It’s funny because I’ve been so busy describing all the beautiful things in Habana that I’ve completely forgotten about my residence. The place we’re living is a stunning colonial home located in Vedado, a beautiful neighborhood with huge Spanish style homes and streets lined with enormous mango and fico trees. Our home is a two story, stucco, lemon yellow abode with a marble veranda on the second floor that looks out at the Chinese embassy (another gorgeous mansion that so far has shown no signs of life). We’re able to watch the weather come and go from the veranda as we sway on bright blue rocking chairs and converse in the afternoon. Later in the evening we use the veranda as a dance floor and speak in Spanish as much as possible. We also have a nice porch out front where we can entertain guests with more rocking chairs and a small garden full of weird flowers and palm trees.
I share a room with Aidan and while its tiny, it’s cozy with long windows looking out over other houses, we can see people cooking and hanging their laundry, and can yell hello to the little girl next door who’s always playing outside. We have our own bathroom WITH a toilet seat, which we have discovered is a luxury, but no hot water. We also have a small dining hall where we eat breakfast and dinner everyday. We discovered the food we are given at our residence is FAR better than most other food in Cuba, although that’s not saying much. We get fresh guava and watermelon and these DELICIOUS fried balls of rice called croquettas. I feel really fortunate to live here and for the most part everyone that works here is really sweet and as eager to practice their English as we are to practice our Spanish which makes for these strange bi-lingual conversations.
Today Aidan, Allie, Eliza and I went to the beach. While looking for a cab a woman in once of those pre-revolutionary American cars drove up and asked us where we needed to go. She agreed to charge us 25 CUC to take us to the beach, wait for us, and then drive us home, so off we went in a 1949 baby blue Plymouth. The beach was 20 miles away but we weren’t able to go much faster than 30 mph so it took us 40 minutes. The car shook and trembled the whole way there and once we were forced to stop and pour water over the engine so it wouldn’t overheat. All the while, our new Cuban mother clucked over us telling us to make sure we don’t go off by ourselves with a man and pointing out all the different sights along the road. She told us about her family and how most of them are in Miami and when we asked if she wanted to go too she said no. It’s strange because most people I’ve talked to have family in Miami but rarely do they want to join them. Tonight a guy I was talking to said to me, “I am opposed to Fidel and don’t believe Cuba is a Socialist country but I am also opposed to the U.S. I think the Cubans who leave are usually the worst Cubans and I would never want to be associated with them.” He then quickly added, “Don’t tell anyone what I said about Fidel.” This actually brings me to a whole new topic about the different opinions Cubans have about their government, but I’m trying to tell the beach story so I’ll finish that up quickly.
When we reached the beach it was the most breathtaking place I had ever seen. Fine sand and calm aqua water. It was crowded but no one bothered us and we swam for hours. It was sublime. Unfortunately I am now nursing a sunburn on my chest even though I applied a lot of sunscreen numerous times, but it was worth it.
Ok, now back to the government. I’ve spoken with two people who have expressed entirely different views on the Cuban government. One was an Afro-Cubana woman in Santiago and another was a man who works at my residence of Philippino and Spanish descent. The woman in Santiago was very supportive of the revolution. She explained that her family had been slaves and then laborers who were paid very little before the revolution. Once the revolution occurred though, her family received the land she lives on now that had been passed down from her grandparents to her parents to her. She said that without the revolution she would have never been able to go to school or get a job other than domestic worker, or have any sort of healthcare. She recognized the problems within the government, mainly being that with the growth of tourism and the desire to send Cuban doctors abroad the quality of healthcare has decreased and foreigners have been given preference over Cubans. She also said that the food rations were often not enough. In the end though, she felt she had a better life because of the revolution.
The man who works at my residence felt completely opposite. His grandfather had come from the Philippines and at some point came to acquire an airplane company and multiple houses all around Cuba. This of course was all taken from him by the government once the revolution succeeded. He felt that Fidel had good ideas in the beginning and still, many of his ideas now are good in theory but it’s never played out in the way it is promised. He said that Fidel had been corrupted by his power and nothing was different than before the revolution, most of the people have nothing and a few people have everything. He said he couldn’t understand why you could find American products everywhere, shoes, clothing, drinks, etc but there were no supplies in the hospitals. When I asked him if he thought it was due to the embargo he said that he didn’t think the embargo effected anything, if Cuba is able to get American shoes through other countries they should be able to get medicine too. Him and Sandra both shared the same complaint though that tourists were treated far better in most aspects than Cubans.
What I found interesting about these two conversations was that they both had more or less polar opinions about the revolution but their family’s situation was also different. Her's was from a poor family who was given land and opportunity but his was from a wealthy family who had everything taken away. I couldn’t help but wonder how much of that had to do with their beliefs, they probably understand the effects of the revolution from day to day, knowing that they could either have nothing or everything if things had never changed. There is certainly a lot to think about here, so look forward to more. I miss you all. If you have any questions leave me a comment and I’ll try my best answer.