11 Sunday Dec 2016
Posted in Cuba
Here is a good follow-up to our visit to Cuba (See the link to a recent article below.). While we found the food in Cuba to be only moderately interesting, apparently we are ingrates. Tourists are eating up all the fresh fruits and vegetables in Cuba, along with the best cuts of meat and leaving nothing for people who have to live on a salary of Cuban pesos. Is tourism good or bad in this situation?
Tourists are eating up all of Cuba’s produce
This is one of the more expensive, co-op markets.
02 Wednesday Nov 2016
Posted in Cuba
Internet
There is no internet in Cuba. If you believe those who say there is limited access depending on where you are, you will waste a lot of time trying to connect to systems that have the broadband width of a human hair. Turn your devices off, bring a book to read and try not to think about it. Leave a phone number to be used in case of emergency—there probably won’t be one.
Travel
We went with a tour (see US Citizens, below). I have no useful information about either air or ground travel to or in Cuba because we had pre-arranged transport. Taxis are relatively expensive in Havana ($15-20 each way to the Tropicana and more if you take a vintage ride). As I mentioned in a previous post, we went with Insight Cuba and were very satisfied with the Cuba portion of our tour, and had excellent guides. We were less than satisfied with our pre-tour contacts, orientation and information.
Shopping
Cuba is schizophrenic right now. Some items are inexpensive, such as souvenirs at the many kiosks around interesting sites and in downtown areas like Old Havana or Trinidad. 
Souvenirs purchased during visits to artist’s studios are enormously overpriced and rely on captive tour groups to purchase them before they find out that you can purchase a similar item for 2/3 less elsewhere. Art purchased from studios also varies wildly in quality and price. Artists who have been “discovered” by the outside world ask high prices, while undiscovered artists have more modest prices. 
We visited a gallery where the artist recently returned from a successful show in Minneapolis and tripled his prices. He is still selling and his work is very skilled—can we begrudge him this good fortune? Beware the artist who has merely tripled his prices without displaying commensurate skill!
Money
Cuba has an unattractive exchange rate. Each Cuban convertible peso (or “kook”) costs US$1 plus 13%, or US $1.13=CUC $1. There is no legal alternative to this exchange rate and it seemed unwise to inquire about a black market of currency. Cuba also has a currency called the Cuban peso (or CUP) that is not technically available to foreigners. US $1= CUP 23. A foreigner can possess this currency but it cannot be used in most places tourists visit. These CUP can be used in some stores and ice cream parlors where subsidized goods are sold. Thus nine of us ate ice cream one evening for CUP 24.50 or slightly more than US $1. We didn’t realize that the ice cream place only took CUP when we went in and we were amazed by the price (Our Cuban guide came along and paid our bill). On the other hand, there was only one flavor. Everyone in Cuba receives a ration book for highly subsidized food products each month with prices payable in CUP. That effectively eliminates hunger in Cuba because everyone gets rice, beans, oil, coffee, sugar and a few other things at minimal cost. There is probably a lively black market in these items, but our tour guides didn’t discuss it.
….and Tipping
An unanticipated outcome of the currency system is that tipping itself is a major industry in Cuba. We were told that a typical salary in Cuba is US $20 per month, or 460 CUP. A US $1/1 CUC tip therefore amounts to 5% of a regular Cuban salary and consequently even the woman who tends a restroom and receives twenty-five cents CUC per person has the potential to make far more money than a person at a salaried job. Restroom attendants clear away all the small change and leave 1 CUC coins in their little dish so that if you are confused about the cost of a pit stop you can feel free to leave them a dollar/CUC.
Music at Breakfast–don’t forget to tip.
There were also musicians everywhere, in the street, at every site, at every restaurant, even at the hotel’s breakfast buffet! Musicians offer you the opportunity to purchase a CD for about 8 CUC, or to give them a tip.
Everyone would like a tip. Normalizing relations with the outside world will require some difficult changes to the monetary system. NB: Our local tour guide had been a teacher, but realized that his income would be far greater as a guide. Cuba has a really admirable history of teaching everyone to read and write, as well as providing excellent low cost health care. Can this be sustained when all the teachers and doctors realize that they can earn a lot more money as restroom attendants, waiters and tour guides?
If you are NOT a US Citizen
Go to Cuba—now—prices are only going up. Head to the beach spot of your choice and any side trips you want based on your own interests. In addition to the civic orchestra that plays community concerts twice a month in Trinidad, I enjoyed visiting Hemingway’s house outside Havana, and Carlos Fuster’s crazily mosaic-covered fantasyland and studio. 
The show at the Tropicana was also a lot of fun (skip the dinner). You might want to take a ride in a vintage convertible. Have a great time.
US Citizens
Was our trip to Cuba wonderful? Should you book a trip to Cuba right away, “before it all changes?”
Whoa.
There are things to consider before you rush off to Cuba. The most important issue applies only to US citizens. You cannot go to Cuba for a beach vacation until the embargo is lifted. If you’re thinking of a week or two in the sun, forget it. US citizens must go on a “culturally meaningful people-to-people exchange” program. We had a good time, but only had one noontime opportunity to swim in the gorgeous warm Caribbean water.
We did have the chance to visit a polyclinic, listen to the adult choir at a geriatric center, visit an animation studio for a short film, and see the Bay of Pigs museum for the Cuban side of the story. We saw a wood carver’s studio, a print studio, and a ceramicist’s studio. We heard the civic orchestra in Trinidad, and they turned out to be a passionate, wonderfully skilled group of eight professional musicians who filled a concert hall all by themselves. They even had a handsome young violist as spokesperson. Cuba was interesting and surprising, but not relaxing, because the US doesn’t allow it, yet.
You should book your tour to Cuba if you are avidly interested in a) the history of Cuba’s wars of independence, the Cold War and the Bay of Pigs, or b) Cuban baseball, or c) automobiles from the 1950s that survive in Cuba (approx. model years 1947-1961). Otherwise, I suggest you wait until the US embargo is lifted, possibly in 2017. (It didn’t get lifted). Then book yourself a beach vacation, whether at a resort in Varadero or an AirBnB anywhere, and enjoy sitting in the sun and staring at the impossibly beautiful water, because the ocean is one of Cuba’s greatest resources. It’s worth waiting for.
30 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in Cuba
Tags
I’d like to begin by discussing the really ancient architecture of Cuba, but we didn’t get to any archaeological sites apart from the footings of a few colonial-era walls that have been cleared in Old Havana. Archaeological work in Havana is directed by the city Historian, who seems to be in charge of a lot of the cultural entities. The oldest surviving structures easily visible are the forts around Havana.
There are many graceful old buildings in Havana that mostly date to the 19th century. Condition varies and our guides tell us there have been times when people could not afford any repairs or even paint. That situation is changing.
Much of Old Havana is being repaired and renovated (left).
In other neighborhoods the renovated buildings are interspersed with buildings in need of a facelift (right).
Some places have a lot of character even though they are in need of work (above).
This building is just starting the renovation process. In the photo below, you can see the canopy of the entryway (left side of the upper photo). The glass panels are a traditional decorative technique.
Fanlights of colored or painted glass were used frequently. Some are stained glass, but many panels of glass are held together with narrow strips of wood.
There are some great details:
In addition to architecture that comes from the colonial tradition, there is some newer work that shows off the versatility of cement. I believe these were mostly built in the 60s and 70s.
There are not many of these “space age” buildings. 
My overall impression of Cuba was of graceful buildings in many places and lots of interesting architecture to look at.
28 Friday Oct 2016
Posted in Cuba
Tags
Not knowing much about vintage cars, I figured out that the models you see in Cuba range from about 1947-1961. Some are beautifully restored, others less so. It is fun to look at them, like being on a movie set. Here is a slideshow of the ones I managed to photograph. I was unable to get a good photo of a motorcycle and side car with its passengers, or the motor scooter with dad driving, mom on the back and a baby squashed between the two (Mom and dad wear helmets). There are also cargo trucks that have been turned into buses, horse drawn buses that hold eight passengers, and bicycles, though we were told that people got so tired of going by bicycle during the 1990s (The Special Period), that they don’t like them much anymore.
26 Wednesday Oct 2016
Actually getting to Cuba is the first part of the tour’s adventure, as it turns out. 
We met our group the night before departure and they proved to be a congenial bunch.
We had to be at the airport three hours ahead of time (boring), but we saw the array of goods that people take to Cuba. We later heard that every Cuban who visits the US may take two televisions back with them each year, and we saw clear evidence of this in the Miami airport….55 inch screens seemed to be popular. Despite our tour company suggesting we bring a 22 lb bag, we found the luggage limit for travel to Cuba is three 70 lb checked bags. People definitely were aware of this option.
Marlon sings karaoke with “Bailando” on the bus.
We traveled with Insight Cuba, on their Classic Cuba tour. Our logistics person was Alfredo from Costa Rica, and our local guide was Marlon. Our driver was Manuel. The team was excellent. The tour ran smoothly, there was daily communication about plans and any changes being made. They handled all issues and Marlon is full of Cuba content. As a former teacher, he knows what life is like in Cuba for most people, and he was diplomatic about issues of politics and race.
Though a lot of waiting was involved, we got to Cuba pretty painlessly and no one in our group was stopped or inspected with any particular scrutiny. 
We visited Revolution Square in Havana on our way in, and I found it much bigger and less park-like than I expected. The iron faces of heroes were impressive.
We had a welcome dinner at Los Naranjos, one of Cuba’s paladares, privately owned restaurants that began in homes, though many are now full-fledged restaurants with room for tens of diners.
We heard a lecture on architecture, visited Old Havana and a center for elderly people who sang us a song and were charming to chat with for a few minutes.
I managed a swim in the hotel pool at the end of the day before we left for dinner. The next day we went to the market, where we tried to purchase food for an entire meal with 1 CUC (US $1.13). It was possible, but not easy (no meat). We also visited a dance company, a museum of the great Literacy campaign of the early 1960s in Cuba, and an animation studio.
Here are my new animated friends.
Our restaurant surroundings were lovely for lunch and dinner every day, but the lack of ripe tomatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables and the same entrée choices started to become apparent by the third day. The next day was a visit to the huge Cristobal Colon cemetery (Jose Marti is not buried there), followed by a medical clinic, and after lunch the studio of a well-known ceramic artist, Beatriz Santacana. We got on the road the next day for Cienfuegos, and stopped at the beach for lunch and an excellent talk about the national park adjacent to the Bay of Pigs. Our only swim in the Caribbean was here and it was wonderful.
This fish is a pentyptych ? (five panels) painted bas relief.
I was ready to sit under an umbrella all afternoon, but it was not to be. We were due to stop at the museum that tells the Cuban story of the Bay of Pigs and move on to our stay at “casas particulares” private home B&Bs in Cienfuegos. Jonathan and I had a room that was pretty basic, but the air conditioning worked. The public areas of the house were very pretty and airy, though we had little time to sit with our feet up. The next day we visited Trinidad, a town preserved by a big economic slump during most of the 20th century. There we walked on the old cobblestone streets, visited the architecture museum, met with a priest of Santeria, and saw the studio of a very creative woodcarver, who began using old cabinet doors as the material for his bas-relief portraits when artists materials were scarce during the 1990s and beyond. I think everyone slept on the bus back to Cienfuegos.
The next morning we were back on the bus, first visiting a printer’s studio that specializes in wood block and linoleum prints. I did buy an eight-color lino print that I like a lot. Later I found out that most of the people who work there are not paid but live off their government ration cards and what they make from selling prints.
We next heard the Cienfuegos Municipal Orchestra play and they were wonderful, full of energy, as well as very good. There are eight musicians and all teach in the local art school as well as performing concerts twice each month.
From the orchestra we headed back to Havana, stopping only for sandwiches on bread shaped like a Cuban crocodile.
Before arriving at the hotel, we stopped at Hemingway’s house outside Havana. The man knew how to live. The house is comfortable and airy, with a big pool and beautiful gardens surrounding it. Decor is heavy on dead animals, but we knew he was a big-game hunter. The cape buffalo head is pretty massive and would be a bit strange presiding over a cocktail party.
This was our final full day in Cuba, so we celebrated by going to the famous Tropicana nightclub show. Dinner began at 8:30pm and the show started at 10. The dinner was utterly uninspired, but by purchasing it on top of our admission fee we qualified for good seats by the stage.
We rode home with our heads full of the colorful frenetic dancing. But that wasn’t the end. The next morning we made one last stop at the fanciful compound of artist Carlos Fuster, who has developed a project to cover his home and neighborhood with mosaics. 
It looks a bit like Gaudi’s mosaics in Parque Guell in Barcelona, doesn’t it?
We decided on a group photo in front of one of the community-made mosaics by Casa Fuster. Then we said goodbye to Cuba.
Our week in Cuba is a bit compressed because I was unable to get internet access and had to wait and post when we returned. Still to come are my posts on vintage American cars in Cuba and Cuban architecture. Last but far from least will be my opinionated “Good Things to Know About Cuba.”
