Further Gringo Adventures

More observations! Because I'm too lazy to write a coherent blog post.

I’ve watched a couple Cuban movies since I’ve gotten here – “Esther en Alguna Parte,” a current screwball comedy, and “Vampiros en Habana,” an animated film that’s considered a Cuban classic. Vampires in Havana initially threw me with its antiquated animation style, but had a wonderful soundtrack and fantastic art direction. The film itself was a fairly heavy-handed critique of capitalist intervention – the amount of talk about international financial groups was a little much for an animated movie about vampires – but a fun thing nonetheless. The recognizable Havana sights were a cool little easter egg for as well.

I’ve been able to sneak into a gym at a nearby hotel likely because I look Western. Seriously. They’ve stopped a bunch of Cubans for identification but I’ve just been walking in. Apparently I’m not dark enough yet.

Piracy is much more complicated here. As I mentioned before, the Internet is heinously slow and fairly expensive and it’d be more or less impossible to download anything outright. Torrenting is probably out of the question. So, with this in mind, I was initially very confused by almost everyone having at least a few (and often many) foreign movies and albums on their computers. What someone explained to me is that someone somewhere in the country gets it on CD or USB and it just spreads across the community. This is more resourceful than I’ll ever be. I’ll stick to What.CD.

I will never be able to recover from the wonderful prices of late-night food here. 50c pizza is wonderful at 2 AM on a Friday. Shipley’s just can’t compare.

I said I was going to write an entry on Cuban romance, but what I would write would be like one of those cheesy Lonely Planet/Rough Guides/Frommet’s sections on the nightlife and dating that could conceivably be true for any country, anywhere.  I’ve made a few observations, though. The language barrier absolutely isn’t as bad as people say it is – it’s mostly difficult to communicate in English with older generations, but most people within 5 years of me have at least serviceable English and my Spanish is alright – and can even be used for a little comedy or conversation. The upside of the language barrier here is that I can just physically sell a joke or comment and make it work, even if my content is terrible.. This makes flirting so much easier. Also, “estoy Americano” has had mixed reactions. It definitely made one girl seem more interested me and another sneak away pretty soon after.

Speaking of dating, I managed to save a couple of friends from prostitutes at the club. The way they tell it, they started chatting up a couple of girls next to the bar. They’re totally hitting it off. When one of them goes to the bathroom, the girls started trying to talk business with him. This is when I come up to give them crap about not speaking Spanish and hitting on Cuban women (which is coincidentally exactly what I’ve been trying to do all night) and the guy uses me as an excuse to get out. They follow him, but we eventually lose the tail. This was the first instance of the huge sex trade people had warned me about, and now it’s making me paranoid that any cute girl is just using me for my money. DON’T THEY KNOW I’M CHEAP?!

Cuba’s helping my anxiety over career options – apparently a medical career is still an option. We visited the Latin American School of Medicine, Cuba’s premier international institute of medicine. The kicker of this school is that they offer full rides to admitted students from any country in the world, even without any prior medical or Spanish experience. They’re supposed to go back to help underserved communities in their countries, but it’s totally exploitable for a dead-end philosophy major to get an internationally valid medical degree. Back-up option?

There’s a very strange architectural mix across Havana. There are some parts, including where I live even though I live in a Soviet-style apartment complex, that look essentially like Miami – cool pastel colored art deco houses and embassies. Caribbean classic. There are other areas that are almost entirely Soviet-era monstrosities, highlighted by the wonderfully grotesque Russian Embassy. It’s a giant concrete obelisk. I’ll get a picture if I can.

I’m going to revise my statement on Che – even though Che is a very prominent national symbol, Jose Marti is the national hero of Cuba. People rarely talk about Che and Jose Marti has come up with more or less everyone we’ve talked with. I’ve seen at least four or five Jose Marti quotations out in the street every day we’ve been out. That said, his face isn’t quite as ubiquitous as Che’s – it may just be that he doesn’t have the same striking mug. 

For all the people who have knocked Cuba’s food, you’re doing it wrong. Although almost every traditional, US-style restaurant I’ve been to has been just alright, the paladares and restaurants operated out of an open-air street front are fantastic – and incredibly cheap. Just today, I had a delicious snack of flan and coffee for the equivalent of 25c. It’s the cholera that makes it taste great. Also, if Travel Channel is reading this, this is an application for Anthony Bourdain’s job. My stomach is willing to take one for the team.

On that note, I’ve had perpetual indigestion since I’ve gotten here. So, business as usual.

In a sort of unrelated subject, today’s the 50^th day of my attempt at a 100-day run streak. Only rule is that I have to run at least 2.5 miles everyday, and it’s been a very cool way to explore Havana these past couple weeks.