Day 2 Havana and Land ownership

Up early and off to Miami airport for the 50 minute flight to Havana. Cuba now gets 3 million foreign tourists yearly—counting Americans like me.   I’d been warmed that the whole process of getting from the US to ‘Cuba was one big hassle.  I really didn’t think it was any worse than many other travel experiences that I’ve had—but compared to being deported, this was nothing!  By the time we finished passport control and everyone got their luggage, off to lunch at a beautiful old mansion in a restaurant called El Patio.

Now the hassle came at the hotel when our rooms weren’t ready and then they gave Chris and me one bed.  The bed mistake was good because we were upgraded to a much bigger and better room with a balcony overlooking Prado Paseo de Marti, one of the main arterials thru Havana with a wide green space with large trees in between.   Most people walk instead of driving and the street are not congested and no pollution.
Walked from our hotel along Obispo St. out to Havana Harbor and meandered back through windy streets to our hotel.  Havana is 500 years old and several archaeological digs are going on.  But mostly I’m amazed by the beautiful colonial architecture everywhere including our hotel, the Parque Central.  Some have been restored, but many are standing solidly without windows and door waiting for renovation and a few are in the process. 

Dinner was at Ivan Justo, a chef who started his own restaurant over a beauty salon.  Raoul Castro changed the laws to allow some free enterprise and there are starting to be more and more privately owned restaurants as opposed to the government restaurants.  Private restaurants are clearly marker with the word “palador” on the door.  Even in restaurants and hotel, English is technically spoken, but certainly not what we’ve become accustomed to where almost everywhere in the world, it is easy to find someone who is fluent.  Our waitress was very patient to get our order, but taught me to say, “rojo per me, y blanch per ella”  (red for me and white for her)  Our dinner was spectacular.  The biggest lobster that I’ve ever seen complete with tentacles hanging over the platter cut in half and grilled with roasted vegetable.  

Streets are dark, full of potholes and not street you would even enter at home.  Maybe one street lamp a block, the stores are almost empty of food.  One store we passed on our way home had just a few things on shelves, but large Costco-size cartons of eggs.  Women were standing in line to buy eggs!  There is a food ration program for the Cuban people.   Newborn babies are registered with the state and they start receiving ration books which allows every person 6 pounds of rice per month.  Many other foods such as coffee, milk, sugar, and bread are rationed.  This costs the Cuban government 66 million dollars a month.  Sounds like there has been off and on communication between the US and Cuban government.  When no planes could land in the US after 9-11, Cuba offered to let planes land in Havana and shortly afterward, US food products such as corn, oil, wheat, dry milk and chicken were sent to Cuba.  Feeding its people seems to be an ongoing struggle for Cuba.  After the Soviet Union fell in 1989, Cuba was plunged into a severe recession that took years to recover from.  During this time, power was on for 8 hours a day and people ate anything to survive the lack of food.  The Cuban export business dried up since sugar, their major crop at the time was only exported to Russian.  The government has made attempts to diversify the crops being grown and to diversify who is buying them!  Coffee, tobacco and rum are now their big exports. 

Since I’m on the subject, land and agriculture has undergone a huge transformation in the last couple of years.  After the Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, land was taken away from the landowners and given to the peasants.  Many, many Cubans fled Cuba during this time.  If you left your land, it was also taken away and given to other families who needed a place to live and farms became part of large state farm.  Many of the old mansions had 3-5 families living in the house formerly occupied by one family.  The houses belonged to the government. Castro implemented the 2^nd Agrarian Reform in the early 1960s. This affected mostly the tobacco farms.  Cooperatives were formed and you could either keep your land or pool with others to create a coop.  All goods were sold to the government.  This is also a country that gets about 20 hurricanes a year with the western provinces being harder hit.