Reflections in Havana

I confused the Viazul departure times of my bus to Pinar Del Río from Havana and my bus back to Havana from Pinar Del Río, so I ended up showing up to the Viazul station an hour early. Note to self: read your travel documents fully before executing any decision. I could have been sleeping or even writing this where there was wifi available. 

My last night at Enzo's was one of the most human and genuine experiences I've ever had with people my age. I can't decide what was the best part of the night was; singing the fresh prince of bel air theme song outside of the Estadio Latino America at 1am with my new friends or clucking like chickens during our internationally modified game of Kings Cup in the apartment. I'm convinced now more than ever that young people are most definitely the catalysts for change. To be able to talk with other like minded young people from all corners of the globe about the solutions to life's problems and experience new things together is a blessing and a privilege that not many get to experience. The 3 months of peanut butter jelly and cutting unnecessary expenditures were all worth it. 

The first stop of my trip is complete, and now I'm off to my casa particular in Pinar Del Río, the "tobacco Mecca of the world" to smoke some good good.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BywMagYa-LOmVWNCMkpBME1FRUk

Jon from Monterey

Before moving to the Bay Area, i lived in Monterey County for about 8 years, in all different corners of the area. Imagine my bewilderment when I met Jon, a bartender that works in Monterey at the military base. He was staying at the same hostel as I. We walked around Havana together yesterday, and he facilitated the best game of Kings Cup I've ever participated in. 

Jon probably saved my whole trip. I have been stressing off of money for the beginning of my stay here and was beginning to think I wouldn't have enough money for food throughout my whole stay in Cuba. After waking up from a bad-watermelon induced nap, I realized that I would have to sell my go pro to someone in Cuba to have some extra cushion cash After consulting with Enzo, he agreed to help me post the camera on a Cuban-Craigslist to see if I could get any bites. When I went downstairs to grab the go pro so Enzo could upload the picture of it to his computer, I told Jon what I was doing, and he agreed to buy my GoPro with the memory card and all the extra attachments I had for it. In one of the dopest things that anyone has ever done for me, Jon freed my brain from the money-induced anxiety attack I was having. The universe works in mysterious ways. Who would have thought that I would room with a fellow Californian from the same area as I, and that he would help me the way that he did. Talk about California Love. So happy to have met such a dope ass individual. I gave him my contact info and will be awaiting a message from him so that I can go see him when I'm back in the Monterey. 

Landing in Havana

Before I boarded the plane to Havana at Santo Domingo Airport, I had withdrawn all the cash from my checking and savings accounts at a Banco Popular ATM in the first floor of the airport, and had converted all of it into Euros to have a better exchange rate for Cuban pesos. 

I think my anxiety kicked in when I saw that I had a lot less bills in Euros than I did in Dominican Pesos. Back home, I usually never stress off of money. When I rented my room out in Marina, it was easy for me to set aside my rent and utilities and not worry about food and fun with my awesome roommate situation. I think the fact that I came to Cuba all alone really made it all the more scary for me.

With this being said, when I stepped off the plane in Cuba, I instantly began looking for anyone who looked like a broke traveler to split the cost of a taxi colectivo to Cerro in La Havana. A gentleman who gave me half of a sandwich on the plane ride told me that he couldn't split a cab because he was meeting up with people and getting picked up. Discouraged, I proceeded to customs and immigration while keeping my eye out for other lonely travelers. 

While in line, I struck up conversation with a Cuban professor named Martha, who was coming back home from a teaching conference. I told her a bit of my background and she told me a bit of hers. I must have pelted her with a billion questions, asking things about hitchhiking and low cost meals in Havana. She could tell that I was stressing, and agreed to let me rock with her back into Havana. Her two sons greeted us at the doors to the airport, and they arranged for a taxi colectivo to drop me off near Cerro, the neighborhood where my hostel was, and waited for me to convert my Euros into CUC. To my surprise, I got quite a bit more cash in the exchange than I originally thought. I paid the taxi colectivo $10 for taking me as close as they could to my hostel, and walked with my small luggage about a kilometer or so before arriving to my destination. 

I felt compelled to write about Martha, as I don't know what I would have done if we hadn't struck up conversation at the airport. She gave me contact information for herself and her ex husband and father of her children, Armeno, (who worked in an office nearby my hostel) before we parted ways and her sons told me to call them so that we could hang out. I was so grateful for this, and this gigantic act of kindness really grounded me and set me off on my journey on the right foot. 

I brought the postcards from my trip to New Zealand to leave with people throughout my stay in Cuba, and knew I had to leave one for Martha in Havana before I left.  I wrote an intimate thank you note on the back and called her ex husband, Armeno on his house number (I couldn't call Martha's cell because I was on a land line) to let him know that I wanted to give him something for her. He was more than happy to pass it along, but wasn't wasn't coming into work until Friday. He told me to go to his work and find Felix, his coworker, and give him the card so that it could reach him. Me and a fellow Californian named Jon (a dope ass individual from Monterey) rocked over there together. I found Felix, who was more than happy to pass the card along. I'm glad, because as I mentioned before, Martha helped me start this journey off on the right foot and eased my nerves. Angels definitely come in all shapes and sizes, and I hope to hang out with Martha and her kids next time I'm in Cuba when I have more time.

Flood of 1985

The deadliest landslide on record in North America happened in Ponce, Puerto Rico in '85. The landslide was triggered by a tropical wave that formed off of the west coast of Africa the month prior. The tropical wave brought copious amounts of rain to the southern part of the island and triggered a massive landslide that reportedly killed almost 200, though through conversation with my grandmother and staff from the museum, there were many more that weren't reported.

My grandmother was 29 years old at the time.

Now here's the trippy part
My cousin Maria was 5 or 6 years old and attended a head start school in the area. 3 days before the landslide, the children in her class were asked to draw pictures of whatever came to mind. The children all drew pictures that people saw as premonitions of the disaster, though at the time nobody would have known. I've attached a photo of her picture, which is currently on display at El Museo de Historia de Mameyes in Ponce. You'll notice rocks, crosses, and a house on a hill with stairs leading up to the front door in the middle of it all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Puerto_Rico_floods

El durrumbamiento mas morifero registrado en America del Norte ocurrio en Ponce, Puerto Rico en 1985. El derrumbe fue provocado por una ola tropical que se formo en la costa oeste de Africa el mes anterior. La ola tropical trajo cantidades abundantes de lluvia a la parte meridional de la isla y provoco un derrume masivo que mato casi 200, aunque a traves de conversavion con mi abuela y el personal del museo, hubo mucho mas que nose reportaron.

Mi abuela tenia 29 años.

Mi prima Maria tenia 5 o 6 anos de edad y iva a una escuela en el area. 3 dias antes del derrumbe, la maestra se pidio a los ninos de su clase que dibujaran lo que se les ocurriera. Los ninos dibujaron todos los cuadros que la gente vio como premoniciones del desastre, aunque en aquwl momento nadie lo habria sabido. He adjuntado una foto de su dibujo, que actualmente esta en exhibicion en El Museo de Historia de Mameyes en Ponce. Used notara las rocas, las cruces, y una casa en una colina con las escaleras que conducen a la puerta principal en el medio de el todo.

2017 Referendum in Puerto Rico

It's been a few years since I was in Puerto Rico, and a lot has happened since then. 4 days ago, they held a referendum on the island. The purpose: to make puerto rico the 51st state, or an independent country. 97% of voters voted for statehood. Here's the twist; only 23% of the eligible voters on the island actually showed up to vote. The following article by the New York Times outlines some pretty interesting points regarding Puerto Rico's current state:

NY TIMES ARTICLE: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/us/trump-puerto-rico-statehood-congress.html?_r=0

Point 1) "The Republicans are also considered highly unlikely to do something that could result in five more Democrats in the House and two in the Senate."

Response: Puerto Rico voted for Hillary in the primaries (Puerto Ricans can vote in US presidential primaries). If I were a Republican in our current legislative branch of government, I wouldn't want to pass something that was going to add more coworkers to my workplace with opposing views; or maybe I might, if I was trying to create balance.

Point 2) "But because the turnout was so low — only 23 percent of eligible voters cast ballots — the vote, rather than being a dramatic turning point, underscored the divided political atmosphere in Puerto Rico and the long road ahead for any resolution of the island’s status. By law, the next steps toward statehood remain in Congress, where advocates for statehood face the daunting task of persuading a legislature dominated by Republicans to take on a state which would have the nation’s highest poverty and unemployment rates and an unpaid $74 billion debt."

Response: My mother, bless her heart, told me a while back (in conversation about the upcoming referendum) that the people of Puerto Rico are going to keep the status quo. There were only 2 options on this ballot; statehood or independence. I did not expect that people were actually just not going to show up to this referendum, which happened in 2012 with more of a voter turn out and 54% voting to maintain the current status (the option to maintain the current status was included in the 2012 referendum). Mother is always right, I guess. I wonder why people are wanting to maintain something like a relationship with the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_status_referendum,_2012

Point 3) "Sunday’s plebiscite was the fifth taken since the United States acquired Puerto Rico in 1898. This time, only about 500,000 of Puerto Rico’s 2.2 million registered voters voiced their preference for statehood, independence or remaining a United States commonwealth, far fewer than in previous elections."

Either Puerto Rico doesn't want to become the 51st state, or there are barriers to voting. The link below contains an interview with a Puerto Rican activist, Rosa Clemente. The second link is a video about the closing of 184 schools in an attempt to repay the debt to the United States and sheds some light on the real aspects of Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5P31d-oAZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgskmVRVADs <======= If you don't actually watch or read any of the links, watch this one!

List of places to check out: Cuba

I fly into Havana on Monday afternoon, giving me 18 days to roam the country before I have to be back there on July 28th for my flight to SF. I've compiled a list of places (based off of my research of the country's history) that I want to check out while I'm there. I'll add to this list when I figure out my life a little better,

Havana

El Malecon is a strip along the north side of the island that overlooks the Caribbean. It's sort of like a giant stone wall-bench in between the city of Havana and the Caribbean Sea, where locals will sit, socialize, fish, and partake in general badassery. I want to make sure I snap a photo of El Malecon while I'm there, as well as swim in the water and socialize with locals. I have the advantage of looking, smelling, and talking like I'm from the Caribbean (with my 10 year old child Spanish), so I'm really excited about connecting with Latinos in this country and gaining insight into their everyday highs and lows.

Mosque Abdallah is a young mosque that was established in Havana on June 17th, 2015. This is going to be such a blessing to check out. It's awesome to see Islam reach as far as communist Cuba. I'll miss Ramadan in Cuba this year, but from what I have seen on the Internet, the opening of this mosque was well-received in the community. The Cuban Communist Party has gradually eased its policies around religion, with even the pope having visited in recent years. It'll be eye opening to see how Muslims from the Caribbean practice their faith in a place as Catholic as Cuba.


https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/a-saudi-hand-guides-quiet-rise-of-islam-in-cuba

Cienfuegos

Parque Jose Marti is the central plaza of Cienfuegos, a town I'll be stopping in on my way down to Trinidad. It was named after "the father of cuban independence", Jose Marti, who Fidel Castro drew much inspiration from. Marti was a Cuban poet and influential politician who advocated for Cuban Independence and supposedly warned against American political interests before the end of the Spanish American War. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD
http://theinternationalcommittee.org/jose-marti-and-fidel-castro-two-lifetimes-connected-by-the-same-revolution/

Bahia de Cienfuegos HAS FLAMINGOS!!!!

Trinidad

Playa Ancon is a beach resort area that lies a few kilometers from Trinidad. It's on the way to Santiago, so I'm going to stop and check out one of the first new resorts to be developed after the 1959 revolution. I have seen some really cool pictures of the area and want to try diving if I can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad,_Cuba#Tourism


Santiago De Cuba

Santa Ifigenia Cemetary is where Fidel Castro's ashes were laid to rest.


Santa Clara

Che Guevara Mausoleum is where Che Guevara's remains can be found.

Young people are the catalysts for change

Growing up, I remember hearing Fidel Castro's name in conversations with people, but I was never actually schooled on him or his significance to present-day Cuba. I heard he died last year, and since then my curiosity was intrigued. As part of my research for my stay in Cuba, I have been reading up on his life and importance in Cuban history. The following is my short reflection on Fidel Castro based on what I gathered from internet encyclopedias (i.e. Wikipedia).

From what I'm now beginning to read, Fidel Castro was born to 2 Spanish parents in Biran, Oriente (a province in Cuba) in 1926. That makes him 90 years old at the time of his death last year! He was a young revolutionary that lead the Cuban people to overthrow the right-winged authoritarian government headed by Fulgencio Batista. This dude was 23 when he led this massive revolution, and had a track record of political involvement beginning with his campaign for the presidency of the Federation of University Students on a platform of "honesty, decency, and justice".

In African American history class, we talked about slavery in the Caribbean, and how it differed than slavery in the United States. The professor explained how slavery in the United States was different than any other form of slavery in the Americas because only 5% of all the slaves every transported in the North Atlantic Slave Trade actually went to the US. The ratio of slaves to white people was 13:1 in places like Haiti (hence the effectiveness of the slave revolution in Haiti). Interestingly enough, slavery wasn't abolished in Cuba until 1886, a cool 20 years after the 13th amendment was passed in the United States.
What I'm beginning to understand was a key difference between the slave experience in the states vs. the Caribbean was that there were efforts to combat slavery under the Spanish Crown in Cuba long before the US . The Spanish Crown issued a decree (Codigo Negro Espanol) in 1789 that established standards for the treatment of slaves, including work hour limits, prohibition of child-mother slave separation, and even marriage protection. Slavery in America was what drove much of the Southern US economy. Slavery is a shitty concept altogether, but I'm starting to realize why the professor mentioned that the slave experience in other parts of the Americas more closely resembled to that of the indentured servant, rather than that of the slave experience in the United States, where slaves were an imperative part of the nation's economy.

The average Black Panther was 18-20 years old. Its refreshing to hear that people my age have gone down in history as the real change makers. I wish more young people my age (23) read into our roles in societies around the world (or at least talked about them more).

I found the information in this post on the following websites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Cuba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro

Next steps

My tour through the Caribbean is about a month away. It's becoming more and more real to me. This last semester of junior college has been so stressful, and I can't wait to just relax with Mama on the porch when I get to Ponce. As of April 16th, all of my flights have been purchased and I'm all set to start looking at what to do while I'm on each island.

June 20th 

Depart from Las Vegas, Nevada

Arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 21st

July 7th

Leave San Juan, Puerto Rico 

Arrive in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

July 10th

Leave Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Arrive in Havana, Cuba

Friday, July 28th

Leave Havana, Cuba

Arrive in San Francisco, California

I leave the Bay Area for Vegas on the 15th of June. I won't be back till July 28th. This is the first time I have ever asked for this kind of time off (6 weeks) from work. I'm grateful that they let me go that long after just a year of employment there.

The most expensive ticket was the flight into Havana from Santo Domingo ($296). The most inexpensive was the flight from San Juan to Dominican Republic ($118). For about 2-3 months at the beginning of this year, I would set aside half of the money for each ticket from my paycheck and save it until the next paycheck came. It was a strategy that had me living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while.

Las Vegas

I'll be attending Insomniac's Electric Daisy Carnival for the 3rd time with my buddy Azeim. We have been practicing shuffling these past few months in preparation for the festival. We got a really inexpensive apartment off the strip for the whole weekend, so we'll be able to take the party there after the festival each day. 

Puerto Rico

I'll be staying at my grandma's crib in Ponce, soaking up as much of the motherland experience as I can.  It's been a few years since I've visited La Isla Del Encanto and I hope Mama has some Pitorro brewing. I hope to hit up la guancha (the boardwalk) and Playa Santa while I'm there, as well as check out El Yunque.

Puerto Rico is in an economic crisis, due to a strained relationship with the United States. As of now, Puerto Rico is considered a United States territory, but not a state. There are a lot of factors that influence Puerto Rico's current economic state, and I want to make it a mission on this trip to talk to locals about what they perceive the problem to be.

Dominican Republic

I'll be staying with the father of my mother's old friend from college, Edwin, in Santo Domingo. Edwin has family there, and he (being the dope ass person he is) set me up with a weekend stay at his parents house. His dad is a 5 star chef, so I'm excited to learn from him. I want to interview people about the disparity in living conditions in Santo Domingo, and maybe find out how much the United States influenced the current state. I'm definitely trying to hit up a bachata club while I'm there, as well as check out the beaches and government buildings.

Cuba

Cuba is going to be an interesting experience for me. July is the month where Cubans celebrate Carnival. Its a island-wide celebration leading up to July 26th, the national holiday that commemorates the revolution lead by Fidel Castro. I'll be there from July 10-28. I'm excited to check this out!!

I have been watching travel Vlogs on Youtube of people who have gone to Cuba in the past couple years to learn any tips that would be helpful going in. I still haven't booked a place to sleep, though Air B&B seems to be really popular in Havana, from what I'm reading. I should be good for the first couple nights in Havana and I'll probably be able to rent out a whole apartment for a cheap.  I'll be traveling from Havana to Santiago (east side of the island) and back to Havana in the 2 and half weeks that I'm there. 

These next couple weeks will be dedicated to (first and foremost, finishing this semester strong) researching more about Santo Domingo and Cuba. I'm going to continue with the research and will updated my blog with findings soon. 

Initial Research

Published on 3/29/17 @ 1:44am
Tonight, I'm up late doing research on how my trip to Cuba would look. I haven't done any extensive research yet, but it's looking like my best bets (in terms of reasons to back up my visit to the country) are going to be either journalism, educational, or general support for Cuban people. Through the blog posts we did during our trip to New Zealand, I think I might have created a platform from which I could travel to a bunch of different countries. I like the sound of becoming a traveling rollerblading journalist/student covering stories about social welfare and rollerblading.
Naturally, there are a lot of questions running through my mind. I'm scared of being held up at the airport upon arrival and not being let into the country for whatever reason. I'm trying to push this thought out of my head so I can concentrate on what's right in front of me right now.

Today, I finally bought my ticket to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I'll be leaving San Juan on July 7th, and flying into Las Americas Airport early that afternoon. What a blessing; Edwin's dad is letting me crash with their family. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to explore our neighboring island with locals who currently live there. I'm currently trying to figure out exactly how much time I'm going to spend there. I told Edwin that I would need a place from the 7th-11th of July, thinking that I was going to make at least one more stop somewhere before coming back to the states 

With all of these questions in the air about where I'm going to be living for the second half of this year, I find refuge in my guitar and roller blades. I also have a really awesome loving support system of close friends that has my back. Without the support of various dope ass individuals in my life right now, I probably wouldn't have the balls to make an honest effort to get into Cuba for a few days.

Trip so far:

Depart Oakland on Wednesday, June 14th at 5:33pm

Arrive in Vegas on Wednesday, June 14th. at 6:58pm

Depart Vegas on Tuesday, June 20th at 11:05pm

Arrive in Philadelphia at 7:04am

Depart Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 21st at 8:20am

Arrive in San Juan at 12:13pm

Depart San Juan on Friday, July 7th at 12:24pm

Arrive in Santo Domingo on Friday, July 7th at 1:27pm

On July 7th, I will have physically been in 3 different countries. I hope this first blog post will start a compelling and informative narrative to the struggle that an American minority student's traveler faces in the time of extreme political climate and overall what-the-fuck-ness.
 I'm dumping all of my money and resources into this trip, and I don't even feel bad. I got to finish my homework. It's 1:34am. I got political science in the morning and I can't miss it.