The Cuban beach incident and Goodbye Cuba

Back in Havana I had met this Argentinian guy Martin. A friendly person with limited English. Martin, James and I planned once more to go to the beach. In this Cuban heat beach trip was a great idea on any given day. Martin suggested that we go to a non tourist Cuban beach in a Cuban bus instead of the normal air conditioned tourist bus. Having paid 2 pennies bus fair, holding on tightly to our belongings in a tightly packed sweaty bus, standing the whole way, we arrived at the beach 2 hours later. Apart from us the only other foreigners on this beach were a Finish couple snoozing under the sun. Water was quite shallow for at least a 50 meters into the sea but very clear and clean so you could see right to the bottom. It was calm and cooling. Possibly one of the best beaches I had ever been to. No tourist resorts, hotels or bars in sight.

After some time, while standing in the water, I saw a suspicious looking Cuban guy hanging around on the beach in distance. Few minutes later I saw him going through the Finish couple's bag while they lay asleep and unaware. Martin started walking toward him and he stopped. He explained that he was a police officer and that he was just making sure that us tourists are fine. He went on his way. Later James and I were lying on the beach while Martin went for a walk. The Finish guy had got up and walked into the sea for a swim. Few minutes later I opened my eyes to the yelling of James "Oi! Oi!" I looked over and saw the same Cuban guy smothering the Finish girl's head in the sand while trying to snatch her bag. She wasn't letting go. Both James and I sprinted over there. He saw us coming, gave up and ran off away from the beach empty handed. What he didn't know that by this time Martin the Argentinian had made his way around in a circle to block his path. Martin landed his clenched fist in the robber's face. He must have seen stars at that moment but managed to make a run for it anyway.

This wasn't a tourist beach and so there were no police around to protect tourists, giving this guy an opportunity. Had he been caught robbing a tourist, this guy would have got the same jail sentence as murder, 20 year which is 20 times more than what he would get for robbing a Cuban.

After this event James, Martin and I went in search for some food. We found Cuban place. The menu had only 2 things: spaghetti and pizza for 12 pence each and then beer for 36 pence each. Hard to believe, We'd had a day out for almost a pound each. While eating, sitting across from us was Cuban girl. Martin started a conversation and bought her a drink. She was teacher and fluent in English, German, French and Italian as well as Spanish. Martin invited her over but she daren't come explaining that police could arrest her. Same old story! James and I left Martin and her to chat and got on the bus back to Havana.


The next night was my last night. Ania and Halet who ran the casa where I had been staying made a roast dinner that night for every one. We played dominoes till the early hours. I bought a bottle of rum for Halet and Ania as a gift. Ania said that when I return to Cuba she would arrange for a "familiar visa" for me which means I wouldn't have to be registered as a tourist and can avoid paying for accommodation and stay as a guest at her house.



On the ride to the airport I had time to reflect on the events of past month, the good and the bad. The bad stories always surface quicker and spread like wildfire unlike the good positive ones. My opinion: every one should visit Cuba and see it as it is now before it all changes. Although I was quite sad to leave, I was also excited about my next adventure in Guatemala.

Trinidad de Cuba

Although David and I were suppose to be traveling together, my traveling plans were altered due to unforeseen circumstances and Murphy's Law taking full effect. After my 1st 3 weeks in Cuba David arrived on schedule for his 6 days. Although I enjoyed traveling on my own, I missed the kind of mischief David and I would usually get up to. James, whom David had met in Mexico, had also joined him to Cuba. After the standard first couple of days where they got to exploring the streets of Havana and having been introduced to Casa de la Musica, we decided to take a trip to Trinidad.

Not to be confused with Trinidad the country, Trinidad is an old village 5 hours' bus ride south east of Havana. On first impressions, as we walked up the stony street up to the old church on the hill, it looked like an old Mexican town from a western film. Steps on the side of the church lead up to an old building which was now Club Casa de la Musica. Out side at the bottom of the stairs was stage for live salsa music. At night time people gathered on the steps to watch live bands play, we were among them.

Next day James wanted to relax so David and I headed to the Beach. The beach we ended up on was rocky and we didn't like the look of it. I saw two Argentinian girls, twins, and asked them where a sandy beach might be. They said they were headed that way. They had rented bikes and I asked if we could give them a ride there on their bikes. That beach was 3km away and I was completely out of shape. I was breathless after 1km but not willing to reveal my exhaustion I stopped pretending to want to take pictures of landscape. I jokingly told her that it was her turn to peddle. It was a relaxing ride for the next 2 km.

That night we went to Casa de la Musica again. James decided to call it an early night. David and I had heard about this big old cave on the hill that had been converted to a club so we headed that way. On the way to the cave on a dark street we saw light coming out of a small room, well actually a very small house. The door was wide open and inside we could see a Cuban family playing Dominoes. I walked up the steps to the door and asked if I could trouble them for a light. After that I asked them if we could play dominoes with them. Dave and I both sat down and for the next hour we joked and laughed with them playing dominoes and taking silly photos. It was my best experience of a simple Cuban life so far.

Dave and I wanted to go back to the beach next day and do a barbecue. We went on a hunt for some steak but that turned out to be a difficult task. We found a Cuban guy at the market who was willing to abandon his stall and help us in our search to find meat. He told us that he is not allowed to buy beef, no Cuban is! If caught, its punishable by 10 years in jail. Only people catering to the tourists are allowed to buy it. They don't import beef and whatever is produced in Cuba goes to restaurants serving tourists and a little is rationed to Cubans once a month. We eventually managed to find some and in protest to the Cuban law, we started a fire under a tree on the beach while it was raining. We ate and ate well. We even fed the stray dogs.

Dave left on schedule to go back to Mexico and to make his way down to Belize and Honduras while I arranged for a ticket to fly to Guatemala.

Casa De La Musica nights

My salsa lessons were going quiet well now that I was turning up more presentable. The casa owner informed me one evening that Daniel had just rang, he will be over in 5 minutes, you better get ready because you are going dancing. I invited 2 of the other guys along and went outside not knowing that Daniel had other plans for us. He was waiting out there with 2 girls... oops.

Casa De La Musica on Galliano street was a hot spot for Cubans and tourists to enjoy live band music. I practised some salsa as I saw the slim blond girl and Daniel enjoy each other´s company. This girl would later become the reason for Daniel to remain in Cuba apply for film studies for a 3 year course in the University of Havana. I talked to the other for a long time. Both the girls were Civil engineers. She told me that she earns $20 a month. I gasped and dropped my jaw. Do you know how much I earn?.. I went on to say the figure. I realised my mistake a few seconds later. These girls didnt go to university for 5 years, get a degree and civil engineering jobs only for an under achiever like me to come along and comment recklessly without much thought.

In hindsight I might be making too much of nothing. In their socialist structure Cubans are provided free housing, food, health, transport, education and jobs. If you take all that into account then $20 a month is irrelevent. Without incentives of huge cash sums, big houses and expensive cars, these girls still managed to find the motivation to get engineering degrees and jobs. This could only stem from good education and acceptance of their socialist structure. Cuba has the highest literacy rate in the entire world: fact! Walking around the streets of Cuba you may not find any malnurished children, beggers or homeless people. You may find them smiling, laughing and having fun more often than not. They are not plagued with the need to accumulate wealth and own more than their neighbours. Ignorance is bliss. I fear all that is about to change though. The government can try all it wants to limit the exposure of cubans to tourists. Slowly but surely the change is creeping up on them. Fidel has one foot in the grave. The embargo may soon be lifted. Hordes of foreign "investors" will pour into the country once the doors are opened and the land will be sold off peice by peice. There will once again be widely used terms to describe people of Cuba as rich or poor. Sure they will gain free speech and true liberty but in disguise there will also be manipulative foreign media ready to do the corporate bidding. Cuba is about to go from one extreme to the other. "El Che" must be turning in his grave right now.

Casa De La Musica had turned out to be my favourite night out. Few days later I headed to the Casa where Daniel was staying. It was owned by an old lady who´s daughter took daniel and I out to Casa De La Musica the other night. She greeted me at the door and before I could step inside she said "Asad my daughter likes you, why dont you take her out to dinner?" It wasn´t the first time a parent had attempted to pair me up with their daughter. Although she had a beautiful smile and an amazing personality not to mention very well educated, she was slightly over the weight limit my shallow mind was willing to forgive. An ugly thought crept up in my head "Maybe with The Stick and a Donut Approach[1] and enough time...." I quickly shook that thought off, laughed with the lady and changed the subject to ask the whereabouts of Daniel. I went inside and found Daniel. Without hesitation he jumped at the opportunity to go to the House of Music.




[1]The Stick and a Donut Approach is a shameless yet ingenious design of mine to motivate chubby girls to lose weight. Ingredients: 1 stick with a donut attached at the end with a string. Attach to girl´s head and let her loose on a treadmill to chase the donut. Remove stick when desired weight reached. (do not feed her the donut).
Probable flaw: The assumption that all chubby girls like donuts. They do! Google it!