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Dear Andy,
Thought you might be interested in this.
Cuba Mission: Daily Brief
Mission to find gravesite and information on death of a friend's great-great-great aunt who died in Baracoa Cuba May 13, 1882. Her husband was appointed by President Hayes in late 1870s to be consul to Cuba for his loyalty and bravery during the Civil War. Wife and first child died in Baracoa, Cuba, of malaria. Hope to make gravestone rubbing and take photos for extended research on family ancestry.
Day 1.
Arrive Havana on 30 min flight from Grand Cayman. Ask Customs agent for permission to stay in Cuba for 5 days. Ask that she does NOT stamp passport. Permission granted.
Check in Hotel National. Mojito, 3 glasses of Havana Gold on ice and a Cohiba Cigar, $6. I like Cuba.
Go to Casa de Musica to listen to live Salsa. Meet Japanese girl and Cuban boyfriend. Drink a ton of rum and walk along the Malecon (boardwalk) with couple at 3 AM. B/F takes guitar from a mariachi and serenades G/F. I translate from Spanish to Japanese how he loves her and promises to take care of her forever. Weird scene.
Walk home through old Havana. 200 year old buildings all cumbling. Pass through the gay quarter, hundreds of guys milling on the street, some whistle at me.
Arrive Hotel safely at 4 AM.
Day 2.
Wake at 7 AM. Spend AM searching for ticket agent to buy ticket to Baracoa. No seats. Purchase flight that night to Santiago de Cuba 235 KM from Baracoa. Book Hotel in Santiago.
Sit in restaurant listening to live salsa music. Strike up conversation with bouncer and ex Boxer Pucho. Decide to go to beach with Pucho before 8 PM flight. Taxi breaks down halfway there. Arrive beach. Swim in bay of Cuba. Nice. On the way back to Havana Pucho offers me his 19 year old neighbor. Politely decline.
Arrive Santiago on board a YAK-42 aircraft. All signs are in Russian. Flight 3 hours late. Check in hotel 1:30 AM. Walk around town. Many drunk men yelling at me. Not a good scene, head back to hotel.
Wake at 6 AM to catch bus to Baracoa. Find taxi to bus terminal. Taxi driver is from Baracoa, and offers to be my guide for the mission in Baracoa if I pay for his R/T bus, food/drink etc; $45. Done, lets go.
4 HR bus ride through mountain jungles where Fidel and Che Guevara planed revolution. Incredible scenery.
Arrive Baracoa. First settlement in Cuba circa 1511. Assume most of the town has not changed much since. First road to Baracoa completed in 1970. No stoplights, horse drawn taxis, bicycle taxis, kids with no shoes playing baseball with sticks and bottle caps.
Stay at home of taxi driver Enrique Rojas. Room with terrace and ocean view, breakfast, lunch and dinner; $20. Gave them $60. Want to buy mother a new refrigerator.
Immediately head to cemetery and begin search. Speak with gravedigger. Not a nice guy and unhelpful. Suggest career change, does not laugh. Find grave stones of Baracoans that died with in two months of my relative, but no luck with the grave of gggAunt.
Head to Museum and speak with Town Historian and Curator of Museum. He agrees to do research on family and what they did in Baracoa during that time. Believes gggUncle was overseer of enormous banana trade to US in late 1800s.
Head to Church to search for Civil Archives. Church Closed. Trail ends.
Rent 2 bicycles; $2. Tour town and surroundings. Swim in crystal clear river.
Dinner with family. Music at local bar with city historian, very well known man in town and he continues to introduce me to all in town as descendant of consul to Cuba in 1880s. Pastor from church also at bar, agrees to meet me next day. Grave digger did not show.
Drink rum and hang with locals until 3 AM.
DAY 3
Wake 6 AM to barking dog. ENTIRE town shows up under my window for Labor Day parade an hour later. VIVA CUBA! Watch first 30 minutes of speech from Fidel.
Head to Cemetery to search again. Grave digger in better mood. Can not find tomb of MJ Coon. Head to Church. Closed. Bang on door of monastery next door. Speak with church representative. He calls the senora who maintains the archives. She is sick and can not come. He promises to follow up. I believe him. Trail ends.
Tour Baracoa. Drink rum with hundreds of locals dancing in the square for labor day celebration.
Board bus to Santiago. All locals wave good bye in town and along the road through the mountains. Arrive Santiago 7 PM. 11:30 flight back to Havana.
Dinner at Enriques house. 100 year old structure with no running water. Meet wife, dog, cat and adopted daughter from next door. She is 4 years old, and wants to dance for me. She starts rolling her hips and doing the nasty dance. Enrique and wife cheer her on. I am uncomfortable watching a 4 year old dance this way. Smile polietly.
All residents of neighborhood watching same (only?) television program at top volume and sit outside watching through windows. Strange sight.
Taxi to airport. Decide to purchase new TV for Enrique to replace his 8 inch black and white. Tell wife she no longer needs to stand and hold antenna.
Thank Enrique for his help and board Boeing 767 for Havana. 30 people on flight. Has not been cleaned. Vomit on seat in front of me. Attendants do nothing to help or instruct passengers. Arrive Havana 2 AM. 25 min bus ride to other terminal. No one is there to open door. Wait 45 min.
Running seriously low on money. $75 in pesos and $100 in T/C. Go to Hotel Libre to get a room. $200 for the night. No can do. Check in Hotel Colina 3:30 AM. $40 with breakfast. No hot water.
The lock on the door works, which is all I need.
DAY 4
Wake at 7 AM to sound of someone trying to remove wall. Construction on hotel. Jack hammers and sledge hammers.
Spend an hour searching for somewhere to cash a T/C. Find bank. Wait an hour in line. Leave bank singing the I have $300 dollars song, secure in the thought that I can eat and stay somewhere with hot water and 4 solid walls.
Go back to same restaurant. Eat Cuban sandwich and drink dollar beers listening to live music. Life is good. Pucho is not around.
Check in Hotel Occidental. Pass embassy row on the way. All in 200 year old mansions of amazing quality. US Embassy is 10 story building with electronic billboard slinging signs like Fidel has a small penis. Fidel counters by putting up 100 foot poles with huge black flags so no one can see the messages. Nice one.
Seriously sleep deprived. Crash for 4 hours. Head to Hotel National for a mojito and a cohiba. Same number of drinks, $20 more than first time. Strange.
Meet Jim (not real name) at the bar, he is head of a small bank in the south west of US. He was in row 5 for the Fidel speech. The 4 HOUR Fidel speech. Jim wants to go out. Casa de Musica. Not enough action. Meet Elvis. Elvis takes us to a club with lots of hookers. Jim wants a buddy by his side. Leave club with Jim, his hooker and her short fat friend. Two taxis. Their taxi stopped by police. Elvis is scared. Me too.
Sit in dirty Chinese restaurant with short fat friend eating Cuban Chowmein while Jim takes care of business. Shitty part of town. Can not find where they went. Wander streets yelling for Jim. Police come. Take short fat friend away, tell me to go home. Hang on corner with locals drinking beers until 3 AM. Cannot find Jim. Hope all is well.
Locals take me on their bicycle taxi to find a cab. Incredibly friendly, feel completely safe despite the condition of the neighborhood.
Arrive Hotel 3:30 AM. Sleep until noon. Well needed sleep. Now sitting by pool drinking rum on ice. Flight at 4 PM.
Cuba is amazing. Cubans are amazing. I will come back.
Gracias Amigos y Viva Cuba! Siempre Fuerte!
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