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Kathy Somers Walsh

How to make a Tear Bear & Free Tear Bear Pattern

Vacation to Cuba Changed My Heart

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 ‘Searchwarp' are probably American people. 

I asked another ‘Searchwarp' author what their feelings were about me writing an article about Cuba and they said that it would be a good idea to write about, they themself 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 excellent all inclusive deal that just couldn't be passed up. She called me and I quickly said "book it before I change my mind".  In saying that I also want to include that I am scared of flying and travelling to countries where I haven't heard anything 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 $300.00 Canadian and that was including 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 anyone who doesn't know, Cuba is quite a poor country.  We went into the Cuban airport, and of course 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 really didn't feel like using the washroom after seeing 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 machine 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 little beer cart outside the bus station, got on our bus, which I was finding 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 really 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 little 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 further into this article. There is the vacation side of it and then there is the Cuban off the resort side.  They two will mix through out the remainder of this article so I don't lose you and make you confused.  I really want you to know that this article is not about the great big fun filled vacation I had, which most people do down there, I also saw a different side of things, plus the fun filled half. 

The next day we went on a little tour of Holguin and to go swimming with the dolphins, which was thee highlight 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 station 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 better in hurricane weather than steel roofs.
 

One home we drove by struck me right in the heart bad, since I have two little ones here at home; there were two little children about 3 and 4 years old.  Their mother was outside doing laundry or washing something in a tub beside their home.  The house didn't have a roof, there were only 2 ½ walls standing, you could see right into their tiny home and all I could see was a sofa.  I thought where did these little 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 little children were smiling, waving and laughing with all their might to us, the tourist on the funny looking green train with wheels that they wished they could go for a ride on. (Probably)
 

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 medicine ‘if' they have any there.  

Our tour guy told us that if anyone 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 anyone else a chance to speak, most people wanted to go on their excursion and have fun, I probably got them all depressed with my questions

I asked about access to medications like Tylenol, I asked about access 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 through the week and from other people 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 antique 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 almost 8 months salary. They get most of their clothes from tourists or if they can afford to buy material they make their own.   

Their education is all free.  If a person 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 people poor as well.

Medicine like Tylenol, Advil, Children's Medicines are near impossible for Cuban people 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 family and neighbourhood if someone is sick. 

There is a black market in Cuba which I don't really understand, nor did I have a lot of time to learn about, but I think a lot of things that people need ends up there and the prices are raised incredibility a lot.  (If anyone reading this knows about what goes on in a black market I would love to learn about it, so feel free to write in the comment box below for me.)

 I had mentioned the word batteries for my camera to our tour guide and the guide's eyes almost 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 access 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 really 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 anyone 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 always know people who have travelled to Cuba so we asked them what they took with them for gifts to give to the people 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 medicine 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, dinner 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 detail 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 little hotel lobby store for tourists. The bartenders were not allowed to pass out the 2 litre bottles to everyone as they only had enough bottles at their bars to give people a glass of water if they wanted it through out the day.  But the occasional bartender will sneak you a bottle of water if no one is looking.  I think that they actually could get into to trouble for doing that.  But thank God you could however 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 little 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 people but we left tips to the waiters, waitress's, garden keepers, maids, security guards everyone we could.  One tourists Peso is pretty much equal to 15 of their Pesos (there are two different kinds of currency in Cuba, one for us visitors called ‘convertible pesos' and their own national pesos) so tips really helped them out a lot.  

If a tourist wants to go visit a fisherman's village, a family 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 family 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 anything 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 better working at the resorts on the island.


Funny isn't it how a doctor would quit his job to become a bartender or how a female teacher would have to quit teaching to clean rooms.  But bartenders and resort workers make more money than a doctor or nurse because of the tips they receive.  And the thing is they are all still poor, so if someone does have money to pay for a new roof, clothes, medicine 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'. Everyone 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 highest paid people on the island  

What do I know about the internet in Cuba?  They are not allowed access to it.  Maybe if they had a certain type of security job or university course would be the only way.  They do have access to the internet on the resorts for the tourists only.  It costs about 6 pesos for a little card with a serial number on it and it's good for one hour.  But the connection 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 family 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 little 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 article is getting too long and I think you get the gist of what I am saying. "WERE 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 people 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.  Around the ages of 10 or so, I would be scared that the food would upset their little 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 around 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 keeping 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 people 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 family 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 people in Cuba live, I can't imagine the circumstances in Malawi, Darfur, Ethiopia or places like that.  Maybe God is weaning me into seeing poverty at different levels little by little so I can be prepared 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 little boy, around 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 anyone could be ready for that.

As for my own area and country, I support the Salvation Army when possible 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 $300.00 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 $5000.00 for sure if not more and if I choose 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 medicine or anything like that to Malawi anyway.  They take donations of money to help out the community 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 insight on what I've experienced.

 I know if I start to complain because I have to go grocery shopping and I remember the people from Cuba, who would love to be able to go grocery shopping in a nice big mall instead of having to go to a ration store with nothing in it, I am going to keep my mouth shut and thank God I can buy groceries. 

Whenever my little boys or I gets sick with a flu and temperature I am thanking God for our access to medicines and clean hospitals.

Before I finish off here, and I have so much more to say but I'll have save it for another time, I do want to say that the Cuban people certainly 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 everyone was like that , and I was told yes most of them were, the only thing that really upsets them is that they are not allowed to leave the country.

                                                 

• Previous Posts:

• How to make a Tear Bear & Free Tear Bear Pattern
• Vacation to Cuba Changed My Heart
• My Predictions for the year 2009
• Motherhood, Somedays Seems Impossible. Is It Worth the Tears?
• A Letter to My Mother
• How the Choices You Make When You Are a Teenager Affect Your Future.
• "How I could use $100 to make the World a Better Place? I have no idea".
• How to get back into a Capsized Canoe

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