Getting to know Cuba - Part 3
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Michey Foley
Mickey Foley, a former delegate to Cuba, recounts his experience with the WFPSC in the country through a series of chronicles, beginning with his departure from his home in Minnesota and continuing with his daily encounters, impressions, and reflections on the island. Here is the third part of this series.
Cuba: Day 6
That morning we rolled up on the Museum of the Revolution’s backyard, a park across the street from the old Presidential Palace. The museum was extended into the park in 1975, replacing a fountain and a statue of a Cuban president. Inside the building in the middle of the park we could see the Granma.
This was the boat that Fidel and 81 guerrillas took from Mexico to Cuba. The name is English, a variation on “grandma.” It was designed for 12 passengers. I couldn’t imagine 82 people squeezing onto it.
[...] At the musuem Casa de África, our guide was a math professor who had worked at the museum for over 17 years. It’s the only museum in the world where all African objects were gifted by African countries. He said they’ve tried to maintain a reciprocal exchange of ideas, cultures, power and support with Africa. Cuba sent workers, professors and others to help with African independence, not just soldiers. There’s a national commission to fight discrimination chaired by the president of Cuba, but the guide said that’s not enough to eradicate racism.
Read the first entry complete here.
Cuba: Day 7
In the morning we hit the road for the city of Trinidad on the southern coast. On the outskirts of Havana there were a lot of people on the side of the highway hitchhiking. This was a common sight in Cuba, but it became especially pronounced on the edge of the capital.
We picked up several hitchhikers at different spots throughout the day, almost filling the bus at one point. Edelso said the law requires you pick up hitchhikers if you have room and their destination is on your route.There were US-style cloverleaf highway junctions, but not much traffic and no lines on the road. Everything had gone to seed, including the pavement. Writing freehand on the bus was out of the question. But we still moved at a good clip, I’d guess around 60 mph.
Our first stop of the day came at a rest area. There was an outdoor bar and restaurant with a gift shop and vendors outside. I picked up a red, kid-sized baseball bat that said “Cuba” with a Cuban flag for my 8-year-old nephew. It was still quite cheap despite (I assume) the inevitable tourist trap surcharge.
Shortly thereafter, we left the highway for the back roads. We drove by a field of solar panels. The vegetation was pretty lush but not quite as exotic or tropical as I’d anticipated. I was expecting the jungle, I guess, and it didn’t really measure up to my imagination. It didn’t quite feel like Fantasy Island, one of the TV shows from my 80’s childhood. There were some mountains though.
Read the first entry complete here.
Cuba: Day 8
Our day began with a visit to an old sugar plantation. It’s called San Isidro and is now an archaeological site. Our tour guide was named Yesenia. She gave us some background on sugar. Sugarcane originated in India. The Spanish brought it to the Canary Islands. Columbus may’ve brought it to Cuba.
In the 19th Century, San Isidro was an artisanal sugar mill. The landowner was from Catalonia, Spain. Trees weren’t at the site until the plantation was established. They were planted and cut down to fuel fires to make the sugar. The sugarcane juice, or guarapo (an African word), was heated in cauldrons. They also made rudimentary rum and molasses.
[...] As we listened to the guide in the museum, translated by Edelso, Rekhet began crying. Then Edelso began tearing up until everyone’s eyes were watering. Feli said that Rekhet had opened us up to grieving the horror of what had happened there and across the Americas in the centuries after the European conquest. I appreciated the chance to emotionally process the history. Too often I keep a professional distance from these events. I noticed it in this blog, especially today’s entry.
3.5 million Africans were brought to the Americas through the House of Slaves on an island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. UNESCO helped establish the Museum of the Slave Route in Cuba at San Severino Castle in Matanzas. This is one of many sites in The Slave Route Project UNESCO launched in 1994.
Read the first entry complete here.
