Translate

Sunday, February 28, 2016

POST 240 27FEB2016 LA HAVANA -CHE GUEVARA- GUANTANAMERA -


POST 240 27FEB2016
-LA HAVANA
-CHE GUEVARA
-GUANTANAMERA
-HAVANA CEMETERY




 





Blog www.clubmasterhoang.blogspot.com
POST 240 – 27FEB2016

CUBA/LA HAVANA

( CONTINUED ) g.m phan hoang



LA HAVANA
Being a tourist is being a target for paying a high price for everything. In other countries you can somehow manage to escape from this luxury position, but hardly in Cuban even you can speak Spanish. Because everything is organized in a system and under the control of government: bank, resort, traveling agency, shopping center, transportation, and so on. Then currency policy is a great tool to discriminate people. The CUP, Cuban Peso, is for national people and their salaries are paid in this low peso. Then the CUC, Cuban Convertible Peso, is for foreign visitors when they exchange their money –dollar, euro, pound- to Cuban currency. So the tourists do forget the local currency and must use the convertible CUC. I heard one CUC is about 22 regular pesos, but did not check this information because it’s no use for us. Now the exchange rate is determined by the Cuban government, not by the market. So we cannot know the real value of the CUC. To exchange your money you have to go to the bank or at your tourist hotel. That day, at my hotel I changed 30 US dollars for 24 CUC, and at the bank for 300 US dollars I got 259.20 CUC, so clearly the rate at the bank is much better than at the hotel. However most people do not see that they are punished by exchanging the American dollar against the CUC: beside the arbitrary exchange rate they also charge 10% over the American dollar (no charge for Canadian and Euro), so for US $300 I would have lost 30$. That means, in the end, your visit of Cuba is not so cheap because you cannot escape from paying by the tourist CUC and at tourist rate. But we should not let this detail affects our great pleasure of visiting these beautiful islands and meeting with some very nice people. In this Post 240 I will not talk about anything sad I have seen, only nice moments.

In La Havana, at a books stand, I saw some pictures of a guy I knew fifty years ago, in 1960’s, when I was in France! He did not change much, same guy, same cigar and same beret. No, in fact, I did not really know that guy, I did never talk to him or meet him, and I had nothing to do with him. But I did see many of his pictures in France at that time. Now seeing his pictures again brings me back to the past, an agitated period of cold war, where almost every week there were passionate political discussions on the French campuses, from Lille, Paris, Caen, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon, to Marseille, and beyond. Sometimes there has been physical fighting among students of opposite ideals. Some young men dreaming of a revolutionary society were burning to have an idol, a symbol, a man to admire. Therefore they found that young guy to venerate, Che Guevara. Today, on the above campuses Che Guevara is almost forgotten but in Cuba, Che Guevara is still well admired as a national hero. People can see his pictures everywhere. The town of Santa Clara hosts an important museum dedicated to Che Guevara. What did he do to be so famous? I let you to explore through the web to know more about him. (Ernesto "Che" Guevara, June, 1928 – October, 1967. The term "Che", in local slang, is for "pal.", and this became his nick-name).

La Havana is the best place for me enjoying to listen a good Cuban band playing the song Guantanamera, a famous song which was born in Cuba around 1929. I like this song very much. Long time ago when I heard it for the first time through the Radio in France, sung by Nana Mouskouri, I immediately liked it. I was driving a car on a long road somewhere between Paris and Limoges. The voice of Nana Mouskouri was magical, and the French lyrics very nostalgic and touching. I liked Guantanamera without knowing the meaning of this title. Then after, I forgot this song. Then from time to time it reappeared in different places in my geographical and sentimental world to compete with the more famous Besame Mucho, which was born in Mexico. Listening to a song at its birth place, in its own environment, could produce deeper feeling to the traveler. This is the case when I am here in Cuba, right now, when the music rises to celebrate … Guantanamera, Guajira Guantaramera (a woman from Guantánamo).  At meal time almost in each restaurant a band, large or small, young or old, animates life with a series of favored songs they play very well. I discovered the Cuban beer Bucanero which was included in the menu, at the old restaurant El Baturror where I saw an American flag hang among others. Outside, in the streets, tourists outnumbered regular people; some ladies wearing very colorful clothes, flowers and cigar at hand, as you can see on my various pictures attached to this Post 240. Their job is to pose for those who would like to have their pictures; of course it is advisable to ask them for the price before taking action.  
In another part of the city, I was surprised by the luxury and the beauty of the Havana Cemetery. I could not believe that I was in Cuba! Please see attached pictures.
(to be continued in the next Post 241)
g.m   (February 2016)




x






xx


x


xx

xx

x

x

x


x

x


x


x

x





x


x



x

x

x

xx


x

x


x




x


x


x


x

x

x

x
















x












Thursday, February 18, 2016

POST 239 – 14-21FEB2016 CUBA / VARADERO Pictures Letter Charles Phan Hoang


POST 239 – 14-21FEB2016

CUBA / VARADERO 
Charles Phan Hoang Letter
Pictures



















Blog www.clubmasterhoang.blogspot.com
POST 329 – 14-21FEB2016

CUBA/VARADERO

g.m phan hoang



I have been visiting six cities in Cuba: Varadero, La Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos. All are very different from each other.
Cuba is the biggest island of the Cuban Archipelago which is made up of over four thousand small keys and islands.  According to the people here Cuba counts 288 beaches, most of them, with splendid white sand, are among the best in the world. With 110,860 km2 (42,820 sqmi) Cuba is larger than Portugal (92,212 km2) or Autriche (83 871 km2), and much larger than Taïwan (36 188 km2), Sicily (25 708 km²), or Israel (20,770 km²) as I can notice.
Before landing on Varadero airport my flight passed over Florida and Key West. It is absolutely impressive to see from the sky the long Overseas Highway US 1 connecting Miami to Key West -113-miles (181.9 km) - through a series of small islands and over the sea like an endless bridge. About ten years ago, with one of my elder brothers I have been driving on this special Overseas Highway in a day where the sea was not calm and the wind was strong. At some points, some high waves almost passed over the road and that made us feel this Overseas Highway much longer than we had expected. When we safely reached Key West we did not hesitate to go to the best restaurant in town, no matter we were very hungry or not, nor how our travel budget could be respected.

 When I arrived to my hotel Puntarenas in Varadero it was around Friday noon (February 05, 2016). It is clear that this resort is exclusively for foreign tourists. At the beautiful beach, at the pools, or at the bars I did not meet a single local person except the staff, those who work for the hotel providing all kind of services, and some travel-agents who come every day to sell their tours. The majority of the guests in this place, as I can assume, are Canadians, Russians, and Spaniards. Among the rest I could count some German and some Japanese tourists. The downtown is about 5 or 6km away from Puntarenas; twice a day a free bus assure the connection, otherwise taking a taxi or a horse-drawn carriage (the calash two wheels or the barouche four wheels) cost about  US$10.        
VARADERO is a peninsula and is only 1.2 km wide at its widest point. This spit of land however extends more than 21-km (13-miles) and it is the largest and most popular beach resort in Cuba. Its pristine white sand beach is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful in the world. At the north-eastern end of the peninsula there is a nature reserve with virgin forests and beaches. The center of town is very interesting with many Cuban small shops, restaurants, bars and coffee shops; Cuban music everywhere. The most attractive things to the tourist could be seeing a lot of beautiful American old cars running up and down the main street mixing with horse-drawn carriages. This brings the visitor back to the 50s or 60s. So life is very romantic when turning to the past as a tourist; but this spectacle could make you think of the dark side of reality: during more than half a century this society has not changed much while the whole world is changing and the average of salaries provided from government seems to be about $30 a month and a liter of gas costs about $1.50. But in this country not much people could own a car, no traffic jam, not much gas pollution. What a paradise! I have taken numerous pictures of these beautiful old American cars and horse-drawn carriages to share with you in this Post 239. Most of them are taxis.
I liked to walk and hang around in the city center, a section stretched about three kilometers from where there is the only bank to exchange money (32 Street), up to the end of a very nice park (further the 55 Street) where I could quietly do my exercises. Inside this park a small lake, some trees, and a bridge make the place romantic but I did not see much local people come enjoy life here. Next to the lake, at the end of the bridge I found a quiet traditional Cuban restaurant. Menus vary from 13 to 19 Cuc, about 14 to 20$ US, I will talk about this mysterious Cuban Convertible Peso in my next Post. I opted for the 15 Cuc, a fabulous lobster with local beer, dessert and coffee included. When I get out of the restaurant, certainly a glass of Cuban beer could not turn my mind enough to believe in what I saw on the parking: four or five beautiful and giant motorcycles, Harley-Davidson or so, parked there! Who could ride such expensive monsters in this so poor island? I was curious to know. Minutes later I found the group of these impressive guys in a distance, they are tall and well equipped. I approached them and dared to ask my question in Spanish. Unfortunately no one understood my Spanish. They are German bikers! They are very well organized to bring their group travelling here.   

Sometimes I crossed the main street to go to the beach. When I looked over the sea I know Florida is not that far away. I remember the time, for twelve years, I regularly came to Miami conducting seminars on Research Methodology and on these occasions I got a number of Cuban good friends in this city; sometimes we talked about the problems of Cuba. In Florida there is a very large community of Cuban American people. We know they have a dream. When will their dream come true? (to be continued)
g.m  (18 February 2016)

 












x
x

x


x

x





x



x









x
x
x




x


x

x



xx


x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x



x

x

x

x



x

x

x

x

x


x


x

x



x


x

x










x


x

x











x