Sorry- I've gone all Ernest Hemmingway on you all- it must have been too many Daiquiri's at Floridita!!! I arrived and had a wonderful room in the Casa run by Alejandro and his family for my first night. Alejandro is a Dr who has three specialities but gets paid the same as the man who sweeps the street. He is unable to get permission from the Government to leave Cuba-even for a holiday-as an educated man he is considered at risk of finding a better job elsewhere and not coming back. He told me that most of his medical colleagues have second jobs that involve tourism, either running a Casa or driving a taxi or in the black market to make ends meet. He is passionate about medicine and despite all this fiercely proud of his city. He gave me a quick orientation walk to the centre of Havana and then deposited me on the Open Top Tour of Havana. I sat at the top in the humidity and soaked up the atmosphere of the city.
Che and Fidel are everywhere. The people speak of them with reverence but in the next breathe tell you quietly that they have are not allowed to have Internet and can't currently buy toothbrushes or panadol. They are proud of their Revolutionary Heroes and the change they made but quietly tell you they don't know what the future holds. We were not badgered for money, but for soap, shampoo, medications and pens. It's wonderful that schooling and healthcare are free but is it any good if there are no jobs or no medications?
After a wonderful day of sightseeing that included a stop to buy some old Cuban Cinema Posters from the ICAIC I headed to the hotel that heralded the start of a new tour and a new group of people. I was a bit anxious as I thought surely I can't get lucky twice with a great group. Also, at the time of booking there were only girls which made me a bit anxious as I think the dynamic is better with a mix of sexes. It turns out I could-and we had 4 boys including a set of identical twins. We hailed from Australia, UK, Spain, Dublin, France and the USA (we disguised the two Americans as Australians). A noisy group!! We headed out for dinner and some automatic bonding.
The next day hailed a departure from Havana with a destination of Trinidad and a stop in Santa Clara. Santa Clara is the town that has the Memorial and burial site for Che Guvera and other members of the revolution. It was great to learn more about his life and history and I was surprised to learn that he has children of my parents age who still live in Havana.
We arrived in Trinidad which is a beautiful, sleepy town with cobbled streets and brightly coloured houses. We were sent off to our home stays in groups of four. My roomie Sophie and I were paired with a lovely French/Irish couple in a house with a a truly hospitable Cuban woman who did not stop smiling from the moment we arrived. She prepared us the best meal I had had in weeks and we felt very lucky in deed. We had a lovely two days in Trinidad with a hike, a swim in the waterfall, salsa lessons and a big night out that culminated in a trip to a nightclub in a cave. I'm not just talking about a little cave with a couple of stalactites made of plaster, this was a dinky di cave underground accessed by three flights of stairs outside the town. I've never seen anything like it and we spent the night dancing with the locals and sweating up a storm. I can't even describe how hot it was in there (bowels of hell come to mind...) but the only relief was that everyone was as sweaty as you!
Now I'm not sure if this was related but the next morning I woke up with no voice at all. Nothing. Nada. Only a intermittent tiny little squeak. This was a bit like 'Happy Birthday' to everyone on the bus from me-but they were all very nice and said they missed my conversation....a Shugg with no voice is no Shugg at all! This lasted for three days as we travelled to Vinales and also included a day in bed with vomiting. Awesome. Luckily our group included a nurse Amber and Dov, an infectious diseases Dr and they looked after me. It was also fortuitous that it happened on the wettest day on our tour in Vinales and I did not miss out on much. We had a divide in the group as some wanted to head back to Havana as we were really stuck in the rain. It was a shame the weather turned as we missed a day on an island at the beach but you can't do anything about the weather! So, we headed back to Havana a day early and attempted to visit a cigar factory, which was closed due to the humidity, a rum factory that was not operational due to the rain but we managed to visit an environmental community that was set up in the 80's.
We had two great days in Havana sightseeing, dancing, drinking and enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. These included The Revolutionary Museum (intetesting but very one sided-and Anti-American), ICAIC and The Museo de Belles Artes which contained the Cuban Collection. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had had in an art gallery in a while. It was amazing to see a whole range of Cuban art I'm sure I can't see anywhere else in the world. Walking around Old Havana, the Cemetary (ask me what happened when I get home-very creepy) and a wonderful night of dancing at the famous Casa de la Musica. With heavy hearts (and sore heads) we said our goodbyes and departed for the next episode of our seperate adventures....except for Dov who coincidently was on my flight to Mexico. Tacos-here I come!
Disclaimer:
Unfortunately I'm writing this on a 6 hour bus journey in Mexico and as this nornally results in car sickness I'm currently going with a 61% chance that I'm going to projectile vomit on the tiny little Mexican Man sitting in front of me so I'm sorry things have become rushed and not as poetic but I've had some gentle reminders that I'm behind in posts so thought this was better than nothing!!!
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