cuba tales III - las gentes (the people)

The Cuban people are beautiful. They don't have what we have as far as possessions, salary, spending money, etc, but they are happy. You'll hear them actually singing as they go about their work. Yes, I said singing, out loud. That blew me away. If someone does that here, they are looked at funny! You don't just sing for no reason! Man, our culture is so damn inhibited in too many ways!

When we were on the jeep safari, driving out through the little towns and back country, we saw lots of kids - they would come running out to the side of the road to wave at us as we drove by. Hoping for handouts, likely, as I think that was the regular route for the tour. They were cute, though. Some of them would be smiling and happy, and others looked like they were doing it just for the handouts - waving mechanically and not smiling at all. It seemed to be the older ones that were like that, and the smaller ones that looked happy and excited. I wonder if the parents would send them out there to essentially beg for handouts?

There were four of us in a jeep, so Jon and I ended up traveling with a woman and her teenage son. The son made a comment about these kids that really irritated me, but would likely be a fairly common mindset among North Americans. He compared what they were doing - standing along the road hoping for handouts - to prostitution. I wanted to smack some sense and sympathy into him! These kids have nothing, these tourists come through and many of them come with gifts for the kids - pencils, paper, hair things, etc - so the kids are out there hoping to get some! That pack of pencils or pad of paper will be the most treasured thing they own! Those hair barrettes will be the envy of all the other little girls! It's not the same as someone begging or "hooking" in North America - not even comparable! Here we have the opportunity to make something of ourselves. Even homeless beggers could find a job, make some money, be productive, if they choose to. Down there, they are so limited as to how much they can make, how much they can own. Their salaries are set by the government, and are not at all equal to the cost of things (1 pair of shoes could be a whole month's wages). You'd be out there waving for handouts too!

The whole North American mindset really irks me. We live in the very lap of luxury - and complain about everything! People in places like Cuba live with a fraction of what we have, yet they are happy, they make the most of it. The kids don't have the fancy Toys R Us or even Walmart toys. They are thrilled to get pencils, paper and hair clips! In downtown Varadero, we saw these two boys just playing in an old Fiat. They don't have the video games and tv - they are content to play in this old car.

It reminded me of my own childhood, actually. We used to play in the old cars around our place, as well - and we were happy to do so! What adventures we would have in those old things! We didn't have the tv or video games either - and we didn't miss them! The outdoors was our playground - and I dare say it was better than any electronic playground that kids have now. Cuban kids are lucky, because they don't have the option to be sucked into video games, television and computer games. They grow up far richer than most North American kids.

We visited a Cuban farm. They opened their home to us, fed us fresh sugar cane, coconut, guava, bananas, etc. It was very eye opening to walk through one of their homes and see how these people live. The one we visited was the home of a family of 10. The two parents and 8 children. Here is the home they lived in:Yes, you are seeing correctly. Two bedrooms, one small bathroom, one small kitchen, then there was a very small sitting area, and a dining room of sorts - all for 8 kids and two adults. And notice the amount of possessions - notice how bare the rooms are! And only one burner on the stove in the kitchen. This place is a shack by our standards, and yet this is how they live! This is typical for a Cuban family. And we have the nerve to complain about our homes and how we live? As I said, it was eye opening!

The people live with next to nothing, and yet they are happy and for the most part content. Sure, they'd like more money, better salaries. I'm sure they'd like better and bigger homes, more possessions, but they don't let that stop them from living life!

We followed this bus for a few minutes on the jeep safari, and the kids inside were watching us and waving at us. Happy. Content. Friendly.

cuba tales I

Christmas in Cuba was as good as I hoped/expected. Nothing ever quite lives up to my expectations, but I certainly wasn't disappointed! We met some great people, saw some of the Cuban countryside, got some great photos, enjoyed a warm sunny beach - ahhhh I did not want to leave at all! I could have easily handled at least another week there without getting bored or going crazy. ;)

We left home Monday morning, the 22nd. Our flight was out of London at 4:55pm. We arrived at the airport a bit over 2 hours before our flight - and you should have seen the line-up! Apparently they were having computer problems when checking everyone in for our flight, and we ended up waiting in line for over 2 hours. Our flight was delayed as a result, but at least they didn't leave without us! ;)

While waiting in line we met the two parties ahead of us in line - who both happened to be going to the same resort that we were! The chances of that are pretty small, since there are sooo many resorts, and just about everyone on the plane is going to a different one. We met Alex and her mom from London, and another gal and her mom from Toronto. Great people, fun to chat with, and we enjoyed hanging out with Alex and Jean later in the week as well.

So our flight finally left closer to 6, which meant we arrived in Veradero, Cuba around 9. It was after 10 by the time we got through customs, got our luggage, found our bus, exchanged our money, and made it to our resort, Melia Las Antillas. As soon as we stepped off the plane in Veradero, though, I could feel the dramatic temperature change, and knew I was going to love it!

Customs in Cuba was a cinch. Thorough, but not overboard like it tends to be in Canada or the US. We were in and out in not time, there were no looong line ups, and it was all very well organized. We actually had to wait for our luggage after going through Customs because it was so quick!

We got to our resort, checked in, unpacked, changed, then headed downstairs to check out the drink situation. The lobby bar was super quiet that night, so we went and found the "Disco Fun Pop" bar. Yes, it is actually called that! It was pretty busy that night, so we hung out there for a couple of beer before calling it a night. It turned out to be a nice little spot the rest of the week as well. It was great to watch everyone dance and just observe the people that were there. A lot of germans were at this resort, and we saw a number of them that night - including one guy in a very unique outfit. He was wearing a tank top that was almost more like a vest - it had three or so buttons that were undone, and was almost a sheer material. He had a beer belly, a mohawk, and patched jeans. We were amused. ;) We saw the same guy later on in the week several times, including one day when we went for lunch and he came to lunch in his Speedo - not a pretty sight! There were some amusing people there for sure...

Our first day there was overcast and cool - but still a hell of a lot nicer than Ontario! We spent a fair bit of time hanging out at the lobby bar, drinking cappucino (some of them with Baileys), and hit the Disco Fun Pop again in the evening. It was a pretty low-key day, but still enjoyable!

Our second day was warm and sunny, so we spent a good part of it laying by the pool - ahhhhh, the sun! It was delightful! They had some hammocks hung in spots around the pool as well, and those were nice to nap in a couple of times. The pool was huge - and there were tons of chairs around it - probably over 100 just around the pool. The resort holds about 350 people, so it's a good size without being too ginormous. There were at least that many more chairs down at the beach, if not more. There were four bars spread out through the resort. The lobby bar (24 hour), the disco bar - which seemed to be only open certain times, the beach bar (10-5) and the pool bar (open til midnight or so). There were three a la cart restaurants - which we never made it to. And there was a buffet and a restaurant by the pool. The variety of food was great, and it tasted pretty damn good too! I had heard before I left about how the food down there is very bland - but I can't say that I found it to be so! I certainly had no complaints.

The rest of the week was spent doing a jeep safari, visiting Veradero, walking the beach and chatting with people we met there. There will be more to come, including pictures, on the highlights of the rest of the trip...