Cuba 03.03.2020 - 03.09.2020
A Travel-During-Covid Adventure
📅 Travel Date: 2020
✈️ Travel Type: International Travel
I finally made it to Cuba, and it was just a week before they closed the border due to COVID. It was sort of a last minute trip, a coworker and his wife had a house there and said I can come and stay with them. I scrambled to renew my passport since I have not been anywhere since having my first child in 2000. Their company was provided the plane ticket so no cost to me. I needed a VISA, and I checked "support for the Cuban people".
After landing, we walked down stairs from the plane, boarded a crowded bus and was immediately hit by heat and humidity. It felt so good on my skin since I just left a cold state. Customs was easy enough for me, the guy stamped my passport, and they never talked to me or looked through my luggage. My friend, however, went through intense screening, and I ended up waiting for him outside of the airport for over an hour.
After my friend finished whatever he needed to do in customs, we left the airport. The cars are exactly as you have seen in pictures of Cuba. These are cars directly outside of the airport and are everyday transportation for people.
We finally left the airport, and I was just taking in all that was around me; old cars, Soviet cars, pollution, beautiful but in disrepair buildings, palm trees, horses and goats in the road, billboards talking about a Revolution. I don't understand Spanish so I'm not sure what they said. We stopped at a 'grocery store" that had just about empty shelves, and I realized that they have limited or no food. Everyone gets a basic family box of food and personal supplies each month from the government, and it really isn't enough.
The tap is safe to drink for locals, but not for foreigners. Most people buy bottled water. Bottled water is everywhere, and I can't imagine the environmental impact. In the house I stayed at, they boiled the water, then put it through a water filter system, filled up water jugs and stored it in a refrigerator.
All of the houses have bars on every single window and door. There is hardly any crime in Cuba, I guess this is one part of the reason why. I loved the houses. I loved the colors and the simple architecture, and imagined what they looked like when life was good here.I swear everyone has a rooster, either in a cage on the roof or a cage in the back yard.
All of the pictures shown here are occupied apartments or schools. The decay is due to the continuous embargo. The people don't have access to anything they need; no paint stores, no Home Depot, no Kroger. They do have internet for those who can afford it, but for goods and services, nothing. The longer I was there, the more I felt so fucking bad. Here I am, a fat white person with an iPhone, Apple Watch and a LifeStraw Go water bottle and not needing for anything in life, and here they stand in line because they heard a shop MAY have chicken.
The house that my coworker owned was spectacular, it was super fancy even by US standards. By Cuban standards, this house is a palace. I loved listening to the sounds of the city at night, the ebb and flow of people and traffic as people headed into work. The power would go off every day at random hours, but you get used to it, and learn to *always* keep your stuff charged!
The Cuban people, despite the embargo, were so welcoming to me. I don't speak or understand Spanish, but everyone greeted me with smiles, handshakes, and cheek kisses. I am looking forward to going back again, this time with supplies my new friends needs, and to explore more of this fascinating country.
On the plane back, I started to feel like just horrible. I felt drained and exhausted, it wasn't a "post-vacation" exhaustion, but something different. Keep in mind, this was a week before the world shut down their borders due to covid. No one even wore a mask at that time, it was just at the very beginning of covid and no protocols in place. When I got home, I went to the doctor, luckily I just had strep, probably from all the cheek kissing I did lol.
A few days after I left, Cuba closed its borders due to covid. I have been so anxious to go back. Life is hard for them, and despite the difficulties and frustrations they have, they are so kind and welcoming I made new life long friends and I can't wait to go back and visit them and their wonderful country.
