photos and updates

I will be here until the end of April. Since my visa expired I had to fly to outside the country and return to renew it. I went to the Bahamas for one day.

By now I’ve settled in and two months felt like I had hardly gotten to know the country and I definitely can handle 2 more months here, although there are times when I really miss being in a more accessible country. But its really surprising how genuinely nice people can be, and so many of them. Not like American nice, or like nice people in Switzerland or Italy. I say that mainly because I’m struck by how many friendly smiles I get from strangers, most of them female. Its impressive how much consideration people have for each other in day to day encounters, up to a certain point of course. If you cross the line with someone you will definitely hear about it, and so will everybody else within 100 meters. However I don’t go around worrying about that.

Soon I hope to start some new projects to add to my portfolio. I have two subjects which I need to work out how to get access, both would be very interesting. There is a third which requires more research before starting. In a way I can’t wait to get out of here, and in another way I really want to take full advantage of my time here.

I’ve been filming on tobacco farms in Pinar del Rio. It always interesting learning about new things in order to find the best ways to film them. There are lots of tobacco fields here and different methods of harvesting and drying tobacco, but connossieurs can tell the best tobacco methods from the second rate. Casa Robaina, the favorite cigar of Sting of the Police, graciously gave me access to film there beautiful casa del tabaco where the leaves are dried and the covered field.

I love traveling. Wouldn’t it be sad to think as your dying, I wish I hadn’t stayed in one place all my life? What’s the point of living without experiencing new things? Anyways I came to Cuba for that reason and its its been a challenge but also a very enriching experience.

Whenever Cubans talk about the United States, they gesture with their hand, referring to it as “allá” which just means “over there” in spanish, and they always point in the right direction. Of course the United States occupies the entire horizon if you’re in Havana and looking north.

The entire country drinks rationed powdered milk, which sounds like the aftermath of a disaster scenario. There was no disaster, just a revolution, which brought the ideology of iguales deberes, iguales derechos, equal duties and equal rights, to cuban society. This means that everybody receives the same amount, even if it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough, so every Cuban, including upstanding party members, have to source commodities through the black market, which is neither black nor market-like, its a thriving economy that takes place in broad daylight in public. The only risk is if you get caught stealing from where you work, but that’s where the supply for this economy comes from. Fish and beef are illegal for Cubans to consume. If a Cuban kills a cow, they get 15 years in prison. I was told manslaughter is 5 years. In Cuba, people stand in line at all hours to buy a hot dog for 10 pesos, while they’re only paid about 30 pesos for a day’s work. Even so, Cubans eat rice and beans 13 meals out of 14 (thats two meals a day, if I had to guess)

Those are some negative aspects about life here. On the positive side, people are friendly and accepting. Its impossible to distinguish between neighbors and family, and you will always be offered coffee when invited into someone’s house for the first time. The people are very inventive and when living comfortably is such a struggle, those who are able live comfortably also live with satisfaction because its an accomplishment.

If you ask a cuban compañero/a which country is better, the USA or Cuba, they’ll tell you that you’re trading one set of problems for another. Here there are no drugs, and none of the drug-related crime that plagues every locale in the USA. There are no gangs. I totally agree, even if I have to eat rice and beans everyday. Fortunately, I can leave this country. I’ve heard some locals characterize this country as a prison. One theme among people I met is that many are waiting for interviews to be given permission to leave the country. Usually they have to wait until 2011 or 2012, since they schedule years in advance.

I don’t mind eating rice everyday, as long as I’m not stuck here, at least for another 2 months.

Here are some slogans you’ll see on the streets of Havana:

“La verdadera gloria está en el cumplimento del deber” – True glory is accomplishing your duty.

“Todos somos eternos tripulantes del Granma” – All of us are eternal crew of the Granma [the yacht on which Fidel Castro landed in Cuba and embarked to defeat Batista’s government, the Cuban revolution in 1959]

“Las ideas son nuestras armas” – Ideas are our weapons.

“Patria o muerte” – Liberty or death, I mean, uh, your country or death. Stamped on every peso.

“Estudio, trabajo, fucíl” – slogan of the Juventud Socialista (?), the young socialists, “Study, work, rifle”

I’m not updating this blog because my current project has nothing to do with this site. I will include some recent photos however when I have time to put them together.