Cuba, your landscape is remarkable, your music is full of
soul and your people are lovely. You’re complex on so many levels and in all my
travels this is the first time I’ve left somewhere completely speechless. It’s
actually taken me almost two weeks from leaving to be able to verbalize what I
experienced during our almost three weeks on the Cuban shores.
I’ve always wanted to visit Cuba, but being American I
always wondered if it would ever be a possibility. This year, with the
restrictions softening and the relations improving I decided to take the
gamble. Thankfully, the dice rolled in my favour and we boarded a plane the
first of June for the North American hemisphere.
We were hit with a humid hot gust of air as we embarked from
the plane and walked through the very simple airport. It was clear it hadn’t
been updated since it was built and we couldn’t help but comment on how relaxed
the security seemed. There were people everywhere and in our dazed state we
couldn’t help but be a little overwhelmed. We found our way to the cash
exchange which was crowded by at least 50 people, but luckily were able to skip
the queue with the decision to take cash from the ATM instead. We later
discovered that the cash exchange also served as a bank point for locals, which
must have been the cause of the masses. We met our tour guides and were guided
to a black and white vintage car. Once inside it we could tell this was no
normal 1950s car, as it was fully pimped out with speaker, a bass and very cold
air conditioning. We drove through the streets of Havana, seeing a range of
different levels of luxury, poverty and general neglect. It was clear the years
have taken a toll on what was once a beautiful city. However, that is not to
say that it’s not still beautiful; yet the only word I can think to describe so
much of Cuba is raw.
We spent the next two weeks exploring it all. We drove
approximately 1000 miles in 14 days. We got lost and found our way back on the
correct path, we got sick of our music and found the silence of the car to be
quite comfortable. We visited cities that remained basically unchanged since
the 1800s and drove through the most amazing hills of Vinales. We spent our
days on white, sandy beaches with turquoise water and our nights drinking mojitos
and watching salsa dancing. We ate some amazing food, rode horses, explored
caves, saw more crabs than I thought could be in one place. We stayed in host homes
and resorts and on the last day found ourselves in a debate about whether or
not we could be Cuban and stay forever. I’d relive every day of it again and
not change a thing.
So much is changing in Cuba within the current political
climate, which undoubtedly will change the Cuba that we left at the end of
June. The thing that strikes me most about the Cuban people was their
resourcefulness. There are no grocery stores (as we know them), the ration
stores all seemed empty, the cars are all old but still our casa hosts always
had a full table of food for us and somehow despite lack of parts and tools the
cars are still running! Raul Castro has made many strides to improve the way of
life for the Cuban people. There feels to be a new-found freedom within the
country as more and more people are starting small businesses and making a
better life for themselves. This was my first time to a communist country and I
struggle to believe it’s all bad. I also struggle to see how it would ever work
effectively. I left Cuban with a deep sense of encouragement that they are
embarking on a whole new adventure and I hope that with an open market and
exposure to a materialistic world they don’t lose those core values which make
them stand out to me. But most of all, I am happy I was able to experience even
the smallest part of their new journey.
