My Life in Cuba

I’ve been putting off writing this post since the moment our plane touched down in Toronto. Partially, I just had (and still have) no idea where to begin. And partially, writing this post would be the fine admission to myself (and to all of you) that I’m home, and home for good.

My time in Cuba was full of ups and downs and highs and lows, but it ended on perhaps a more positive note than I could have ever imagined. I finally understood why all of the people in the Middlebury Study Abroad Office are so gung-ho full year programs: you really don’t hit your stride until the end of the first semester. I finally felt like I was beginning to feel truly fluent in the language. I finally felt like I had friends (both Cuban and foreign) who were more than just acquaintances. I finally felt like I knew my way around, and that I perhaps wasn’t such an “extranjera” anymore.

And then, all of a sudden (after roughly 2.5 hours on a plane) I was back in the English-speaking, capitalist, 21st-century world. I got off the plane and jokingly turned to my friend Tara and said “So, remember that time we studied in Cuba for four months?” It really felt like we had never left (except that the 2-foot-high blanket of snow and ice was gone).

My first week home was a frenzy of doctors and dentists and family and friends. It was the only that I will have all summer without work, and so there was a lot to get done in a very short amount of time. In some ways, this was a good thing: I didn’t have time to fall into a I-don’t-want-to-be-home funk which would have involved very many hours of sitting on the couch, watching Ina Garten, and petting my cat. But in other ways, this was a bad thing: I didn’t have time to really think about being home. I hit the ground running and basically had no time to look back.

Now, after being home for less than three weeks, I still feel like I haven’t had time. Being home has been kind of surreal - I don’t have a better word to describe it than that. I don’t have the words to begin to describe my experiences in four months in Cuba, but if you ask my questions, I’ll do my best to answer. I want to talk about it, I just don’t know where to begin, so please - ask me questions, I’d love to answer.

I don’t know for sure whether or not this will be my last post. I’m going to start keeping my food blog more up-to-date, so get ready for that (sunsurfsnowandfood.tumblr.com).

That’s all for now. Thank you all for sticking with me these past few months.

I’m done with work. I’m done with gift/souvenir shopping. I’m done with classes. What, exactly have I been doing with my time?

Well, first off, I’ve been enjoying having somewhat of a “vacation”. I’ve been relaxing, going out, hanging out with friends, and “aprovechando” (enjoying, kind of) all of the things that Havana has to offer. 

Last Thursday afternoon I went to Diablo Tun Tun, a cafe/music venue that slightly reminded me of the smaller space in the old Knitting Factory, to hear Ray Fernandez and his invited guests (Cuban musicians always bring guests with them to shows). The concert was awesome, as was the venue, as was the price (just about $1.25).

Then Friday night I went to hear a concert in another small-ish (although slightly larger) venue. This time it was Equis Alfonso, another fairly well-known Cuban musician. This time the prices were even better (only 20 MN, or less than $1). I’m starting to regret not having taken advantage of all of the live music that Havana has to offer earlier in my time here, but there are some things that you just have to learn with time, and I guess this is one of them. There are a couple of concerts that I want to go to this week too, so hopefully I’ll at least make the last week count.

This past weekend, I spent all of Sunday in the kitchen at a friend’s house cooking for a dinner party that we were throwing. For more on that, click here: sunsurfsnowandfood.tumblr.com (yup…I’m keeping a food blog now!!!).

In terms of my bucket list for this week: aside from hearing as much music as possible, I want to go to the beach, return to a couple of restaurants for dinner, eat at Dona Laura once more (and try her chicharrones), spend as much time walking around Havana as I can, spend one more day in Habana Vieja, and I’m sure there’s more that I can’t think of right now.

I can’t believe that we’re really in our final countdown. It feels like just yesterday I was thinking that four months was an eternity, and now I feel like I would love to have four more. I’m in a weird place of not wanting to leave here, but also really looking forward to being home and getting back to NYC. I think this is probably my last post from Cuba. There will be at least two more posts once I get home, so stay tuned.

That’s all for now. Hasta pronto.

Don’t worry…I’m not about to launch into some existential rant about the meaning of life. My question is a much more practical one, at least from my vantage point here on the porch of the Costillar de Rocinante Residence in El Vedado, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba.

Over the course of our time here, we have been called many things. I think back fondly to the first day of Cuban Culture class, when the professor asked “How many enemies do we have in the room?” Since then, we have been called gringos, americanos, estadounidenses, yanquis, extranjeros, and the two most popular: norteamericanos and Yumas.

I have been thinking a lot about this recently, and, because estadounidenses just doesn’t quite roll of the tongue very nicely, I think Yuma is my preferred name. “Norteamericanos” leaves out our poor neighbors to the north…afterall, Canadians are North Americans too. In fact, it also leaves out our neighbors to the south, Mexico is also a country in North America.

Once deciding on Yuma, I decided I had to learn why exactly I was being called that, and I came up with the following theory after some semi-successful reading on Wikipedia: “Yuma” is what has happened to the word “United” over the course of many years being pronounced in “Cuban”. Also, after the popularity of 3:10 to Yuma, the name stuck even more. According to my sources, Yuma is never meant in a demeaning way, or at least almost never; it usually connotes some form of familiarity, and warmth or friendship.

And now on a more serious note: We are officially within the two week mark, and I can say with much confidence that I am not at all ready to leave. I’m going to finish my final paper today, and I’m very much looking forward to having 10 ish days to just enjoy being in Havana. This past month has really changed my perspective, and I’m happy to be ending my time here on such a good note. 

Even if I’m not looking forward to leaving, I am most definitely looking forward to seeing all of you! Happy June!

This past weekend was finally my trip to “La Isla”, or La Isla de la Juventud as it is really called. The trip had been in the works for so long, that it didn’t seem like we would ever go, but when my alarm went off at 6am on Friday, clearly the day had arrived. I was traveling with a friend from Germany who I have two classes with, and a Cuban friend of hers who is from La Isla, but now lives and works in Havana.

Navigating the bus terminal wasn’t all that difficult, we easily found our way to the check in desk and then to the gate from which the bus would depart. After about a 1.5 hour bus ride, we got to the dock that the ferry leaves from, where we waited for over an hour. There are multiple buses that come from different places to bring people to the ferry, so between waiting for the buses to arrive, and then waiting to check in and have our bags scanned, it was quite a long process. But we finally sat down on the ferry (this ferry is more like an airplane, and after a group of people hijacked a ferry to try to go to the States in 2003, security is really strict, with police everywhere). You’re not allowed to get up from your seat other than to go to the bathroom. After 3 hours on the ferry, we arrived in Nueva Gerona to quite a chorus of “casa? habitacion?” (house? room?). Our Cuban friend was quite taken aback by being harassed so much, but we’re used to it at this point.

We then discovered a small snafu in our planning: return tickets. Now, Maike (the German friend) and I were fairly clear on the fact that return tickets could only be purchased in Nueva Gerona (so said our guidebooks, and the woman who sold us our tickets), but when we casually asked Yasser when we get our tickets back, he looked at us like we had lost our minds. “What do you mean you don’t have tickets back???” After explaining the confusion, we put our names on the “Lista de espera” (waiting list) and set off on our merry way.

Yasser’s parents are recently divorced and the apartment that they used to share is standing empty and we got to stay there. After dropping off our bags, we made our way over to his dad’s house for a delicious homecooked meal (made even more delicious by the fact that, in all our travels, we had only eaten a cookie). After stuffing ourselves and hanging out for a bit, we made our way downtown and sat on a bridge overlooking the river and trying to befriend the fish swimming beneath our feet. We then slowly strolled along the main pedestrian street running through the center of town. The Island was hit hard by a hurricane in 2008, and so everything is in a state of disrepair/repair, but people don’t seem to let the construction get in their way. Everyone sits out along the main street hanging out and talking until the wee hours of the morning, or going to the one club in town (much like Midd, there’s only one place to go for nightlife).

The next morning we woke up early and hailed a “taxi” (horse and buggy) to make our way out of town to the Presidio Modelo, a prison built in the 1920s where Fidel and his compatriots were imprisoned in 1955. The prison is modeled after a prison in Illinois, and even though it was never finished, the design is awesome. The rooms were tiny, but they had huge windows with beautiful views of the surrounding hills and the water in the distance - overall not a bad place to be in prison.

Then we made our way to the black sand beaches nearby. I’m overall not the biggest fan of black sand beaches in reality - they’re so hot, and I usually feel dirty, but it was nice to have a couple of hours lazing around on the beach anyway.

We hopped in another “taxi” and made our way back to Gerona where we ate at the “Casa del pollo” before climbing this small mountain right outside of town to watch the sunset. The sunset idea seemed great to begin with, and the sunset was spectacularly beautiful, but when we realized that we had to climb back down in the dark, we realized maybe it wasn’t the best idea. We finally arrived safely at the bottom in a cloud of dust (because of the drought) only to get caught in a rainstorm and turn quickly into piles of mud.

After a sponge bath (there’s only water from 6-8pm because of drought, so everyone fills up buckets to use for bath water), we headed back into downtown to sit in the main plaza, drink some wine, and enjoy our last few hours on the Isla.

Sunday morning at 5:30, we headed back to the terminal where we waited over 4 hours before finally getting our tickets to head back to Havana. We had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before we had to check in and wait for the ferry to depart. Unlike our trip there, this time we were on the slow ferry, meaning 5 hours with a crying baby, a barely-functioning A/C, and no room to stretch our legs; but after only 3 hours of sleep the night before, we all slept most of the way so it wasn’t too bad. We finally arrived back in Havana at 7:30, only 14 hours after our journey had begun.

La Isla is certainly not a hopping tourist destination, but it’s also definitely on my list of places to go back to if (when) I come back to Cuba. I really want to explore the south side of the island, which is known for its nature preserves and hiking, as well as supposedly awesome beaches.

For now it’s back to life in La Habana. Final papers and exams coming up. For those of you who just graduated - congratulations! And for those of you who didn’t - I hope all is well.

Besos from La Habana. :)

I’ve posted about travel and I’ve posted about food and I’ve posted about museums and I’ve posted about daily life. But I haven’t posted about something that you all might be wondering about: drinking and cigars.

Rum and cigars are perhaps what Americans know best about Cuba because they are perhaps even more prohibited than Cuba itself. Before I left for Cuba, I enjoyed a mojito here and there, but I did not consider myself an expert in anything rum. I had also never smoked a cigar, in fact, I hated cigars. Few things can ruin a day at the beach than someone sitting up wind blowing cigar smoke in my direction. Here’s what I’ve discovered in the last three months:

Rum - Cuban rum is definitely the best rum I’ve ever tasted, made even better by the fact that it’s so cheap. One of our first experiences with state-regulation involved rum purchases: we were expecting that in a hotel it would cost more than in the liquor store attached to the gas station, but we quickly realized that the price of rum is the same anywhere you go. People refer to different sized bottles by their price, because they are the same everywhere. That said, I think when I get back to the States, I will be taking quite a long hiatus from rum-drinking - partially because it’s not going to taste as good, partially because I’m a little rummed-out, and partially because it will be so much more expensive.

Beer - I think in the US we’ve been spoiled by having so many different kinds of beer, and having them all be relatively cheap. In Cuba, there are six different kinds of beer, two of which are basically water. Two of them are ok, although nothing all that special, very “beachy” is how we’ve been describing them. These four beers all cost 1CUC, or just about $1. And the concept of buying multiple beers at once doesn’t really exist. You can’t buy a case, and if you want to buy 24 beers, it’s going to cost you 24CUC. But then…we discovered Tinima and Bruja. These two beers are only sold in moneda nacional, and are thought of as “bad beer” by the Cubans. Needless to say, they have become our favorite. They have a taste, and they taste good! Finding them is easier said than done, but we found a cafeteria two blocks from our residence that will sell us cases of it (at a slightly marked-up price, but since it costs less than $0.40 a beer anyway, we don’t mind paying an extra $0.05 for the joy of having a cold beer waiting in our fridges). The only catch: we have to bring back the bottles when we’re done.

Wine - Wine is my favorite drink at home. Cubans don’t really do wine very well, at all. The first few Cuban wines we tried were TERRIBLE. Cubans like their wine really sweet (yes, sweeter than Manischewitz), and the concept of a “dry wine” means that it’s going to taste like vinegar. We finally found a wine that we could tolerate (and it makes delicious sangria) and it’s only $2!!!

Moral of the beer/wine story: the cheaper ones that Cubans don’t like, are far preferable to me.

Cigars - I’ve tried one. They don’t smell anything like we have back home. They smell sweet (ish) and natural. But don’t worry, I’m not going to become a cigar smoker any time soon.

Don’t get the wrong idea, we don’t drink all the time. We have a drink every so often, sometimes we have two. I wish I could offer to bring back rum and cigars for you to try, but I’m not going to risk it - sorry. :)

We have officially reached the less-than-four-week mark. It’s hard to believe. Yesterday we said goodbye to our friends from Princeton. They have all made it safely back to the States and are working on readjusting. Their leaving hit us all like a smack in the face on multiple levels: not only were our friends leaving (“half our family is gone!” as one of my other friends said), but the idea that we are leaving soon became much more real. We started making to-do lists for before we go, and thinking of when we should do what. We have to give our passports and carnets (Cuban ID cards) up on May 25 so that our exit visas can be processed. Once we give up our carnets we can’t really travel anymore, and it’ll become much harder for us to pay for things in moneda nacional. We’ve all been trying to remember how we survived the first month without our carnets, but we’re at a loss.

At this point, I’m looking forward to going home on the one hand, and not at all on the other. I’m really excited to see my family, and my friends, and my cats, and my City. I’m excited for food in NYC, and for my internship and lifeguarding. But I’m not ready to leave here yet. I’m not ready to be finished with Study Abroad. I’m not ready to leave Cuba and the people and places that I have come to know. I’m not ready to leave a country that will be completely different the next time I can come here. I think that having four weeks left is the perfect amount, although I feel like I might want more once these four come rushing to a close.

That’s about all the reflecting I can do for now. But there will be much more in the weeks to come.

Remember what I said about new journalists coming? Well thankfully that didn’t really happen, which meant that we got to cook again last night! We decided to go for something different, as the whole eggplant-and-pasta thing was getting a little old. One of our friends from Princeton is actually from Nicaragua, and some her friends from home have been visiting this week, which as been really fun. But it’s also been great because of all of the wonderful things that her mom sent along with them, the most important one of which was: CURRY!!!! I didn’t know that curry was my favorite food until I got to Cuba, but it’s been the thing that I’ve craved more than anything else. Tonight we made delicious garbanzo bean curry with some onions and tomatoes in it, as well as a huge stir-fry with carrots (yes Daddy, a stir-fry with carrots…and I loved it), peppers, onions, eggplant, Napa cabbage, spinach and bok choy. On the stir fry, we threw some of the red pepper flakes that my friend got…all in all, it felt like I was having a flavor reunion in my mouth. We made some of our usual pico de gallo to go on the side, and also some raita with a cucumber and some yogurt that we bought at the grocery store (a little bit of which also went into the curry).

In other food related news:

1. We actually also got to cook one night this past weekend. A bunch of our friends (Cuban and American) got together and rented a house at the beach for the weekend, and, despite having a lot of work to do, I went for one night. It was so nice to come back to a house after some time at the beach and make dinner with friends…certainly made me even more excited about my suite next year!

2. I finally ventured to the Middle Eastern restaurant! We had been told that it wasn’t good, and while it certainly wasn’t the best food I’ve had in Cuba, nor the best Middle Eastern food I’ve ever had, the falafel tasted like falafel, the hummus tasted like hummus, and the chicken kebab tasted just the way it was supposed to. My friend got lamb cous cous, and then ordered a second one because of how much he enjoyed it. Another friend and I spent the chicken kebab and a shrimp curry dish which, while not as good as the curry I just made, it was the first curry I had eaten in months, so it was delicious (and for only $6, it was absolutely worth it, and I would perhaps get it again).

3. Man vs. Food beware - there’s a challenge waiting for you in Cuba. The Coppelia Ice Cream Challenge is one that my friends and I are contemplating attempting before we leave. In this challenge, you have to go to all five different areas of the ice cream legend, and eat “una ensalada” (a sundae that costs less than a quarter) in each place. This is challenging for two reasons: 1) that’s A LOT of ice cream and 2) the lines in Coppelia are notoriously long. The long lines will be somewhat of a blessing and a curse, giving us time to digest in between servings, but could also pose a threat to our ability to complete the challenge in one day. Still unclear whether or not it’s going to happen, but I’ll keep you posted. Feel free to let me know if you think we should do it or not.

I think that’s all for now. I hope you’ve been enjoying reading my posts as much as I’ve been enjoying writing them.

We didn’t make it to the march on Sunday. I was certainly a little marched-out, and finding the motivation to go and watch just proved a completely impossible task. Later that morning (ok, so maybe it was more like Sunday afternoon) I set out to Habana Vieja with one of my SUNY friends. We walked there, which is my favorite way of getting there, although it takes a while, but since we had no particular plans, we were in no hurry. As we were walking, another one of our friends called (ah, the joys of having a cell phone) and we decided to meet in the Plaza Vieja. My friend and I went and got iced coffee at this place that my parents’ tour guide had told us about, and it was DELICIOUS. Definitely the best (if not the only) iced coffee I’ve had in Cuba, but also just really delicious coffee in general. By the time we finished our coffee break, our other friend had found us, and we all decided we were hungry/thirsty, and so we went back to the beer-tower place for a mid-day snack and beer. After beer, clearly we needed something to wash it down, so we went over to the Museo de Chocolate and had some “Cold Chocolate”, which was much better than the hot chocolate I had the last time.

Now that we were sufficiently bloated, we decided that we should walk around a bit. We went over to this restaurant that we’ve all been wanting to try to look at the menu (it was a little expensive, but I’m sure we can come up with some occasion on which a splurge would be appropriate). We then decided to try to find the ferry that would take us across the harbor to La Regla, the oldest Santeria church in Cuba. The ferry ride was lovely (I’m a big fan of ferries), and the church was old and beautiful. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was seeing all the jelly-fish in the water along the way; they were dinner-plate sized clear jelly-fish, and it was just fun to watch them get tossed about in the wake of the boat. Once we made it safely back to Havana, we decided to finish off our touristy day in the ultimate touristy way: a CocoTaxi. These are small, yellow, orb-like taxis that are driven by mopeds that we’ve been seeing around the city since the day we arrived. It was definitely worth the cost and possible embarrassment - we had a blast, and soon (ish) I’ll post the pictures to prove it!

Monday was the national “Dia del descanso” (day of rest) to celebrate May 1 (have to get a day off of work, and since May 1 was a Sunday, we got Monday off). The City was basically shut down, and we took the opportunity to have a lazy day at home after quite a busy weekend.

Yesterday my one and only class was cancelled (as it will be until May 24) because our professor is in Guatemala teaching for three weeks; but it worked out well because we finally decided that we would cook again. We made basically the same thing we did last time, only we made gazpacho instead of pico de gallo, and white sangria instead of red. We also doubled the number of vegetables that we cooked, and so now we have delicious leftovers to enjoy for the next day or two. We’re hoping that we’ll get to cook once more before our friends from Princeton leave, but as that date is very rapidly approaching (May 15), it’s looking less and less likely, especially because, after two weeks of peace and quiet, we are supposedly getting a big group of journalists on Sunday.

I just finished making a list of all the work I have (that I know of) between now and when we leave, and it’s far more than I would like to have. We’re going to be working basically up until the day we leave, which is a little too bad, it would be nice to have a week to just relax. Maybe I can time it all so that I have a week with no work; although after almost three months of doing basically nothing, my brain seems to be forgetting how to function. Hopefully I’ll fix that some time soon.

I hope that you are all enjoying the first days of May, and that the end of the semester (if that’s where you are) isn’t too bad.

Love and sunshine from Havana.

This past week was a pretty quiet one. We had a professor visiting from SUNY at the beginning of the week, so he took us out for dinner, which was lovely. Most of the time we were all just settling back into our routines in Havana after a week of vacation. Now that my Sociology of Education class is over, I can go to aerobics three days instead of just two, which is a lovely addition to my week.

Last night (Friday night) we went out to another paladar that we’ve all been wanting to try, this one quite close to our residence. It was by far the best food we’ve had in Havana. They had homemade bread to start, which was delicious. I then shared a Crema de Calabaza (squash soup) that was flavored with curry, and came with a little sprinkling of cheese on top. The entrees were all wonderful. My friend and I shared pesto pasta primavera and fish with fresh tomato sauce, and both were incredible. And for dessert we had chocolate mousse, arroz con leche, and “pensamiento habanero” (Habanero thought - which was basically a cheesecakey mousse, delicious, but just about as far from thinking like a person from Havana as one could come). We will definitely be going back there at least once more before we go.

Today, I finally made it out to Parque Lenin (yes, Lenin) and the Botanical Gardens. It took about two hours to get there by bus, but we made it! We decided that it would be a bit much to do it all in one day, and the Botanical Gardens offered the promise of vegetarian food, so they won. We didn’t quite know what to expect, but we hopped aboard the tram and made our way through the massive grounds. Every so often we passed a sign that said “Asia”, “Africa”, or, where we finally disembarked, “Australia”. In Australia, the trees didn’t look any different from Asia or Africa, but there was a herd of cows walking back and forth across the road. After walking through Australia, we made our way to the Japanese Garden, which was by far my favorite part. There was a lovely pond with some very fat orange koi and a little gazebo over the water. The vegetarian restaurant, El Bambu (aptly named, since all around the pond were stands of bamboo trees), is right next to the Japanese garden. For 18 moneda nacional (less than $1) we got unlimited access to a vegetarian buffet. There was very little prepared food, but the veggies were fresh and delicious, and the price was certainly right. After lunch we boarded the tram, drove back through Australia, Africa and Asia, and headed back home, which was another two hour journey. Overall, I think we’re glad we went, something to cross of our To-Do lists, but certainly a very different experience from botanical gardens in the states.

Tomorrow is May 1, which here is Labor Day, and there’s another big march. I think we’re all feeling slightly like we’ve “been there, done that”, so we’re definitely not going to wake up at 5, but we might make our way over to the Plaza de la Revolucion, just so we can make some sort of comparison between the two.

We all of a sudden have a fair amount of work to do too, so I think tomorrow and Monday (which we get off because the holiday is on a Sunday) will be spent doing some school work.

Happy (early) May!

Friday at 5:30am, my parents and I left their hotel and went to meet up with Carmita so that I could head off on the final part of my spring break adventure – an all-inclusive resort in Cayo Santa Maria. After saying goodbye to them, I boarded the bus, and off we went. The cayos of Cuba are just an extension of the same island chain that make up the Florida Keys, and as we were driving along the 50km long causeway, it really did feel like we were leaving Cuba and going to…pretty much anywhere in the world with a beach. Don’t get me wrong, it was spectacular, and spending time at a 5-star all-inclusive resort with friends is definitely not something to complain about, but it was shocking to feel that we could have been anywhere in the world. Signs were in English first, then French, and then maybe Spanish if you were lucky. There were a few Cubans around, but I would say only a handful. Most of the people were Canadian, and the majority of the Canadians were French-Candian. It was definitely a lovely two days, but I’m not sure I could have tolerated more than two days. A person can only spend so many days eating delicious food, drinking unlimited alcohol, and sitting on the beach before you get bored and feel your brain/soul rotting away.

And now, it’s back to real life in Havana. We have 7 weeks left, and the time is going to fly by, as we start having to say goodbye to the other American groups here. We stay longer than pretty much everyone else in an attempt to finish out the semester. We have lots of plans, so stay tuned for more!!! Now, I’m off to answer the approximately 50 emails I got over the week I was gone…I guess some things never change.