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Since returning from Cuba I have been asked dozens of times what Cuba was like. These queries mainly come from eager Americans and Europeans who seem keen for reports of a socialist paradise where liberated socialists enjoy the benefits of free health care and enforced leisure time. Each time I’m asked, all I seem to muster is a series of ummmms and errrs before quite meekly finally describing Cuba as “different”. And I suppose that is the truth. Cuba is unlike any country I have visited before. Did I enjoy Cuba? I’m not sure. Yes, parts of it were fun but other parts were solely frustrating and confusing. Did I learn about the system of socialism that supposedly exists in Cuba? I don’t know. I returned to Central America with more questions than I arrived with. Do they dance in the streets? Well, yes. I still have remnants of the scratches left by the drunk woman who I was bumping and grinding with in the middle of the street in Trinidad. Would I go back? An even tougher question. Havana yes, I’d return in a flash. The rest of Cuba, I’m not so sure I’d be as keen.

Cockfights and Caving: Confusion in Cuba

Patrick Gatland
2006-08-21 14:38:47

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Since returning from Cuba I have been asked dozens of times what Cuba was like. These queries mainly come from eager Americans and Europeans who seem keen for reports of a socialist paradise where liberated socialists enjoy the benefits of free health care and enforced leisure time. Each time I’m asked, all I seem to muster is a series of ummmms and errrs before quite meekly finally describing Cuba as “different”. And I suppose that is the truth. Cuba is unlike any country I have visited before. Did I enjoy Cuba? I’m not sure. Yes, parts of it were fun but other parts were solely frustrating and confusing. Did I learn about the system of socialism that supposedly exists in Cuba? I don’t know. I returned to Central America with more questions than I arrived with. Do they dance in the streets? Well, yes. I still have remnants of the scratches left by the drunk woman who I was bumping and grinding with in the middle of the street in Trinidad. Would I go back? An even tougher question. Havana yes, I’d return in a flash. The rest of Cuba, I’m not so sure I’d be as keen.

On returning On the way to the caves in Vinalesto Guatemala from Cuba I was happily mouthing off about the injustices that Cubans have to face from an autocratic-cum-dictatorial government that refuses to allow its citizens any real self-determination. “Yes, they have free education and health care; but they can’t vote or leave the country.” I mused to one of my Spanish teachers. “I think I value the right (or obligation) to vote and to determine the path of my life even more than these other things. At least in Guatemala you can change the government or leave the country.” Quickly demonstrating my lack of knowledge about the realities of Guatemalan life my teacher explained: “In theory we have these things, but the reality is that the government and the elections are so corrupt that no matter how we vote things never change. Our financial circumstances are so difficult ...