Eurodan in English

Socialismo o muerte

...was the sign that greeted us at Holguin airport, where the plane to Havana makes a short stop and we peered out of the doors, desperate to see something - anything of Cuba after 10 hours in the plane.

Since then Hugh, my travelling companion and I have been welcomed in a rather less uncompromising fashion by the Cubans, and I must say that this place is quite something.

Any attempt to wax lyrical about the place is bound to come out like sub-Judith Chalmers, so I´m not going to try. You can read all that romantic stuff in the guidebooks if you want to.

The things I´ll take away with me are certain impressions and realisations which creep up on you the longer you stay here. Like:

- The fact that musical education here is so good that the street musicians are better than some concerts I´ve been to (and they sell CDs - of which I have bought a couple)

- The fact that you do get hassled on the street in Havana by people trying to sell you stuff, but there are also people who genuinely just want to get to know foreigners. And it´s fairly easy to tell the difference.

- It´s very, very warm and humid during the day, but in the evening it´s wonderful to sit in an old square, listening to Cuban music and drinking a mojito.

- Given that most Western tourists are hundreds of times richer than your average Cuban, we´re all treated with extraordinary good grace and patience.

- Loads of other stuff besides, but it´s nearly time to go and get the plane.

There was one downer for me, apart from the heat. I had another one of those tooth problems... (There´s a picture of me on the blog looking like a chipmunk sometime back in September I think). So I had to buy some antibiotics and take it easy for a couple of days. Rats.

Anyway - now it´s back to the UK for a couple of days to see the family, and then back to Brussels where there are also people I´m looking forward to seeing...

Posted by Eurodan at March 25, 2005 8:53 PM