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So Saturday I had already planned to go to Vinales, a beautiful area in the province of Pinar del Rio, 190 km west of Havana. I took the Viazul bus from the Havana station, which is a modern bus network more or less for tourists and the one way fare is US$12 (way too much for the locals, most of whom end up taking local taxis or the cheaper and less reliable, more decrepit Astro bus system).

My reception in Vinales.

A young Cuban man sat down beside me in the bus terminal and tried to offer me accommodation in his private home in Pinar del Rio (one version of the shadow economy which is centered around tourists).

Vinales on a sunny day.

After I told him I already had accommodation, he started to talk to me about life in Cuba and how hard it is and that is extremely difficult to survive economically. He told me he only makes US$24 a month, working for the national(ized) telecommunications company.

He also said that recently financial transfers from Cuban emigrants, particularly from Miami, have been cut back to US$100, which works out to CUC 92 (Cuban Convertible Pesos, which used to be 1:1 with the US Dollar) and that soon US$100 would work out to even 8% less. He basically just spilled over with unhappiness about the economic situation.

The trip to Vinales was about 3. 25 hours long and along the way it started to rain. Vinales is known for its beautiful limestone formations, the “Mogotes”, box-like mountains that grow straight out of a flat valley floor with often vertical walls and hundreds of limestone caves. Probably 30 or 40 people were waiting at the bus stop in Vinales, all owners of private bed and breakfasts (or “casas particulares”) ready to pick up tourists staying with them.

Church in Vinales.

My hostess, Sandra, a beautiful young woman of 28 years, was there too with a sign saying?Susanne – Canada” on it. It’s a strange feeling arriving in a foreign country, in a strange town, not knowing anybody, and seeing your name printed on a sign first thing you arrive. My hostess took me to their Casa Particular, a simple colonial 2 bedroom house, with a brand-new bathroom for the guests, and an old decrepit bathroom (without sink or toilet seat) for the owners.

My hostess had to work and I was very tired, and it was raining anyway, so I slept for a few hours until I received my home-cooked dinner directly in the private house. In a conversation with the young woman I found out that she makes the equivalent of US$13 per month (and a simple pair of Jeans costs US$20!), so she supplements her income with the bed and breakfast (another one of the few private types of business allowed).

The night cost me US$20. 00 and the dinner with drink was US$10. 00 for a complete dinner with chicken, arroz congri (rice with black beans) and salad. The food was very simple and not particularly spicy or tasty. We had a fascinating conversation and I found out that women today, despite economic hardships, have it a lot better since the revoluation.

Cuba is a traditionally a country with a lot of machismo, and the revolution has done a lot for women. They now receive educational opportunities and can obtain education and work which was very difficult before. Many of the educated women work in ministries or universities and have a fairly decent standard of living.

I received a few explanations about the relations between men and women in Cuba (e. g. that modern educated women no longer accpet those machista attitudes of Cuban men, but that there are still many traditional young women without self-esteem or education that are more or less at the mercy of their boyfriends/husbands). I also found out that it is not allowed for a private bed and breakfast owner to employ a maid (due to their exploitation in the past), but that everybody does it anyway, since people have to work full-time to make a living and don? have time to manage the day-to-day chores of running a small hospitality establishment in addition to working outside the house.

My hostess’ common-law boyfriend told me about the medical system in Cuba, that he had a benign tumor in his tibia (after having been a national calibre rower and basketball player) and that he received an implant in his leg consisting of coral, from 2 of the most well-respected doctors in Cuba.

His operation was based on new surgical techniques from the US and since the operation his life is almost normal, he walks completely normally, except he can no longer run or play basketball.

All Cubans I have met so far are extremely proud of their country’s achievements in public medicine, public education, literacy and opportunities for women and minorities (while at the same time some of them are quite vocal about all the economic hardships and other restrictions imposed by the government). Definitely some interesting insights. . . . Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions.

Travel and Transitions deals with travel to foreign countries and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. Life is a Journey? Explore New Horizons. Please take advantage of her articles here: Travel Stories and Photos

Author: Susanne Pacher

Thanks to a severe case of the Revenge of Montezuma (or Ricky Ricardo?..,) I am sitting here in the Hotel Havana Libre and I finally get around to create updates from my first 4.5 days here in Cuba. The Internet connection is definitely the slowest I have ever seen in my entire life, (15 minutes to access my messages at Yahoo..), but I am giving it a shot anyways.

Capitolio Nacional in Havana.

Friday morning I arrived at the airport in Toronto at 5:30 am since my husband gave me a ride before work. The plane was scheduled to leave at 10:30 and several transfers with public transport would have taken me 2.5 hours anyway, so I decided to head there early and read a book.

Air Canada was delayed after all (due to a problem with the water supply on the plane) and we had to wait for a substitute plane from Winnipeg and finally got off the ground at about noon. 3.5 hours later we arrived at the airport Jose Marti in Havana – a reasonably modern airport. However, it took me and the other travellers almost 2 hours to collect our luggage and finally hop into a taxi.

On the way in from the airport I noticed that there was a mixture of industrial developments and agricultural areas, right up until the centre of the city, which is strange compared to Toronto, where there is no significant agriculture until way outside the city. The older gentleman driving the taxi was very friendly and explained a few basic things to me, e.g. that most of the area is industrial and agricultural. He also showed the National Sports Centre to me. Of course you see old cars from the 50s and earlier as well as beat-up Russian Ladas everywhere. Old sidecar motorcycles are also a popular way to get around.

I finally arrived at my hotel at about 6 pm where my brand-new friend Pedro (a connection through a friend in Canada) was waiting for me. I had told my friend that I wanted to really spend some time with locals to learn about Cuba, its customs, its way of life etc.

Pedro is a brown-skinned black man in his late thirties with a common-law wife and a young daughter. An extremely nice person and he´s been very gracious in taking me around and explaining things to me.

After I dropped off my suitcase and refreshed myself a little, we hopped into a private individual’s car (a practice extremely common in Cuba), he paid a few local pesos and we were whisked downtown in a very old beat-up Lada which ended up picking up various other locals along the way.

Habana Vieja is a fascinating colonial city and the age and beauty of the building is astounding. Of course I saw the Capitolio (very similar to the Capital in Washington), several of the big museums, the Hotel Inglaterra and some of the bars that Hemingway frequented.

I also saw the big spider exhibit of 2 metallic spiders that are located right in the heart of downtown, an exhibit by a French sculptress that will stay in Havana until April 28 and then apparently move on to New York.

Spider Exhibit in Havana.

We walked around and chatted about life in Cuba and I started to learn a few things, about some of the practical consequences of the revolution (e.g. blacks have it much better today than before, and there is relatively little racism according to Pedro), and the double economy, where locals receive their salary in Pesos Cubanos, (around US$8 to $30 a month), which is not even close to enough for living, so everybody participates in the underground economy in some way.

We had a reasonably expensive meal in a downtown “Paladar”, a private restaurant in a private home with a maximum of 12 seats, one of the few official private enterprises allowed. When asked about the future of Cuba after Fidel, both my new-found friend and the old man running the Paladar indicated that they thought not much would change after a future passing of Fidel. (Actually the mention of Fidel´s passing often makes people pull up their hands in front of their mouths and start to speak very quietly…).

After the meal, Pedro again flagged down a private vehicle, we hopped in and I got dropped off at the hotel, dropping into bed like a tired sack of potatoes. But I definitely had a great introduction to life in Cuba on my first evening….

Author : Susanne Pacher -
Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (www.travelandtransitions.com), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.