Travel Tips

Saturday, July 8, 2006
It is just past 12 30 pm. So much has happened already. And I have to take refuge in the picture above.
In cuba, one cannot escape noise nor can one afford any privacy. But that is the reward of being a “cuban” in spirit. when people ask me what do I do here in the course of one day, it is difficult to explain, but at the same time it is with the heart one sees Cuba and in my case, Baracoa.

Tania is the vice director of Culture for Baracoa. She has a tragic story to tell, being the lover of a married painter of this small town for many years! His name is Piedra and he paints rather well. His mentor, by the name of Cabo Verde had come earlier this week to say hello. Piedra had gone to Havana to attend his sons graduation. She is a good friend, speaks English as well eventhough we never converse in English. In fact I don’t speak a word of English when I am in Baracoa, eventhough people attempt it.

Tania is the vice director of Culture for Baracoa. She has a tragic story to tell, being the lover of a married painter of this small town for many years! His name is Piedra and he paints rather well. His mentor, by the name of Cabo Verde had come earlier this week to say hello. Piedra had gone to Havana to attend his sons graduation. She is a good friend, speaks English as well eventhough we never converse in English. In fact I don’t speak a word of English when I am in Baracoa, eventhough people attempt it.
when I used to come very often to Baracoa, once every six weeks for many years, all my care takings was done here, like laundry of my clothes, cleaning of my shoes, and also cutting of my nails. Maryoris who used to be a teacher of spanish literature at the school has cut my nails every time I come to Baracoa. She is working with Tania above and when Maryoris expressed a desire to cut my nails ( I brought with me a manicure set which I would give it to her as a gift. She is the aunt of those two lovely girls, Marie I and Marie II). Tania, you don’t have to come back to work this morning, I will go attend to the duties, you cut Yehuda’s nails. He would like that. Here you are, getting my nails cut and cleaned!
soon Marie I and Marie II came to visit. It felt so good to have them in the house and spend a little time with them. While I was busy I put on a DVD animated one for them on the TV of the house, on the very same table I sit to write to you.

Yunieska came dressed in crisp uniform since the school was going to put on something for the official opening of Summer here in Baracoa. The temperature has been over 30 every day for months but officially the Summer starts in Cuba and there are celebrations all over. The schools also close after this day. And the summer vacation begins.

this is the primary school uniform. It is the same all over Cuba. You can tell what sort of school they are attending by the colour of their uniform. But all primary school uniforms are the same throughout Cuba (the above picture

this is chef Miguelin’s father, some eighty seven years old still working at the farm. Being a doctor, when older people meet me their first words are to bring to my attention their physical ailments and he was no different, he showed me thickened spots on his skull which looked hard with age and race (their father had migrated from Spain). This is the kitchen outside the house, the main kitchen is inside and that is where most of the cooking is done.
baracoa with its rich volcanic soil is able to grow anything, while the people like to think that the products are local, but had come with the mgiration of birds and other human animals. Cocoa was brought from what is now Ivory Coast, Coffee arrived from Ethiopia via Spain, The british colonialists must have exchanged something or other for the Bread fruit tree native to Polynesia and now well understood with the history of Mutiny of the Bounty and Fletcher Christian who mutineed against Captain Bligh who was set sail on a dingy and managed to reach parts of Indonesia by passing the Cannibal islands of Fiji. He later became governor of Jamaica as a reward was knighted. There are many types of Mango, Banana, Pineapple and other fruits we associate with tropics.
these two girls, now 15 and 13 had been my friends when they were about 10 and 8 and I had not seen them for five years. They are children of Miguelin who had gone to live with their mother in another province when they separated. Maria Antonia and Maria Victoria, who sports an impish smile.
here they are with two local girlfriends, also on school holidays,enjoying the day at the river which runs by their fathers property.
while the property is not that large, there are a wide variety of trees and plants present. This is Cedar Tree , used for building houses and huts and other modes of accomadations.
There are many plants in this region which people use for their medicinal properties and there are quite a few people who know a lot about plants in this region. This is a mountainous region with many many rivers and greens everywhere. Those interested in Palms would be happy to know that this region has four palms native to this area alone, I had come here in search of them that distant day in June when our rental car got stuck in the mud of the river while trying to cross the river with out the aid of a bridge.
the ubiquitous Bamboo.. native to china but everywhere is sun and rain, you can find this one. Grows to wild heights and this one while appearing large is still a baby.
Miguelin is brining me a coco loco, first you cut open a coconut freshly downed, then fill the inside with its own water and some pineapple juice and a dash or rum and some ice in it.
the taste of pure coconut water had been obscured by the rum and other things in it. too early to start drinking but as anais nin had said: the tropics is like a hammock for lovers

we were on the river, the river sabanilla which runs by the house. Here tatiuska is walking along the water, cool refreshing water. I had some mending of my relationship with her, since she was the first one to become my daughter in Baracoa. I needed to come here to repair it and it is now back to normal. I will never forget when she wanted me to present her with the diploma when she graduated from the special school for gifted children in guantanamo (where claudia is studying now), and introduced me and her father Angel, this is my father and this is my father and the principal of the school said: that sounds like a good arrangement. Something out of the imagination of Jorge Amado of Brasil, a wonderful writer who died before he could be nominated for the Nobel Prize.
the rivers bounty is all but taken by the time it reaches the populated areas. But people walk miles up to the origin of the river and where they can catch freshwater shrimps, that is what they call this, while we may refer to this as Crayfish or Yabbies in australia. The flesh is tender and while not as tasty as Lobster but still has a wonderful titilation of your palate. He also had prepared Paella using fresh small shrimp the normal sized ones. He had sprinkled some fresh pepper on my food, since cubans don’t like hot taste to their food.
miguelin is a master of mixed drinks and here I am with pina Colada. While he was my neighbour I had brought these glasses as a gift to him since every night he prepared dinner for me and five of my friends, one night after another when he could gather good components to the food.
I am grateful that Miguelin made my stay a pleasant one, when I could eat and drink well in Baracoa while all the tourists were being given fried chicken and brown rice and some bananas as representative of the cuban food.
this is doctor jesus alvarez menendez born in cuba of spanish parents but grew up in spain and later dedicated himself to the cuban revolution. Now retired because of ill health he is a good friend of mine and by tradition my first meal is always at his house. Because he does not get around much, I thought it would be good for him and his wife to join me for lunch which he did and enjoyed it very much. He is a story teller by nature and always has a gloomy outlook about the future of the world and perhaps I remind him of his carefree days as a wanderer in Africa.

while sitting enjoying this breeze I saw this bummingbird enjoying itself with the honey of the flowers, zunzun is its local name. they beat their wings so fast that I am glad to have captured an apparition of the bird. If I am not mistaken the smallest bird in the world is colibri whis is native to these parts of Cuba.
The time went so quickly. Jesus and his wife walkyria, angel and elena parents of tatiuska, my daughter no 1 and Yamina my organizer, with miguelins family of mother and father and his children and their friends.. soon the jeep which we had hired to bring us here reappeared, breaking the silence of this silent country side and we went back to Baracoa, just a few miles to the west. Even then as we entered the city limits, there was a sign welcoming us Welcome to Baracoa.

I was eager to get back because I knew you would be calling. We took angel and elena to their house, yanetsy my psychology student friend was there. Then it was good bye to Tatiuska who has to leave this morning for Guantanamo to matriculate her fourth year of studies. A warm embrace and I knew that the relationship which took a little beating because of her parents desire to migrate to USA, was now normal, back to its original state of affairs.

this is our transport for the day, a luxury indeed in Cuba. Foreigners are not allowed to use this for transportation as only state licensed vehicles are allowed to transport foreigners. Somehow or other I have escaped this restriction for many years, mainly because when we travel in a group I am the only foreigner in the group and I can easily pass for a cuban even in front of police or traffic officer as long as I don’t open my mouth!

Visitors for this evening included:
Ingrid a recently graduated doctor of medicine with her newly born child, maria fernanda. She is being maternally attended to by a senior member of our group, Clarita who works at the museum, whose son Rauli is looking on. He is a student at the school of Arts in Guantanamo.
Then came Edeiner. He is a good friend of mine, has been for a long time. There was a time when he used to come and tell me about his trysts with various men and his frustration with foreigners, but lately he seems to have cooled down somewhat. A sweet guy indeed. He is a make up artist and I have asked for his help on several occasions when any one of my little friends needed to be dressed up for some occasion or another. Edeneir’s house is not that far from where I stay so he could easily stop by to say hello on his way to many of his rendezvous!