Dear All,
We arrived back from Cuba at 4.30 pm yesterday having travelled through the night. The freezing temperatures were the first shock having got used to 25 to 30°C for a couple of weeks and we were straight out to the Over Day Care Centre helpers Christmas meal (our help was doing a couple of quizzes) – the imminence of Christmas was the second shock.
Everything about Cuba was very interesting: the politics, history, economy, architecture, scenery, agriculture, birds, plants, music, environmental issues etc. and we were fortunate to see it in the way we did in a small study group. We have only been on a group tour once before (to India) and you wonder beforehand what the group dynamics will be like. In fact, there were some fascinating characters which added to the holiday: age range from 20 to 75, a few members of the communist party and most very pro Cuba and interested in environmental issues.
The Malecon
The Capitole, Havana
We started with four days in Havana then travelled south to Trinidad (the town not the island) for four days and returned via Santa Clara (one day) to Havana for another four days.
Havana has some tremendous buildings from the Spanish occupation but most are crumbling and in need of attention. The economy is creaking following the break up of the Soviet block but after severe hardships in the 90s they are gradually recovering.
Older folk who remember what it was like before the revolution are still behind the government but younger ones are becoming more restless. Castro seems to have cunningly deified Che to shift the spotlight and most places have wall to wall Guevara posters, statues, slogans and souvenirs.
People had told us that you would not travel to Cuba for the food and that is probably true, but it was not too bad: rice and black beans are the staples usually with pork, sometimes chicken or fish. Food variety was a bit limited partly due to the recent hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Music is endemic and it was not possible to have a meal without live musical accompaniment. The biggest surprise for me was the extent of waste land most of which had formerly grown sugar cane. I expected with food in short supply they would cultivate every inch but because fuel and fertilizers are scarce this is not the case.
An Organoponica
Trinidad Beach
Our itinery included: walking tours of old Havana, Trinidad and Santa Clara
A medicinal herb production site
Two large “organoponicas” - urban vegetable production enterprises
A meeting of the CDR Committee for the Defence of the Revolution
Two vegetable markets
A community food preservation project
An old sugar mill
A mountain jungle walk
One afternoon on the beach!
A mountain eco university site
Two swims in mountain pools
The Che Guevara mausoleum
A scale model of Havana used for city planning
Havana Botanical gardens – 600 ha
A solar energy project
A highland eco research centre
A river regeneration site
The National Institute of Agricultural Science
In addition we visited the museum of the Revolution, the Cuban art museum, the Trinidad Romantic museum, a Cuban cinema, the Revolution Park, the Malecon (seafront), American Embassy, John Lennon statue and a few other things which I won’t bore you with (but could if you insist!) All in all a busy schedule but very informative.
I have pruned the photos from 700 to 500! and aim eventually post them on Flickr.
Guess who?
Love
Mike & Kate
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