January 28, 2019 Isla de la Jeventud

Cuba, January 28, 2019

Isla de la Juventud

Slowly the passengers are rallying. I wasn’t the only one who had a wretched night. The plans today are to hear part two of Michael’s lecture about Cuban music and then go ashore on Isla de la Juventud by Zodiac to visit the Presidio Modelo where Fidel Castro and other Mondaca rebels were incarcerated from October, 1953 – May, 1957.

Lecture, yes; Zodiac to shore, no. About eight of us wimped out and stayed on board. If we had docked at a pier I might have sucked it up and gone ashore but no way was I donning a life jacket, stepping into a rubber raft and then hanging on to a rope along the edge of said raft with my fanny hanging out over the bounding main. I rode in a Zodiac whale watching in the Bay of Alaska many years ago. Jim loved it and jumped at every opportunity to go again. I put a check mark next to it on my list and haven’t been on one since.

So, off the majority went to explore the Isla and lunch at, all together now, a palador. The chef fixed us a lovely lunch featuring a most welcome chicken soup and we all spent the rest of the day lolling about, reading and/or napping and just relaxing.

Batista wanted to turn what was then called the Isle of Pines after the island’s large lumber industry into a paradise for rich American visitors but instead Castro built universities, repopulated it with young people and renamed it Isla de la Juventud, Isle of Youth.

Jim reported back that the prison was modeled after the one in Joliet, Illinois. Prisoners and guards never came into contact with one another. The guards traveled in underground galleries to the four sentry towers, keeping constant watch. It was converted to a museum in 1967 featuring Cell 3859 where Castro managed to reorganize the revolution despite his isolation.

When everyone was back on board, Stephanie presented her lecture canceled the day before, Winslow Homer & American Painters in Cuba. Despite a lot of art history classes and museum visits I wasn’t aware that he had painted in Cuba and did so in water color. What a pleasant Lady Day for me: tea and toast, lecture, reading, light luncheon, reading, lecture, cocktails and dinner. I probably barely reached three figures on the step counter.

I have no pictures of the day so this is probably a good time to talk about our guides.

As I mentioned before, Lynda and Kaylea represented Arrangements Abroad. Their responsibility was to make sure the trip went smoothly and everyone was happy. Well, except for the few who are never happy on any trip. Lynda is from NYC and had escorted this itinerary before. Kaylea is from Salem, Oregon, majored in Spanish and studied abroad in Europe, Uruguay and Havana. While in Havana she met Octavio, a Cuban artist. They fell in love, married and have lived in Havana for the past four years. I asked her how that conversation went with her family: “Hi. I met a man. We’re getting married. I’m moving to Havana.” It’s all good now with annual visits from family. She speaks wickedly fast Cuban Spanish. More on that distinction later.

Accompanying us everywhere are native guides Nelson, 50-ish former economic analyst for an American company in Havana who is married and restoring an old home in the city and Yunney, late 30s, married with young children who formerly taught French to Cubans in Havana. Both are indefatigable. Both are experts in the history and culture and current state of Cuba. Nelson speaks both Spanish and English at warp speed. Our group was usually divided into two groups, one with Nelson and one with Yunney. You weren’t required to stay with one or the other so when Nelson just wore us out, we would join up with Yunney.

They both freely answered all of our questions about life in Cuba, the politics and the future. It’s a communist country that has little strands of capitalism taking hold. It seems that most have a side business to bring in hard cash be it a palador, small shop (always out of the home; space is not available to rent for individually owned shops) or driving a taxi. Sometimes the answers were head shakers. I asked Nelson how much an average apartment would rent for and he said they didn’t rent, they bought. Young marrieds would live with relatives until they had money for their own place. Huh? Money to buy a house? How? Never did get that answer straight in my head. It’s like grocery stores. We saw the occasional pharmacy but never a food market.

Jim and I both thought that Nelson and Yunney were if not the best guides we’ve ever had, certainly in the top three.

Anchor up at tea time and we continue west towards Maria La Gorda.