Cuban society

As in China I had difficulty learning what Cuban people really think about Communism and history. I took a very good bus tour of the city and the guide seemed sincere about the Revolution but I did not feel comfortable asking probing questions.



I wanted to get a tattoo saying ‘Paz’ to go with my ‘peace’ tattoos from China, Nepal and Thailand and I made friends with a tattoo artist who took me to his home. We didn’t share much language but managed in French which he had learned at school. (I met quite a few Cubans who have studied French and or English.) He didn’t understand why I would ask if every child goes to school – they all do - even though he didn’t seem bothered that his home lacked glass in all the windows and running water. (I opted out of my tattoo, even after he had carbon copied ‘Paz’ onto my arm, because he didn’t have a new needle. He somehow ‘acquires’ needles from a hospital and said he could probably get one in an hour or so but I was already thinking too much about the cheese plate at the Paella.)

I don’t think the public has any easy or legal Internet access. I asked about Internet cafes and was told I could access at any hotel. My hotel had one computer with a fast reliable connection available for $6 per hour. I think I saw some hotel staff using it so it is not impossible for them connect – but $6 is quite a lot of money for many Cubans. At one of the museums I watched a video about successes in every year since the Revolution. One of the fairly recent years featured a boast about Cuba’s connection to the “INTENET – a world-wide network of computers” as if that implied little more than the new wonderful ability of Party Officials to arrange Congresses of the International Federation of Unions of Propaganda Writers and Editors (IFUPWE).



My tour passed the ‘Centro Cultural Islamico Malcolm X’. Apparently Havana has a mosque (and two Synagogues) – amongst over two thousand Catholic churches. My tour guide said that early Spanish settlers brought their Moorish influences to Cuba but I have an uncomfirmed feeling that the influence is more recent.