Santiago

The final stop on our Cuban tour was to be Santiago, the second largest city on the island. Located on the south eastern end of Cuba, Santiago is 542 miles east of Havana and has over 500000 residents. We entered the channel toward the harbor early on Friday morning and was immediately aware of the mountainous terrain surrounding the harbor. In the distance were beautiful rugged mountains covered with tropical forests, and the same cloudless blue sky. Guarding the channel on the steep mountain side was the 16th century Spanish fort, and on the opposite side a stione lighthouse. The ship continued toward the harbor in a tight zig zag course that gradually widened into Santiago Harbor. Again the shore ,like Havana was a scene of power plants and some type of refinery. The burning odors were here as well, and the vintage cars were waiting on shore for photo opportunities. After finally getting docked and secure , the disembarkation process began again . More customs and money changing, and more new Chinese buses awaiting the wide eyed Gringoes.We started out on a walking tour and were shown where Fidel had started his Revolution. The revolution started during Carnival in July,which our guide Jorge told us was the oldest and biggest Carnival in the Americas. He didn't seem, to respect Rio's carnival.Jorge seemed to think there was no finer drinking and time of debauchery than Santiago's Carnival. We were taken on a tour of a drug store and what is a government owned department store, where you can buy anything a household needs, as long as you don't care that there is a waiting time and little options for colors or styles. I think it would be similar to Russian held countries during the height of the Soviet empire.Again the streets were clogged with people standing and talking with little obvious purpose like work. The neighborhoods were primitive in areas away from the port, with mules and horses pulling shaky looking carts. Some of the streets were mainly dust and gravel.  Beautiful old 3 and 4 story colonial masonary buildings are all in a state of decay or dilapidation. All have ornate wrought iron grills and gates to keep people out and protect belongings. The upper stories are festooned with flapping clothes hung out like banners to dry. Many of the buildings have tropical colors painted on details to give an intense mixture of blues and pinks and yellows. It is Shabby Chics poster city.We ate lunch in a wonderful private little pizza parlor owned by an Italian who had married a Cuban woman, one of the only ways to gain Cuban citizenship. For our lunch they served Cuban cuisine, again chicken, pork, and beans and rice. Like Havana the waiters and waitresses wore black presses slacks and snow white starched shirts. They also had a lady troubadour singing during our meal. She was a Cuban version of Tracy Chapman and had cds for sale. After the meal the staff opened up an impromptu bar on the terrace and gave out generous shots of rum. Most of our group wanted to stay with the rum and congenial staff, but Jorge had a schedule and the tour went on. We visited San Juan Hill where Teddy Roosevelt, Leonard Wood , and the Buffalo soldiers kicked some Spanish Ass. Jorge called it the Cuban Spanish War, and gave us a little credit for whipping the Spaniards, but in reality it was Major Parker and 4 Gatling guns that decimated the Spanish army . We whipped the Spanish in Cuba and the Philippines and gave them their freedom. Along the way the USS Maine mysteriously sank in Havana Harbor in July 1898, losing over 260- American soldiers. The Yellow press took up the cause and Admiral Dewey did the rest, with Spain never again regaining its world leadership.San Juan Hill is somewhat under whelming with a bunch of Cuban monuments that are confusing.We then went up to the Spanish fort guarding the harbor entrance and it was perhaps the most amazing piece of architecture and construction on the whole island.The Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca was designed to defend against the original Pirates of the Caribbean , but took two centuries to construct . It is probably the most beautiful Spanish fort ever constructed, partly due to its architecture, and partly due to its location overlooking the approach to Santiago Bay.The final stop on the Santiago tour was a stop at a dance club-bar with a very professional Cuban band. They called themselves the Retirees since the leader was 82 years old. There was dancing , Mojita drinking, and a great time. Jorge danced with the ladies in the tour group

and we headed back to the boat. Santiago became our favorite site on the tour. Like San Francisco, we left our hearts in Santiago.Jorge told us on the end that we should all vote for Hillary Clinton so as to continue the progress between the US and Cuba.That was the only sour note of the whole trip to Cuba.

Cienfuegos

The second stop on our Cuban tour was to be a Southern port named Cienfuegos , which means "A Hundred Fires". The nickname of the city is "The Pearl Of The South", and like Santiago, is one of the busiest ports on the Cuba -South American trade routes. The city itself is much smaller than Havana and has about One hundred and Fifty thousand people. Our guides told us that it is only a three hour trip from Havana to Cienfuegos by bus or car, but it took our ship over a days sailing to reach the southern port because we had to sail west and round the western tip of Cuba and then sail East about 250 miles. The Island of Cuba is around 700 miles long and is 100 or so miles wide. An interesting fact is that Cienfuegos is primarily agricultural and raises sugar cane and tobacco in very fertile soil. Much of the Sugar cane eventually turns into Cuban Rum distilled in the original Bacardi rum distilleries that were socialized by Castro after the Revolution.During the height of colonialism in Cuba there were over 700000 slaves working the huge plantations for the Spaniards. That is more slaves than the United States had previous to the Emancipation Proclamation. The city of Cienfuegos was very much less cosmopolitan than Havana, yet still had very beautiful colonial architecture of Spanish and French influence. It was attacked briefly during the Revolution because there was a Pro-Castro movement against Batista. The morning we were there was very hot with a cloudless blue sky.After walking around the town square the tour guides took us to the town's Opera House for a concert of the town singers, which are funded by the Socialist Government, as are the other artists of Cuba. We were led into the Four story theater and found the performance was already started. the only lighting in the large open theater was spotlights on the stage , and the rest of the theater was so dark you could almost feel it. Along with the blackness was a pervasive heat of at least 120 degrees. our guide told us to go up steps invisible in darkness and find seats we could not see. We finally stumbled up a flight of unlit stairs and felt for empty seats.  After falling all over each other and finding the seats we sat in tropical darkness and listened to a talented group of singers sing in Spanish of traditional and contemporary Cuban songs which would have been very entertaining had we not been in a dark sauna sweating our lives away. They sang"Guatanamara", which was very pretty, yet we finally found our way downstairs thanks to Sandy having a small LED light in her purse. It reminds me of pretty women singing in the pits of Hell to captured souls.We stumbled outside to the bright tropical sunlight ,and  gratefully entered our air conditioned Chinese Bus like the spoiled, pampered,complaining asses that we are. We then drove around the city and went down to their beach and waterfront area where the guide told us the city inhabitants go in the evenings to cool off , drink, and socialize. There was a beautiful hotel there that is very expensive overlooking the water.There were also a couple of beautiful turn of the 19th century mansions that were taken by Castro in  the revolution when their wealthy owners fled to Miami.After a half day tour of the city our bus took us back to the port where we filed past the Custom men and women and boarded our home away from home to start our next leg of the journey to Santiago. A very interesting ritual at sea is the boarding of Cuban pilots who must be aboard your ship as it enters the channels into the ports and who must take you out of the harbor until you are safely on the open seas. There is an international law that all ships entering a harbor of any nation in the world must have a licensed pilot, to guide the ship in and out of the country. This applies to military ships as well as commercial ones and the law is very strictly enforced and the pilot commands the entire ship as long as he or she is on the bridge. That's why there are very few ship incidents while in the channels entering the world's busy harbors.Once past the channel an official orange runabout reading"PILOT"picks him up and goes back to the harbor. The open sea is gorgeous with deep blue waters full of silver flying fish
 gliding above the waves.The setting sun at sea is indescribably beautiful with golds and reds above the blue.Words cannot describe,nor can cameras capture the beauty. I thought that Santiago cannot top what we have seen so far, but I was wrong.

CUBA

In early spring I noticed an advertisement for an educational cruise to Cuba.This was after Obama's historic softening of the freeze in diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba since Castro's seizure in 1959. I have always been fascinated with Cuban history and its relationship with the USA and we talked some friends into signing up with us for the 7 day tour. It is sponsored by Carnival Cruises, but leaves Miami on the ADONIA, which is a much smaller ship of only 700 passengers and 300 crew members. I had always vowed to never take a cruise but this was the best way to see Cuba because you stay onboard at night and tour Cuba during the day.I had read that you don't want to stay in Cuban hotels at this stage because they are still pretty crude compared to American standards , and I personally saw some of the best they offered during the tours and it was Holiday INN circa 1959. The Russians certainly didn't do much to modernize Cuba in the 30 years or so of their r

elationship. The average Cuban is paid $20 a month by the Socialist government and Professionals like Doctors and scientists are paid $40. All medicine and medical care is free, as well as college. You must work for the country for 2 years or your college degree is revoked. A lot of teachers and professionals are quitting their $20 a month jobs to become tour guides and bus drivers because the is a lot of tourist tips coming their way from American tourists. Its amazing that your tour group gets off the ship each day and goes through customs and then boards new red ,white , and blue air conditioned buses imported and partially owned by China. The premise of being allowed to tour Cuba at this stage hinges on it being either as an educational group, or as a commercial venture rarely sanctioned by the US. It was just a couple of weeks ago that the first US airlines were starting to be allowed to land in Cuba. It is somewhat of a surprise as your ship enters Havana Harbor as it looks totally like a modern city with tall buildings and an air of modernism. That quickly fades as the ship winds its way through the channel to the dock and you get closer to the city and realize that it is Miami in maybe 1940. The old cars are there as promised, but there are already yellow taxis picking up tourists. Havana is changing even as we watch. The harbor is surrounded by refineries and utility power plants as well as medium tankers loading and off loading petroleum products. There is a smog haze in the air befitting a city of 2 1/2 million people as well as a constant smell of burning paper or wood. As the ship threads its way to the dock, both sides are lined with Cubans waving and taking photos with their I-phones, yelling"Viva America!"They seem happy to see us.The water in the harbor is probably the dirtiest I have ever seen in the Caribbean, much like they described at the Rio Olympics. Everybody on shore seems happy except the Customs people who stamp your Passport and sign your Visa. It's interesting  that half the Customs officials are Men and half are attractive young women wearing mini skirt uniforms with black hose like from Victoria's Secret. There are medical people who scan your forehead with infra red thermometers . If you have a temp you get further evaluations.Once on shore you get on your bus with a Cuban guide who speaks English and takes you through Havana on a bus tour, as well as assorted walking tours. Havana has 4 major town squares with many historic government and cultural buildings , mostly explained in terms of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara ouster of Fulgencio Batista and the American Mafia in 1959. The bus takes you to Revolution Square where classic cars are parked and you pose in 1955 pink Bel Air Chevy convertibles with the Cuban Driver. You pay him maybe $1 or 2pesos CUC which is Cuban currency for tourists.The guide tells you to only buy Cuban Cigars from licensed stores, because otherwise you will probably buy banana leaves wrapped in tobacco. Americans are allowed to buy $400 worth of cigars and rum. That's all . American currency must be exchanged for Cuban  dollars as you exit customs. You are charged 10%  for a fee. The dollar is about equal to a peso in value but becomes 90 cents after the exchange.American credit cards are not allowed so leave them on board the ship. Your cell phones won't work on land so turn them off when you leave Miami or you will receive enormous roaming charges while you're on board the ship. The ship has WIFI at an exorbitant rate, but what the hell, you're in Cuba living like the USA in 1959.Get used to no cell phone. We survived. Mass transit in Havana are 1950 vintage Ford and Chevrolet flat bed trucks with benches.There are thousands of these coming into Havana every day with workers, but I saw very few people working , mostly standing on street corners talking. I didn't see any loose cats, but there were many flea bitten dogs running loose at will, scratching their mangy hides. The tour took us to two different restaurants in Havana the two days we toured the City. The first was a private restaurant on the upper patio up about 50 steps . The meal was Cuba Cuisine of rice and beans , lobster, sautéed vegetables and chicken or pork. Desert is always some sort of ice cream. It was a very pleasant meal with a Cuban band playing Cuban Music. Those who ate the lobster said it was too salty , an observation of everyone who ate lobster on shore the whole trip. The second day in Havana we ate on the 31st floor of an office building . The food was again about the same. Usually they serve a Sangria which brought mixed reviews.It was interesting that we watched Cuban vultures soaring below us as we ate on the top floor in the restaurant. I felt very safe in Havana, and actually we felt more secure in Havana than in Miami. The Cubans were all very friendly and nice to the Invading Americans. There were the usual scammers wanting to sell you artists' renderings , and Attractive Cuba woman dressed in bright tropical clothing wanted to kiss American men for Pesos but I resisted. I might add that the Cuban women as a group are knock outs. I kept hearing The Black Eyed Peas singing "Latin  Girls"in my mind. We went to the Art Museum , which had a lot of Egyptian and Roman Artifacts. It was interesting that in the American Section there was a life sized Portrait of Henry Clay and one of George Washington. There weren't many Cubans partaking of the art work. It was a Beautiful Museum of marble and Beaux Arts design. After two days in Havana the ship loaded up and sailed around the western tip and headed to the second city on the tour which is a different story.