Friday 4 August 2006

Nation of Suffering









The most beautiful architecture I´ve ever seen. Street after street of artisan plastering, wooden shutters in every colour, Seville hand painted titles, intimate Romeo & Juliet balconies, Cuban flags flying at every interval.

Grand buildings abandoned, pealing paint, horses pulling carriages with open wounds, unsmiling faces, no music and no dancing in the streets, only dog poo and rubbish.

The real Cuba is ugly. A great nation, people who had passion to create La Revolution now have nothing. A socialist system with brilliant vision and hope which could have created the most beautiful nation on earth (abundance of agriculture, passion for art and music, belief in government, grand architecture and history) has been left to die. Not even die, it is a semi living organisism, just enough food to survive, just the services which are absolutely necessary. I have never visited a country with so little vibe. A ghost town.

2.5 million tourists visit Cuba every year. It is the only nation left with apartheid. Tourists and Cubans are kept separate. Any other country you visit you experience it next to the locals, you go to a café and sit next to them, you shop in their shops, you dance in a club to the same music, you experience what they experience every day. When in Rome.

But Cuba, the living museum. I spent two weeks sipping mint Mojitos and ice cold Daiquiris. Not once did I see a local drink. Except the evening in Remedios when we were wandering around the empty town square ( 2 huge churches, one with a congregation of 10; El Lourve bar, where the waitress had to go next door to borrow another cocktail glass because obviously they only had 2 in stock; an ice-cream parlor with only one flavour and when the lid was opened flies flew out; youths walking around aimlessly ) and a man stumbled past us with a Havana Club bottle in his hand, he weaved past us and a few steps later the bottle smashed onto the road.

We traveled between cities by taxi which was a wonderful way to see the little towns and the landscape. Groves of palm trees, fields of sugar cane. The roads were not busy, more bicycles and horse and carriages when we came close to the villages, no trucks – I guess there isn´t much demand because there are no goods to transport. I was surprised to see a lack of Catholic relics, (all the roads in Colombia are lined with statues or Mary and Jesus), what was disconcerting was noticing a Cuban flag hanging next to the alter in one of the churches. Even politics have entered this space.

Sandwich con Jámon (ham), Sandwich con Queso (cheese) or Sandwich con Jámon y Queso? Every place the same. The same 3 soda cans, the same 3 Tropical fruit juices (tropical is just the brand, they came in popper boxes), 2 beers and water. I guess, what more do you need? Lots! Where is the creativity? Where are the new taste sensations? Where, most importantly, is the nutrition!!! In a country that could grow anything and that has the labor force at hand, we were appalled to find that the Cubans had nothing, and what they did have was of poor quality. Chef (Bertus Basson) was explaining to us how easy it would be to make a brown bread rather than the rationed white loaf which looked like Swiss cheese. There were no sausages, or cheeses with flavor, the tomates were so under ripe they were almost white, the chickens were imported from Brazil (the ones that are grown in 2 weeks with all the hormones). Surrounded by ocean the only fish we saw was eaten by tourists. After one week of this dreadful food we took over the kitchen of one of our home stays and Chef cooked us up a great pasta, again the only ingredients were jámon, queso and some funky tomato sauce which our host had prepared (much earlier) that was in an old soda bottle that gave off a hiss sound when opened. But we doused the lot in Tabasco sauce and it tasted like 3 star Michelin.

We did have once nice meal in the fishing village of La Boca. We had traveled to Trinadad (on the south coast) by taxi (which had a flat tire on the way) but our accommodation was full and so I asked hopefully about a beach side Casa. It was heaven after Havana. We spent three days relaxing in rocking chairs on the verandah which over looked a vacant plot and then the beach, the river ran along beside, just 25 meters away. We spent the days drinking rum with no ice like Hunter S. Thompson. The evenings floating in the Caribbean, watching the sky turn from blue to hot pink with the setting sun. This place was so peaceful and the grilled shrimp so tasty we almost forgot we were in Cuba.

Other quick highlights were the resort in Valdero (I would recommend anyone wanting to visit Cuba to stay here and just do day trips to the other cities) see the photos of the white sand and famous,7 shades of blue, sea. Here because it was all inclusive, I spent my days wandering around in a sugary cocktail bliss, the whole experience is a little blurred, but in Cuba you need the rum to ease the pain.

Also the art, the Cuba government encourages artists and thus there is a huge variety of paintings, of course they´re all Cuban inspired: landscapes of palm trees, Buena Vista Social Club scenes, old cars in older streets. Barry bought me a painting of a black Cuban woman smoking a cigar, the background in the most amazing chocolate brown colour, I know its kitch but it´s beautiful.

So to wrap it up, my trip to Cuba was devastatingly sad. I don´t know if I would recommend this trip to my friends and family. I still believe socialism can work, just not the Fidleism which has reduced this stunning country to a theme park for tourists and has wasted its abundant resources and suppressed its passionate people. It has validated my belief in Capitalism as a movement which creates opportunities, hope and most importantly freedom to choice your own destiny.






5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A tragic account of a long awaited experience. How lucky you have been to have the choice and ability to fly away from it and reflect from a distance. Idealism can be destroying when it steals from the individual's lust for life. A sad journey, enabling you to feast even more so with what is important to you.

Anonymous said...

Ain't Australia Grand and being Australian...! We are the LUCKY country.

Unfortunately, there are other Cuba's around this really wonderful planet and dare I sat it, some even worse. Read the above again....!

L,D

Anonymous said...

I really feel for you. I don't know if I could eat the food of the poor and oppressed for long. Hope that your next stay isn't at such a soulless place, as we all know Cuba to be. I wonder what Celia Cruz meant when she said – AZUCAR!!! ? Maybe she was talking about Geelong?

Well, at least you're with Barry, and a Miami Club Med Isn't that far away.


Hope that the rest of your trip takes a lucky turn to the plenty. I hope Mexico isn’t on the schedule. Take care Candice.

Ohhh, You know Fidel is out of service and that the Cuban government is weak on it's knees, right? Maybe more soda pop flavours coming to an island near you.

I like the first comment. Why is it anonymous?

Candice said...

Hey David, so great to hear from you. I know my blog has nothing on yours, so I feel honored that you’re reading mine.

Oh, yeah, talking about soda pops, I was surprised to find a whole container of Chupa-Chup lollipops one day in a road side stall, but then, of course, all one hundred were the same flavour! Only in Cuba.

Answering your question: I think, from the style, the first comment is from my Mum, she likes to be mysterious you know.

Candice said...

Now there´s a business opportunity, they´d be banging the doors down! Did I tell you the joke:

A Cuban asks his grandson; ¨Sonny, what do you want to be when you grow up?¨

The child replies; ¨A tourist!¨