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The trade and economic embargo held against Cuba by the USA has lasted for some decades now. America has prohibited American companies and their subsidiaries trading with Cuban entities and prohibited its citizens from spending money in Cuba. (That’s right - I’ve always thought that US citizens were prohibited from visiting Cuba - however the various pieces of legislation that piece together the embargo actually only make it a crime to SPEND money in Cuba. SO for all those Americans aching for some April sun in Cuba I guess you just need to find a philanthropic friend to pay your WHOLE way.) As a result I naively thought that this may mean that American culture may be less prevalent in this tropical island nation. Disappointingly, as I jumped into the cab at the airport bound for La Habana the first song on the radio was not some great piece by the Buena Vista Social Club (I guess they are still touring Guatemala) but the great American ditty “Hotel California” by the Eagles. It was followed by Toni Braxton’s “Un-break My Heart” - a stirring melody that provided a great soundtrack as I viewed for the first time the crumbling streets of Havana.

Che is the New Coke

Patrick Gatland
2006-08-21 14:41:45

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that she had been dating Michael and had recently found out that he was a jinetero (hustler) who, while they were going out was basically prostituting himself to rich tourists. Although she was basically cool with it, Michael had apparently been acting weird over the last few weeks and so it ended up that Michel needed to “sort him out” so he would quit bothering Jen. It was all a bit dramatic (and reminded me that I have missed my daily shot of Neighbours) for my liking and so we skipped the club so we could be home a few hours before we needed to be at the Museum of Revolution.

Our next day in Cuba took us to the “Museum of Why the CIA is Evil”. A comprehensive display and discussion of all the evil things the CIA did to Havana and Cuba after the revolution. Unfortunately the Museum fails to give a very clear picture of the interesting stories of the revolutions (attempted and actual). I did like the display of the Granma, the boat that Fidel, Che and their band of revolutionaries arrived in Cuba on, and I particularly enjoyed the tapestry of Che - a tribute to all of the revolutionary octogenarians around the world.

On our way for ice cream we were stopped by a new force in Cuban revolutionary activity - “Gangster Cubano”. At first I couldn’t work out what the hell their name was because in Spanish the Cubans have a tendency not to pronounce the letter S. Consequently we thought their name was “Ganta Cubano” but we soon realized our mistake when the duo started rapping about ho’s and bitches. They were actually really good so I bought their CD and look forward to them winning grammies ASAP.

The music of Gangster Cubano gave us something to talk about as we spent the next 35 minutes waiting in line for the best ice cream experience imaginable. Coppelia is a 2 storied monstrosity of a building that happens to be the most famous ice creamery in all of Cuba. Split into three sections you have to choose a queue as ...