The flight was less than an hour, from Miami, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, the capital of the nation we Americans probably know less about than any other. But in the lively streets of Havana I felt like I had traveled across decades and light years from home.
 |
| Cuban flag flies over Havana''s opera house |
In case you've forgotten, Cuban revolutionaries overthrew a
dictator named Batista 54 years ago and established a socialist government with
support from the Soviet Union. America responded by imposing an embargo on
trade with Cuba in hopes of destroying the regime economically. For a while
some of our allies respected the embargo, but eventually saw that it was having
no real impact and reopened trade with the Caribbean nation.
For the adventurous American traveler, this all meant that
American citizens were effectively the only people on the planet who could not
legally visit our southern neighbor. One of the saddest consequences of the embargo is that we Americans have become woefully ignorant of the nation that lies a mere 90 miles from Key West.
So last fall when a friend asked if I'd like to go to Cuba, legally, I
jumped at the chance. I wanted to see Cuba
first-hand and perhaps understand this nation that has successfully thumbed its
nose at us for more than half a century.
Whether one can truly comprehend a place in an 8-day guided tour is
questionable, but it's better than reading anything about it in American newspapers over the past half century. And
it's better even than relying on the accounts of others who have been there. Once I
was committed to this trip, I read everything I could find and talked to as
many people as I could who have visited Cuba in recent years. And everything I
heard and read contradicted everything else I heard and read, so I abandoned
all expectations and went just to experience it for myself in mid-January.
And now, over several blog posts and through my photographs, I will tell
you about my experience and my impressions, fully aware that even those on the
same tour with me may well contradict everything I say about it. So, if you're
interested, I encourage you to go see for yourself.
Which you can now do, legally. The U.S. government is currently licensing
tour operators to put together educational "People to People" visits
for various affinity groups. There is a partial list of such groups at http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/people2people.pdf.
They range from college alumni groups to the Audubon Society to Witness for
Peace. The group I went with was organized by a photographer with an emphasis
on photographing Cuba, though not all 12 of us were serious
photographers.
We spent eight days in Cuba, mostly in and around Havana, but with a day
trip to Viñales in Pinar del Rio Province in western Cuba, and a two-night
excursion to the 400-year old town of Trinidad on the south central coast, with
stops in the port city of Cienfuegos on the way.
For the photographer, Cuba is a land rich with opportunities, stories,
color, personality and history. The contradictions in the accounts of those who
have been there merely reflect the contradictions and paradoxes that make up
Cuba today and make it so fascinating.
Cuba is a country where the average salary for government workers -- and
virtually everyone works for the government -- is $25 a month, but there is
little evidence of poverty, oppression or unhappiness. It is a nation with few
natural resources of its own, but with the ingenuity to keep 60-year-old
American cars running and gleaming and the ability to adopt widespread organic
farming when the source of fertilizer (Soviet Union) collapsed.
 |
| Cuba's Capitol building in Central Havana |
It is a "godless
communist" government where people practice all religions in elegant
churches, cathedrals, mosques and synagogues and where Raul Castro attended the
dedication of a new Russian Orthodox church a few years ago.
The free public education system produces a 99 percent literacy rate and
99 percent employment.The health care system is free to all Cuban citizens and
good enough to attract foreign heads of state for cancer treatment.
When I changed my money from dollars to CUCs, the convertible pesos that
tourists get (not the same as the Cuban pesos that Cubans are paid with), the
friendly bank teller told me, "Welcome to Cuba. You're going to love Havana, but you will
hate the people." I assumed she was joking, and my experience for the
ensuing eight days confirmed it.
I did love Havana, but I did not hate the people. I deeply regretted that
I speak almost no Spanish, because I would have loved to converse more with people,
but enough of them spoke English that I could get by. When people learned we
were Americans they were friendly, curious and generally helpful. On the other
hand, nearly everyone had a service or product for sale, whether it was
questionable little candies, willingness to pose for pictures, or prostitutes.
Hardly anyone just asked for money, but there were always a few panhandlers near
the big hotels in Central Havana.
In subsequent blog posts, I'll ruminate on some of my experiences in more
detail. In the meantime, please visit my Cuba photos at http://www.finsfeathersfoto.com/f461394966.
