OK, I am back at the blog, after being virtually quarantined while cranking out those 3 tech books, especially the last two, which are thick textbooks. Totally draining and monstrous tasks, which I am in no hurry to repeat.
Today the U.S. government announced it will begin to relax restrictions on Cuba, so more Americans can visit (with permission) and they can bring back a few cigars and some rum. Also, more money can be sent from the U.S. to Cuban relatives.
It's been a few years since I've been in Cuba -- too long -- but my last trip was 3 weeks, and I got a good sense of the place. And I had been wanting to read Codrescu's take on it for a while, so I bought his book that he wrote in 1999 along with a photographer. Another guy tagged along with them.
The book is only 200 pages, and he spends the first 45 or so writing about the preparation and anticipation for the trip. I was bored and think that could have been cut to 5 pages. Once he started, it was sort of funny how they went out of their way to find a real voodoo or Santeria ceremony, acting like foolhardy tourists. But Codrescu stuck with it even if it didn't really turn out to be much.
I thought of how typical it was, the set up, to fly down there and bring some cash to try to buy some experiences, but just end up getting scammed. Sure, I got scammed on some cigars early on, but I let myself fall into it, for curiosity's sake. I stopped when they wanted me to go up inside someone's house, since they didn't want to do the illegal transaction on the street.
Throughout the book, Codrescu and his 2 (and sometimes 3, including a local chica) companions write poems where each one writes a line, but they can only see the last word of the line the previous person wrote. So it mostly comes out as gibberish, but sometimes there is a hint of art. It's a good stab at it. But it seems more like a word game to me. Codrescu calls the output an "exquisite corpse." Maybe in a century scholars will find them and uncover their artistic worth.
One thing that bothered me throughout the book is there seems to be a concerted attempt to show Cuba and it's political system in a bad light. Codrescu, having fled communist Romania was a good candidate to make these critiques, but many of them I found tired, the same old U.S. government party line. No attempt was made to highlight the facts that Cubans do not have a drug problem on their island, they do not have homeless (sure, much of the housing is substandard, but people are not on the streets), and they are well-educated. In fact, Castro's regime took the island from about 95% illiteracy to 99% literacy. He also brought water and electricity to rural areas and every Cuban citizen receives free healthcare for life. They have some of the best doctors in the world, and their infant mortality rate that is better than the U.S. rate.
Sure, their economic and political system is restrictive, party due to their dumbness on business issues, and the lack of understanding of economic policy. Castro's theories failed miserably there.
But I found the Cuban people to be proud to be Cuban, and they find simple pleasure in the basics of life. They love to dance and sing, and they eat healthy food (pesticides were outlawed on the island in the 1990s, so they do not have problems with bees and depletion of soil) but also eat fried pork and fried plantains and everything. I ate fresh seafood and salads and even found some outstanding restaurants. After a few weeks I felt like Superman with all that good healthy food. And the pretty women.
I did enjoy the book, especially when Codrescu would slip in some funny lines and since I know him, I laughed even harder. The hotel he stayed in was the same one my brother did when we met up there. It is supposed to be 4 star and it is big, but it is more like 2 star. That's the way hotels are in Cuba, since the government runs them. Hotel Nacional, where I stayed the first time I was there, is rated a 5 star but it is more like 3 star, but with some grace. It is pretty cool to be there, where Churchill and Brando and Sinatra and all those gangsters stayed. The building needs more maintenance, but the ocean view, breakfast buffet and nightly dancing shows are great!
Codrescu admits to bedding one woman at the end, in an entertaining story (she pukes), but knowing him and knowing Havana, I am sure he didn't pass up all those opportunities he says he did.
Today the U.S. government announced it will begin to relax restrictions on Cuba, so more Americans can visit (with permission) and they can bring back a few cigars and some rum. Also, more money can be sent from the U.S. to Cuban relatives.
It's been a few years since I've been in Cuba -- too long -- but my last trip was 3 weeks, and I got a good sense of the place. And I had been wanting to read Codrescu's take on it for a while, so I bought his book that he wrote in 1999 along with a photographer. Another guy tagged along with them.
The book is only 200 pages, and he spends the first 45 or so writing about the preparation and anticipation for the trip. I was bored and think that could have been cut to 5 pages. Once he started, it was sort of funny how they went out of their way to find a real voodoo or Santeria ceremony, acting like foolhardy tourists. But Codrescu stuck with it even if it didn't really turn out to be much.
I thought of how typical it was, the set up, to fly down there and bring some cash to try to buy some experiences, but just end up getting scammed. Sure, I got scammed on some cigars early on, but I let myself fall into it, for curiosity's sake. I stopped when they wanted me to go up inside someone's house, since they didn't want to do the illegal transaction on the street.
Throughout the book, Codrescu and his 2 (and sometimes 3, including a local chica) companions write poems where each one writes a line, but they can only see the last word of the line the previous person wrote. So it mostly comes out as gibberish, but sometimes there is a hint of art. It's a good stab at it. But it seems more like a word game to me. Codrescu calls the output an "exquisite corpse." Maybe in a century scholars will find them and uncover their artistic worth.
One thing that bothered me throughout the book is there seems to be a concerted attempt to show Cuba and it's political system in a bad light. Codrescu, having fled communist Romania was a good candidate to make these critiques, but many of them I found tired, the same old U.S. government party line. No attempt was made to highlight the facts that Cubans do not have a drug problem on their island, they do not have homeless (sure, much of the housing is substandard, but people are not on the streets), and they are well-educated. In fact, Castro's regime took the island from about 95% illiteracy to 99% literacy. He also brought water and electricity to rural areas and every Cuban citizen receives free healthcare for life. They have some of the best doctors in the world, and their infant mortality rate that is better than the U.S. rate.
Sure, their economic and political system is restrictive, party due to their dumbness on business issues, and the lack of understanding of economic policy. Castro's theories failed miserably there.
But I found the Cuban people to be proud to be Cuban, and they find simple pleasure in the basics of life. They love to dance and sing, and they eat healthy food (pesticides were outlawed on the island in the 1990s, so they do not have problems with bees and depletion of soil) but also eat fried pork and fried plantains and everything. I ate fresh seafood and salads and even found some outstanding restaurants. After a few weeks I felt like Superman with all that good healthy food. And the pretty women.
I did enjoy the book, especially when Codrescu would slip in some funny lines and since I know him, I laughed even harder. The hotel he stayed in was the same one my brother did when we met up there. It is supposed to be 4 star and it is big, but it is more like 2 star. That's the way hotels are in Cuba, since the government runs them. Hotel Nacional, where I stayed the first time I was there, is rated a 5 star but it is more like 3 star, but with some grace. It is pretty cool to be there, where Churchill and Brando and Sinatra and all those gangsters stayed. The building needs more maintenance, but the ocean view, breakfast buffet and nightly dancing shows are great!
Codrescu admits to bedding one woman at the end, in an entertaining story (she pukes), but knowing him and knowing Havana, I am sure he didn't pass up all those opportunities he says he did.
