Cuba: A Land Unknown

Cuba!  What of this beautiful island, to close to our shores? So few Americans get to enjoy the true ;sabor’ (flavor) of this island - only the lucky few (like this writer) who qualify for special licenses or permits. And it is truly a shame, because, despite its problems, despite the distance from the ideals Americans hold so dear, Cuba is, well, nothing short of fantastic. An island with so much passion, drive, spirit, verve - noted in the food, music, dance, and hearts of the Cuban people. Beauty - so unknown. It is so hard to sum it all up. Try as you might, you can’t take it all in in one trip.
Upon first disembarking from the plane, you are met with the warmth and friendliness, helpfulness, and kindness of this very spirited country. Their vivid colors are as apparent in the clothes they wear as in the stories they tell.
On Bulevar a street in Havana with many interesting shops, while waiting in line for ice-cream, a Cuban woman hears my accent and asks me where I am from. “I am from the states,” I reply. She smiles warmly, ear to ear, reaches for the cross around my neck and kisses it, telling me “May God bless you and welcome to Cuba.” As a foreigner, I often felt like the flavor of the month there. Cubans like foreigners.
From the Malecon, (seafront), where the waves break along the wall of the street, lined with lovely hotels and with the constant sound of the sea rushing to the shore beating against the rocks, to the lights of the lovely shops on and near Paseo in Havana, there is that constant verve. The Malecon is more than five kilometers long, running along the Cuban coastline. I took advantage of the great opportunity to do some running along the Malecon, only to be periodically drenched when the sea jumped over the wall – something that Cuban passers-by never failed to get a laugh out of.

In the ‘Casa’
Closer to home, the mother or grandmother of the house makes the little cafecitos – that Cuban style coffee in the little espresso cups. Doorway to doorway, you might see men sternly slap down a few dominoes; you see televisions -  most of which are so old that they require constant jiggling and joggling -  that flash pictures of telenovelas (Spanish soap operas).
So many of the things we take for granted – like buying Comet or disposable diapers or toilet paper and napkins – these can be luxuries
for the typical Cuban (the average Cuban salary is about $9-$11 USD a month, paid in Cuban pesos. Most all goods are sold for US dollars, and many store prices are on a par with the U.S. – some are even higher!)
Yes, we see how the stories we have all heard about the “repressive communist regime” have played out. And we wonder how the Cubans cope - how they get by. Not all is bad; in Cuba, medical care and education are free, and Cuba boasts a very high literacy rate, low infant mortality rate, and high life expectancy – one of the best in Latin America. But at the same time, government food rations only last for about 5-6 days worth of food, transport is difficult (which can impede medical care availability – as frequently medical care needed is not available locally). Without help from Miami relatives or “movement of money” amongst themselves (selling pastels, cerveza (beer), sewing services, or just about anything), many Cubans find it very difficult to live. Everything and anything seems to be available on the black market. Cubans are a resourceful people who, as many put it saben inventar (know how to invent). “We Cubans, “ says a passer-by on the Malecon, “Estamos acostumbrados. Contamos chistes. (We’re used to it. We just make jokes (and get on with our lives.)”

Housing
Houses contain rigid furniture – not stuffed or padded like here – but carved wood.  Most Cubans live in stone/mortar type housing. There is a considerable variation from house to house; “outhouses” with cesspools are not uncommon. Many homes have real bathrooms but the majority do not have running water, so nothing works. I had to learn to bathe with “the bucket and the little cup.”
Flushing the toilet in Cuba was a new task for me; I learned that you could pour water in it to get it to flush - that is, if you were in your own house. The fun really began if you went to a restaurant or movie theatre where the toilet may not have been flushed since the morning – and you yourself had no way to flush it before you used it! Loads of fun! Ahhh, Cuba!
Frequently old books will be placed in the bathroom, the pages of which are to be used for paper.  Nothing compared to my trusty travel toilet tissue which I learned to have with me at all times.
Things are so old in Cuba. Cars. Televisions. Refrigerators. Most of the refrigerators remind me of the one my grandmom had way back when - some twenty years old. But they still run. Cubans are a resourceful people. They have had to be - and they have been.
A newt or a salamander scampers by inside the house – and is tolerated or ignored. As are ants and mosquitoes. In the states, they would have been shooed out or killed.  It is hard for Cubans to  get products that we take for granted in the states (cleaners, bug spray, diapers, toothpaste, razors, Windex ) – on and on. Cubans have simply had to learn to live without things that we could not bear to be without.
As the trip progresses, I hop a Viazul bus, a lovely air-conditioned, modern, comfortable bus with TV and artsy films. I take the eight hour trip down to Camaguey, a city in the central part of Cuba.
In Camaguey, I see horse and buggies (wow! What a harkening to the past!) I meet a lovely dulcero (baker of sweets/cakes) and his wife. They bake cakes in an oven that reminds me of a pottery kiln. It is made of stone, with a fire somewhere at the rear when you open the door, or I should say, take the door off.  The door is braced on with an iron post.
The cakes were all the same color and flavor, like a tan color – but good - and, since butter is hard to come by, especially the amount you would need for icing, almost all icing in Cuba is really merengue, (made from egg whites.) The dulcero and his wife patiently beat the egg whites – for almost a half an hour, with a machine that reminded me of a shoemaker’s apparatus; it had a  belt that turned the beater blades. Cubans can do so much with so little. Ironically, at the dulcero’s wife said to me, “That’s why I like central Camaguey; you can get everything you need.” Perspective is an interesting thing.
 
Food
If you’re looking for rice and beans, and pork, pork, and more pork, you’re at home in Cuba! But why did most everything just taste so much better in Cuba?  The platanos tasted so much more flavorful. Even the eggs. And yes, even the pork (though if I ate another piece of pork I would probably have started to squeal). But I had to admit that no matter how it was cooked or what cut (pork ribs, pork chops, chicharron - pork rinds, etc.) there was just more flavor.
For special occasions Cubans, will often roasted a whole pork – lechon  - we did so for New Year’s. Was that ever good! With all the scarcity and difficulty in making ends meet, you will not find a Cuban who will begrudge you a good meal, with lots of offers for more and more helpings.
In downtown Camaguey I sampled Cuban pizza – which was – shall we say different. But good. A far cry from American pizza. One I tried looked like a slice of a loaf of French bread with tomato sauce and cheese on top. But it was strangely good – just different.  Even the coffee – though they make it espresso style without the milk – served in the little cups. It seemed that everything on this island had more flavor.


Transportation
Shal I title this paragraph "Transportation?" Because there is none in Cuba. Virtually. Getting around in Cuba is difficult¬ outside of Havana, where you can always find a taxi. In other areas, especially el campo, things are not so easy. Most Cubans take the guaguas (buses) which are quite cheap, but not supposed to take foreigners.
Driving through Cuba is lovely but at the same time, you do feel though the communist presence. At any time you can be stopped and searched.
My favorite way to get around was to pay a private driver. Luckily we never got stopped. Had we been stopped I am told, nothing could happen to me, but the poor driver could lose his car or go to jail – just because I was in the car. I asked about why they would take the chance, and the answer was “Well, I would probably just say, ‘I didn’t know she wasn’t Cuban. I only talked to her boyfriend – not her. I thought she was Cuban.” Yes, there are some advantages to being a Latina  – especially on this island! In some areas you can take a bicitaxi  for just a few Cuban pesos. Again, they are not supposed to take foreigners, but many will.

People
In spite of all of its problems, it is hard to be lonely in Cuba, with such keen attention to community and family among the people. One need not go to a disco or bar to have fun (though they are always viable options) - why, you can just sit on your front porch and, here comes one neighbor, then another, and then another. And then there is a stereo with music here, and ron (rum) there (the Havana Club is great, by the way) and lots of laughing, and there you have it. A domino game (Cubans love dominoes)  - an instant party! You don’t have to find it as you do in the states; it comes to you. 
Cuba has something that the United States does not, something that fills the hole of emptiness I see in so many Americans. In spite of the unavailability of all the comfort products you are used to, the limited variety of food, no running water, and so on, somehow you just feel more whole there, because there, there are always people. Warm people. In the states, so much of the community and family tradition has been lost. In Cuba, it abounds. I never felt lonely in Cuba.

Language
The word “?Como?” became my mantra. Cubans speak very fast. With my non-native speaker Spanish I had to ask people to repeat themselves many times. When Cubans speak, though they may say several words, somehow I only hear one long word. But just ask them to repeat. They don’t get mad, stuffy, or upset. In typical Cuban friendly fashion, they very happily and generously repeat, using hand gestures as often as they need to to get you to understand. If there was ever a place to learn Spanish without a fear of ridicule it is Cuba, in spite of their rapidity of speech, because they help you – they are so nice and patient.

How does the Guatemalan singer Ricardo Arjona say it?

-Olvidarte es mas dificil que una flaca en un Botero*
-Que encontrarse a un gato verde,
-o a un cubano sin sabor

(Forgetting you is more difficult
than finding a thin woman in a Botero painting,
finding a green cat, or
(finding) a Cuban with no "sabor" (verve).