One can’t help but turn into a junior political science nerd while in Cuba. I’ll skip the analysis on the pros and cons of their particular flavour of socialism. However, it was interesting to see the various ways it impacted or complicated my Cuban week. I’m not entirely certain that I ever understood how things work in Cuba, or how much of what I was told was accurate. All I really knew for certain was that Cuba was not quite like other places, but it was still great.

Throughout Cuba there is an evident police and military presence. From the extensive customs process at the airport to the young national service police hanging out in Havana parks you were always within a stones throw of some authority or another. Consequently, it felt like the safest place I’ve ever been. Which was great as long as I was obeying the law. Even driving through the remote country side there were frequent roadside police checkpoints. A local told me that 60% of Cubans were either police, military, or informants, but I don’t know how accurate that statement is. I even learned that hospitality industry workers can’t be too friendly with visitors or they’ll invariably be reported for having suspicious relations with foreigners. It’s all a bit weird and clandestine, but it shouldn’t really be a factor for most visitors.

There was a distinct similarity in most Cuban menus. Unless you were somewhere terribly fancy you would have the same dining choices everywhere you went. It was quickly clear that the average menu was made up of variations on a base set of ingredients. Ham sandwich, egg sandwich, cheese sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich, egg and cheese sandwich, and so on. You get the idea.

Everywhere was clean, orderly, and pleasant. Part of my impression here might be because I was living in Haiti when I took my trip to Cuba, and nearly nothing in Haiti is clean, orderly or pleasant. Havana especially was a beautiful city with plenty of parks, great architecture and lots of public spaces. The entire country was really pretty though. I also noticed that everywhere in Cuba there were always people out and about. Much more than any place I’ve ever seen, there were hordes of pedestrians and bicyclists around. Maybe some positive cultural side effect from not having good TV channels?

The only complaint I can think of about Cuba is the absurd currency system. Cuba has two currencies, which is obviously one too many. I won’t even try to explain the system here because I don’t think any human understands all the specifics of which money can be spent on what and by whom. Unless you’re a masochist, just buy the tourist currency and forget that anything else exists. It’s only once you try and game the system that you realize how weird it is. Which I of course did right away and consequently got to spend the rest of my time trying to figure out exactly how it all worked.

Cuba was definitely a fascinating and beautiful place to check out. The people are super nice, and it was easily one of the most unique experiences I’ve had in the Caribbean or Central America. Here’s more pictures than you really want to see from my trip. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Cuba Is So Very Cuban is a post from: Rerunaround

I learned this week that I’m obsessed with Cuba and that the interwebs are conspiring to push me over the edge. The primary catalyst for this little obsession is Lauren who insists on posting these brilliant and captivating pieces on the real pre-post-embargo Cuba. This mixed with those rad car photos on GoBackpacking that I mentioned a few weeks ago plus TravelZoo keeps emailing me super cheap fares to Havana. I fully suspect that there’s a consortium of Cuban masterminds co-ordinating this entire effort. They loiter on a Havana street corner in the afternoons, bellies full of China town bean sprouts, enjoying a good laugh at my expense. That said, I decided that if I can get well ahead of schedule with flogging my apartment stuff then I can go for a week. I have to fit it in before I leave for Japan, so it’ll be a long shot.

I learned that my favourite night out in Austin is still the Alamo Drafthouse. I don’t understand how there isn’t a swarm of copycat theaters everywhere. It’s such a perfect setup. A great menu, plus a great beer list (they have Fat Tire on tap!), all served to you while you watch your movie. What the hell else do you want? Hilarious clips, commercials and trailers before your movie? Oh yea, they have that too. That place is seriously the cat’s meow.

I learned that my “sleeping-in satisfaction” test is still accurate. When visiting a city I purposely sleep-in late just to see how satisfying it is to waste away the day in a cool place. It seems that the cooler the place, the more satisfying it is to sleep late. New York measured really quite high on the scale, so it is obviously a great place. I was only there for two days, but I can easily see why there’s so many unattractive I ♥ NY shirts in the world.

I learned that Bolivian prisons are seriously weird from reading Jason’s account of his dodgy visit. I wonder though if that prison model might not be a better system. It’s almost the same idea as colonial prison islands I guess.

I learned this week that if a batshit crazy man holding a severed head offers you a tooth you should accept it. I’d probably recommend a “thank you, sir” also for good measure.

Okay, so the aforementioned Vegas schwag . I’m not really certain why I find these naked lady pens so hilarious, but I always have. I had one when I was like 13 or so, and it was the greatest damn thing. So when I saw them in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I had to buy them. Unfortunately for me they only came in packs of 3. Which means I have 2 extra pens to give away. If you would like a naked lady pen to dazzle your classy friends with just let me know – rerunaround [at] gmail [dot] com. If you’ll feel better about it, you’re welcome to work for your free pen with poems about insensitive souvenirs or pictures of your current unsatisfying pen or whatever you want. All three pens write in black, but you’re welcome to indicate your preferred pen colour from the pic.

I know Americans read this, and I know how sensitive some of you folks can be to things that are not violence, so I won’t say what happens when you turn the pen upside down. Let’s just say it would be a big hit during recess for sixth graders. I would have bought some men pens also, just to be fair, but they don’t seem to make them. I assume because most women know that “tacky” doesn’t just refer to duct tape and sweaty backs.

That pretty much wraps up this week. Back to the grind of replying to insane craigslist people. If you miraculously happen to want a furnished apartment in downtown Montreal, let me know. Here’s a few pics from the last week for the illiterate folks.

I liked the little water thingies on top of so many buildings in NYC. So when I saw three together like this it was a kodak moment. Clicky for the bigger version.

The capitol building in Austin, where all that crazy Texas government business goes down.

A really bad resolution shot of a mesquite tree in Tucson. My dad is the BBQ master, and he’s so hardcore that he hand picks his own mesquite out of the desert. Kinda shames your crappy little bag of briquettes doesn’t it?

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Week Sauce: Vegas Schwag Edition is a post from: Rerunaround