Cuba, island of contrasts

Cuba, island of contrasts
Group of Americans explores modern Cuba during 10-day journey
Mar. 10, 2013 2:19 AM,

When it comes to Cuba, the label inside my jeans describes it perfectly:
Faded Glory.

Visiting this island nation, so close to us but such a world apart, was
a study in contrasts: What once was, what is now and with some
imagination, what might be again someday.

My husband, Barry, and I went on a 10-day people-to-people exchange,
visiting Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad, with the Grand Circle
Foundation. There were 20 of us on the trip: five couples plus an
additional 10 solo travelers, some married and some single.

Americans have snuck through the back doors of Canada and Mexico into
Cuba for years, but since November 2011, the Obama administration has
eased restrictions on travel to Cuba, and our group left not from
Cancun, or Toronto, but from Miami on a scheduled Delta flight.

We spent the first three nights in Havana, the next two in Cienfuegos,
three more in Trinidad and the final two back in Havana. Those last two
nights were spent at the Hotel Nacional, the old landmark frequented by
Bugsy Siegel, Frank Sinatra and others back in the glory days.

We saw the city, the countryside, the beach and the mountains. We
visited artists' colonies, dance groups, pottery works, a print making
studio, a basket weaving center, two nursing homes, a Catholic preschool
and several musical performances.

Although in many ways we only scratched the surface of this somewhat
mysterious island nation, we learned a lot, including that Cuba's
infrastructure, once grand, is crumbling. Beautiful facades, Greek-style
columns, fine old mansions: With a few exceptions, they all need a lot
of work, starting with a good coat of paint.

Everywhere we went, the accommodations were first class, but we were
able to go into a number of homes, which were a far cry from the sort of
places we stayed.

Dim lighting, no air conditioning, one or two fans and little furniture
were the order of the day — and these were the people who wanted you to
see what they had.

Every citizen gets a ration book, which allows them a bare-bones amount
of goods: a little meat, a few eggs, some beans, rice, flour and cooking
oil per person per month. The one exception seemed to be sugar — every
man, woman and child got four pounds of sugar monthly.

Less than 5 percent of Cubans own cars, but they've devised some
ingenious ways to get around. One of the most interesting was the use of
the "Yellow Man," a uniformed official who stood at busy highway
intersections waving cars over and instructing drivers with empty seats
in their vehicles to give rides to others.

Long lines of riders formed anywhere a Yellow Man was working, and even
on the streets of Havana, people stood with their hands out, hoping for
passing cars to pull over and take them to their destination for a
small, agreed-on fee.

There wasn't a lot of panhandling (technically, begging is against the
law), but Cubans have ways of supplementing their incomes, which on
average total less than $20 a month. One woman whose house we visited
was raising three pigs in a pen on the roof. Almost everywhere we went,
musicians seemed to materialize out of nowhere and play for us, hoping
for tips. Street artists followed us from place to place, drawing our
caricatures and trying to sell them to us for whatever we'd pay.

The U.S. government doesn't allow anyone to bring back cigars or rum (so
we tried them there!), and we were also told not to buy souvenirs like
refrigerator magnets or T-shirts. We were allowed to bring back
artworks, crafts, books and music, so we returned with woodblock prints,
pieces of pottery, compact discs and handmade jewelry.

Finally, those old American cars from the '50s and early '60s were
great, especially for us baby boomers. They make up probably half the
cars on the road in Havana, and many of them are taxis. Lots of them
have a ton of bodywork — look closely and many of them are covered with
filler, then painted with a paintbrush — but plenty of them also look
like they're really well-kept.

One of the highlights of our trip was getting to ride in a '58 Edsel
convertible with white leather interior, a cucaracha horn and loud pipes
along Havana's Malecon (seawall) our last night.

From visiting paladars, tiny private restaurants that people have
opened in their homes, to learning how to make the perfect mojito, we
had a fabulous time. And while we developed a new appreciation for these
neighbors to our south, we also developed an even deeper appreciation
for our own nation and just how fortunate we truly are to live here.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20130310/LIFE/303100003/Group-of-Americans-explores-modern-Cuba