Lots of Cuba cultural insights

I appreciated the depth of the perspectives in this book, coming from a Canadian who has been visiting and working in Cuba for many years. She was the perfect person to write this book. Highly recommended.

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This Havana Once Existed. Ghosts of it Remain.

I have always been attracted to the real Cuba beyond the resorts. Every couple of years we visit a different part of the island and each time spend some time off the resorts or just stay off the resorts. Period.

Each time we find Cuba has changed. Either internal politics allows more, then less, then more, economic liberalization. Otherwise it is the Americans imposing sanctions, easing sanctions, then re-imposing them. This book is about the period when Obama restored relations with Cuba. Money was flooding into the island. Some things were changing or maybe about to change. Or not. Karen Dubinsky does a decent job of showing this period through the lives of Habaneros.

Thing is- that the Cuba of this book no longer exists. Cuba has changed again. What followed was Donald Trump and the door slowly closing again. Then there was the pandemic so tourism, the economic life line since the collapse of the Soviet Union, shut down. The Russians invading Ukraine has left Russia so strapped that they are no longer sending money to Cuba.

Following this book, the last Castro, Raoul, resigned as president and so in post Castro Cuba there is a new monetary system. No more tourist CUCs. Everyone is on pesos. Sort of. In reality there is currency chaos. Officially the US dollar is illegal and officially Canadian dollars are welcome. In real life Cuba, no one wants Canadian dollars. Everyone wants US dollars and I never had anyone refuse them. That is because people are saving up US dollars to leave the island.

Dominisky needs to write another book about the Cuba that exists now. ‘Cuba Beyond The Beach’ is now essentially a history book. But not entirely. If she does write ‘Beyond Cuba Beyond the Beach’ just don’t use the same narrator. She is terrible. She should also steer clear of commenting on life outside of Havana. One brief attempt to address life in Santiago de Cuba was complete fiction.

The first time I went to Cuba was a little over 20 years ago. Soviet economic support had evaporated and tourism was just getting into gear to replace it. As part of our package we were to spend a few days in Havana. I assumed there would be other travelers with us and a guide. Mais no. There were no other takers and the guide was nowhere to be found.

They dropped us off at the Melia Cohiba, a beautiful hotel, and we were on our own. We went next door to The Riviera, Meyer Lansky’s old gangster hotel, for dinner. It was an empty elegant room with the remains of a painted Camelot scene on the walls. The only other customers were two men who looked like second generation Mafia. A Russian waitress brought us a menu that included dishes made of horsemeat. But the music was amazing. Skilled players performed by standing on the bar in the lounge. We sat on velvet couches from the 50s and drank mojitos. Prostitution was clearly back as observed by the denizen behavior and we bought Cuban Cigars underground in the stairwell of a Cuban cigar factory from a young man who was supposed to be guiding us through the factory.

People spoke in whispers about the special period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union when some were so hungry they butchered their pets for a meal. And energy scarcity caused frequent blackouts.

A few weeks ago, while in Cuba people, spoke in whispers that during the pandemic some were so hungry they butchered their pets for a meal. Energy scarcity along with a very old, failing power grid resulted in frequent planned power outages. People had taken to the streets of Havana banging pots and pans to get the power back on. It did.

As the french say, “Le plus ca change, le plus il reste le même”

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