SOCIALISMO O MUERTA

No billboards in Cuba advertising anything. But much graffiti and signs "advertising" the Revolucion. I have been trying in the week we have been back to string together a paragraph or two which would make sense of the time we spent there. But I failed at that and ended up with the anecdotes that follow:

Don't go to Cuba for the food. Ours sucked.

There are two forms of currency. One used by the touristas called CUC's. The other used by residents of the island called pesos. Pesos would not have gotten you into any of our hotels. This differentiation really separates the haves (that would be us) from the have nots (that would be most of the rest of the Cubans).

I liked the people on the tour more than I expected. I was my usual warm, social, humanitarian self and got along famously. (An aside: This blog is now officially transcontinental. A western outpost has been established in Berkeley thanks to Becky. So a welcome to her.) Even the bus rides were comfy.

We had a terrific tour leader from SF and a more than terrific tour guide from Havana who really shared all sorts of information and factoids.

Che's picture is all over the place partly because Fidel is still alive and partly due to Che's continuing magnetism.

In some of the medium sized cities (Cienfuegos for example), taxi service is provided by donkey pulled carts--which have cart stands all over.

There were 16,000 Jews on the island before Castro and there are now 1600--mostly in Havana but also in scattered outposts across the island. Leave it to members of my tribe--Cubans continue to separate the Ashkenazim Jews (from Eastern Europe) from the Sephardi Jews (from southern Europe and Northern Africa). So, in Havana, each has its own synagogue. The "synagogue" in Cienfuegos is in the living room of the woman who is the leader of that city's Jewish community. There is a Jewish community center in Havana whose leader is also the leader of the island's entire Jewish community--she is a fireball of a lady who also happened to leave us so she could meet with Senator Durbin.

Cubans hate the older generation of exiles in Miami but are cautiously optimistic about the younger Cubans in Miami some of whom are very interested in their own genealogy and would like to at least visit.

Our hotel had CNN in English and I watched part of the Pats game on ESPN--this despite the fact that those are not available to your average citizen. Ads were all for US companies. No Internet service for the average Cuban except within the island.

Went to a terrific ballet performance of the national ballet company.

They have aquaculture farms for shrimp and fish--and across the street there are shacks with no plumbing or electricity and folks riding their mules to other little villages.

By the way, the heading way back up on means Socialism or Death--and, at this point, I am voting for none of the above or abstaining.

There is much more to say but in the end I deeply admired the resiliency of the Jewish population--we went to Friday night services lead by a trio of 20 year olds. No rabbis on the island. A Chilean rabbi visits 3 times a year and they schedule bar/bat mitzvahs, bris', and weddings for those times. He also tutors the young people which allows them to lead the services--Friday nights, Saturday mornings, and all holidays. At the end of the service, the youngsters in the shul began to sing--6and 7 year olds--very moving. Also admire how difficult life is for the mainstream Cuban. Housing is especially in bad shape in the centre of the city.

Three factoids more. Fidel failed on his first effort at an uprising and escaped back to Mexico--Che joined him at that point and he returned successfully. I did smoke a Cuban cigar and only drank 7 year old Cuban dark rum on ice--which costs about 3 bucks. Muy bueno.

More later/Moving on.

Anyone notice Eric Cantor (he who is a member of my tribe) at the State of the Union speech? A fucking sourpuss not even clapping at the non controversial things.

No one should doubt that the assassinations hitting in Iran are connected to Israel and that our government knows about them. Speaking of which two depressing articles in yesterday's Times. In the Magazine, a Jerusalem based journalist argues that a number of issues are coalescing in the middle east which leads him to predict an Israeli attack on Iran in 2012. Then that fatso Sheldon Adelson (he who is yet another member of my tribe) giving a bazillion dollars to Gingrich--for business reasons and for his staunch support of Israel. Adelson is one of the bright light AIPAC folks and the one who argues that the Palestinians are not really a "people". Very unpleasant news.

Did not even try for Bruce tickets but Gary did send me a you tube recording of a cut from his new album. I liked it and am hoping I can score a ticket on ebay for his Boston concert.

Congratulations to Toby, Tessa, and the grandparents on the birth of Asher up there in the Great White north.

SPORTS TALK
Tim Thomas is a right wing Ron Paul tea bag adherent and an asshole. But he can play goal like a madman. I'm not sure where to go with this but do believe if I knew the political beliefs of all my sports faves, I would puke.

The Pats did luck out against the Ravens but as they say, the bottom line is that they won. The Jints are much tougher because their QB is better. Brady really has to be on and the defense at least has to stop the run and let Eli throw it 60 times.
My big question is what kind of food to have on hand given my limited dietary repertoire. There will be single malt scotch and no sound.

That's it.
Sayonara