An American from Miami Sails to Cuba

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit


[Note this reports on a trip four years ago, although it was just
published online in 2002, when obtaining a license may be more
difficult. As Cubanophiles know, the "crumbling buildings" are
getting as much attention as the tight Cuban budget will permit, with
more funding available as tourism brings in increased amounts of
foreign currency. However, what's interesting here are the reactions
of a basically apolitical typical American, and one from Miami, who
returned home from even a very abbreviated visit with all the
conclusions that George Bush is so afraid of. The pols have been
hearing it for so many years that even the Senate is finally
listening to their constituents.]


AN AMERICAN FROM MIAMI SAILS TO CUBA, IS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED

http://www.atlanticcoastboating.com/SM_Articles/Cuba_Si.htm


CUBA Si! A Cruise to Cuba
by Chuck Kanter, AMS


A Short Adventure in Cuba

On 20 June 1998 we finished assembling the sheaf of papers we needed
to be bonafide journalists visiting Cuba. Our mission was to write
about boating facilities on the North Shore. Required papers consist
of a license from the United States Treasury Department and
permission from the US Coast Guard to cross the security zone which
is established at the Cuban twelve-mile limit. These papers allow us
to legally spend money in Cuba. As an American Citizen, you can
legally go to Cuba but you are not legally allowed to spend ANY
money; that would be trading with the enemy.

At 18:10 hours, 23 June, we left our dock in Marathon, Fabulous
Florida Keys, heading for Varadero a resort area on the North coast
of Cuba and due south of Marathon. Actually it is the closest direct
distance between the two countries. The measured distance from
Sombrero Light, the outer limits of continental United States (if the
Keys are actually in the continental United States) to Cayo Piedras
Del Norte, the northernmost island aid to navigation in the Varadero
area is ninety nautical miles.

Conditions were light to moderate with southeasterly winds at five to
ten knots and two to four foot seas, higher in the Gulf Stream. Our
course was roughly 95 degrees varying with the strength of the Gulf
Stream which flows at approximately 45 degrees thus impeding our
progress by about one knot or so depending upon our location.

We deliberately embarked early evening to sail through the night in
order to arrive in Cuba during the day. Landfall in a strange place
at night, especially a politically sensitive place, is not prudent
seamanship. My only apprehension in sailing across and back to the
USA is that we might come upon people in rafts. People are still
fleeing Cuba in impressive numbers.

We would definitely stop, give water and food if needed. June is
right in the middle of "rafting season" and being Keys people, we are
well aware of the large numbers. We are also well aware of the high
percentage that do not make it and perish at sea.

At 14:30 hours, 21 June we entered Varadero at the main channel for
Marina Acua. It is a well-marked channel with breakwaters on both
sides and range marks on land, an easy and safe landfall.

Two enormous hotels provide an easy landfall far out to sea, just
like Miami Beach. We had logged 125 miles in 20 hours giving us an
average speed of 6.25 knots and had seen a total of six large ships,
none really close by and no official vessels, helicopters or aircraft
of any kind.

The cruising guides suggests calling both the officials and the
marina on channel 16. After continuous trying with no response, I
asked over the radio for an English speaker and still got no
response.  Finally, we pulled up to the marina dock and Armando, the
dockmaster graciously guided us into a suitable slip at the head of
the dock. In a moment, the officials were there.

This was our first experience in a Communist country and we were both
curious and apprehensive. There was no need to be. The officials were
delightful and even though we spoke no Spanish and they spoke no
English we got along fine, clearing in went well. Armando speaks
excellent English and helped us with translations. However, clearing
in is considerably more expensive than other Caribbean nations, it
cost us a grand total of $90 for all required permits, visas and exit
fees.

They did not stamp our passports, visas were a separate document. 
This was somewhat offset by the fact that the marina only charged us
$.35 per foot because we did not use any electricity.

The Cubans are very fussy about garbage, water pollution and
importing fresh eggs and chicken. Since we had neither eggs nor
chicken, we had no problem. Interestingly, they made us peel our
hard-boiled eggs and they confiscated the shells. The lady in charge
of the Agricultural clearance had never seen hard-boiled eggs before
and did not know what to make of them. They left us with pages of
instructions about disease control and waste disposal. It is
excellent, well-written material in good English.

The island has much the same vegetation as the Florida Keys and they
are very fond of Royal Poinciana; the lush, flaming red trees are
everywhere. Fruit trees such as mamey, papaya, mango and guava are in
abundance. In the east, spectacular mountains dominate everything.
The Atlantic (north) coast, especially the Varadero peninsula, have
incredible beautiful beaches. The savannah areas are lush green.
Crops are seen everywhere and the dominant rural nature of the nation
is quite evident.

The North coast of Cuba, from Varadero west to Marina Hemingway is
not the most inviting cruising ground. There are few little places to
duck in and anchor and it is required to clear in and out of every
port, just like so many other Latin nations. Based upon that, and the
fact that unlike the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico where almost
everybody speaks some English or at least "Spanglish" in Cuba, you
really need to know some Spanish; we decided to tour the country by
bus and train rather than risk the potential problems with Cuban
gunboats along that sensitive section of the north shore, the hassle
of checking in and out of every port and the need to beat back upwind
to get home to Marathon.

Comfortably ensconced at Marina Acua, we put our folding bikes ashore
and biked the entire peninsula of Varadero. Each morning around 630
a.m. which for us is the best part of the day, we enjoyed watching
the Cuban boys and girls in rowing shells. Varadero is very much like
the Fabulous Florida Keys in the fact that it has a single main road
down the center with beaches and resorts on the ocean side and homes
and waterfront businesses on the bay side. However, there is one
major difference: a toll booth at the entrance to the peninsula.

Gathering the courage to set out into the interior and away from the
resorts, we took a local bus to the port city of Matanzas. No
tourists there. After wandering around Matanzas getting conflicting
instructions, mostly in sign language, we finally arrived at the
train station. (ferrocarilles) The fare from Matanzas to the far end
of Cuba, the fabled city of Santiago de Cuba, oldest city in the new
world, was US$27.50 each.

The Matanzas station itself was a huge warehouse-like structure on a
raised platform. Security in the train station is similar to that of
an American Airport. I could see no apparent reason for this tight
security and was perplexed by police and soldiers asking for ID from
the locals and visas from us. In addition, the trains did not stop at
the building or any other platform. You had to walk across the gravel
track-bed and climb up onto the train from the gravel. The first step
is a real killer. I had to climb onto the train knees first and then
haul Corinne up.

The trains themselves are really museum pieces, I am certain
Hemingway rode on this one. The one we were on was built in 1936 and
had the worst latrine facilities we had ever experienced. There is no
air-conditioning and almost everyone in Cuba smokes; thus during
stops when there was no stream of air blowing in the open windows,
the air was less than pleasant.

Riding a train across country is an extraordinary experience. It gave
us opportunity to see, taste and feel the reality of Cuban life and
meet some interesting people.

We met doctors, engineers, boxers, musicians, school teachers,
students, factory workers and a good cross section of Cuban citizens.
At each stop vendors would appear alongside the train selling all
sorts of items from fresh fruit to roasted peanuts thru wonderful
fresh chichones (pork rinds).

Santiago de Cuba is a magnificent city built on the many hills
overlooking the harbor. It is very reminiscent of San Francisco,
California. We walked the streets, went into all the stores, did both
tourist things as well as dealing with the public. Cuba is truly the
land of the '57 Chevy. These old cars are a monument to human ability
to make do. The Cubans must be the World's most ingenious mechanics.

Rather than stay in a hotel, we stayed at a "casa particular" which
is the Cuban equivalent of our bed & breakfast. This one, in midtown
Santiago de Cuba, was run by a young doctor and his wife, Javier and
Marie. They even gave us a tour of their place and the scene from the
rooftop was marvelous. It cost US$15.00 per night, including
breakfast.  Now that's a real bargain.

Having been forewarned about the lack of what we Americans consider
basics, Corinne prepared little gifts of pencils, aspirin and canned
food items. As expected, they were always well received.

Among these items was a big bag of dried fruit which she shared with
fellow passengers on our train ride back to Matanzas. Most had never
experienced dried fruits before and it wasn't long before Corinne had
the that section of the train car enthralled with identifying the
various fruits.

Many had never ever tasted an apple or a pear; this was their first
experience. It wasn't long before questions began to arise on how the
fruit got dried in the first place. Cuba has an abundance of fruit
and drying would make good sense.

Looking like a Peter Sellers movie, complete with flailing arms, lots
of nonverbal expressions and highly animated discussion, Corinne held
court in English, trying to explain to people who only spoke Spanish,
how fruit was dried on trays in the sun.

There were three [women] school teachers from Colombia who joked and
laughed and made the entire scene the warm human comedy that it
became.  Surprisingly, after much discussion, translation through
several dialects, much pantomime (two young men who helped were from
Barcelona) many scratched diagrams on scraps of paper, the lessons
were learned and a good time was had by all.  When the Cuban boxing
team got on board at Santa Rosa, they joined in the festivities and
it wasn't long before a guitar and a bottle of rum emerged and we all
wound up singing Quanta La Maya, the only song we all knew.

After returning from Santiago de Cuba, we regrouped and took a
tourist bus to Havana. Being a pampered tourist in an air-conditioned
bus and having an English- speaking guide take you to all the
"proper" spots is a radically different experience than backpacking.

Havana is a magnificent city. The architecture, art work and museums
bring you back to antiquity and a stark realization of our common
threads of history. Much art work and architecture is well preserved
in the cemetery. Incredible sculpture and monuments abound.  Unlike
so much of the main thoroughfare where 18th and 19thcentury rococo
buildings are crumbling to rubble. (This destruction of a precious
architectural heritage is heart wrenching)

One must remember that Cuba was a flourishing society for 300 years
before there was an "Estades Unidos" (US). It's hard to think of
Americans as parochial, but in so many ways we are. How many know
that the Spanish Armada was built in Cuba? There are magnificent
16thand 17th century buildings all through Cuba and the oldest
building in the western hemisphere is in Santiago de Cuba. (It is
still in use as a tourist attraction)

Due to an emergency at home, our stay was cut short. We departed
Varadero 0630 hrs., 03 July. The sail across the Gulf stream was
brilliant. No ships, no rafters (our greatest fear) no official
vessels, no yachts and no fish were sighted.

Lines trolled in both directions produced not a single hit, and only
one small pod of Porpoise surfaced for us. Amazingly, a flying fish
"flew" into our boat through the rear-facing top hatch and landed in
our bed. Flying fish have landed on deck before but this is a first
for our bedroom. The top hatch is six feet off the water and if they
do not really fly, then how did they get there upwind? (still can't
figure out how it did it)

At 18:00 hrs our ever dependable La Forza cleared Sombrero light,
Marathon. 1930 hrs we were tied to our dock having logged 91 nautical
miles in thirteen hours for an average speed of seven knots. What
time was lost to the gulf stream on the way over, was made up plus a
little on the way back.

We cleared customs without a hitch but were admonished to clear
properly next time, in Key West. I was not anxious to add an
additional fifty mile beat to our trip and customs understood. Having
the right papers helped enormously. Customs actually drove from Key
West to Marathon when we could not reach them on their "800" number.
The initial call to customs was made on our cell phone. Instructions
were to call from a land-line when actually tied up. Ha! The 800
number was busy for so long that customs made it up from Key West to
Marathon before the 800 number phone was answered.

Agriculture and immigration were cleared by phone from home, the
following Monday. They weren't particularly happy, but again, having
the license from the treasury department was a big help. It is also
very important to have paid your twenty-five dollars US Customs fee
and have obtained the decal. The decal number really does smooth the
process.

A few observations about Cuba and the Cuban people, away from the
tourist traps and flesh pots of the big cities and heavily tread
roads.

Walking down the streets in the Cuba we visited was quite a different
experience and takes some personal adjustment. First and foremost,
people are polite. Noticeable by their absence are "type A"
personalities. We never experienced a rude person. Traffic is very
light. Most cars are publicly owned and the drivers courteous. We
actually saw no luxury cars although there was a Mercedes-Benz
service center next to our marina. (That service center also sported
a new Kohler generating plant)

There are no beepers, walkman, cell-phones, suits & ties,
air-conditioning, handicapped parking spots, bikini clad hotdog
vendors nor dirty streets. The skyline is void of transmission
towers. Crime is almost unknown. There are no overweight people.
Beards are significantly missing. In our entire Cuban sojourn we met
but one Cuban with a beard.  Whether or not this is a "political
statement" I could not ascertain.

There are plenty of bicycles, mostly rugged Chinese made. Cubans ride
them in creative ways. Wives sit side- saddle on rear luggage racks,
others sit on handle bars or cross bars. There are horses everywhere.
Many of the taxis are horse-drawn. There are antique surreys and
various types of wagons. The horses look beautiful and very well
kept. So many things we take for granted here in the US are done by
manual labor in Cuba.

We saw no mechanical street sweepers or lawn mowers. Roadside
shoulders were grazed by live stock tied to long lines with a sliding
ring on a short leash. Men with machetes kept brush down. There is no
debris or trash on the roadsides. Obvious care is given to esthetics
and planting. Cubans evidently have an eye for color and beauty,
gardens are lush, colorful and everywhere.

Unfortunately, that same feeling does not carry over to buildings,
many of which are crumbling to nothing. I am lead to believe it is
because they are not privately owned, but owned by the government
which has neither funds nor desire to do anything about it.

This is one of the tragic truths of communism; it has no respect for
antiquity or sensitivities other than its own. Pride in ownership is
a bourgeois fetish unworthy of a proletarian hero. Some of these
buildings are historic monuments of incredible beauty. At least
beauty as far as we westerners are concerned.

On our first day in Santiago de Cuba we walked about two city blocks
to a small park plaza and began to take pictures of the wonderful
architecture surrounding us. We were approached by two Cuban men who
both spoke perfect English. One of them was an ex-prizefighter and
had boxed in US, but was home now in his country.

While speaking with them we were approached by two  adult young men,
Alex and Abel who told us they were preparing to become
English-speaking tour guides for the government and volunteered to be
our tour guides FREE so they could practice their English. What a
lucky break. They were kind, courteous and we enjoyed our two-day
stay with them. We walked everywhere in Santiago, despite the San
Francisco-like very steep hills. When the time came to go to the Jose
Marti memorial, the bicycle taxi was our choice and the horse
carriage took us the two miles back to the city.

So many conveniences we take for granted are simply nonexistent.  For
instance, all public toilets, including those in restaurants are pay
facilities. The ones we observed had a woman collecting money at the
entrance and you needed to have your own toilet paper. In many places
the same holds true for drinking cups. On the train, coffee was
dispensed from a rolling urn like an airliner but you supply your own
cups. Paper goods that we take for granted, like tissues or paper
towels are non- existent. When I offered a sweating female customs
agent a pop-up Kleenex tissue, she did not even know what it was. I
had to demonstrate how it worked and what it was for.

Since the liberalization, every little piece of earth is now
cultivated. Hedge catus, a common ornamental in the US is used to
enclose private gardens; barbed wire requires many US dollars and
appears unavailable to most. Besides, the cactus is far more
effective and it doesn't rust! The free markets are very primitive,
just like elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, there are no stores or
retail shops, which is quite different from what most cruisers
expect.

We could find no panderia (bakeries), groceries (supermercado)
ferrateria (hardware stores) except the Tiendas Americanas (tourist
stores) in the strictly tourist areas. In those stores foreign goods
and good Cuban rum and cigars are available. People are rationed and
get their food from the government.

This brings us to food, since Corinne is a specialist, author of two
popular cookbooks and columnist for popular magazines, this is a most
important item. We ate in many restaurants ranging from little
hole-in-the-wall local places to fancy tourist establishments. We
never had a bad meal. Meals we had in private homes were excellent.
Snacks we got from street vendors were excellent, especially the
fresh chichones (fried pork rinds) we got from vendors outside the
train. Every morsel of food we ate was delicious. However, variety is
very limited. Food is in short supply, people complain about being
hungry. Guests we took to dinner said they felt guilty because people
at home were hungry and asked to take some of their portions home to
their families.

We feel that the reason the Cuban food tasted so delicious is that it
is fresh, not processed to mediocrity, not filled with preservatives
or other artificial additives and not picked green then gassed for
color. There are no "Golden Arches" or other franchise-alley
establishments but then no one has money to patronize them, either.

In south Florida, we are big fans of the Cuban "cafe con- leche."
This is not available in Cuba. There is no leche! (milk) What little
milk there is, is reserved for infants. However, the cafe-cubano is
outstanding. The Cuban grown coffee is as good as it gets. We ate
truly excellent fruit, pineapple, mango, papaya and delicious mamey.
We did have shrimp and of course, black beans and rice. Most Cubans
only get meat if they raise it themselves or go to tourist places.
The government philosophy is: "chicken is for tourists" or so we are
told.

 Little inroads of individual enterprise are beginning. People with
gardens or backyard animal husbandry are selling their wares along
the roadsides and at local markets. High quality handicrafts are
everywhere.  Street-side artists and musicians abound. Ironically,
they apparently make more money than the doctor with whom we stayed.

We found politics in Cuba to be just like politics in America, in the
forefront of many persons interest. Conversations about politics with
Cubans are no different than speaking with Americans. Just as you can
find people here who ask pointed questions about the death of Vincent
Foster, you find many in Cuba that ask about the death of Che
Guevera. There are those that lament the current political system and
yearn for "the good old days" and there are those that are
enthusiastic about the present regime.

It is helpful to remember that the majority of Cubans know no other
system. The revolution occurred over forty years ago and the majority
of people were either not born yet or too young to remember. I did
not get the feeling that people were intimidated not to speak their
mind but I admit, since we are Americans, this is really hard to
judge.

There are American goods everywhere in Cuba. We saw American supplies
such as PVC pipe and Kohler generating plants, cigarettes, beer,
marine supplies, toiletries, etc. etc.

We were told by several people that American medical supplies, drugs
and related equipment are sold to Cuban hospitals at outrageous black
market prices thus severely impacting medicine and health care in
Cuba.  The mother of the doctor we stayed with, in Santiago de Cuba,
asked us for calcium. If a doctor's mother-in-law cannot get a simple
inexpensive item like calcium supplement, there is obviously a
serious problem.

All of this leads me to suspect that some of the vociferous
pro-embargo Miami-based exiles are actually the ones running the
black market. This makes it vital that each and every one of you
reading this article call, write or email your congressman and
Senators demanding an end to this foolish charade, this infantile act
of petulant children called an embargo.

The touch of social life we were able to sample was warm and
gracious. Armando, the Dockmaster at Marina Acua invited us to his
38th birthday party. He lives just a few miles from the marina so
Corinne and I biked over to his home which is in a quite residential
area.

There was another touch of comedy when we tried to follow his
directions and found there were no street signs. Armando told us what
number his house was in Santa Marta. So we biked over the bridge only
to find there weren't any street signs. We stopped an older man on
his bike and Corinne with her limited Spanish asked," " Donde' esta
casa Armando?" (Do you know where is Armando's house?)

"Armando? si!" I know him he replied, "uno momento por favor." He
dashed off and was back in a flash with his wife on the handle bars. 
"Follow me," he said, and we all biked to Armando's house.

By that time, the party was in full swing. We danced and drank till
mid evening, meeting his twin uncles, mother, sister, wife and teen
age daughter, friends, neighbors and I think, passers-by. I was even
given the honor of carving the piglet roasted for the occasion. The
fact that we came from disparate cultures and languages did not
affect our ability to have a great time and leave with a lot of new
friends and many warm-fuzzies. At party's end, everyone was concerned
about how we would get back to the marina in the dark? When we
peddled away on our bicycles with generators lighting our path,
everyone was astonished.

There seem to be no stray cats and very few dogs nor did we meet
anybody that had a household pet. We found prices in restaurants and
in what few tourist stores there were, to be low by south Florida
standards. However, even in the swankiest "stores" in Santiago de
Cuba, there weren't any goods to buy. Local beer is one US dollar.
The exchange rate was 20:1 meaning you bought twenty Cuban pesos for
one American dollar. Tourists are really not supposed to use local
currency but for many items such as bus fare or toilets, local
currency is necessary.

Tourism is in full swing in Cuba. Tourists are everywhere. The
majority are from Europe and Canada. On the return trip on the train
we had the most wonderful experience. When you get your ticket you
are assigned to a specific seat. In our car three elementary school
teachers ladies from Bogota Columbia, two young men from Barcelona
who were factory assembly plant workers on automobiles one Cuban
young lady university Physical Education student and a young Cuban
man engineer who worked in Havana. During our sojourn back to
Varadero we shared our food and drink with each other. One of the men
on our car train, took out his guitar and began to play music, we
joined in with song, us two for we knew that particular Spanish song.

On the trip to Havana, we met several Americans who had purchased
travel packages from Canadian travel firms, had flown to Nassau then
to Cuba. Most of the tourists we met on that trip spoke English. I
simply could not help comparing other places we had been such as The
Canary Islands or other Caribbean nations to see how advanced the
Cuban tourist trade really is.

We, as Americans, are missing incredible cultural, recreational and
economic opportunity because of political forces in one small US
geographic area.

There is, however, one aspect of politics that affects each and every
one of us: the so-called US Trade Embargo against Cuba. This is an
embargo mostly in name only for political consumption here in the US.
It is really hurting the Cuban people as well as American citizens.

Upon returning to the United States I had such mixed emotions it was
difficult to really decide whether I felt guilty, angry, sympathetic
or what But I had a clear vision of the terrible injustice my own
country was doing to its own citizens as well as the Cubans. I could
not reconcile in my own mind how we could trade and have commercial
relations with virtually every country that had once been a mortal
foe and yet exclude Cuba, a nation a mere 90 miles away with which we
have had physical, social, commercial and family ties since well
before the American revolution.

Thus I wrote the follow letter to my Senators and Representatives.

Secretary of Defense, William Cohen
Senator Bob Graham
Senator Connie Mack
Congressman Richard Deutsch

My elected representatives,

I am a publisher and journalist just returned from Cuba. In light of
President Clinton's latest pronouncements from China, I implore you
to drop the embargo against Cuba.

The embargo is the most self-defeating policy I can imagine.  Without
boring you with my qualifications to make this statement, let me
simply state I am not of Cuban ancestry, have no personal or
commercial ties to Cuba and I am well qualified to make the
judgements I outline.

First, a two-tier monetary system now exists in Cuba. In order for
anybody to buy virtually anything they must have dollars (or other
hard currency) Cubans are paid a pittance for their work and are paid
in Pesos. The current exchange rate is 20:1. Of course, tourists and
other visitors are not supposed to use the local currency.

There is a carefully contrived tourist system that keeps visitors
away from the innermost workings of Cuba. When you take the train
across the country and stop at various other cities you can see for
yourself the total devastation that makes the pictures of crumbling
buildings on the famous Havana Malecon look incidental. The only new
construction appears to be government monuments to the revolution
along the tourist routes.

Speaking with residents, it is almost impossible not to talk
politics. Without doubt, the hardships faced by people as a result of
Cuban government policy is first and foremost on their minds.
Resentment is not just a symptom of the old people, I deliberately
sought out the young to speak with them. The young, more than anyone,
want opportunity to fulfill their lives. In their view, they can face
any hardship but there must be opportunity for achievement at the
end.

Embargo? What embargo? The tourists want American goods and American
goods are available all over Cuba. All this so-called embargo is
accomplishing is to perpetuate a vast bureaucracy here in America and
a vicious black market in Cuba. To get to Cuba I needed a license
from The Office of Foreign Assets Control and a US Coast Guard
clearance to traverse the security zone. Third party commercial
enterprises get American goods to Cuba on a routine basis. Frankly,
when discussing this with tourists from other countries, it is just
plain embarrassing!

Please reconsider this vital issue now. The embargo against Cuba is
self-defeating, unworkable and inconsistent with American goals and
the ideals of liberty and justice for all!

                             *

[Chuck Kanter, AMS has over 20 years experience as a yacht surveyor
specializing in multihull vessels, sailing vessels and small craft.
He is a recognized authority and featured speaker on cruising in
catamaran sailboats. His new book, Cruising in Catamarans, will be
available this summer! Check out his website at
http://www.sailcopress.com ]

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