PARTICIPANT
OBSERVATION OF HAVANA LIFE OR A LIVED IN EXPERIENCE
On
this visit, where I was able to relax completely during ten days, without going
to a restaurant, a bar, a shopping centre or a supermarket, I realized how busy
I make myself during my visits to Havana, culminating usually in two large
dinner parties.
My
Cuban sister took my food requirements on the phone from Miami: Lamb, Fish,
Lobster; fruits of the season, vegetables of the season but prefer my
favourites: what we call Quimbombo, Okra; Aubergine or Berenjina, Spinach,
Acelga or Bok Choy and the ubiquitous Black beans which I buy in Miami along
with some Kidney beans as well. When I arrived I was surprised and content how
my Cuban sister had every thing ready, freezer full of my desired chow, along
with the fruits and vegetables. I usually bring coffee, tea, olive oil, spices
and whatever I had collected in my recent trip out of Cuba: this time, Incense
bought at a Hindu store in Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, dollar store
contributions to the welfare of the kitchen.
Thus
began my ten days of rest. I live in an apartment with two bedrooms and two
bathrooms and a large enough kitchen with a living room/dining room, very
adequate for one person to relax. Thanks to Obama’s relaxation of rules, the
Internet is here on the phones, and Wi-Fi continues to be available without any
sort of censorship by the government.
The
park where I connect to Wi-Fi is only two blocks from my flat, is surrounded by
a clinic, a polyclinic and a hospital for International patients with Retinitis
Pigmentosa and the busy street, called Linea lined with colonial buildings.
It
is nice to sit under the trees on dilapidated concrete seats, which had seen
better days. Before we had Internet on our phones, the parquet was choc a block
full of people searching for Wi-Fi to connect with their loved ones or looking
for them. But these days the parquet has reversed to the realm of young
children playing under the scrutinizing eyes of grandmothers. Cuba is a multi
coloured country so you see people of all colours, white and black and
everything in between, sitting and chatting and as always there is laughter
The
way people dress here has great anthropological significance. There are no
great clothing stores here in Havana so all the clothes have to come from
outside, predominantly from Miami or Panama. Also since most people have more
or less the same income and the same amount of lack of money, fashion,
coordination of clothes are given a secondary role. Every one wears clean clothes
and they do their best to coordinate it. But it is not strange to see a
completely red outfit from head to toe, even matching red socks. In general,
the older ones are wearing what looks like local tailor jobs, where as the
younger ones are wearing clothes from TJ Maxx or Marshalls in Miami, discarded
fashionable clothes bought at a discount by their relatives in Miami. Young
black men have a conglomeration of clothing depicting gifts from Europeans
girls they had met at dance clubs. One young man told me, to me dancing well is
like having money in the bank, it attracts European women and they have the
money. While it is extremely easy to make conversations and chitchat in Cuba,
to make good friends who have no interest in you except your personality is as
difficult as in any other country. But in any given day, you can be assured to
meet someone new, have a nice pleasant chat. Some do become friends eventually.
On this visit, I met a rather chubby manager of food distribution, it shows; a
very pleasant hairdresser and his lover, a merchant marine just arrived from
Jamaica and said hello to numerous new people. Very very seldom do I meet
foreigners and when I do, they are usually recommended by some good friends.
La
Habana at this time of the year, is not exactly overflowing with tourists and
with the new restrictions on travels by north Americans in the horizon, most of
this lovely suburb of Vedado has been reclaimed by the people who actually live
here, under this relentless sun of the summer months.
I
entered the polyclinic, looked around, neat but sparse and no one waiting as
there is a family practice clinic just across. Today the Eye specialist is in
the clinic, and they wanted to know whether I wanted to say hello to him.
One
pride of this revolution is the health care that is available to the population
as a whole. It is rather impressive when you think that Cuba is a poor country
and it is provided free of charge to every one.
While
I was checking Wi-Fi sitting on the concrete walls of the family practice
clinic, it was time for it to close and one by one an array of workers streamed
out. Obesity is coming to Cuba also, as the amount of industrialized food is
increasing in the daily caloric intake. It is a great irony that when the food
was scarce Cuba enjoyed the best health of its population in terms of chronic
disorders.
Time
to walk towards the seawall or Malecon in time for a lovely sunset. I tried to
get there as the sun dips into the sea and the spectacle never fails to bring
joy.
I
have been eating well, cooked meal each time, thanks to my Cuban sister. Have
not visited a restaurant for a meal this time and have had only one meal away
from the house, during this stay.
Don’t
get me wrong, I have had stream of visitors and sharing time and food and
conversation and some friends stayed over and nice to have cooked breakfast
together, this time cooked by them.
Wine
bought at a supermarket in Miami was bad, had an acid taste to it, next time
back to the Wine Store near by house and bring good tasting wines for my Cuban
friends. This is Rum and Mojito and Beer country but I still prefer a Malbec or
Sauvignon Blanc and usually manage to bring quite a few bottles of wine, nice
to share the oenological tickle of the tonsils as we used to say when we were
junior doctors in Melbourne, Australia.
Watching
my Cuban sister being so generous with her time, helping so many people with
little things and help, my heart was fired up and I told her
Let
us help more and more Cubans as much as we can..
It
is so good to have time to leisurely talk to friends, face to face if they are
nearby or on the telephone if they are living in the provinces and listen to
their trials and tribulations and stories, thus all friendships grow in Cuba
