we are far too young and clever

First of all, 10 bonus points to the person who can tell me which song that line is from! :-)

So, long time no write, eh? There hasn't been too much going on here in Querétaro these days other than school and the such like. A few weeks back some friends and I did go to a Maná concert here in town and it was quite fantastic! I have somewhat rediscovered my love of concerts here in Mexico. Maná is, arguably, one of the most popular rock bands here in Mexico so there were a ton of people and everyone was very excited. I love the excitement of the crowds, especially with this concert since it was all in Spanish and I couldn't really sing along with the songs as I might normally if I was at a concert of someone more familiar. They fed my joy in being there and I loved watching everyone sing and dance, especially one group of guys of varying ages nearby that seemed to simply be enjoying each others company and singing, without the facade of machismo that may at other times restrain them.

¡CUBA!
The one big-deal thing of late is that I just got back a week ago from having spent a week in Cuba during our break for la Semana Santa or Holy Week (or as we Americans call it, Spring Break). It was quite incredible, though even as I am typing this I am wondering how I am going to organize my thoughts as they are still a bit of a jumble in my brain. Bear with me as I try to sort all of this out.

One of the first things that may have popped into your mind may be, "How did you manage that with the embargo between the US and Cuba?" Well, I have actually had about five American friends here that have made the trip, so the way had been paved for us already.

Originally the plan was for my roommate, Bridgid, and I to go and then our friend Darcy said she was interested too. We searched online but ran into a wall when we wanted to buy airline tickets. We ended up going to a travel agent and a woman named Blanca hooked us up. Unfortunately, due to some previous plans that Bridgid had made for the break, taking a week-long trip to Cuba was out of the question (and yet our only option), so Darcy and I went together.

We were assured by many people that they would not stamp our passports as we arrived in Cuba, which was really our biggest concern. We learned just before we left Cuba from a Mexican woman we met that they don't stamp anyone's passport because, suppose a Mexican that went and had a Cuban stamp in their passport, they would not be permitted to go to the US. Therefore, we never had any reason for concern.

Varadero
We flew into Varadero and spent about 2.5 days in this beautiful beach-town. Truthfully, we didn't see much of this town outside of what we saw through the bus windows. Everything at our hotel was included in what we paid for the package (room, food, drinks, recreation, etc.) so we didn't venture our even once. This was what we saw from the back patio of the hotel. Would you leave that if you only had about 2 days? I didn't think so.

Therefore, we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach, reading, fingering the soft, perfect, white sand, enjoying the sunny, humid, and breezy weather, eating at what turned out to be a pretty lousy buffet, and sipping mojitos. :-) Such luxury that I don't ever recall having for such a prolonged period of time before.

The second day we got a life vest for me and went into the water. This was actually the first time I could recall ever going into the ocean without being held by one of my parents (clearly it has been a while). The water was heavenly. It felt the temperature of lukewarm bathwater and was so clear. Darcy discovered the day before that there really wasn't much to be seen by way of fishes, just white sand and the occasional seaweed or rock.

I was quite apprehensive about going in the water, in spite of wearing my life vest, and was soon knocked head on by the waves and felt the sting of salt water in my throat and nose. After recovering I was hit again, but Darcy was always nearby to drag me up if I needed it. I didn't know the technique of trying to push yourself up over the wave as it came toward you. And once learning of this, it was still rather difficult. Thus, I ended up holding onto Darcy for the rest of my time in the water. But it was still great to be out there, feeling the waves washing over us and losing any sense of where we were, if we had moved or if we were simply standing still.

La Habana
After our time in Varadero we were picked up and bussed to La Habana for the remainder of our trip. We spent about 3.5 days there and pretty much spent our time exploring places we had found online to check out or just simply wandering.

We tried several times to take a tour a tobacco factory, but they had wacky hours. We went to a few museums (The Museum of the Revolution, Habana Club Rum Factory, The Museum of Arts, and a small firefighter museum), walked around plazas, the Capitol, went to a nice market, and took a tour of the city where we saw a lot of government propaganda.

We even found a little alley way that was pretty much a tiny Chinatown. We decided to have dinner there one night and chose the restaurant that actually had Chinese people sitting there. It was pretty good, though I was a little put off by the egg in my hot and sour soup (we determined that Cubans love eggs, especially hard-boiled). And a special little bonus: our waiter was GORGEOUS! Darcy got a picture of him on the sly for me. It was a shame he didn't know I was his future love.

And a side note: while our waiter was definitely the winner in my book for Most-Gorgeous-Cuban, he was not an anomaly. Cubans are a particularly stunning group of people made up of every color: black, white, brown...swoon. :-)

One of my favorite parts that we went to was called the Callejon de Hamel. We had noted it as a place to go before leaving but had gotten the impression that it was the market. But during our tour, our guide stopped in front of this obscure little alley in the midst of some neighborhoods that we probably would not have explored otherwise.

When we went back and went in through the gate, a man was immediately at Darcy's side asking her if she spoke English. Our guards went up because we knew we would get hassled, but eventually we stopped to talk to him. He told us that the Callejon de Hamel existed to preserve AfroCuban culture and talked about some of the things they had and did there. Eventually he did try to sell us a CD which we respectfully declined until after we heard the performance that was going to start in just a few moments. The music was fantastic and lively but we left after a few songs, and upon our exit I met the self-proclaimed top rap and hip-hop artist in La Habana trying to sell me his CD as well. haha!

Reflexions
OK, so this is the hard part and probably why it has taken me so long to get this up. There was a lot to think about while we were there and once we came back.

On My Awareness
I noticed that my awareness of what there was to see and what was around me grew every day that we explored La Habana. Most of you know that I am quite an oblivious person, and as a whole, I kind-of like this feature in myself. I believe that it at times allows me to see things and people through less of a fearful lens, though this is not to say that I am without making any value judgements. I'm not sure if any of this makes sense.

Anyhow, our first afternoon in La Habana we just walked around some neighborhoods near our hotel and then had dinner in a little restaurant on the way back. I marvelled at the architecture of the buildings and the old cars; it seemed to be a city frozen in the 50s and 60s, the time just before the Revolution. As our time there went on, I started to notice that most of the buildings, excepting those in tourist areas or government buildings, were crumbling--especially those on the road against the ocean (which we were told was because when there is any kind of large storm they are hammered by the sea water)--and there was rubble and trash everywhere. They were still beautiful structures, but the realization that these were the homes of people, many without windows that I am sure had been flooded annually, was powerful. I also started to notice that the city had a certain mixed smell of mildew, sweat, and exhaust.

Additionally, I originally was simply fascinated by the beauty of people in general. One thing that I can say is that I hardly saw anyone with insufficient clothing (and I was supremely happy to find that people were a bit less modest in their clothing than Mexico and I didn't feel so scandalous showing my shoulders to keep cool in the heat). But then I noticed that I didn't see many small children or babies. I don't know that this is a significant observation, but it was something that struck me.

The basic point is that it was interesting to be in one spot for so long to be able to see the development of awareness as a tourist. I could see the same things one day and view them in a completely different way the next time.

On Life in Cuba
We didn't get to talk to a ton of Cubans, but we did talk to a few. One reason for not talking to a lot of local people is that it is illegal for them to talk to foreigners (one man was actually arrested for talking to our friends when they were there in February), unless they are serving in the tourist industry, which is the biggest industry in the country. It made me wonder what the non-tourist parts of Cuba were like.

Also, it is illegal for Cubans to leave Cuba for any reason at all (travel, study, etc.) unless they get special permission to leave for work. (Oh, and on speaking to Cubans, I realized how accustomed to the Mexican accent I had become. Their accent is a bit similar to people from Spain in that their "s" sound would be defined by English-speakers as lisp-y. It was quite a challenge to understand them.)

We asked a couple people about the medical care in Cuba. We got a bit of conflicting information, so I am not quite sure what to think yet. One of our taxi drivers told us that it was excellent, but a man that we met on the street told us that it was very substandard. He told us that the doctors that serve Cubans are the medical students, and that once they have graduated, they serve tourists or leave the country.

Along with medical care, education is free, even through university, and the government also gives the people food. We spoke with a Mexican woman just before leaving and she said that someone told her how much food they receive, it it is simply minuscule and not enough to live on.

When we were in the market, and other places too, we had people asking us for things such as soap or toothpaste instead of money. We thought this was rather odd, but found out later that the government does not supply this type of stuff to the people and that soap could take up about 40% of their monthly income (which is only about $10).

On the Cuban Response to Us
We weren't sure at first if we should tell people that we were American or try to pass for Canadian, but we tried it out. Every response that we got (for this is a very popular question) was positive and one man told us that he loved the US. The first man that we met when we got to our hotel in Varadero (he was actually the electrician but also did odd jobs and helped us with our luggage) said that we were the first Americans that he had spoken to and that he would remember us for the rest of his life. He was a very sweet man and spoke English really well even though he had never taken formal classes.

While our response among people on the street was good, I think I may have still been a bit hesitant to reveal that I was American to a government official or police officer.

On the Presence of the Government
Governmental presence was overwhelming in Cuba. At first I was fascinated by all of the propaganda and images of Ché all over the place (and seriously, it is everywhere), but then realized that it almost seemed to be a form of indoctrination rather than a show of patriotism.

In addition to quotes from Fidel and Ché, there was anti-US stuff prominently displayed as well. This included a large monument with 138 flags that basically said "In your face, US" and billboards about five Cubans that are currently imprisoned in Florida, though I don't really know the story yet...something about terrorism. There was one such billboard close to the hotel that actually had a government guard standing underneath it all day long.

At the beginning, I didn't notice much of a physical police or government official presence (part of the oblivion) except for around governmental buildings, in which case they had guards about every 20 feet or so. But then later I noticed people everywhere, often in clumps or 2 or 3 men on a corner. I cannot imagine how that must effect the Cubans on a daily basis.

On Socialism/Communism
I was so anxious to know what people thought of socialism and Fidel and what the deal was with Fidel's brother. We were hesitant to ask out-right though. But mostly I was excited to see a socialist country in action.

I am not anti-socialism...at least in theory. I like the idea of living in a society where I may sacrifice more personally to have more equality among all of the members of society. One of our taxi drivers was reading a book that was an interview with Fidel. Our driver said that he liked the ideas of socialism, but that it never seems to work out in practice. I am along these lines in my thinking. Having seen Cuba in person, it seems more like a dictatorship rather than a place that allows for more freedom because of an equal playing field.

Additionally, it seems to me that the government, while providing for the people on some level, is not giving the best they have to offer, but simply the leftovers from the tourists, of which I was one. The spirit of working toward the best for your community that one might assume would be integral to socialist ideals seems to be lost because of the second-class treatment that the people receive.

I was also curious about religion in Cuba and while we saw a few churches, there did not seem to be much religious expression (however I am used to Mexico now where several times a day you hear either church bells or fireworks set off by churches). I recalled while we were there that Karl Marx said that "religion is the opiate of the people" and that when the Soviet Union was communist, the churches were shut down and fenced off. As one of my professors explained it, Marx felt that religion created a sense of contentment in people that helped them to deal with the suffering in life instead of revolting against it. And since communism is based on revolution, he was decidedly against religion.

A bit of Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

On Coming Back
This was the first trip that I have ever taken (aside from short weekend trips here in Mexico) where instead of going home to Modesto, I came home to Querétaro. Instead of coming home to my mom and dad, I came home to an empty apartment. It felt different and comfortable all at the same time to be anxious to get "home" and relax in a place that is still a combination of familiar and foreign.

Also, after having seen Cuba, it made me appreciate Mexico more in terms of the beauty and cleanliness, especially in Querétaro.

All of this (because it seems that I have ended on a bad note) is not to say that I didn't enjoy Cuba. I did immensely! The people were all very nice and there was incredible beauty, but an overwhelming sense of oppression of the people and complete lack of liberty for self-expression created a clearer image in my mind of the realities of socialism, and perhaps the human condition and our ability to "love your neighbor as yourself."