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July 9, 2005
Los Suecos
We walked everywhere to see what had happened last night to the city. It was storming. The streets were drenched. The electricity was out for most of the city, and many people, tourists and cubanos, were wandering about during the sporadic pauses in the storm. We noticed a few interesting characters: an innocent-looking old man in green in Plaza de Catedral. I asked if I could take his photo; he smiled and said yes. After I took it and thanked him, he asked for 5 pesos convertibles ($5 US)! I shook my said and said no, offering him 1, which he took. Another character was a humongous woman: she was at least 6’3, was in a skimpy dress and was water-drenched. She walked along with the tide of tourists and approached us and everyone else—a huge toothy smile, and arm outreaching to our shoulders, lurching, “Take my photo,” she said again and again in English.
In the late afternoon, we witnessed the back streets of Havana come alive. Without electricity, cubanos built small fires at their doorsteps to cook. The atmosphere was festive with laughter and loud voices.. For the first time, we felt as though eyes were not watching us.
We were lucky that we stopped to have a café con leche at the cathedral because that is where we ran into our wonderful Swedish friends Josephin and Calle. They joined us for drinks and we spent hours and then days, talking and walking and eating together. Ironically, while we were on our first, they were on the very last stop of their own around-the-world trip. It was refreshing to connect with other outsiders. We were having similar experiences and similar impressions of this place. Josephin—a student of journalism and sociology—was especially disturbed. Of all the places she had traveled, she had never experienced anything like the situation in Cuba. The poverty weighed down on us. Even inside the pristine hotels where Cuba for the tourists was very much alive, beautiful and fun—it was all contrived—all a necessary performance, so that the government could continue to scantily provide for its people and keep the façade, all the while shackling them. We agreed that there were key principles missing: the freedoms of association and speech, the tools to make one’s dream a reality (basic education, healthcare and nourishment are not enough, as demonstrated), and the freedom to get the hell out.
(All the names of Cubans in these posts have been changed as a precautionary measure)
Posted by Emily Marie Stremel Mork at July 9, 2005 11:53 PM
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