Wordless Wednesday

My Cuban Adventure, Part 3: General Impressions and Observations

Cuba was definitely an interesting country to visit.  I have been to a Communist country before — I visited the USSR in 1983 — so I had some expectations that proved to be accurate.  Lots of political and ideological slogans were plastered all over the place, on billboards, building walls, buses, even inside stores:  ¡Venceremos! ("We will succeed!", with a photograph of young female ballet students), Patria o muerte ("My country or death"), Nuevos retos, nuevos victorias ("New challenges, new victories"), Sin cultura la libertad no es posible ("Without culture, freedom is impossible"), Solo la voluntad humana podrá salvar el mundo ("Only human will can save the world"), and even a photo of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in a (state-owned) rum and cigar shop.  One slogan I particularly liked was La palabra enseña; el ejemplo guía ("Words teach, but examples lead"), credited to Che.

I also expected to hear a lot of political rhetoric, and I was not disappointed.  As I mentioned in Part 2, one site the group visited was a cooperative organic farm.  The president of the cooperative lectured us for 45 minutes about how the work they were doing was helping the country, how everyone worked together, how the U.S. could learn lots of valuable lessons from them, ad nauseum.  The one surprise was when he said that Cuba is facing a problem because the fact that all citizens' basic needs are met — everyone has housing, healthcare, education, and basic food provided — means that people don't have to work, and some people actually choose not to.  Of course, he didn't respond to any questions following up on that point, and didn't answer several other questions that apparently touched on other questionable topics, but instead simply "answered" about totally unrelated subjects.  The coop president spoke in Spanish, and our tour guide interpreted for him.  I was able to follow along with what the president said and then compare how the guide translated.  At one point he made a comment about the problems with democracy, but the guide translated it as problems with individuals.

Our tour guide was generally very good at phrasing things so that they didn't stray from party ideology.  She chose her words carefully when describing potentially volatile subjects.  She obviously didn't want to alienate the group on which she was dependent for employment and gratuities, and I also got the impression that for the most part she believes in her country's system.  But for all her talk, not only is she working as a tour guide to supplement the income she receives from her position as a university professor ($50 each month, we were told), it seemed that she was likely getting kickbacks or some kind of percentage cuts from vendors, even going so far at one establishment to ask a clerk how much members of our group had spent.  It appears the capitalist spirit is doing well in Cuba, even among the party faithful.

The bus we traveled in was from Transtur, which seemed to be the official government tourist agency.  We saw Transtur buses in many of the places we went.  This reminded me of going around the Soviet Union with Intourist, the official state tourist agency there.  I never had the impression in Cuba that we were being watched, however, while in the USSR many members of that group were pretty sure we were followed and watched a good portion of the time.

Other experiences, however, were more of a culture shock.  There seems to be some sort of (unwritten?) rule that women in Cuba must wear impossibly tight clothing.  Almost all women wore extremely tight pants (usually Spandex), no matter how narrow or wide they were, and pantylines be damned.  This included police officers (super tight slacks with high heels) and even customs agents at the airport (would you believe two women wearing Spandex and tank tops?  yes, they really were customs agents).  Tops also were very tight and stretched to their limits.  Some professional women, such as officers and hotel employees, substituted very tight, very short mini skirts for the Spandex pants.  They usually wore suit jackets and blouses instead of the ubiquitous stretch tops.  Some of the customs agents wore mini skirts with patterned stockings.  As I tend to wear loose, comfortable Hawaiian shirts and jeans, I stood out like a sore thumb.  For men, somehow the baggy pants look was imported and is very popular.  Sorry, Cuban men, very few of you could get work as underwear models.

Cuban food was somewhat disappointing.  I already knew that Cuban cuisine is not particularly spicy, but I wasn't expecting totally bland.  Salt and pepper seemed almost unknown in prepared food, and herbs were equally nonexistent.  Most of the food tasted adequate but uninspired, and we saw the same dishes in multiple places.  I don't know if the dishes and preparation styles were truly "authentic" or merely what is offered to tourists.

Our group with Daisy and her family

The best meal we had was in a private home.  Through a complicated connection that began when a man tried to escape from Cuba and was rescued by people in the Dominican Republic, we were given the opportunity to have dinner with a family in their home.  The matriarch made the best chicken croquettes (one of those dishes we saw multiple times) we had all week, along with Cuban tamales (much moister than Mexican style), tostones (double-fried plantains), pork and veggie stew, fried ripe plantains, roast chicken, stewed yucca, fresh avocado, and shredded coconut and cheese for dessert (which may sound odd but was very tasty).  Our guide did not come with us to this dinner, and I became the interpreter, dredging up the Spanish I haven't used on a regular basis for more than 30 years.  They didn't kick us out or look offended, so I must have done ok.

Most of the buildings I saw appeared to be sturdily built but falling into disrepair.  The phrase "shabby gentility" came to mind.  This applied equally to residential, commercial, and government buildings.  Paint was peeling, pieces of exteriors were missing (most buildings in the city appeared to be made of concrete, though in the country I also saw uneven clapboard, bare corrugated metal, and cinder blocks).  Many residences looked as though they had been through fires.  Some houses had pieces missing from the roofs but were still occupied.  Many buildings were obviously too damaged for use but were not fenced off, simply abandoned.  Fences often seemed to have been made from whatever materials someone could find; I saw wood slats, broken tree branches, cardboard, and other opportunistic items filling in spaces in bare wire.

Something else I noticed about buildings was that almost universally, ground-story doors and windows had heavy-duty bars, and many second-story windows had bars also.  Government buildings did this one better:  Instead of bars, they had those roll-down doors (like in warehouses) that cover windows entirely.  So even though there doesn't appear to be a problem with personal safety — the women in our group walked around even late at night and nothing happened — I'm not so sure about property crime.

There was trash everywhere — in the city, in the country when we went to Viñales, everywhere.  There was also graffiti all over Havana.  It was a very dirty city.  As I remember Moscow being very clean, I was not expecting this, but it has been three decades.  Maybe Moscow is dirty now also.

Animals that Americans think of as "pets" were in very poor condition in general.  Though some people had dogs on leashes, and those dogs looked well taken care of, they were the exception, and cats and dogs usually looked scrawny and underfed.  Ribs, hip bones, and shoulder bones often were easy to see beneath the skin.  Neutering animals does not appear to be a popular thing to do, because pretty much every male dog and cat we saw was fully intact (thereby helping increase the populations of those dogs and cats, of course).

One interesting aspect of Cuban culture our tour guide explained to us was race, or rather the lack thereof.  In Cuba the government policy is that everyone is mixed race, so race is not used as a classification.  On driver's licenses, "black", "white", and "mulatto" refer to skin color, not race.  The guide also mentioned that someone's skin color is subjective and can easily vary by time of year and how much the person has been in the sun recently.

During our visit to the artist's studio, I noticed two rainbow flags incorporated into the artwork.  Our guide told us that the government's official stance on the LGBT community is acceptance and accommodation.

Most roads were in awful condition, including the major highway we traveled on to go to Viñales.  The speed limit on the highway wasn't very high, most of the time topping out at 60 kph (about 35 mph).  For some short stretches, it actually got up to 80 (50), 90 (55), and even 100 (60) once.  But we'd be zipping along, and suddenly the driver would start hitting the brakes, slowing down gradually to almost a crawl, so he could avoid yet another pothole spanning the width of the lane.

Beyond the condition of the road, I think one of the reasons for the relatively low speed limits is that the highway has to accommodate not only cars and buses but also more old-fashioned transportation.  During our three-hour trip west I counted nine pairs of yoked oxen and sixteen horse-drawn carts that used the highway.

A confusing sight along the highway were overpasses that didn't connect to any roads.  I never learned whether they were roads that hadn't been completed, roads that used to exist but had been destroyed, or built that way deliberately, perhaps as shade for hitchhikers.  Our guide had told us that hitchhiking was the national sport, and a lot of people used the highway to bum rides.  But it gets really hot during the day, and being able to take shelter under those overpasses probably saves some lives.

Something I really liked in Cuba was how traffic lights work.  Every side has a countdown, for both drivers and pedestrians, in green to let you know how much longer the light will stay in your favor, and in red so you know how much longer you'll have to wait.  The system seemed to work very well (but people jaywalked anyway).

the corner of 21 and M streets

Street "signs", however, were another thing.  Instead of a pole on the corner with the names of the intersecting streets, in Havana you see small, square obelisks with the street names on the different faces.  Not only were they difficult to see easily (I can't imagine looking for them while driving), not all of them were in good condition — some were broken, sometimes the street names were missing, and some just didn't have any writing on them at all.

An unexpected bit of excitement on our trip was the opening of the U.S. embassy, on Monday, July 20.  The event was televised locally and was greeted enthusiastically by everyone we saw.  Later that day several of us decided to visit the embassy just to try to look around.  We were turned away because we didn't have any official business to conduct, but we took photos outside the building to commemorate the historic event.

Visiting Cuba really was a great adventure.  I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so, and it's a trip I'll always remember, even though I wasn't able to find everything I wanted to about my family.  Only time will tell if I'm being overly pessimistic about what will happen as more Americans travel there.  I hope I'm wrong, because I would like to go back again some time and try my research again.

My Cuban Adventure, Part 1, is "In Search of Family History."
My Cuban Adventure, Part 2, is "Seeing the Sights."

My Cuban Adventure, Part 2: Seeing the Sights

Plaza Vieja

Until very recently, the only three legal ways for an American citizen to travel to Cuba were family, academic research, and humanitarian volunteer work.  The tour group with which I traveled to Cuba officially fell into the latter category.  The volunteer-oriented part of the scheduled turned out to be very minimal, however — only one hour of the entire week.  Much more time was devoted to food activities and standard tourist sightseeing.  The itinerary that was set up for us included several places I probably would not have chosen, but that is a disadvantage of going with a group.

Catedral de San Cristobal

Our first outing was a day-long visit to Old Havana, which is a great way to get a feel for the history of the city.  There's been a lot of restoration and conservation of the old buildings (with signage showing how they used to belong to wealthy individuals and now serve the greater good of the general population; gotta get that propaganda in).  We saw a good number of the major highlights, including the Plaza de la Catedral, site of the cathedral dedicated to Saint Christopher, the patron of Havana (the cathedral is currently undergoing renovation and was not open); Plaza San Francisco de Asís (Saint Francis of Assisi), with the basilica dedicated to Saint Francis and also a statue of Father Junípero Serra, well known to Californians as the man responsible for founding ten Catholic missions in California; the Plaza Vieja ("Old Square"), the only plaza remaining from colonial times; and the Plaza de Armas (I might translate it as Military Square), near a fantastic flea market type of set-up with lots of booksellers (because the government ministry for publications is also nearby).  Of course, that's when the tour guide suddenly decided we had to hurry, after lollygagging at several other locations.  I did manage to squeeze out enough time to buy a Cuban cookbook (in French!) and a book about the history of clothing from a Cuban perspective.

City view from Cámara Oscura

On the other hand, we also went to the Chocolate "Museum", which had a couple of display cases with unidentified items but was otherwise just a café selling chocolate-focused foods; the Cámara Oscura (at the Plaza Vieja), which provided a great visual overview of the city but also had a guide who made snarky remarks about Americans during his spiel (and then we were told to tip him anyway); and the Museum of Rum, which was kind of interesting, but the tour guide there didn't speak clearly, and I was told later that she was a friend of our guide, which explained why we were the only ones asked to give her a tip.  On top of that, we were rushed out after the rum tour by our guide and not given a chance to buy any rum or cigars (only to be directed later during the week to a different store where the prices were twice as much, and our guide was heard asking the cashier how much members of our group were spending; can you say "kickbacks"?).

One day we watched a cooking demonstration and ate lunch at a state-run culinary school.  The demonstration was fun — I was the volunteer assistant — but the lobster at the meal was overcooked and rubbery for everyone, not a great recommendation for a cooking school.  On top of that, the chef told us that the recipe for the entree was in the cookbook they had for sale.  It wasn't, but we didn't discover that until several of us had already paid for the book.

One morning we visited a coop organic farm.  It's a self-governing community of people who are trying to find better ways to grow food and increase crop yields.  They say they recycle or reuse everything, which is great, but I saw a lot of what looked like good fruit that had fallen to the ground and was just lying there, being allowed to rot.  While I'm sure it will be used for compost, I wondered why it hadn't been harvested.  We had a long lecture about Cuban political ideology (but more on that in my next post).  This was also the location of our only volunteer activity; members of our group picked beans for about an hour.

Front of Hemingway's house

After leaving the farm, we ate lunch at a restaurant that appeared to cater exclusively to tourists.  In the afternoon we spent a lot of time (maybe too much time) at Finca la Vigía, the former estate of Ernest Hemingway and now a museum where everything is supposedly exactly as it was the day he left (well, except for his boat, the Pilar, which was brought up from the water and put into permanent drydock; and the swimming pool, which has been drained; and who knows what else, because there's no documentation).  As far as I could tell, all of the visitors were Americans.  I took tons of photos there because my sister likes Hemingway, but I personally could have done without the visit, which had no interpretive or curated elements.  It's on the tourist circuit because he was American and famous, not because it has much of anything to do with Cuba or Cubans.

Graves of Hemingway's dogs

Half of one day was spent at an artist's studio where they have a great gig going — you pay them to visit the studio and eat lunch, plus they have you do work on an ongoing community art project.  We were behind schedule when we arrived and therefore started our project late, so were unable to complete it.  Because the project was specific to our group during this trip, it will likely remain unfinished.  Personally (and I realize this will differ from person to person), I did not enjoy the art style, which is somewhat of a cross between primitive and Cubism.  And we didn't even meet the artist.

Earlier that morning we had visited a private farmers' market, even though we had been warned multiple times by the tour coordinator not to buy anything uncooked or to buy food off the street.  Everything in the market was sitting out in the 90°+ heat, including raw meat (yum!).  I don't think anyone bought anything, and just think, if we hadn't gone there, we probably could have finished our art project . . . .

Mogotes near Viñales

An entire day (from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) was spent on a trip to the Viñales area, in the western part of the island (three hours by bus each way).  The main attractions there were karst formations (mogotes) with limestone caves and a (very short) boat trip on a river that flows through some of the caves.  This was enjoyable, even though I have been to larger caves before (such as the Jenolan Caves in New South Wales, Australia).  I also had fun photographing the vultures that were flying around.  Lunch afterward was very tasty and seemed to be authentically Cuban.  A performance purporting to be a recreation of something from historical slave times might have been more plausible with information on the research, rather than just asking for money.

Then, however, we took a side trip that cost an hour to see an unfinished, primitive (read:  amateurish) wall mural at a location that appeared to be marketed primarily to get tourists to spend money on piña coladas.  We were told that the mural was created to commemorate someone having proven that it was possible to travel by canoe from the mouth of the Amazon to Cuba.  The reason he was trying to prove the canoe trip was possible was because he had a theory that Cuba was populated not by migration of native peoples from the Florida peninsula, about 200 miles away, but from the Amazon.  I would be more willing to give some credence to that theory if I saw the research in a respected, peer-reviewed, scientific journal.

The visit to a tobacco farm after that was much more educational.  We learned about the five different types of leaves that go into a cigar, how the leaves are dried and prepared, how much of the crop the farmer is required to sell to the state (80%), and even what happens to leftover pieces of leaves.  Then we saw a demonstration of rolling a cigar by hand, which was pretty cool.  The cigar was rolled extremely tightly and showed great craftmanship.  And then — of course — we were given the opportunity to buy cigars at a very special price.  Supposedly cigars purchased there didn't count against the customs maximum, but I declared mine anyway, because they were the only ones I bought.  And if you're interested in getting a genuine Cuban cigar from me (a plain-wrap Cohiba), let me know!

Plaza de la Revolución

When free time was left in the schedule, most of the suggested activities were to go to expensive stores, restaurants, and clubs that cater to tourists, rather than to museums, historic locations, local restaurants, or other places that would give more of a flavor of the history and people of Cuba.  The tour coordinator told me that previous groups had enjoyed those activities.  I guess this group was not like those other people.  Not only did we routinely decline to go to all the touristy places (the coordinator repeatedly told us we were missing great opportunities by not going; I guess she didn't want to go by herself), she had not included a visit to the Plaza de la Revolución in the itinerary, and we went because everyone in the group wanted to see it and specifically asked for it.

USS Maine
Memorial

Given my own license to choose, the Chocolate "Museum", artist's studio, farmers' market, and mural probably wouldn't have made it onto the itinerary.  I was much happier with my own visits to the cemetery and to local bookstores and "flea markets."  I even found a memorial to the victims of the 1898 USS Maine explosion (which precipitated the Spanish-American War).  A quick glance in the Havana Páginas Amarillas para el Turista ("Yellow Pages for Tourists") in my hotel room showed me the Museum of Colonial Art, Museum of Railroads in Cuba, Museum of the City of Havana, and the National Museum of Fine Arts, all of which seemed far more interesting.  The National Museum of the Literacy Campaign sounded intriguing (Cuba has almost 100% literacy), and the Napoleonic Museum would have been interesting.  Ah, well, I guess those will also have to wait for my next trip to Cuba . . . .

My Cuban Adventure, Part 1, is "In Search of Family History."
My Cuban Adventure, Part 3, is "General Impressions and Observations."

A Vintage Jewish Indian Cookbook

I just learned about a blog called "The Shiksa in the Kitchen", written by a recent (2010) convert to Judaism who has been exploring the world of Jewish cooking, including kashrut (the rules for keeping kosher).  She posted about a copy of an Indian Jewish cookbook published in Calcutta about 1922.  I found a few references to the cookbook online, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, and I'm sure it was printed in only small quantities to begin with.  She mentioned it has "several kosher Jewish Indian recipes", but I'm not sure if all of the recipes are kosher.

I love Jewish cooking and Indian cooking and now just have to find a copy of this book!  One year for Passover I even cooked an Indian-themed seder, including mulligatawny-spiced matzoh ball soup and an egg curry.

Recipes and food traditions can sometimes impart information about family history.  This cookbook, for example, probably has recipes that follow Sephardic traditions, because most of the Jewish communities in India had Sephardic roots.  But first I need to find a copy of the cookbook to read the recipes ....

Telling Family Stories

memorial kiddush cup

Michigan State University currently has an online exhibit called "Telling Family Stories:  Jews, Genealogy & History."  The exhibit draws on the university archives' holdings in cookbooks and children's books to illustrate several themes related to genealogy and family history.  The themes reflect a more academic approach than is often applied to family history, such as gender and religion in family stories, and the international and multilingual nature of Jewish families.  The section "Doing Genealogy, Doing History" discusses how genealogists and social historians can use the same resources and tools in their work.  There is a link to a talk on immigrant children in America between 1880-1925.  Also included is a bibliography.

The exhibit compares and contrasts differences in time periods.  For example, a 2006 community cookbook noted that "going to Grandma's may mean stopping off for a quick lunch at her office", reflecting the changing roles of women in society.  The site also poses questions to encourage viewers to relate the material to their own lives, such as comparing the family stories presented to the ones from their own families.

I enjoyed the focus of this exhibit because family stories are what sparked my interest in genealogy so many years ago.  It's interesting to think about those same stories from an academic perspective and consider how that changes my perception of them.

Cookbook with Recipes from Holocaust Survivors

Ruder Finn Press is publishing Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival, a cookbook with recipes collected from Holocaust survivors, scheduled to be available in May at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and at bookstores.  All proceeds from sales will benefit the Museum.  Author June Feiss Hersh interviewed more than 100 survivors and recorded their food memories and recipes.  The book is organized by geographic region and includes Poland, Austria/Germany, Hungary/Czechoslovakia, Romania/Russia/Ukraine, and Greece.

The New York Times has a review of the book online.