SAS Travelogue-Havana, CUBA
by Rebecca Smith
Hola!! Como esta?!?!?! Viva CUBA!!!!! Beautiful, fabulous, wonderful!! Loved every minute of Cuba. Havana is amazing. I love it!! It’s beautiful!!! It’s too bad we have an embargo going on between our nations, or I would go visit Havana a lot. So anywho, what did I do here? Well, day numero uno, a lot of the kids from the ship went to a welcome reception at the University of Havana. In the port terminal we were met by a large group of students. My friends and I met four particular students, Yohanna, Marisol, Roberto, and Yohainnis. We split up to take the buses over to the university. At the university, we first listened to a speech by the student body president. He spoke in Spanish, but it was translated for us. He had a lot of poise and charisma and his speech was very powerful in delivery, however, it lost something in the translation. The translator lacked the enthusiasm of the youthful revolutionary. He spoke about the future of U.S.-Cuban relations and the growing bond between the two nations as a result of recent events like the Elian Gonzalez situation and September 11, 2001. There are banners and billboards up all over the city saying “Against Hatred, Against Terrorism”. The students were all interested in hearing about our life in the U.S. They all had very positive things to say about their life in Cuba. However, walking around the city, filled with crumbling buildings in massive disrepair, and still inhabited despite missing walls, and garbage littering the streets, and various other signs of neglect and poverty, I wonder how true these assessments are. I mean, Havana does not look as bad as Vietnam or India, but all the same, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. After the speech, we walked up the 88 steps mounted over half a century ago by the students of the revolucion when they occupied the campus. So anywho, we toured their campus, listened to some salsa music, got some lunch, and then decided to skip out on the rest of the welcome reception. We headed toward the malecon or the stone wall surrounding the city at the shoreline. On our way, we stopped at a small restaurant and sampled some mojitos and daiquiris, Ernest Hemingway’s favorite drinks. I think Ernest Hemingway must have been insane. A mojito is a drink made with mint, sugar syrup, rum, and ice, in other words, mouthwash. And the daiquiris were also mint flavored. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!! I gave mine away. While we drank, some men played us some fabulous music, Besame Mucho, Guantanamera, Chan Chan, and some other Cuban songs I didn’t know. We sang along to the ones we knew, and mumbled the words we didn’t know, as they were in Spanish. It was very entertaining for our native Spanish-speaking friends. Our new Cuban friends took us on a tour of the city. The whole city…a big city. Did I mention how hot and humid it is in Havana? No, well it is. It’s gross. We walked all over the city. Anytime you want to do anything in Cuba, it involves a line. But to Cubans, lining up is a different type of thing than it is for us Americans. You basically mob together, and then scramble when it is he next person’s turn. You must call your place in line, by shouting “Ultimo!” otherwise you may as well not even stand in line, because you have no claim to a place in line. So we tried to go for ice cream, but as there is a food shortage in Cuba, because of the blockade as the Cubans call it, if you want ice cream, you have to line up. We decided not to wait in the 30 minute line and opted instead to continue our tour. Well, luckily for us, it started to downpour at this point, which was totally uncool due to my choice of footwear. Flip flops, water, and heavily polluted streets do not a pretty picture make. So we took refuge under a portico until the rain lightened to a mere deluge as opposed to typhoon. Then we went to old Havana. We walked the tiny cobblestone streets, it reminded me of Europe, which makes sense because of the Spanish colonial architecture. We went to Pantangas, a famous cigar factory in Havana across from the Capitolio, a building reminiscent of our own Capitol building. A box of Cohebas in Pantangas would have set me back almost $200, so I opted to purchase mine elsewhere (ie the black market, aka the back room of someone’s apartment where they store the stolen contraband in their closet and sell it for $30 a box). Romeo y Julietas were less expensive at about $150 a box. So essentially, the Cuban people are funding their economy by inflating the price of cigars to an exorbitant almost extortionate level. On the other hand, rum, or ron, is fairly inexpensive, too bad no alcohol is allowed on the ship or I would have bought a case of Havana Club for like $12. Oh well, next time I’m in Cuba…oh right, can’t go back to Cuba, ever, that silly embargo is acting up again. So anywho, that night, I went to a beisbol game. It was the 4th game of the Cuban National Olympic playoffs, between the Occidentales and Orientales. It all came down to this night. If the Occidentales won this one, it was all over, they won the championships. The Occidentales were the favored team in Havana. We got there excessively early, and thus had our pick of seats. So my friends, Meg and Saudeka and I moved down to the first row on the first baseline. We had a great view of the Orientales warming up. Naturally we felt closer to them and decided to root for them, as they were the underdog, not to mention their 2nd baseman dropped his number in Saudeka’s lap. So we developed an affection and an attachment to the Orientales. Well, the game was really boring for the first five innings with the score remaining 0-0. Then in the 6th our team was up 2-0. Then in the 8th it was the Occidentales game with 2-6 score. We thought it was all over in the 9th when there were 2 outs on the Orientales, but then they almost pulled it out by having 2 men on and the batter hitting a homer. Oooooh it was exciting. I was jumping up and down. I thought they had a chance. And then the next batter struck out. He whiffed 3 times. All I could think was that it must feel awful to know that because of your poor hand eye coordination, your team lost its chance to win the championships. Grrrrrrrrrrr. So my team lost. But the man next to us, whom we had formed a little rivalry with during the game as he was an avid Occidentales supporter, was very happy, gloating even. Saudeka was complaining earlier about easy runs caused by walks, and he said, “Easy runs still count and we have more of them than you.” So Cubans have a healthy sense of competition and sarcasm. Hardy har har. We also met some American politicians from the Wisconsin/Michigan area visiting Cuba for 2 weeks. They were very interested in hearing about our program. I was interested in learning how they got into Cuba. I want to go back. Next day, wake up to a surprise. There are signs pasted all over the ship. Fidel Castro has decided to talk to us. All trips are altered. Schedules are changed, everyone has to be at the buses at 4 to go see Castro speak. OHMIGOD!!!!! How cool is that?!?!?! This is the whole reason I went on this trip. When else in my lifetime will I get to meet a national leader who has managed to retain power for over 50 years and still remains popular and is himself a large chunk of history, still in the making? Well, I hope I have more opportunities, but this was cool nonetheless. I was so excited. So we all got dressed up and headed for the buses at he appointed time. I got to sit relatively near the front. Castro entered the auditorium to a large amount of fanfare. A choir performed the National Anthem and another short piece. Castro made a short speech which included a reference to his reputation for speaking for “mucho tiempo,” but that we were lucky and he would not subject us to that this evening. So then he opened the floor to questions. The first was a question about his relationship with religious groups, in particular the Jewish community. He droned on an on about the history of religion in Cuba for about an hour, told an anecdote about a bird he knew from his childhood that was called the Jew bird. I don’t know anything more about Castro’s relationship with the Jewish community now then I did before he started talking. He is a master at evasion. Next, he was asked to sign a passport, and made a disclaimer before signing that if the boy was not allowed to reenter the US it was not his fault, but the boy could seek asylum in Cuba. Next a question by the boy whom I found among the most annoying on the ship, who is known for asking asinine questions, I should know since he was in two of my classes. When you start a question with a disclaimer of “Please don’t be offended by my question…” to the leader of a dictatorial nation, well, all I can say is stupid stupid stupid. And yet, this is the clip that made it on to CNN and some local news shows. Ah yes, we were on TV. I hope someone saw it and taped it. Oh well. Anywho, the kid asked if Castro assassinated JFK. Well, Castro waxed poetic about the choice made by the leaders of the revolucion against regicide, about how he had read several books about the mystery of the assassination, had met several members of the Kennedy family, including Jackie, John Jr., and Caroline, about the impossibility of the lone gunmen theory, but never did he make an affirmative or negative answer with regard to his involvement in the death of JFK. So the mystery will remain as such. The man made a point of comparing the US to Cuba. He pointed out the successes of the Cuban national healthcare system, in which healthcare is free to all Cubans. They have succeeded in lowering infant mortality rates to lower than the US rate, increasing life span, increasing vaccinations, and eradicating some deadly diseases like polio. He also talked about national education, which is free to all Cubans as well. The last question was a request for a hug from Fidel. So in total, Castro spoke for 4 hours and answered a total of 2 questions. TWO!!!! That’s insane!!!! So much for not subjecting us to lengthy diatribes. All in all though, it was really cool listening to Castro speak. It was history in the making. Afterwards, Castro threw us a party where the food was not so good and taken away after about 10 minutes, but where the rum ran like a waterfall. Ahhh, Cuba is great. Their priorities are different than ours, but that’s not to say bad, just different. We salsa danced to popular Cuban tunes and drank Cuba Libres till the break of dawn. It was fabulous. Thank you, El Lider, El Jefe, El Capitan!!!! Last day in Cuba. So sad, because not only do we have to leave Cuba, but there is only one day left to the whole of SAS. I want to cry. Since, I am broke, (oh yeah, forgot to tell you how the administration forgot to tell us that is impossible to get funds in Cuba due to the embargo…..thus I entered Cuba with only $24 USD to my name) I decide to go get my cigars (of the black market variety of course) and then stick to the ship. Ahhhhh, shopping for cigars on the black market is fun. We went to meet Saudeka’s contact at the market. They then lead us to their apartment where four people are sitting in a space about 10’x10’, most of which is occupied by a bed, drinking white rum by the glass-full. The man takes out the sample boxes of contraband for us to inspect and make our final choices. As you know, “soy pobre” so I decide to split a box of Cohebas with Sophie. So I am bringing home 12 high quality stolen black market Cuban cigars. YAY!!!!! So he goes to his secret hiding place to get our cigars. He lets us inspect them, then wraps them carefully to conceal what they are from the police, who by the way are standing on the corner when we walk past on our way back to the ship. Then, for the rest of the day I sit in my room and watch Will and Grace and Friends for the 500th time. That night, our Cuban friends are all standing in the port terminal waving Cuban flags to see us off as we leave Cuba. We were supposed to sail at 10pm…so we went out to say goodbye at 9. So after about 5 minutes of waving, we get bored. Thus, this leads to some craziness. The Cubans decide to start whipping the flags up to us. Needless to say, not everyone in Cuba can be a professional beisbol player. At least half of the flags land on the ground, in the bay, or almost killing someone. So we start writing messages on them and throwing them back. Roberto had asked us for some magazines, so Kari runs down to get some. We have one of the professor’s husband, an ex-pro Cricket player from Pakistan, whip them down to him. First comes Time, then Newsweek, both very interesting at first, then goes Cosmo. Well, all hell breaks loose. All the boys are riveted. Forget all of us American students who are leaving soon, they have trashy girly magazines with scantily clad models and movie stars to look at now. Then we started lobbing over all sorts of stuff that we had left over—bubbles, lollipops, Mardi gras beads, t-shirts, etc etc. It was insane. Injuries were incurred by many an innocent bystander. But it was fun, and I will never forget leaving Cuba amidst the backdrop of flying banderas and beads. It was colorful and memorable. Finally we pulled away, and the end truly began.
