ALPENGLOW: April 2017

We went in style to Trinidad with our friends, Rebecca & Dov on m/v Blue Compass. We wanted to spend an entire day and have dinner in Trinidad however our taxi driver did not want to drive back in the dark. His excuse was that the crabs are coming down the mountain at this time of year and crossing the road to lay their eggs along the seashore. He did not want to crush the crabs and have crab meat all over his car. I really thought this was a lame excuse until I saw all the crab guts squished in the pavement on our way to Trinidad. And, some of the crabs were already crossing the road, way before sunset, so we had to dodge those !!!!

OUR RIDE FROM CIENFUEGOS TO TRINIDAD

There is no progress in Cuba. Work is done as it was 75 years ago. There are no farm machines and labor is done mostly manually. Cubans have to rely on themselves to build or repair whatever they have. We once saw a man mow is lawn which he obviously built with parts he found here and there.

TYPICAL MODE OF TRANSPORTATION

CUBA'S WILD WEST

I am going to quote what our friends Dov & Rebecca wrote in their blog because honestly, I could not have written any better and it reflects what I feel and what I’ve experienced. Thank you Rebecca & Dov for allowing me to quote you.

“There is no equality of experience, there is little similarity in lifestyle, and the key thing, there is a huge gap in aspirations. The Cubans cannot pull themselves up from being poor. It is simply not possible in the Castro Bros. worker’s paradise socialist/communist dictatorship. But, and this is very sad, if they befriend a foreign tourist, maybe the foreign tourist will help them. And that is exactly what happens. The tourists who become friendly with a few locals, eventually start to donate things to them. We met one tourist who brings 3 or 4 bicycles with him every time he returns to the resort and he gives them to his ‘friends’ in the Marea Del Portillo. We met another who gave a Cuban enough money to rebuild his home after a hurricane some years ago 0 enough money means the equivalent of about $300. (actually back then it was still forbidden for Cubans to have foreign money, so the tourist brought an air compressor from Canada, which the Cuban traded for lumber and other building material. Nowadays money would be fine….the government is allowing Cubans to great tourists as ‘fair game’.

There is an interesting corollary to all this. Cubans have a reputation of being very nice, and treating tourists very well. This is completely true (and really nice !), but as we sadly found out, this only occurs where there is an expectation of getting money (or equivalent) in return. When we were in non-touristed towns, we were ignored. When we were in touristed towns, we were given lots of attention. As we understood more and more of the system, we realized that Cubans were giving attention to the tourists in the hope of finding a tourist who would become their ‘Sugar Daddy’. In effect, Cubans have become sophisticated beggars, without even realizing it. And they are doing this with the Castro Bros. approval. Then years ago, it was essentially forbidden to talk to tourists. Now it is perfectly fine. It’s all very very sad.”

That being said, I felt the need to give as much as I could, whether they ask for something or not or if they just wanted to trade. Their government allows them to have so little. However, sadly, I know our encounter will not develop into a relationship. But that’s ok, I understand.