Cuba: Abandonment

Fidel Castro painted on school wall

Three years after Cuba’s independence from Spain, the US role in Cuban government ended in 1902. However, the new Republic’s beginning already had to deal with a large exodus of Cubans during the later years of the colonial period. Cuban nationals had tired of wars and economic upheaval in their homeland, and sought education, work and business opportunities elsewhere. In return, thousands of Americans and dollars flowed into Cuba creating an economic boom — and fears of annexation of Cuba to the US.

The Great Depression was economically devastating to Cuba as well, and discontentment among Cubans grew. Although violence and corruption continued, several progressive reforms also occurred as World War II changed countries and lives– the Platt Amendment was revoked, women could vote, and labor reforms began.

Having manipulating politics in Cuba since the 1930s, Fulgencio Batista became president in 1940. Cuba’s economy boomed during the war and Batista’s four year term. During Batista’s presidency, however, Cuba’s image was tarnished by violence, corruption and this time by the powerful Mafia. Batista sought the presidency again in 1952, but thinking he wouldn’t win he took the office by coup. Not all Cubans welcomed his return to the presidency, notably a young graduating lawyer named Fidel Castro. 

Cuba: Desire of a Caribbean Jewel

European exploration of the New World tried to claim discovery, however indigenous tribes of Cuba saw these arrivals as visitors. That is, until these guests desired residence and ownership of the land and its resources. Cuba’s rocky spine failed to hold the gold and silver sought by the conquistadors; instead, being bathed by warm and moist trade winds, the island became sheltered harbors for galleons transporting treasures to Spanish ports from Mexico and Peru. Pirates and buccaneers plucked booty as the ships maneuvered around other Caribbean islands in the Gulf of Mexico, the Spanish Sea.

Cuba: Desire and Abandonment

The island emotes seductiveness as you are drawn into its sultry shadows. Veiled by a fatherland protectiveness, she carefully shows her charms to you only as you look beyond an airbrushed appearance. The night is kind to her disheveled dressing as the darkness hides her age and disfigurement. Sunrise paints her kindly until the harsh light of day turns your glances. She’s the lover you once desired and then abandoned. She’ll forever be held in your heart in unrequited affection.

For 10 days I traveled with National Geographic Expeditions on an educational tour of Cuba through a People-to-People cultural exchange program. Among twenty-four U.S. citizens guided by a representative of National Geographic, a professional photojournalist, and a native Cuban, I was carefully introduced to a stylized image of Cuba through travels and events scripted for our enlightenment if not indoctrination. We tasted Cuba’s cuisine, heard her rhythms, and stood beside her monuments and fortresses. Only when I wandered freely could I feel her appeal.

These will be my stories and photos of a journey to Cuba.

Beginning …

As I journey from home I am reminded of the words of Pico Iyer, “Yet for me the first great joy of traveling is simply the luxury of leaving all my beliefs and certainties at home, and seeing everything I thought I knew in a different light, and from a crooked angle.”

Departing for Cuba

An indie traveler goes on a tour. WanderNWayne will be donning his National Geographic Expeditions cap and following the tour leader through 11 days of educational enrichment in Cuba. This is going to an interesting way of traveling. Journal and blog entries to commence.

Wandering Along The Longitude

“Look at the North Star (Polaris),” pointed Roger, “it’s at 14 degrees declination, considerably lower in the sky than at home in Detroit.”  We searched out other familiar star constellations from the rooftop patio in Antigua, Guatemala. Some we could not find, probably because they were now too low, below the horizon, to be seen here in Central America.

Back home I began to think about my journey not only for its scenic and cultural attractions or the country origins and destinations of other travelers, but with reference to our planet’s artificial longitude and latitude grid. My wife and I left home in Wisconsin (89∘W Longitude) to visit Antigua (90∘W Longitude); briefly stopping in Panama City on our return flight home (79∘W Longitude). Our journey strayed little from a narrow vertical line drawn from pole-to-pole as viewed on our globe at home.

In remembering conversations with other people we met in Guatemala, the geographic coordinates of their homelands now excite me with a new global perspective. One young man was from Sydney, Australia (151∘E Longitude) located in an entirely different hemisphere of the world, and twin sisters were from London (0∘ Longitude – on the Prime Meridian located through Greenwich, England).

Coordinates also include Latitude lines as deviation North and South from the Earth’s Equator. Our home is 42* N Latitude, Antigua is 14* N Latitude, and Panama City 8* N Latitude. These Latitude differences made big changes in daily temperature means as we moved closer to the Equator, and also with the perceptive differences in the 14 degrees declination of the North Star in the evening sky. If we could travel to Sydney, Australia, we would be in the Southern Hemisphere, 33* S Latitude, and we’d be experiencing Fall climate conditions instead of Spring.

The vertical Longitude lines are bracketed for 24 hourly time zones surrounding the Earth as it spins on a pole-to-pole axis relative to solar daylight availability. Our clocks precisely measure a 24-hour time cycle, but our social and cultural patterns artificially flow within a local, man-made time swath of Longitude. That is, until time shifts for Daylight Savings Time are used. As we wandered vertically along our 90* Longitude, we time-shifted one hour ahead at home in Wisconsin; but we shifted back to Standard Time while in Guatemala (they had tried daylight savings time, but dropped it when confusion made everything more difficult); and then we briefly adjusted our time pieces ahead one hour again when in Panama, a constitutional democracy formerly a US protectorate under the Panama Canal Treaty.

Maybe it’s better to not think about geographical coordinates and time when traveling. Simplify each day by wandering without plan or destination, then relax beneath the stars at night without determining exactly where you are.

Reflection: Sounds of Guatemala

Before a rising orb tinged the morning mist draped around the shoulders of nearby volcanos, a chorus of crowing roosters pierced the still silent darkness of our room. I didn’t need to see that the landscape, architecture and language were unlike those of home. Sounds of Guatemala told me I was now in a different place.

Outside, throughout the night, neighborhood dogs defended their turf from other roaming mongrels with quarreling exchanges that seemed more bark than bite. Song birds began to announce their presence and establish sunlit boundaries above the cobblestone streets where tired vehicle undercarriages grumbled reluctantly to the abuse of being driven without caution or care. Horns, like impatient alarms, commanded right of way immunity from the unsuspecting commuters around them. Exploding bundles of firecrackers echoed between the buildings as the percussion of traffic swelled toward a cacophony of sounds.

I couldn’t wait for the dusk that later would slowly bring down this tempest of noise, allowing quieter voices to drift on the evening breezes floating between shadows in the central park.

Reflections: Return to Earth Lodge – Antigua, Guatemala

Returning from previous visits, I no longer needed to think about the place; an enchantment was there to welcome me as if I had never left. Memory, etched like the sliver retina of film, captured the light and shadows and preserved it by an emotion that framed it within my life experiences.

I was bringing my wife, Linda, to this panorama for her first visit to Earth Lodge rooted on a mountain saddle above the village, Jocotenango, adjacent to Antigua, Guatemala. We would relax here for four days, escaping the routines that had trapped us back home. Sun-soaked days and brisk cool breezes that descended downslope at night cleansed us as no health spa could. Family-style dinners and conversations with other travelers from Australia, Germany, England, and a dozen students from Minnesota, USA refreshed our world view without the tainting of media headlines. Volcån Fuego occasionally exhaled a plume of cloudy ash skyward and we sometimes heard its distant rumble. Hikes to a mirador lookout above Earth Lodge and from Cerro de la Cruz (hill of the cross) down to Antigua purged us of any listlessness brought from home.

Antigua’s Religious Syncretism – part 2

Many cities are known for their Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fasching, or Carnival celebrations that lead up to “Ash Wednesday”, the beginning of the Christian observance of Lent and culminating in Holy Week and Easter. Antigua is best known in the world for a colorful pageantry of street carpets and religious processions that are held during Lent and Easter. Thousands of visitors gather in the city to witness or participate in religious and holy vigils .

Reflections: Religious Syncretism – part 1

Holy Week (Semana Santa) in Antigua Guatemala has been listed as one of a thousand events to see and experience in your lifetime. This religious and magnificent pageant is held by local antigüenos and attended by thousands throughout the Christian observance of Lent and Easter. Antigua celebrates with the largest and most colorful activities, though similar and smaller observances are held throughout Guatemala. Religious syncretism — a blending of religious belief systems — is also observed as beliefs and traditions of the indigenous Maya are displayed in churches and processions in Guatemala.

Roman Catholicism is practiced by 60% of all Guatemalans while the rest are Protestant and indigenous Maya. The Maya have held to many of their ancient beliefs, often secretively, despite restrictions and often persecution by others. Outwardly, many appear to worship the Holy Trinity and religious saints, but inwardly they retain ancient beliefs in the deities and rites known before the Spanish conquests.