The
stopover we get when we fly to Cuba is not long, about 22 hours but still,
Iīve managed to see a lot of things there and gotten to know a little
bit about the life of the people there. Since Cuba is a communist country
with a dictatorship, there are a lot of things banned there, the people cannot
bug you in the street or try to make friends with foreigners, it has to be
in a descreet way, otherwise the police will interfere and even put them in
prison. You will have to proof that you know each other. In a way it makes
you feel safe, itīs unlikely that you will get robbed but still, it
makes it more difficult to get to know the way of living there. But the people
still get some things that others in poor countries donīt, they get
a free roof over their head, education, foodstamps, healthcare and things
like that, but these things are most of the time of litle help because f.ex.
there is a little supply of medication in the country.
We normally land around 9pm and after going through the passport control,
which always takes a lot of time, and after the bustrip we arrive at the hotel
around 11pm. By that time Iīm usually to tired to do anything, no wonder,
itīs always full load of passengers on the way out (around 400, on a
Boeing 747) and also on the way back. I normally use the time to relax, go
to the massagist who charges 5$ for two hours of massage, and lay by the pool
in the sun if the weather allows that. It is magnificent to go to Cuba and
get to know the society a little bit, and just see how the people spend their
life there, they are almost always so nice and happy with life even though
they live within, what most people would call, the poverty line. Most of the
cars on the street are more than 40 years old but in a "nice" condition,
and itīs incredible how they still go on and on and with the things
the people use to fix them!!!! The hotel we stay in is one of the best in
La Habana (Meliá Cohiba) and the cubans are not allowed to enter there,
just in the front hall, and yes ofcourse those who work there. Not many cubans
would have money to go there anyway, the prices there are not in comparison
to the normal monthly cuban paycheck which is usually about $10-15, and Iīm
talking about people with education, dentists, lawers and so on. The people
with money are those who have business on the black market or some "important"
people. But with $15 the cubans can still live, but a poor life, still, they
are always happy and hospitable.
When I go out of the hotel on my way to the massagist Iīm offered lift
at least 5 times but normally I accept a lift with the same guy, (I donīt
want to mention his name here because it is illegal for him to do this). There
are also normal taxis on the streets, "normal" cars but you can
also see yellow and black Ladas which serve as taxis, once I went with one
of those but it wasnīt a normal Lada, but a "limmo" Lada.
I return from the massage as a new person and walk back to the hotel, itīs
about 20 min. walk but I just watch the life on my way. A lot of people complain
about the lack of worldly possessions, there are very few stores there and
the ones that exist donīt have a lot of things to offer and most of
the people canīt afford to shop there. But still, like I said before,
the cubans have more things that most of the poor people in Central- and South
America and in other poor countries. Itīs gonna be interesting to see
what happens in Cuba when Castro dies, will it open up and change or will
it still be the same, probably nobody knows, but I think it would be the best
for it to keep going as it is now, at least for the poorest people.
It is almost necessary to go once and a while to the market in the center
of La Habana and Iīve already collected quite a few things from there,
well, everything is so cheap and the things are very nice there so itīs
almost impossible not to buy something. There is no beach close by our hotel
but if you take a "taxi" itīs just 20 min. away to the next
beach. Iīve only gone once to a beach close by, itīs not very
wise to lie in the sun for a long time and then go to a flight (to work) later
the same evening. The beaches are very beautiful and the best thing is to
go to one where there arenīt many tourists, where the nature is still
mostly intact. Once we had a two day layover so we took the chance and did
some sightseeing. We drove for about 4 hours and visited a zoo where the flora
and fauna was not like Iīm use to see. We also visited an alligator
park and I held one alligator baby in my arms, ofcourse itsī mouth was
kept close with a rope. We stopped on the way back for a snack in a restaurant,
and there was one incident that happened to me that I will never forget. I
went to the restroom and sat down on the toilet bowl, stood up and a frog
came jumping out. I just say, poor him, but thank god it didnīt jump
up when I was still sitting there.
The houses in the center of La Habana are very beautiful but they need a lot
of fixing, painting and things like that. The arcitecture is just marevellous
and very special, lot of columns, carved walls, very colorful (whatīs
left of the paint) and so on. Itīs what was left after the life there
in the 40īs and 50īs.
I would recommend anyone to go to Cuba and stay there for at least 3 weeks,
and travel around the island, not just stay on the beach with the other tourists.
And then I mean travel around not just to where all the other tourists go,
but f.ex. in La Habana there are a lot of interesting things to see in the
neighborhoods where the tourist donīt go on a sightseeing. There you
can almost only see the local people and how they live, but thereīs
a lot of poverty. You
can get yourself a very good icecream for about 10cents and a pizza slice
and more things for very little money where people sell those things out of
their windows. It tastes pretty good but I wouldnīt wanna live on it.
I flew to Cuba over last christmas (year 2000) and Ingi came with me. We spent
christmas day walking around the center, where the locals are and it was just
fantastic to see how they spend this festivity, there were a lot of people
in the streets but still no sign of christmas unless you count the few small
(very small) christmas trees we saw in some houses. No wonder they donīt
spend this holiday like Iīm use to, they donīt have that much
money to have a great meal and buy presents. We visited a family that Ingi
stayed with on his backpack travel in the years 1996-97, as a matter of fact
he stayed there over christmas and it was the last christmas that were banned,
the christmas in 1997 were the first ones for those people in over 30 years,
well, the first ones allowed after all that time. We gave them some small
presents, mostly their daughter and this small package made her so happy,
we also bought some other things and they just couldnīt stop thanking
us. Later we sent them some things like medication, old clothes and things
like that that they really appreciate.
We need to be downstairs for the pickup at 8:30pm and I always try to sleep
for a couple of hours before so I can live through the night without sleeping,
which is pretty tough. Around midnight everything is set to go and the plane
takes off. I donīt mind leaving, I know Iīll be back before long,
and then Iīll return again and again and again and .............