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I pondered over writing this article, knowing that the Us and Cuba are not the best of friends right now and most of the readers to 'Ezine @rticles' are probably American people.
What I said. It is not outcome that the true about
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How is Vacation to Cuba Changed My Heart
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I asked other author what their feelings were about me writing an narrative about Cuba and they said that it would be a good idea to write about, they them self being an Us citizen.
I have never had any interest in flying south to lie on the beaches and sip on rum drinks all day long and relax in the sun. My best friend just had to find this perfect all inclusive deal that just couldn't be passed up. She called me and I fast said "book it before I change my mind". In saying that I also want to consist of that I am scared of flying and travelling to countries where I haven't heard whatever good about, especially a communist one. I do not lie out in the sun here at home; and I am not a fan of the heat. But that idea of a week away with no kids crying, no housework to do, no laundry, no cooking meals was too good to say no to. Especially for the price of 0.00 Canadian and that was together with taxes.
On March 9th we got on the plane and four hours later we were in Cuba until the 17th. First thing I noticed was 'no snow'. This is going to be wonderful.
From this to:
For whatever who doesn't know, Cuba is quite a poor country. We went into the Cuban airport, and of procedure I had to use the ladies room. They do not have toilet seats on their toilets in most of Cuba except for at the resorts. Then there was this lady passing out toilet paper for tips. I undoubtedly didn't feel like using the washroom after looking that there were no toilet seats on the toilets. I just waited out our bus ride to the resort which took about an hour.
We were warned before we left Canada about the security at the airports, that there maybe Cuban army guys holding engine guns, and that they are there just to protect their country. We never did see any guns, but there were security guys there.
We then got our luggage and headed out of the airport to catch our bus to the resort, the buses were very nice and air conditioned. We bought a couple of beer at the microscopic beer cart outside the bus station, got on our bus, which I was looking it hard to believe we were allowed to do because in Canada your not allowed to have open liquor in a vehicle. Maybe it's the same law in Cuba, but an exception for the tourists. We weren't driving.
We got to our Resort it was called "Club Amigo" in Guardalavaca, Holguin.
I was undoubtedly impressed. For a 3 star rating, it was more than perfect, especially for our price. The staff that worked there was super sweet, and could only talk a microscopic bit of English. Once in a while you would meet a Cuban that could speak English well. I remember at times trying to talk to the bartender or cleaning lady and we not knowing what each other were saying, we would both bust out laughing at each other.
I do have two sides to my story here; I just want to let you know that before I get any added into this article. There is the vacation side of it and then there is the Cuban off the resort side. They two will mix straight through out the remainder of this narrative so I don't lose you and make you confused. I undoubtedly want you to know that this narrative is not about the great big fun filled vacation I had, which most citizen do down there, I also saw a distinct side of things, plus the fun filled half.
When the bus arrived at the resort were taken to our rooms, undoubtedly we should have upgraded to the bungalow or villa sections, but our rooms were in the barracks section. (So it's called by visitors, too funny.) Our room had the necessities and that's all we needed. Two beds, a closet and a bathroom. It was very clean, and it was cleaned everyday for us. The building was old and needed work, but we are in Cuba here, no one has anything, and there are no shopping malls in Cuba, so where does a man buy a can of paint? I also have to mention that 'Hurricane Ike' hit Holguin the hardest in September 2008 and the resort was destroyed; now their resort is in superb shape, new trees planted, and everything was spic and span.
Back to my room story again, it was super clean! The telephone didn't work though, it didn't have to anyway who was I going to call? If whatever wants to call internationally they have to go to the front desk so they can call out of the country for you. There was a television in the room but we never even turned it on. It had an air conditioner which I was so happy to see, curtains, microscopic desk and closet shelves, it was just fine. We never stayed in the room much anyway other than to sleep and get cleaned up. We did have a microscopic problem with the plumbing but we got that straightened out quickly. Plumbing in Cuba isn't very good, anywhere on the island as a matter of fact.
The next day we went on a microscopic tour of Holguin and to go swimming with the dolphins, which was thee feature of my vacation.
On the bus ride, looking out my window I noticed that there are no stores, no big fancy homes, I saw one gas center the entire time I was there, a lot of the homes did not have a roof on them due to Hurricane Ike. The houses were small, some made of cement, some wood or even poles all wrapped together. I had seen one home with a couple of tires sitting on the top of their roof to hold it in place. Some roofs were made of palm leaves which I was told help up great in hurricane weather than steel roofs.
Once home we drove by struck me right in the heart bad, since I have two microscopic ones here at home; there were two microscopic children about 3 and 4 years old. Their mom was outside doing laundry or washing something in a tub beside their home. The house didn't have a roof, there were only 2 1/2 walls standing, you could see right into their tiny home and all I could see was a sofa. I concept where did these microscopic kids sleep at night? What if it rains? They didn't have any toys to play with from what I could see, their lawn was sand, their hair was tangled and their clothing was shambles, and these microscopic children were smiling, waving and laughing with all their might to us, the traveler on the funny looking green train with wheels that they wished they could go for a ride on. (Probably)
I could not get the thoughts of those children out of my mind and it still bothers me today when I think of them. As soon as I got back to the resort I tried to elaborate this house and where I concept it was to a couple of bartenders but I couldn't speak Spanish and they only understood some English, so how could I help them? I didn't know how to get back there again... But as the week went by and a couple of more outings throughout Cuba I saw that there were a lot more of these kind of homes with children outside waving to us with there matted hair and cute microscopic smiles.
The Children's School was destroyed in Hurricane Ike, and the trainer uses her own home to teach the children in.
Now for the neighbourhood clinic, I could not imagine having a baby in that building let alone just go there because I was sick. We are so blessed in the United States and Canada you will never comprehend that until you see it with your own eyes. Tv shows on poverty break our hearts, but wait until you see it with your own eyes. It's more than I can explain.
You can see the nurse outside the clinic with her uniform on. I asked about their clinic to our tour guide, their beds are 1960's with the old fashion stirrups in them for women having their babies. They have nothing in there and nothing has been updated since Us and Cuba have been on the outs. If you take your child to the clinic because he/she is running a temperature they will give them treatment 'if' they have any there.
Our tour guy told us that if whatever wanted to know questions about Cuba and how they lived to feel free to ask anything. I was the only one asking questions by the way, I guess I never gave whatever else a opportunity to speak, most citizen wanted to go on their excursion and have fun, I probably got them all depressed with my questions
I asked about entrance to medications like Tylenol, I asked about entrance to food, clothing, education, work, Cuban wages, government etc.
I have to tell you all, that from what I had learned from our tour guides straight through the week and from other citizen on the island, and even from returning vacationers is that toiletries are near impossible to get, one bottle of shampoo is one month's wages to purchase, they can not even get a disposable razor to shave with, and they use ancient barber razors. Clothing is impossible to get and to expensive. One child's t-shirt cost me 16 convertible pesos which would have been approximately 240 of their pesos, which would be approximately 8 months salary. They get most of their clothes from tourists or if they can afford to buy material they make their own.
Their schooling is all free. If a man wants to study to be a doctor, it's all free. But they are not allowed to leave Cuba to work, unless maybe it's a country that is a friend of Cuba that keeps their citizen poor as well.
Medicine like Tylenol, Advil, Children's Medicines are near impossible for Cuban citizen to find, it's both expensive and scarce. If they are able to get their hands on some they will share it with the entire house and neighbourhood if man is sick.
There is a black shop in Cuba which I don't undoubtedly understand, nor did I have a lot of time to learn about, but I think a lot of things that citizen need ends up there and the prices are raised incredibility a lot. (If whatever reading this knows about what goes on in a black shop I would love to learn about it, so feel free to write in the commentary box below for me.)
I had mentioned the word batteries for my camera to our tour guide and the guide's eyes approximately come out of his head.
"Batteries? You have batteries?" he excitedly asked. I said "Yes right here would you like to have them?"
I handed them to him and he was so excited to even touch them, and then I had one of those light bulb moments and knew that I am truly blessed to live in a free country with entrance to some things we take for granted like batteries.
I told our guide that I had more batteries in my luggage and he was welcome to them, as I took with me a pack of 24 Aaa batteries for my camera and flashlight. He couldn't believe it that I was going to give him more batteries. He said that he could meet my friend and me in one hour after his working day if I was undoubtedly serious that he could have more batteries. "Yes I am sure." I told him.
He has a wife and 2 children, one is only 5 months and the other was I think he said was 3. My friend I went back to our room, packed up extras for him like Tylenol, polysporin, women's necessities, Gravol, Imodium, band aids, hairclips, school supplies and more.
If whatever is wondering why my friend Flo and I had so much with us in our luggage like Tylenol, Advil, band aids, candy, women's things etc is because we all the time know citizen who have travelled to Cuba so we asked them what they took with them for gifts to give to the citizen there.
Flo had travelled before to places like Punta Canta in the Dominican and Mexico so she already knew of what things to take, I've never gone before. I do know now that the next time I go I will bring more children's treatment like children's Gravol, cough drops, and infants Tylenol as these are next to impossible to get.
Now back to our resort experience. The beaches were beautiful, the sun was gorgeous and warm, the swimming pools and scenery were perfect. You could eat whenever you wanted. The breakfasts were delicious, evening meal snack bars, buffets, restaurants for supper, beverage bars all over the place and it was all included in the price of our plane ticket.
The resort's staff was awesome, smiling, friendly and funny. There were no mosquitoes, nothing bad at all. Only one information I found a bit frustrating, it wasn't easy getting bottled water. They had it there, and I didn't know they sold it in the microscopic hotel lobby store for tourists. The bartenders were not allowed to pass out the 2 litre bottles to every person as they only had enough bottles at their bars to give citizen a glass of water if they wanted it straight through out the day. But the occasional bartender will sneak you a bottle of water if no one is looking. I think that they undoubtedly could get into to trouble for doing that. But thank God you could any way get your bottle refilled at a bar if you had one, or you could get a glass of filtered water there. I just wish I had of known that they sold bottled water in the microscopic shop at the very first of my trip. (Water was 1 peso for a 2 litre bottle)
Tips were not a must to give to the citizen but we left tips to the waiters, waitress's, garden keepers, maids, security guards every person we could. One tourists Peso is pretty much equal to 15 of their Pesos (there are two distinct kinds of currency in Cuba, one for us visitors called 'convertible pesos' and their own national pesos) so tips undoubtedly helped them out a lot.
If a traveler wants to go visit a fisherman's village, a house invites them into their home so they could show the tourists how they live. We were told by our tour guide that if tourists want to leave the house some money for a thank you gift for letting them come into their home and visit and sharing a meal, they have to refuse the money because they can't use it for some reason. But if you have a gift like a bottle of shampoo or a bag of chocolate candies, razors or whatever they would probably accept those things.
Some of the bartenders are teachers, doctors and lawyers. And they would rather be teaching or doctoring right now but the money is great working at the resorts on the island.
Funny isn't it how a physician would quit his job to come to be a bartender or how a female trainer would have to quit teaching to clean rooms. But bartenders and resort workers make more money than a physician or nurse because of the tips they receive. And the thing is they are all still poor, so if man does have money to pay for a new roof, clothes, treatment what's the good of it if there isn't any of these things on the island to buy, and they are not allowed to shop in the United States or Canada for sure. Their Government has them 'snug as a bug in their rug'. every person is considered equals they all get the same rate of pay no matter what job they have. But to be able to have a job on a resort that would probably make them the top paid citizen on the island .
What do I know about the internet in Cuba? They are not allowed entrance to it. Maybe if they had a obvious type of security job or university procedure would be the only way. They do have entrance to the internet on the resorts for the tourists only. It costs about 6 pesos for a microscopic card with a serial number on it and it's good for one hour. But the relationship is so slow that it doesn't take long to use up that hour. When I got there I just wanted to be able to email home to let my house know that I arrived safe and sound and to drop a line to them a couple of times that week to say hi, love you and bye, plus a microscopic more in between. Just a warning to you 'facebook' fans, it will take a long time to open a 'facebook' page, so stick to the hotmail.
My narrative is getting too long and I think you get the gist of what I am saying. "We'Re Lucky."
My Own Questions and Answers:
Would I go back to Cuba again? Yes I sure would.
Was I scared there? At first but that went away fast as soon as I seen how friendly the Cuban citizen where on and off the resorts.
When will I go back? I don't know, probably when I couldn't afford to go and that my husband had a week's vacation from work to take care of my boys.
Would I bring my children with me? No, not until they got older. Colse to the ages of 10 or so, I would be scared that the food would upset their microscopic stomachs and get the diarrhea and throwing up.
Did I feel that Cuba was safe? Yes I felt very safe in Cuba on and off the resort. We never ventured off the resort at night but in the day time it was great.
Did I feel that it was safe on the resort at night? Yes I felt safer there then I do here walking alone at night. There are security guards all over the place in and Colse to the boundaries of the resorts .So if you go vacationing in Cuba someday don't forget to tip them sometimes, they don't get tips very often and they are holding us all safe there.
Why would I go back? Because I want to in someway help, I want to take down a load of stuff that they are not able to get, I want to say 'Hi' to some citizen that I have met there and hope to see them again. I just want to go back again.
I know some of you reading this will be thinking to yourselves, well Haiti is in need, and Darfur is in need way worse than Cuba is so why not helping them instead. What about your own surrounding area. Well I am going to say that I do have a sponsor child in Malawi, Africa and I have been helping her and her house now for approximately 10 years, and I would love to go their to visit as well. I also know for a fact that if I had of went to Malawi and saw the poverty there before I had seen the poverty in Cuba I would not have handled it. I cried after I seen the way the citizen in Cuba live, I can't imagine the circumstances in Malawi, Darfur, Ethiopia or places like that. Maybe God is weaning me into looking poverty at distinct levels microscopic by microscopic so I can be ready to see my sponsor child someday.
One story I read that a journalist wrote was about his friend who worked in Darfur. His friend had committed suicide a couple of weeks after being back into the Us again because they figured it was that he witnessed a lot of terrible things in Darfur one being a pack of vultures swooping down on a microscopic boy, Colse to the age of 4, who was running across the desert trying get away from them pecking at him. I can't see that level of poverty, war or sadness yet, I am not ready and I don't think whatever could be ready for that.
As for my own area and country, I reserve the Salvation Army when inherent as well as other services offered to the unfortunate here in my area.
I am not a millionaire and if I were I would be broke because I would give it all away, and I don't know of too many places in the world where I could have gone to and get food, drink, sleep and shower for 0.00 dollars for the entire week. And I may not get that price ever again. If I were to go visit Lizzie in Malawi it would cost me 00.00 for sure if not more and if I pick that route I wouldn't have much money left over to help anyone. I inquired already and I am not allowed to send parcels of treatment or whatever like that to Malawi anyway. They take donations of money to help out the society more where your child is being sponsored or where it is needed the most.
Why did I write this article? Well just because I wanted to get it off my chest, it's been bothering me and I figured that this is a good way of sharing my feelings and comprehension on what I've experienced.
I know if I start to complain because I have to go grocery shopping and I remember the citizen from Cuba, who would love to be able to go grocery shopping in a nice big mall instead of having to go to a division store with nothing in it, I am going to keep my mouth shut and thank God I can buy groceries.
Whenever my microscopic boys or I gets sick with a flu and temperature I am thanking God for our entrance to medicines and clean hospitals.
Before I terminate off here, and I have so much more to say but I'll have save it for other time, I do want to say that the Cuban citizen undoubtedly have something that most of us don't. True smile on their faces because they are happy with what they have and don't take things for granted and they share with everyone.
They are truly happy people, I asked them if every person was like that , and I was told yes most of them were, the only thing that undoubtedly upsets them is that they are not allowed to leave the country.
In windup I have to say 'thank you God for allowing me to live in Canada but please give me the heart of a Cuban with true happiness and smiles in it' amen
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