By Kathryn Lilley
The summer after I graduated from college many years ago, I traveled across Europe with a friend. It was the height of the Cold War, and I was eager to visit West Germany–in particular, I wanted to see the Berlin Wall. That was where World War III was likely to start, my thinking went, so I wanted to see the place for myself. Unfortunately, my traveling companion did not share my morbid obsession with geopolitical hot zones. So instead of making an excursion to eyeball East German guards patrolling The Wall, we spent a few extra days lounging in Parisian cafes, drinking coffee and gorging ourselves on pan au chocolat. The only foreign crisis I encountered on that trip was during a lame attempt to look cool while smoking unfiltered French cigarettes.
When The Wall was finally torn down decades later, I felt a pang of regret for having missed seeing it. So perhaps you’ll understand why I’m so excited to be headed to Cuba next month.
This is what we were upset about…
I have only a hazy recollection of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which took place in the early 1960’s–I seem to remember people going around collecting sand bags, and adults at the dinner table poring over bomb shelter blueprints. (For our house, the “shelter” was going to amount to little more than a lean-to reinforced with a little dirt, which’ll give you a general idea of how well we’d have survived an afternoon of Mutual Assured Destruction).
Your Correspondent in Havana
Now that the United States has finally gotten over its hissy fit about, yanno, that whole nuclear crisis thing, I’m eager to visit Cuba. In my mind, that island nation represents the last vestige of the Cold War.
I want to see it before a tsunami of American tourists descends en masse. (Hopefully the people of Cuba won’t allow US corporations to transform their island into yet another overpriced vacation destination. But I’m not optimistic).
Meanwhile, I’m hoping to glean a few travel tips for my upcoming trip to Cuba Libre. Have you had a chance to visit Cuba? Let me know if you have any tips or suggestions for the road. (According to Duolingo, my language-learning app, I’m still only 14 per cent fluent in Spanish, despite having diligently practiced for the last four weeks. So I’ll need all the help I can get.)
Hasta luego, comrades!
Your mention of bomb shelter blueprints reminded me of those cold-war times. Over one summer, our local open-air shopping center had a bomb shelter on display. A family of four occupied the shelter for a week. You could see them by looking through porthole windows. Between the shelter and the monthly air raid practices at school, it made for a grim year.
Kathy
It’s easy to forget how scary the atmosphere was back then, Kathy. People worry today about a terrorist getting hold of one or two bombs–back then, we lived with the assumption that the entire world could get incinerated at the push of a button. Thankfully the major world powers came to their senses (about that, at least). Thanks for stopping by!
My brother was fortunate enough to be included in a music-based tour to Cuba not long ago. He shared a few thoughts and pictures with me, which are on my blog, but I’m not sure it’s right to hijack your post to send people over to mine. Let me know if you think it’s OK to post the links here.
Please do, Terry! One still needs to go with a particular purpose, like the arts. I’d love to read about your brother’s trip. True to form, I’m going with a group devoted to the study of international affairs. Someone told me people there have a hard time procuring toiletries like shampoo and conditioner. I’m planning to pack my entire, world class collection of hotel bathroom mini bottles.
Ok, then here are the links. These posts were for my weekly photo field trips, so the focus is on his pictures.
http://terryodell.com/friday-field-trip-santiago-de-cuba/
http://terryodell.com/friday-field-trip-cuba/
Love the (57 Plymouth?) classic old car. Thanks for sharing the links, Terry!
I can’t wait to go to Cuba and am jealous! I have friends from the Bay Area who have just recently visited and the photos (at least on Facebook) look amazing! when I was a teenager I wanted to be a journalist going to all the hotspots (Beirut was on my list back then) but now I get to visit them only in my head. We are heading to Nicaragua, however, for Spring Break so maybe that counts as a kind of ‘ex-hotspot’.
Clare, I was considering going to Iran last year with the same group that’s organizing the Cuba trio, but I decided not to go, in the end. Mainly because I’m leery of flying in that part of the world. It would have been fascinating, though!
I guess I don’t understand why anyone would want to go to a nation that is ruled by a dictator and whose national hero is a man who is revered by the unruly for starting revolutions during which religious, cultural, and other leaders were tortured and executed.
Why would anyone want to go to a country where they can be snatched off the street by the national law enforcement, held incommunicado, and charged and imprisoned with no recourse to American assistance or even knowledge of these events?
Good luck down there.
Guess I’m living on the edge, Jim–I’ll be careful out there, thanks! ?
My hair dresser is Cuban and he says see it now — Cuba will quickly disappear. Last visit there, he took a taxi. Everyone shares a taxi in Cuba and he wound up riding with five people and a live chicken. Have fun.
Get up early and walk the sea wall. If you’re NOT a woman alone, chat with fishermen. Do home stays. Cuba will change. Cubans are eager for economic opportunities. You can’t blame them. With a dictator there’s very little street crime. Capitalism will change that. Capitalism will also make it more generic, less authentic. Everyone should feel what a dictatorship is like.
Jim, we now have an Embassy in Havana–access to American Citizen Services. Unless you are trying to overthrow Castro, you probably will be safe. Cubans are warm and hospitable. But you can’t know that without a visit.
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