Playa Girón (aka Bay of Pigs)

           Friday, we finally got the chance to go to the site of the Bay of Pigs invasion.  We have a Cuban-US Relation’s class and everything that we have been talking about lately has lead up to this crucial point in the history of the United States and our neighbor to the south.  Literally, for the last two weeks we have only discussed the motives behind the invasion, who planned it, who was involved in it, the whole nine-yards.  To actually be able to go and see where everything happened was a really incredible treat.

            Our whole trip was fraught with unexpected perils and setbacks, the first of which were the crabs.  Crabs?  What could little crabs do to set back a trip for half-an-hour and cause carsickness?  Well, I will tell you.  Near Playa Girón (the actual name of the beach and what the Cubans call what happened) there lives a special kind of crab that the Cubans call cangrejos.  These little blighters have wicked sharp claws that when they stick them straight up in the air will puncture a tire.  So, the carsickness came about because we had to weave our way around all of the crabs while we were driving alongside the coast. 

            When we got to the museum and had stabilized our stomachs, we found out that, in true Cuba style, there was a power outage and the amazing documentary that we were supposed to watch was no longer an option.  Our professor, Raul, was really disappointed because apparently it shows a really excellent view of what the Cuban perspective was on the whole invasion.  The more that I learn in this class, the more I realize how unfair and unjust the treatment of Cuba was leading up to the Bay of Pigs.  When Fidel Castro came to power, he really was trying to find a way to make his countrymen’s lives better.  During the final years of Batista’s reign, 60% of Cuba’s countryside was illiterate.  That was a total of 4 million out of the 11 million on the island.  Havana had 1 doctor for every 250 people, while some of the cities on the east of the island had 1 doctor for 2,500 people! 

            The other professor that we have for the Cuban-US Relations class has a saying that is very indicative of all that occurred during the tyranny of Batista’s reign.  That capitalism in Cuba was like a ham, but the Cubans ended up with the bone and the Americans ended up with all the meat.  Learning about this is really making me question and evaluate the information that I have been taught about Fidel Castro.  Up until the Bay of Pigs invasion, socialism was not what the revolutionary government was proposing.  When the US trained troops landed on Cuban soil, that was the very first time that Castro declared the socialist nature of the revolution while simultaneously calling his people to defend it.  Don’t worry I am not becoming a communist, and he still committed numerous human rights violations, but in the early days, I can see why so many people revered him so much.  

            One of the most interesting personal reactions that I had while we were at the museum was over a story about a young woman named Nemesia.  Supposedly it is a true story about a poem that was written called Nemesia Flor Carbonero.  All of her life, Nemesia had wanted a pair of white high heeled shoes but had never been able to afford them.  After the revolutionary government came to power, with all of the assistance given to the poor people in the region, she was finally able to buy her shoes.  Well, the first wave of attack by the US backed Cuban troops was to bomb the region that they were planning on using as their beachhead.  In the process, Nemesia’s white high heels were destroyed, and are now on display in the museum along with the poem.  For my part, and I am being brutally honest, when I first heard this I thought that it was a bunch of anti-Yankee propaganda and a crock of bull.  But then I began to think about it a little more and realized that we have little stories like that about all of our national monuments and famous places.  Why can’t I appreciate the Cuban version?  It really made me think and question how much I value other cultures and histories, even when they don’t line up exactly with what I have been taught.           

            So, to wrap up the story about the crabs, when we left the museum we realized that we had not missed all of them and that we had a flat tire.  Our drivers went to get a spare and a half-an-hour later we were on our way.  On the way home, we stopped at a little resort type area and, you would never guess it, had crocodile for lunch!  I’ve never had it before, and in the spirit of trying new things ordered some.  While I am glad I tried it, definitely not on the short list of what I want my next meal to be.  Afterwards, we got to go snorkeling in the ocean for a mere $3!  The water was so blue and so clear that when I dove down to the bottom my ears started popping like crazy because it was actually pretty deep.  Overall, I would say that this was the most action packed excursion that we have had so far, but completely worth it.

Batabanó

            Yesterday, our group went on a little exploring tour.  This past week a bunch of professors from the University of Alabama were here and we played host to them so we didn’t get to do a whole lot around town that we haven’t done before.  So in order to make up for that we decided, and by we I mean our professor, that we were just going to drive straight south and see what we found.  Cuba is a very long island but it is not very wide so the trip to the southern coast was only about an hour ride.

            We ended up in a very tiny fishing village that was just barely big enough to be a dot on the map.  It was called Batabanó and was at most 10 blocks square.  This was definitely not a tourist spot and it was really nice not having to see all the same shops trying to sell you souvenirs.  Our adventure took off when we pulled up to the coast and we just started walking.  This was not a developed beach, with pristine sand or beach chairs set up for you to rent.  Oh no, this was driftwood piled up, mangrove trees growing, hiking through tall grass virgin beach. 

            When we had driven into the town, a man had offered us a whole big spread for lunch and he came with us to show us around to make sure that we didn’t get away.  He led us on a trek through what we jokingly referred to as the “jungle” of Cuba.  We got to see one of the sites where the charcoal makers live while they are burning the wood to make charcoal.  It was really cool, but they have to live for months in a glorified swamp burning mangrove trees so that they can float their finished product down to the coast to try to sell it and make a profit.  They build little shanties while they are out working and fish at night to have something to eat.  There is a natural plateau near this village so lobster, crab, and fish are very common. It is a hard and solitary life that they have to maintain for months on end.  I know I couldn’t do it.

            After we had trekked through the wilderness, our guide took us to his brother’s house where we had our giant spread for lunch waiting.  Oh my gosh, I have never had such a smorgasbord of food in my entire life.  We had the freshest, biggest, most incredible lobster I have ever had with butter and garlic, cooked to perfection.  We had rice and beans, tomatoes and cucumbers; it was legitimately one of the most perfect meals I had ever had.  And we ate it right in our guide’s brother’s kitchen!  They were so welcoming and not afraid at all to have seven loud Americans in to eat.  It was probably one of the top three Saturdays I have had while I’ve been here.   

Museo de Ron

            Today during our excursion to discover Havana, we went to see the Rum Museum.  Growing up in a family of people who love everything to do with the eating process, alcohol has always been around.  Rum was never the biggest bottle in our liquor cabinet, but let me tell you, thanks to my dad I can lay down some information about Maker’s Mark whiskey.  The process to distill and create rum is not very different from that of making whiskey just a few minor differences.

            Rum is distilled from the remains of the refining process of sugar cane and the leftover sugar allows for the entire fermentation process to occur.  Sugar cane originally came to Cuba in 1513 and quickly became the staple crop produced on the island.  The rise of the slave trade provided the many workers needed before the semi-industrialized process of refining came about.  The first locomotive actually came to Cuba in 1837 and with it a flood of new technology that slowed the massive need for slave workers.

            After the distillation of the leftover cane pieces go through three different boiling processes with varying temperatures, the remaining liquid is put into barrels and aged.  The first pull off of any rum barrel is called Añejo Blanco and is the most common rum sold under the label of Havana Club.  While we were touring the museum, our guide told us that you needed five things to be a good rum connoisseur.  You need to have a good nose, good taste buds, have worked in a sugar factory for 10 years, have a degree in Chemistry, and be a drunk.  The most well renowned rum connoisseur in Cuba is a man by the name of José Pablo Navaro and apparently is famous for fulfilling all of these qualifications.

              I am not a big rum drinker so I wasn’t tempted to buy the 1,700 C.U.C (national money of Cuba that under the current exchange rate 1 C.U.C equals $0.87) bottle that they had available to buy.  Apparently, Spain, Germany, and Canada are the most major importers of the Havana Club label but our guide said that if the embargo with the Unites States were ever to lift, that would easily be the biggest market.  It was definitely a cool thing to see the whole process of making rum because a bottle of rum here costs less than a 2-liter bottle of water.  I have a theory going that Cubans don’t drink water, they just drink rum and so far my theory holds.

Vanessa Vasquez Sanchez

            On Tuesday’s we have people come into our Roundtable discussion class and expound a little on what Cuban life is like.  This past Tuesday we had the opportunity to have a recently graduated PhD from the University of Havana come and talk to us.  Vanessa is the daughter of Pepe Vasquez, the man who knows all of Havana and is the number two man in the Historian’s office, and her doctorate is in Anthropology.  It was literally one of the most informative talks that we have ever had.

            First of all, the University of Havana does not even offer an Anthropology degree; you have to obtain your Biology degree with a concentration in Anthropology.  While she was working on obtaining her degree she did a lot of work researching various health problems that are prevalent within Cuban society and looked at a lot of the demographics of this country.  In order to receive a degree in International Relations from the University of Alabama you have to take quite a few anthropology classes, so the things that she talked about I was very familiar with.

            In the last 237 years, Cuba has only taken a census 17 times!  The major factors influencing the process are the economic burdens that it places on the governments and the need for political constancy.  Up until 1959, the volatile nature of the Cuban government hindered the process and since the Revolution, economics have hindered it to the point that it has only been taken twice.  Interestingly, the health problems that Cubans have are the problems that are normally associated with the “first world” countries instead of those commonly found in “third world” countries.  Obesity is actually a big problem here because fats and sugars are cheap and there is not a cultural foundation for consuming lots of vegetables.  Rice and beans literally comprise the majority of every Cuban’s diet.  Pizza is another common cheap food that a lot of people eat because they can get it easily on the streets.  Something that Vanessa mentioned that really surprised me was that children who are overweight are actually seen as healthier than skinny children.  And, instead of the oldest in a gathering being served first, it is custom for the youngest to be served first.

            The single most astounding thing that Vanessa shared with us was the abortion rate in Cuban society.  23.8% of all women in this country have had an abortion, 16.8% have had two, 8.4% have had 3, and 12% of women have had more than 4!  One of the major contributing factors is that abortion is a free service provided by the state since 1965 and there is no precedence for it being a taboo subject.  In fact, many parents, no matter how religious, encourage their daughters to get an abortion if she is still in school because they worry that it would interrupt her studies.  Sex education is a high priority here, so the government does encourage preventative measures to try to counteract the fact that most of the people over the age of 15 are having sex.  In a country where sexual promiscuity is a commonplace thing, contraceptive measures are high on the list of Cuban priorities.  

Varadero

            Yesterday, we got to have a little vacation!  Our professor decided that since we had been working so very dutifully on our semester projects and the rest of our classes, we were going to spend our Saturday in Varadero, the exclusive beach town of Cuba.  Let me tell you, this was one swanky place compared to the rest of the island that I have seen.

            The majority of Cuba that I have seen, and by now I have seen quite a bit, is struggling to make ends meet.  Most homes are aging and in a state of disrepair, people are getting fired all of the time, and everywhere you go you come in contact with the black market (the only thriving market in this country).  People are poor, and there is a constant fight for people to try to earn enough to do enjoyable things and have nice things.

            Varadero is not like the rest of Cuba.  It is about an hour and a half outside of Havana on the coast, and the biggest city nearest it is Matanzas on the other side of a large bay.  Even while we were passing through Matanzas, I was shocked by the differences that I saw between it and Havana.  All of the houses were newly painted, there were more modern cars, the people themselves had nicer clothes, I saw more stores, and I was completely blown away.  I asked Marci, our driver, why Matanzas was so different from everything that I had seen before and he said that it was because a lot of the people worked in Varadero.

            Once we had finally driven around the bay and driven onto the peninsula that Varadero is located on, I thought that I had left the country.  I have always grown up going to the beach and I literally thought that I was on the Florida coast.  There were pristine sand beaches, massive hotels, places that you could rent beach chairs, the only thing that made me realize that I was in Cuba was the music blasting from the hotel bar’s speakers.

            As the day wore on and we stayed on the beach, I slowly realized that there were absolutely no Cubans on the beach.  The only people that I saw were sunburned Europeans and Canadians playing bocce ball and drinking mojitos.  As we were driving back to Havana, we lamented with our professor about the fact that Varadero is quickly losing all of its Cuban aspects.  It is turning into a glorified resort town and losing all of the distinctive Cuban qualities that make this country so wonderful.  I enjoyed the break, but it was definitely disconcerting to be in a country but to have completely left it at the same time.

Jardin Botanico y Zoologico

            Today was our long excursion day and our Professor decided to take us to see the Botanical Gardens and Zoo in Havana.  We were supposed to go a couple of weeks ago, but that was when our driver was hung over, or on another job, nobody knows.  Anyways, I have realized that I have to keep my expectations very low and not assume anything about our trips so that I am pleasantly surprised when we do go and it exceeds my expectations.

            We started at the botanical garden and I was amazed at how big it was.  It covers three square kilometers and is divided up into zones based on continental regions.  The first zone that we went through was Cuba’s and had all of the native species of trees that grow on the island.  Next came Central and South America, followed by North America, Africa, Asia and Australia.  Interestingly, Europe was the only region that had no plant life represented.  I don’t know if it was because those trees can’t flourish here, or some other reason.  The last thing that we got to see was called the “Palmera”, which was a giant expanse covered with over 200 different species of palm trees from all over the world.  I found out that the national tree of Cuba is the “palma real”, or royal palm, so you do learn something new everyday.

            After our tour of all the beautiful trees, we went to the Parque Zoológico Nacional, better known as a zoo to all my gringo readers.  If you have ever been to The Wild Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida and have gone on the safari ride, this was exactly like that.  We rode into the park that resembled an African safari on a converted public transportation bus and drove through the entire wide expanse.  I was surprised by the fact that all of the animals were so very close to the road.  In fact, if the bus driver hadn’t picked up speed driving away then a giraffe would have stuck his head right through a window.  One of the main attractions of the park is the fact that it is home to 18 lions and all of them occupy about an acre of land.

            On the way back, we got to chat with our taxi driver, who, apparently, is a hydraulic engineer who worked in France for a little while and Colombia for three years.  He told us that the money that he made while he was in Colombia he used to buy a car so that he could become a taxi driver because they make more money than engineers do in this country.  This blew my mind, because a job that most Americans would look down upon, that of a taxi driver, is what highly educated and knowledgeable people in Cuba have to settle for.  I asked him if thought that the economic change that Cuba is undergoing will change things and he said that he doubted that anything was going to change in the next five years.  It was a revealing insight into Cuban life.

La Fabrica de Tabacco

            Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to La Fabrica de Partagas, also known as the Partagas Tobacco Factory.  It is located right next to the capital building, literally right across the street.  As you walk up to it, there are men trying to sell you cigars on the cheap but on the down low because they shouldn’t technically be selling them.  Our professor actually had to go across the street to buy our entrance tickets because the government (who has owned the factory since the revolution) doesn’t trust that the people who work there won’t try to rip people off.

            My dad is a big cigar smoker, so I was super excited to see the factory and the entire time I was there I was wishing that I could take pictures to show him.  Apparently, you aren’t allowed to take pictures, I don’t know if it is to keep secret their process or what.  Anyways, a Spaniard originally owned the factory, Jaime Partagas.  It has been around for almost a hundred and fifty years and the cigars that they roll have always been made by hand.  The US is apparently the biggest illegal market for Cuban cigars, but Spain and England are tied for the biggest number of exports.

            The factory produces 25,000 cigars a day, and like I said, all of them are made by hand.  The process is so specialized that for every 100 students who enter in the program to study to be a cigar maker, only 50 graduate.  Apparently, some people do not have the physical capacity in their hands to be a good cigar maker, so they don’t graduate from the program.  Some of them that don’t graduate become leaf pickers, the people who remove the central vein from the tobacco leaf and sorts the leaves by color.  Nothing from the leaf is wasted and the potently fragrant central vein is used to make aftershave and cologne. 

            Every cigar maker has their own specialty, a specific brand of cigar like a Montecristo or a Cohiba that they make every day.  Each tabacanero (tobacco maker) has a certain quota that they have to reach everyday, some have to make 150, some 250, it all depends on your skill level and level of practice.  These highly specialized craftsmen are only paid about 45 dollars a month, but an extra source of income is the three cigars that they get to take home at the end of every work day.  Most of them don’t smoke so they sell them to whomever they can to get some extra money. It was an amazing learning experience and I feel like I can definitely hold my own against my pops now.