My Journey: 2009

Some Basics

12 Milion people

origion: 65% european, 10% african, 34% mixed

Area> Israel X 5

Socialist republic with a single communist party

GDP~150 bilion

Rings a bell ?

Ron (Rum), Cuban Cigars, Salsa, Castro, Bay of the pigs, The missile crisis

The start
Why Cuba ? don't really have a good answer. Never wanted to go there
especialy. I was in the neighbourhood and the 1.1.09 celebrations of 50
years for the Cuban revolution sounded like a special occasion, so why
not ?
Well just as i was about to go i met quite a lot pf people that intimidated
me and told me it's interesting, worth going but with the same breath
that they will never go there again.

I was really anxious, What can be so bad ???
So this time unlike the rest of my travel i decided that a partner might
be a good idea (Money reasons as well, Cuba is extremely expensive with
no reason).

Waited and waited, a but nervous, depressed and bored while i
was on the magnifiscent Mexican carribean and couldn't even enjoy the
ocean with bad weather, the largest clouds i have ever seen in my life
(just a huge gray sheet covering the entire skys) and rain.
As many times before, only when i decided that this is it, gonna do it

alone and was about to leave the hostel, i saw Isaias (Yeshaiahu)

- Mexican, doing the same so we joined forces.

I have seen him arround, but usually when he was totally borracho
(drunk) day after day all day and thought i don't wanna be anywhere
near him.
But looks can be misleading and he just came back from half a
year of traveling in Europe and celebrated coming back home to cheap
food and alcohol. So finally after a 2 days Marathon of getting ready we

went on our way.

We flew with Cubana airlines, which felt like flying with a bus with
wings on a school trip (or Israelies on their way to vacation in Turkey).

Waiting for an hour in a sauna until all of the Cubans were shouting

agua (water), someone asking the flight attendent to open the window

and smoke other said the suitcases fell with the sound of the wheels

opening, and claping hands like a miracle happend, thanking Cubana for

not crashing the plane.

At the border control hall, cold feeling, too many people with uniforms,
dogs sniffing and an officer barking questions at me wearing a shocked
face to each answer i give and order me to wait for further questioning.
Finally i get in and 100% sure that a man is following me to confirm my
version of the Mexican friend who is waiting for me inside. He even
pointed us to his friends from far which made me feel even more

uncomfortable.

After an hour more we discover that our stuff with half of the other

people didn't get there and will maybe come tomorrow (you never

know as they say) and all the floors are a mess, packed with stuff of the

people who had the same yesterday (including suprising stuff like car

tires - expensive in Cuba) and this continues like a chain reaction, who

knows maybe still going.

Havana
We land at Havana at the casa (house) we booked in advance, get a cold
army style 5 min brief from our contacts: a Cuban doctor and his wife
that pretty soon allows us to understand the Cuban philospophy
regarding tourists: suck their blood (money) !!!

We are being sent with the neighbour to his house, A ~40 years old

guy who lives with his mother that mostly sit and stare at everything

we do, value our stuff and interogate us often. All we wanna do is just

go out and escape this place.

We go out to the street to discover Havana and it is a indeed a

completely different reality !

The first thing that i ask myself is: what happend here ? did the
americans boomb Havana at any point in history ?

Crumbling old buildings and no new ones, holes in the roads, sewer in

the streets, trash all over, no maintenence and poor lighting - Havana

and Cuba are dark. When the day ends i'm left with a really cold and

poor feeling, maybe like when i read "We the living" by Aine rand,

life in the shade of communism.

But on the second day and on, after we got our stuff back and walked a
bit more, i can say there is definetly a charm in Havana and the life
there, but at the same time a big gettho feeling.
And this is typical for my entire time there:

i love it and hate it at the same time.

Different faces of Havana:

The university of Havana (feels like ancient greece)

The crumbling center

Our journey will take us next to the far end of cuba (15 hours ride) to

the city of Santiago de cuba and from there through other main cities.

I can say that everything rougly feel the same.

Santiago de cuba

Santiago, the second largest city in Cuba, and is considered to be the

most Cuban with strong involvement in the revolution and the city of

music, the homeland for most of the typical music styles came from

Cuba. Overall feels like just another city...nothing too special besides

numerous places at night with excellent live Salsa bands.

Crazy enough, i bumped into Francesca her friends- english girl (met

in Mexico a few months before) in the middle of the street so all of

us teamed up.

All of the local youngsters gather at a street to hang out: Mainly

Regatone, barely Salsa and party is over at midnight !!! ???

Ok, next party...
A little wierd but somehow we manages to find an underground (not
legal) reggae party in a small backyard with the singer rapping

"Mezuza" and "Shalom" when he hears i'm from Israel (only 2 words

he knows).

Not so atractive Cuban girls hungry for tourists (Isaias)

The prehistoric park next to Santiago
Original size reconstructions of Dinasors, the best i have seen in my life.
Feels like really walking there milions of years ago...

Isaias on the foot of the dinasor

A typical ride in Cuba: usually an old guy with a skeleton of a car,

ignites by wires.

Hanuca

After a little effort i discover and find the only sinagog in Santiago for

the first evening of Hanuca and welcomed warmly.

A small comunity of maybe 100 people (all active in different way), a

reform style ceremonies, led by 2 youngsters (man and a woman) the

only people who understand hebrew and very different from the

traditional style i know with some prayers in Spanish.

Somehow, this community with it's effort to stick together and to keep

their Jewdeism moved me the most so far and maybe gave me the best

feeling i had in a sinagoge in my life.

With extreme generosity they invited me to the holiday dinner although
most of the people are extremely poor and in the end of the meal you

could see some taking the leftovers in bags for later.

The story of the Community and Jews in Cuba is rather "new".

The first Jew to land in Cuba was definetly columbus map maker (a jew

in secret) and now there are theories and some evidence to support

Columbus and maybe some of his crew were Jewish as well:http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/TheStory6321666/Expulsion/DestinationNewWorld.htm

But under Spanish control there is no evidence of Jews on the island,

probably there undercover in fear of the Spanish inquisition.

Only in the 1920's A firm Jewish community was established in the days

of the Cuban republic (a sattelite country of the US).

At the peak 15,000 Jews and Cuba, today probably less than 1500.

I was lucky to meet an American Jewish couple who volunteer and

support the Cuban Jewish communities. They brought potatos for

making Levivot for Hanuca. Lary suggested the idea of teaching Hebrew

to the people and i gladly accepted the task.

So the next day with a blackboard, we thought how to read the Hanuca

blessings and their meaning, not sure how but i did it in more or less in

Spanish with such a vivid feeling i haven't had in ages (some told me

that this is my destiny...who knows, i certainly gave a thought).

Baracoa
Described by Christofer columbus as: "... the most beautiful place in

the world...I heard the birds sing that they will never ever leave

this place....".

It's the land of the cocunut (more than any other place i have seen).

The drive to Baracoa - no doubt one of the craziest so far !
We stopped on the way and i just went to get some water. I come back

to find out that the bus has left without me !

No No No this isn't hapenning !

A lady next to me starts shouting like crazy "it went, it went" and

making me even more nervous. People are shouting run to the street

and i run with all of my strength to find nothing again!!!

Like in the movies a biker comes with his bike next to me, handes me a

helmet and say "get on". I get on (a bit scared) and we go pretty slow

with this old old bike and i think to myself: how the hell will we catch

the bus like this and preparing myself to catch a truck.

Eventually he drove through some alleys (real movie like) and dropped

me at the exit of town. A few minutes later the bus comes after Isaias

(that i thought was in a deep drunkness/ hangover) and the rest of

the people shouted at the driver that wanted to go on.

The city itself looks neglected and (in some parts reminded me jiser a

zarca) and the scars of many Huricans are seen all over. Many people

lost their houses and the government pays for building of any house

that is destroyed.

kids playing, running barefoot on stones - riding their "stick horses"

The best chocolate

A typical candy: Cocunut with oranges in a cone for a leaf

Varadero

The cuban version of Cancun, a huge strip with hotels but with an

artificial white sand beach. Isaias was after the ultimate Carribean

beach and was dissapointed 3 times in Cuba.

But we tried to focus on enjoying Havana club rum (Ron), 7 years old

and Cuban cigars with our new friends - russian travelers (first time

i see such). By the way, russians do not need a visa to enter cuba die

to the close relations and in Havana we even saw a huge Russian battle

ship showing some muscles in the harbor.

This was also the exact time when the war in Israel started and lucky

enough i had CNN in Spanish and didn't have to rely on the only

cencurized national channels avalable.

What can i say ? it looked so bad from there and i really felt what i feel

all the time: Israel is loosing the real battle as always: the media and

public opinion.

The local chanels used phrases as: "The bad country Israel" and

similar and this is exactly the reaction i got from many of the locals

i met. Nervous times to be an Israeli abroad as well.

Together we all continued back to Havana to the celebrations of the

silvester and the 50 years for the revolution 1.1.09.

A complete dissapointment!

Silvester: water and euren thrown from buildings to the streets and

some fire works, no crazy street parties.

Revolution day: a stage with a hot salsa band but hardly any of the

Cubans dancing. After it was over, back home, no after-parties.

I imagined it to be extremely different ! I guess there was not a real

reason for celebration. Cuban people in my impression are unhappy

and opressed.

The next day, a sad goodbye to Isaias and of i go to the other end.

The valle of pino nuer - Vineales

where the best tabaco in the world is grown - most amazing views of Cuba.

What is it like ?

As many say it is a big old live museum

- A museum for architecture from many periods from Columbus times

to the early of the century when the Cuban republic was flourishing.

I just walk through the streets of Havana or Colonial cities like Cien

fuegos and admire the jewls i see all over which were ones simple

buildings (not only governmental and cultural) and many times wish

building today could be as atristic as it was in the past.

- The icon of Cuba, a museum for the famous beautiful sweet clasic

cars from the beginning of the century that are still used with no other

alternative due to the American embargo. Though in the last years

things are changing and many European and Asian cars are seen on

the roads.

- A museum for socialism/communism where many parts of the system

are still being practiced. it is just a radicaly different experience to live

like a cuban. Overall a depressing one but at the same time very educating.

Some aspects of life

Currency and economics

In Cuba there are 2 currencies:

The people's money - moneda nacional CUC used for turism and luxuries.

25 peso=1 CUC , 1.08 US.

Foreigners are not supposed to use the local money. The idea behind of

that is that outsiders shouldn't benefit from socialism in the form of

country subsidies on prices (food, transportation...).

Most of the people earn their salaries in moneda nacional and an

average salary is arround 300 ~12 US. On the other hand most of the

basic products are being heavily subsidised by the government: food,

electricity, water, etc or given as rations. But this leaves room for only

very basic living and poor diet without luxuries.

Managed to get my hand on this form so you can see the low food

prices: (rice=0.5 nacional/kilo, sugar=0.3/kilo...)

Line for bread (rationed and uniform all over)

A T-shirt or a jeans will cost you much like in the US which means a

few months of work (without food) = impossible !!! But on the other,

contradiction hand many of the people i see in the street wear the

best fashion there is. How can it be ?

There are 2 ways to live in comfort in Cuba: have a family abroad to

send money or work with tourism - the main income of Cuba. This puts

a lot of pressure on the tourists and at times makes it extremely not

nice to be in Cuba.

The new medium-high class is are the people who rent rooms for

tourists and the new rich people are the Bar tenders.

Transportation

Horse (and bulls) power is still widly used in the rural areas

Local cheap transportation by trucks (for people)

The local gasoline: Octan 83

When one of this cars going next to you suffocate from a big black

smoke cloud (The Cubans are sure their air is so nice and enjoy

laughing at Mexicans and Mexico city).

Cuban food and hunger

Cuban food is very simple and shallow and most of the diet consists of

the pork steaks, rice and black beans (called christianos (whites) and

morros (blacks) and conserves history in the name: the Spanish-morr

war) and a salad - usually a little chopped cabage.

Most of the restaurants thats serve this typical Cuban food are runned

by the government and subsidized - Dona yuya. It's amazing to see

huge industrial LG airconditioners (some governmental deal) that

worth more than the restaurant and whatever it will make in it's

entire lifetime.

Otherwise there are no other real restaurants besides tourists places.

Of course we tried as much as we could using the local money in order

to save money (otherwise it's like Europe/US prices without any

justification) and to experience the real Cuba.

So the options are food sold through little windows with only small

number of options in the menu: very cheap and very basic, usually

small pizzas (pretty good), basic pasta, bread and pork or just bread

and mayonese. Or many times we just walked in the neighbourhood

asking people for a place to eat and were led secretly (check that the

police is not looking) to some eateries at local houses.

Another option, very suprisingly and relatively new a Cuban fast food

chain (again runned by government) - El rapido. A form of the american

capitalism byting into Cuba.

Overall since i don't eat pork, this really means live on rice and beans

or Pizza or sometimes only cabage - nothing !!! And pretty fast

even Isaias started to sound like a pork and couldn't think about eating

pork anymore.

So eating in Cuba was always an adventure - a real challenge! it ment

spending a lot of time for finding the next meal, being hungry a lot of

the time and imagining the next meal. Eventually i felt like an animal

and just ate whatever i could whenever i could. And i guess this is

actually part of the Cuban reality which we felt.

In the past, Cuban has known extreme famine periods, especially after

the collapse of the soviet union and the drying of the fountian of funds
and the old generation can tell you about eating banana skins for example.

Pizza at a local stand: only 2.5 ~ 10 cent

Comida creolla (Creollo=Spanish who were born in the new world)
The only place we enjoyed lovely warm hospitality and enjoyed a

hamburger (don't know how - Beef againts the law, but tasted real).

The music

Magnifiscent ad one of the best reasons to go. There is nothing more

enjoyable that a good live Salsa band and a Mojito. It looks like every

kid is born with the ability of dancing salsa professionaly.

But salsa is also decaying and clears it's way for the Regatone for the

young generation, no elegance, volgar dancing and extremely bad content.

Socialism, cult, worship, propaganda

(pictures are stronger than words)

The holy undebatable mortirs of the nation, sometimes it looks like

there were only 2: Ernesto Che Guevara and Jose Marti, a poet - hero of the

independence.

Capture the atmosphere with my favorite collection of

street signs

Dispel batista (the dictator before the revolution)

All for the revolution

Some propaganda

Fidel loves you

The comite for the defense of the revolution

(The citizens take parts at groups like neighbourhood watch in order to

make sure none of the revolution values is being violated).

We will keep and fight to defend socialism

5 Cuban accused by espionage and held in the US

The cuban army

The typical Fidel style uniform and hat, pretty amuzing.

Education

Education is obligatory and fully subsidized by the gvernment.

The numbers of educated people in Cuba are extremely impressive.

The other side of course is that i haven't seen to many who practice

their profession or happy about it.

Health system

Health care is fully supported by the government and Cuban doctors

have an excellent reputation. Many foreighn students (including US -

met one) come to study medicine in Havana.

Many measures of the health system are comparable or better than

western countries and Cuba also exports doctors to fellow countries as

Venezuela and Bolivia as a source of income.

A cuban doctor will make arround 30$ a month.

People and Tourism
Most of the people i got to meet were not nice and were only after my

money, even things that looked inoccent at the begining were not.

They are called "Jinateros",a rider who sit on a horse - the tourist.

Wherever i went people were just hasteling and annoying me, which

after a few days really drove me crazy. The pick was one guy who were

just on our tail all the time in Santiago and whenever we went he

managed to find us, lied to us quite often (took some time to understand

that) and mainly annoyed us with bullshit until we just wanted to leave.

In many occasions it looked like people have enjoyment of doing that or

showing us they don't care. Like after waiting for an hour and a half in a

restaurant for out dishes and constant reminders, begings and

demanding for our food before going to the bus made everything slower

with enjoying smiles. They just don't care, they will get the same low

salary and no one will ever fire them (sounds familiar? - Histadrut).

But there is of course another side: up until 2 years ago Cubans were

not allowed to talk to foreighners and still the police gives trouble for

some. This is why there is still a big fear of many to interact with
tourists. Which leaves the space for those who want your money.

Extreme missunfortunate is the big Sex tourism that evloved in Cuba

and tourist taking care of the economic situation. If you want you can

rent a woman for a few days for pretty cheap. The most shocking think

was walking in the street in Havana when a kid called us saying that his

mother wants to talk to us. We step in and in front of her young kids

she offers us girls.

Almost every interaction i had with a woman in Cuba went straight

away to buy me a drink, take me to your country or saying i love you

in the second sentence.

I will not judge the entire nation, but my experience was generaly

negative and only in my last 2 days it was better, but to little and too

late.

The best experience was an extremely poor bicycle taxi driver

that i talked to and dined with. After, we were going to the same direction

and he offered me to get a ride with no charge, just for the company,

I couldn't beleive it ??!!

From here and there we became friends and went to his house so he

could change and go and have a bear. The first thing i see is an empty

appartment with an old man without a shirt sleeping on the floor with

no matress - his wife's father. He wakes up, we are laughing and

smiling, watching baseball together and i'm fascinated with stories

about the Cuban involvment in the war in Uganda when he was a

soldier.

Then the guy waked his little boy - one of the most happy kids that i

have seen in my life, playing with a broken doll without hands and hide

and seek with me. We walked to have a bear and after i have seen how

he lives i couldn't accept any of his offers to get rounds of bear though

he sincirely insisted. He gave me a real insight into Cuban life and how

desperate people are. We said goodbye when i gave him all of the

little presents we bought to give to people (recommended to us before

but actually not needed at all, we just didn't want to give any to the

bad ones) with a warm feeling in my heart.

A little more: Cuba - a short history

- The first people to discover Cuba were native americans who settled

in Cuba tens of centuries before the arrival of the spaniards. They were

a simple peacefull farmers and hunters and were eventually erradicated

by Spanish slavery and diseases.

- October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus in his first voyage claimed
the island for Spain, and named it Isla Juana and in the 1511 the first

Spanish settlement was established.

Colonial Cuba was Spanish possession for almost 400 years (1511-1898).

Its economy wasbased on plantation agriculture, mining and the export

of sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. Like

in many places in the new world a large population of black slaves was

brought to work Cuba.

- During 30 years (1868-1898) a serious of bloody rebelions and wars

fighting for a Cuban independence from spain were won eventually with

the intervention of the US winning the Spanish American war. However

Cuba did not win complete independence and in practice became a

sattelite country of the US which preserved the right to intrvene

militarily in Cuba (and did) and pretty soon amrican economical

interests ruled Cuban economy as well.

- A long period (1902-1959) of great political instability icluding the
rulling of 2 dictators. The last Batista, who was overthrown by the revolution.

- The cuban revolution (1959)

Fidel custro, a young charismatic man began his influence as a critic of

Batista's regime. After a failed revolutionary attack he was captured

but surprisingly released by Batista in order to satisfy the public and

fled to excile in Mexico. In 1956 he reorganized and led a gurilla force

to land in Cuba, together with his brother Raul (president today) and

Che guevarra who joined the effort. In 3 years, the revolutionary forces

overthrown batista with an overhwelming support of the public.

After the dust settled, the revolutionaries turned to transform the state

to a socialist state, nationalizing lands and assets (most US property

~25 Bilion $) causing a large flee of Cubans to the US and turning the

US againts the new government.

- American-Cuban tension

Bay of the pigs: April 1961

Cuban imigrants trained by the CIA (supported by Kennedy) landed in

Cuba hoping to start an overthrow of Castro's regime. In only 3 days

the Cuban forces landed a crushing blow on the American forces.

The new-clear missile crisis: 1962 (almost 3rd world war)
American intelligence discovered the positioning of soviet new-clear missles
on Cuban land.President kennedy ordered a full naval blockade, confronting

with the russians. Minutes before confrontation, the russian president,

Khrushchev, backed up and decided to clear the missles with a promise

to secretly remove the US newclear misslies from Turkey and the middle east.

- Remains of a newclear reactor from the days with the close cooperation

with USSR.