Hello from Cuba (7) - Fun and Recreation
Hotel Havana Libre, Friday, April 8, 2005, 3:45 pm
So, of course, not everything is politics, learning, philosophizing
and studying languages. Life also has to include some fun.
And Cubans, despite all the hardships, know how to have fun.
They love to laugh, to dance, to make music, and they are
very sensual people. The women in particular around here are
very good-looking (for the most part) and they dress in very
tight, sexy clothes. Itīs been a true delight observing the
Cuban lifestyle.
For me it all starts with the "GuaGua", the official local
Havana transit system: overcrowded, with extremely long line-ups,
and people pressed up against each other. I have read that
the GuaGua is like the local Saturday night movie: it contains
"sex, violence and crude language".
An unusually empty GuaGua.
Yesterday my friend Pedro and I took the GuaGua for the first
time. As a foreigner, I would never take the GuaGua by myself
and my professor recommended me not to. But with my friend
Pedro as a tourist guide and body guard I felt safe. And indeed
you have to line up (sometimes for several buses since each
one of them is full), and then when you are inside you have
to elbow your way to the back exit to get off at the back
door. And itīs not surprising that pick-pocketing and some
physical groping is quite normal. I certainly clutched my
little backpack in front of me and didnīt let anything out
of my sight.
2 evenings ago, Pedro and I went for a walk along the Malecon
(waterfront promenade) and we had a peak at the "United States
Office of Interests" (there is no US embassy here due to the
political tension between these 2 countries). The US Office
of Interests is a heavily guarded austere looking office building
and right in front of it is a square that (I believe itīs
called La Plaza Anti-Imperialista) where the Cubans hold anti-American
demonstrations and parades, sometimes a million people strong.
Another rather ironic constellation....
Hotel Nacional.
We then walked through the Vedado area and entered the famous
Hotel Nacional, built as a grand hotel in 1930. Although Cubans
normally may have problems entering luxury hotels by themselves,
we were not held up by any guards and we ended up sitting
and chatting for almost 2 hours in the beautiful gardens of
the Hotel Nacional. That evening the Hotel also had a concert
by the Buena Vista Social Club, but I decided I didnīt want
to spend Can$30 plus. Next week I might have a chance to go
to the Casa de la Musica and hear music for $5.00 instead.
Nightlife on the old squares of Havana.
My friend also explained to me the male-female dynamics in
Cuba, that casual relationships (including sex) are very normal
and that a young guy and woman can link up for a steamy night
and return to being regular friends the next day. The same
apparently applies in marriages where the concept of fidelity
is apparently not very deeply entrenched. Some very interesting
insights which are in quite strong contrast to the official
morale in Canada....
Yesterday after class Pedro and I took a private car (which
can always be organized in some way through somone) to Havanaīs
famous Playas del Este area, the cost is not cheap: more than
US$25.00 for a few hours. Playas del Este is an area with
kilometers of light sandy beaches with light blue and turquoise
water, simply beautiful. The area where we went is mostly
frequented by Cubans, although we also saw a few middle-aged
Russian tourists with young beautiful Cuban jineteras. My
friend had not been at a beach for the last 2 years since
the public transport is so cumbersome and other alternatives
are too expensive. And there are many Cubans who never even
leave their local neighbourhoods. Living in such a beautiful
country and not even having access to a beach - indeed hard
to imagine...
Beach life in Cuba.
The water was gorgeous, and scarred from the Canadian winter,
all my pores opened up and soaked up the sun. But even changing
into my bikini was a half hour ordeal! There are no changerooms
or washrooms on the beach and I had to wait in front of the
lifeguard station for about 30 minutes (since the male lifeguards
took their sweet little time) to change into my bikini. Same
with drinks: I tried to buy a pop at the beach bar: closed.
So I walked to another beach bar: closed. Finally I followed
some locals to a goverment-owned store on the street: it was
temporarily locked by a guard, supposedly because there were
too many people in the store! So I had to wait another 15
minutes to buy the pop..... "Hacer cola" - being in a line-up
- is a way of life here and you encounter long line-ups several
times a day, in banks, stores, all sorts of places.
I also noticed that the local Cubans at the beach were having
quite a lot of raucous fun, drinking beer (unimaginable in
Canada: drinking beer in public!) and then tossing the cans
into the ocean. Environmental awareness has a huge way to
go here...
Tomorrow or on Sunday I am going to meet a professor of mine,
a very nice lady in here mid to late 50s, and we are going
to go to a local market together. And Pedro and I made plans
to do a little excursion outside the city, I am either going
to rent a car or Pedro is going to arrange a loal private
car and together with his family (wife, sister-in-law and
daughter) we are going to have a nice outing outside of the
city, something that is very exceptional and a real luxury
for local Cuban people. I am already looking forward to it....
Interesting and useful books about Cuba:
Related Articles:
"My
Post-Cuba Reflections: Appreciation and Balance"
"Cuba
is Calling - Why I selected Cuba as my language study destination"
Hello from Cuba (1) -
First Impressions"
"Hello from Cuba (2) - Rain
in Vinales"
"Hello from Cuba (3) - Hiking
Vinales and Exploring Nature"
"Hello from Cuba (4) - Bureaucracy
Galore - The University of Havana"
"Hello from Cuba (5) - Another
Mind-Twisting Experience"
"Hello from Cuba (6) - The
Student Experience and Political Insights"
"Hello from Cuba (7) - Fun
and Recreation"
"Hello from Cuba (8) - Bicycle
Rides, Camellos and Cannon Shots"
"Hello from Cuba (9) - Havana
Neighbourhoods"
"Hello from Cuba (10) - A
Country Excursion"
"Hello from Cuba (11) - Inside
a Cuban Home"
"Hello from Cuba (12) - Contrasts
and Contradictions"
"Hello from Cuba (13) - Exploring
Downtown Havana"
"Hello from Cuba (14) - Field
Trips and Interviews"
"Hello from Cuba (15) - Getting
ready to say 'Goodbye, Havana'..."
"Hello from Cuba (16) - The
final day"