Musings: A Visit To The Beautiful Island of Cuba

This past month, I was able to take a cruise around the beautiful Island of Cuba, spending some extra time in Havana.

In many ways it was a deja vu trip back to the 50s and 60s, which held some powerful and peaceful times in the world, with the arrival of the Beatles, hippies, flower power, Hate-Ashbury, free love and loads of hugging. Those times were very different from the world we live in today. During those times, I was a student in England, and the trip to Cuba galvanized some of my memories from that era. Being an avid collector of miniature classic and vintage cars, it was a real delight to experience and ride in the brightly painted and immaculate cars of the 50s and 60s.

We started in Havana on the cruise and visited Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. The whole experience was surreal and unexpected. For starters the guides on the tours were wonderful and well educated and spoke excellent English. Several had their PhDs. All the towns were spotless, and the streets and sidewalks were regularly swept and cleaned. There was no trash and rubble to be seen anywhere.

As many of you know, Fidel Castro orchestrated a revolution in 1953 in Santiago de Cuba (which was the Capital of Cuba before it was moved to Havana) with a total of 92 warriors. All but 12 survived. He was a visionary who declared that 12 warriors were enough to continue with the revolution, and sure enough in 1959 he defeated the then president Fulgencio Batista who fled the country with the riches.

 

What amazed me is that Cuba, with a turbulent historical trajectory, achieved a historical importance in the world far greater than its size would suggest. This, I believe, is a testament to the resilience and determination of the Cuban mixed populous. Since the arrival of Columbus in 1492, Cuba’s turbulent history has included genocide, slavery, two bitter wars of independence, and finally a populist revolution led by Castro. One-fifth of the country’s population has immigrated mostly to the United States.

In spite of this difficult and hazardous past, the country is incredibly stable, and the people are friendly, happy and enjoy almost a 100 percent literacy rate. Education all the way to a PhD is free as is the medical system where all Cubans receive free medical treatment form highly qualified doctors, surgeons and specialists. Many Latin American people travel to Cuba for medical services as it is rated among the highest in the region. The ratio of doctors to the general population is 149:1 – a rate three times better than the US believe it or not. What impressed me is there are no guns, almost zero crime and the whole country is safe. One of the female guides mentioned that she would have no hesitation to walk the streets of Havana at 3 a.m. by herself.

The darling hero of Cuba is Jose Marti – a celebrated poet, artist, visionary and intellectual. He is very revered in Cuba while Castro still has a mixed reputation. There are many monuments of Marti all over Cuba but none to be found of Fidel by his own admission. His brother Raul who is currently the President of Cuba will step down within the next year and hold elections, opening it up for others outside of the Castro clan. Cuba remains a one-party communist country, but it is functioning. After the demise of the Soviet Union – which provided much of the subsistence to this country – Cuba too almost went down with the Soviet Union. However – today you see Cuba has made an amazing comeback, and everyone I met continually voiced that things are getting better and better.

I loved all the cities we visited and sorry that we were not able to visit others like Trinidad, which I am told is a city still preserved in the colonial era. A good reason to go back! In spite of being a communist country with meager wealth and fewer opportunities, the people are happy, educated and demonstrate a positive future mindset.

Of course, with the 1961 Bay of Pigs battle still lingering, the USA and Cuba have not shared favorable diplomatic relations. When Castro was asked when would Cuba heal its relationship with the US, his response was when the US has a Black President and the Pope is from Latin America. Well, he was right as Obama did normalize relations with Cuba. We even visited a thriving American Embassy in Havana.

While due to recent tightening of regulations one has to jump through some hoops to get to Cuba and attend several Cuban presentations, it is still well worth a visit before it becomes another tourist Mecca as Mexico! (Mind you, I love Mexico, its people and its delicious cuisine. When traveling there, I stay out of the mega-resorts and explore the many picturesque back roads and quaint places.)

If you are able to make it to Cuba, be sure to smoke a Cohiba cigar (Castro’s favorite) and sample some of the local cuisine and a Mojito!