Desde La Habana

The past two weeks have certainly flied by here in Cuba. This past weekend I was in Havana, but went to Varadero on Sunday with the group of journalists staying here at our residence. All of the journalists here now focus on sports and in addition to covering much of Latin America, there were even a few from France too. Our rickety ride to Varadero (two hours from Havana) went pretty quickly with the help of some good music and Havana Club courtesy of the periodistas. Once we got there we went right to the water and enjoyed a nice lazy day on the beach. Not to mention that Varadero is probably once of the nicest beaches in the world. It’s not really worth explaining because only a photo would do it justice. I’m hoping to get those online in a few weeks.

Monday morning I was supposed to begin the school week but due to some early morning rain, none of the Cubans showed up and classes were either extremely shortened or cancelled all together. When it rains here people pretty much stay inside since many can’t afford an umbrella and it’s really too hot to wear a rain coat. Still, it was my first “rain day” and I was quite amused (and annoyed since I still woke up early to get there).

Tuesday morning it also rained but we had to brave the weather to get to the train station early to buy our tickets for this weekend. Unfortunately, it seems like taxis don’t really run when it rains so it took about 30 minutes of standing in the rain to get a cab. After about two hours in line the ticket agency opened up so we could sit down in the waiting room and continue enjoy waiting to buy tickets for another hour when they’d start selling them. Overall we had to wait about 5 hours to buy train tickets but since they were in Cuban pesos I don’t really have many regrets. First-class on the “special” train which includes a snack goes for 72 pesos or 3 dollars. Not bad. Yet, many Cubans don’t travel because once they arrive somewhere new if they don’t have family or friends, they won’t be able to afford to stay anywhere.

Today I continued the trend of traveling as we went on a trip to Playa Girón, part of the Bay of Pigs area famous for the battle that occurred there nearly fifty years ago. Cubans are obviously proud of the Bay of Pigs because they defeated the United States in a military battle—the first country to do so in the world. I’d compare it to the Battle of 1812 in the U.S. The Bay of Pigs confirmed Cuba’s status as a free country that could govern its own affairs even at the expense of U.S. interests. I still don’t know a lot about the history of Bay of Pigs and look forward to learning more about it. My understanding previously is that we lost because Kennedy would not allow air support and we basically let 1,200 Cuban exiles on their own in a battle they could not possibly win.

The side of the story told here is that we did provide some air support, but Cuba still triumphed over el imperialismo yanki. Cuba still likes to display bits of evidence documenting that the U.S. was behind Bay of Pigs (like a uniform or wreckage)—a fact that confuses me because I don’t believe that we’ve ever tried to cover up our involvement (at least after we lost and it was overwhelmingly obvious who supported who). The peace agreement after the battle is what really interests me: Cuba simply sent the prisoners back in exchange for $7 million worth of supplies like baby food.

At any rate, after visiting two museums, we spent the afternoon at Playa Larga, enjoying the tropical seas and cooling sea breeze. Again, you’ll have to see pictures of this to imagine just how beautiful it is. Tomorrow, I’ll board the 7:00 Tren Especial with a destination of Santiago de Cuba. If all goes well, we’ll arrive at 7:00 Saturday morning ready to begin our 7-day recorrido of the eastern provinces. El Oriente, as the region is called, was the birthplace to the Revolution and is rich with history. We’ll hope to visit Baracoa, Bayamo, and Pico Turqunio while we’re there. If the train gets in on time, we’ll get to go to Game 5 of the play-offs between Santiago and Ciego de Avíla. Until I get back, keep emailing and enjoy the beginnings of spring up north.

Today I went to one of the places most shrouded in mystery back north: the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Not only are we talking about Havana—a place that people either think is a 1950s paradise or a modern-day example of inefficiency and dictatorship—we’re talking about the building that represents the interests of a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Cuba. My trip was for routine business, but the experience was far from ordinary.

You don’t need the address of the Interests Section to find out where it is in Vedado. Just head towards Malecón and look for hundreds of flags. Normally they’re black flags to represent people who the Cuban government claims have died either trying to reach the U.S. or at the hands of people who had the support of the U.S. Every once in a while they’re Cuban flags, usually on days of national importance such as when Raúl was elected president. Today there were no flags; I think they were repairing the poles. Looking past the hundreds of flag-less flag poles, you’ll notice a huge stage complete with revolutionary slogans and messages about the Cuban Five.

Now that I could see the multi-story, fortress-like complex, I had to pass through Cuban police to gain access to the sidewalk where the entrance to the Interests Section is. Normally I cross the street wherever I need to, but as soon as I did that the police whistled at me and instructed me to cross at the corner. After crossing the street, I went through my first checkpoint, presenting my U.S. Passport. I waited in line for a few moments until word got out that I was norteamericano and the police let me go ahead to the front of the line to wait to go through security. Again, once they found out I was from the U.S., I was moved to the front of the line at security and ushered in through an unmarked door to go through security once again. Now inside the building, I made it past a waiting area for Cubans seeking visas to come to the U.S. and finally through a locked door marked “U.S. Citizen Services.” Along the way, I stopped to look at the items deemed worthy to be hanging on the wall: a letter from Fidel to FDR and pictures of what seemed like hundreds of Cuban political prisoners and the locations of their jails.

Anyway, I was hardly surprised to find out that I was the only U.S. citizen in the Interests Section so I got my questions answered right away. To my surprise though, the staff (members of the Foreign Service) were incredibly open and hardly suspicious of my presence in Cuba. They were familiar with my program and after I got everything sorted out, we even traded information about where the best burgers could be found in Havana.

Aside from my visit to the Interests Section, the past week had been low-key. Classes were cancelled yesterday afternoon for the Cultural Festival sponsored by the FEU (which was sweet) and next week I’ve got my first round of seminarios—class-wide debates where participation counts for a grade. This weekend I’m planning on going to the beach again and with any luck I’ll finally get my carné tomorrow.