis (seat two people behind someone pedaling), and flat bed trucks made into local buses by putting benches, a ladder and a kind of giant camper shell for protection. The cities also have coco taxies which are vespas with a fiberglass shell attached which seat two people plus the driver on the vespa. I tried every one of these except the flat bed trucks, which seemed for locals. I liked the bici-taxies the best, although they are a little extra thrilling coming down hills. They have a brake pedal which activates not our high tech disk brakes but a metal on metal brake of questionable effectiveness. I came home at midnight in one\u00a0after beginning new years in a local club and had quite an entertaining ride.<\/p>\n

Food<\/strong>
\nThe hurricanes destroyed a lot of the crops. We ate just fine and drove through some undamaged areas and got coconuts, bananas, mandarin oranges, and balls of pure chocolate from roadside stands. Cubans don’t eat spicy food or much fish! They eat lots of pork. They drink LOTS of rum. It’s served like ice tea. Every time we came to a new hotel, we were served a tray of mojitos; at lunch the mojitos would come out. 3 yr old rum, 7 yr old rum, very smooth and EVERYWHERE. The US does not allow travelers to bring things back, so I couldn’t bring rum or cigars, which are also everywhere. I did pick up some chocolate……\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"jovellanos-group-shot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

People<\/strong>
\nWe had free access to people, went to people’s homes, talked to people on the street. Housing is owned like condos, the state owns the land the tenants own the building, so people do their own repairs, remodeling, and trade\/sell their units. Because of the embargo, most items are in short supply so most housing is not in great shape, although it is functional. Most buildings need paint, etc. People are very proud of their basic system: free medical care, education, etc. Infant mortality rate is better than the US and life expectancy is almost doubled since 1959 (40s to 70s). Cuba educates teachers and medical professionals from all over the world free, including 500 students from the USA currently studying there. They have exported tens of thousands of both to Latin America and Africa. That said, no one likes living on 20 dollars a month. It is enough for the basics, but everyone wants more than the basics.<\/p>\n

In Cuba, snack foods are beyond the basics: you don’t see chips, etc except in the tourist shops. And the prices in the tourist shops are American equivalent. So, these items are totally outside the budget of most Cubans, as are Internet service, cell phones and other electronic gadgets. We all had our digital cameras, etc, and took lots of pictures. People liked having their pictures taken and looking at them on the digital screens. Many items are still rationed to make sure that everyone gets some. People who work with tourists have access to tips so some teachers, etc are leaving their professions to work in the tourist industry. Hopefully, as the economy improves, this will be less appealing, as the standard of living for everyone is improved.<\/p>\n

Art and Music
\n<\/strong>Artists and musicians get paid just like everyone else; as a result, the arts thrive in Cuba. Artists don’t have day jobs, being a dancer, drummer, etc is their job. They are paid similar wages, in the 20 dollar\/month range. But they can pursue their art full time and being an artist is considered a viable profession. Cuba was colonized much like the US, by Spanish, French, British. (We stayed at a hotel on the beach at Baracoa, which is one of the first places Columbus landed; we did a cleansing ceremony on the beach and at the commemorative cross there).<\/p>\n

But in Cuba, slaves were treated differently in one way: they were left in tribal and family groups. The result is that there are families in the provinces in Cuba that can trace their ancestry and culture to slave times and have maintained songs and dances for over 150 years. Cuba has political ties to Africa, but it also has strong cultural ties and there is a great deal of effort put into researching and preserving these traditions. Music and public art are everywhere and reminded me a lot of the public sculpture and murals in SF.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Religion\"old-havana\"<\/a>
\n<\/strong>I think a person could say that Cuba is predominately a Catholic country, or could say that there is great religious variety in Cuba. Both would be true. Catholicism was imposed on the populace during colonialism and it remains. One of my favorite sights was inside a church on Christmas day, near where I was going for a drum class. Behind the altar was a giant cross, a baby Jesus, Mary and a star. All were outlined in neon lights of various colors, which went on and off, the star’s lights in a pattern to resemble fire works. I’d never seen anything like it. In another church I saw a nativity scene the size of a room, laid out like a toy train set, with landscaping, figures for each scene leading up to Christmas, etc.<\/p>\n

What is also true is that Cubans maintained African religions of Ifa\/Santeria and Voodoo throughout slavery and since. To do so, they syncrotized their gods with the Catholic saints and their celebrations with those of Catholicism and that continues today. Before being initiated into Santeria, one must be baptized into the Catholic Church, for instance. Some priests practice both. At some sites, there are altars\/statutes next to each other from each tradition. The result appears to be a total lack of religious conflict, hate crimes, etc which is so much a part of American public and political life. Public cultural celebrations incorporate whatever religions are practiced in that region (Voodoo is more in the east, where the Haitians settled). As someone who is rather ecumenical and comfortable with various religious practices, I was very comfortable in Cuba.<\/p>\n

I was also struck by how devout people are, no matter what their practice. I would say that Cuba is a very religious country. This might sound ironic, given that it is a communist country. But religious traditions are very ingrained in the culture and this adds a layer of connection between people, in my observation. I inquired about the early years of the revolution and was told that religion was not encouraged and that party members who wanted to move up hid their religious affiliation. It did not sound, however, like people were persecuted, jailed, etc. At this time in Cuba, religious practice appears unencumbered. It is not commercialized like here, however, which makes it less noticeable. Christmas was not a big commercial deal, because nothing is a big commercial deal there.
\n
\nPlumbing, hotels and general infrastructure:
\n<\/strong>Many of the women I traveled with have been lots of places, including Latin America and Africa, so they were not upset by plumbing problems, etc. This set a nice tone for our trip of tolerance, patience and adventure. Our accommodations were quaint, the showers erratic. But everything was quite adequate and clean and there were no major problems. Lots of people lack phones and few have Internet. The broadband is inadequate in Cuba and will not be expanded for a few years (Venezuela is running a cable from their country to Cuba).<\/p>\n

\"horsedrawn-wagon\"<\/a>As a result of all this, everything is hard: you can’t just phone someone and say you’re coming: you have to phone someone in their town who has a phone and try and get them a message, etc. You can’t just land in Cuba and look in the yellow pages or on the net for a destination or event you’re interested in. You can’t just jump on a bus or train and go see something\/someone an hour away; you have to get a ride or make special arrangements. If you get somewhere, you might have trouble getting back home. Everything is harder than we’re used to.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

I’m very grateful to the women I traveled with and to our guides who made it possible for me to see Cuba on its own terms. It’s tempting to compare it to the US, but it’s not the US. What they have done and are doing is quite remarkable.<\/p>\n

On our trip, we each had meetings set up according to our vocations, medical, education, music, etc. I met with law professors and lawyers about family law and other areas of Cuban law. It was fascinating to learn about how Cuban law has evolved from Spanish law, as has California law. In some dramatic ways, Cuba has stayed closer to the Spanish colonists: criminal defendants do not have the right to a lawyer, for instance. Cuban does not use juries; but cases are decided by panels of jurists in which the fulltime professional judges are always in the minority: one of three, or two of five, for instance. Cuban citizens have the right to petition the government about large and small matters; and this right appears to encompass some of our rights found in our Bill of Rights. Cuban laws are being examined and major changes are being considered, such as allowing criminal defendants attorneys. I did locate a retired law professor who has written a proposed new family code. I was not able to meet with her because of the holidays; but I met with a colleague of hers and hope to eventually reach her and review the proposed new code.<\/p>\n

I highly recommended this interesting and beautiful country. It is possible to travel there legally for study or research in your area of work. Eventually, I hope our government will allow travel for simple cultural exchange: to see and understand a neighbor country.<\/p>\n

\"ocean-by-lagoon-two\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About The Contributer Liz Hendrickson is a San Francisco bay area resident, grandmother, lawyer, and founding member of Women Drummers International. (All photographs (c) Francis Eatherington.) 1\/11\/09 It’s hard to believe, but a week ago today I was in Havana, hanging out along the waterfront, in the open air market and in the old town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travelogues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1c8Xx-du","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions\/848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}