My wife and I traveled to Havana in January.  We met dozens of wonderful people.  They were surprisingly open about the relations between our two countries.  Keep in mind that the Cuban economy is a combination of socialism and “Fidelism.”  Both of which have left the people in extreme poverty.

When you pile on the Cuban embargo, here’s how the people deal with it.

—Cuba offers free medical and education to all its people.  Everyone is guaranteed a job—that pays $30/month.

—Since no one can survive on $30/month, everyone works a side business

—Recently, the Cuban government allowed private business.  Today, private business makes up about 35% of their economy.  You find most of these jobs in B&Bs, restaurants, cab drivers, and unofficial tour guides.

—The government rations food in official stores.  Again, people can’t survive on the small amounts.  For instance, each family of four gets one chicken/month.

After the Cuban embargo started, things became worse for people.

—All of this led to a parallel economy alongside the official one.  The Cuban government knows about it.  But they realize without the second economy people would starve.  So, the government ignores it.

—Because of the Cuban embargo (It also affects Canadian and European companies.  If any company trades with Cuba, the U.S. sanctions the Canadian and European companies.), the Cuban people have almost nothing.  Including toothpaste, aspirin, microwaves, clothing, cars, food, etc.

—The biggest source of products for people come from relatives who live in the U.S. They ship things to family members in Cuba.  Once there, the Cuban people barter or sell the items for a profit.  People can’t communicate through the Internet since it doesn’t exist.  Therefore, they participate in huge networks with other people who pass information and goods around.

—Some call the Cuban embargo successful.  It certainly caused extreme hardship for the Cuban people.  However, the government elites get smuggled goods that the ordinary people can’t.  That means the government people don’t suffer as much.

—Cubans are well educated and very resourceful.  If the Cuban embargo were lifted, U.S. companies would find a huge market.  People are anxious to buy our products.

So how do the people feel about the Cuban embargo?

President Obama visited a few years ago and promised to start lifting the embargo.  People became very excited.  Since President Trump clamped down on the embargo again, the Cuban people are discouraged.  But they told us, they have waited decades for more freedom and more consumer goods.  They can wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, they play music, dance, and enjoy their lives the best they can.

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Before we got to the house, we arrived in Havana.

The city holds a kind of magical allure for most Americans of a certain age.  (Older . . .I guess)  I remember the closing of Cuba, the missile crises, and the embargo slapped on the island. Trying to dislodge Fidel Castro from power.  Didn’t work.  He died recently—still the supreme leader.

Havana offers so many fascinating things to see, do, and hear.  (Music all over)  But the path most tourists travel is the trail Ernest Hemingway left there years ago.  I doubt many of the tourists ever read a word of his, but the guides push them along the trail.

Havana restored the oldest area beautifully, thanks to money coming through UNESCO.  If you’re smart, avoid the crush of people coming off the cruise ships.  In order to visit Ernest Hemingway, you must brace yourself for a similar onslaught.  Hundreds of tourists crowd the old city.  Guides take them through a prescribed series of landmarks which ends at the home of Ernest Hemingway.

We followed the crowds around the Viejo Habana (Old Town).  Stood with dozens of people in the narrow street looking up at the Hotel Ambos Mundos—a hotel where Ernest Hemingway often lived.  Then we stopped at a small, seedy bar called, La Bodeguita.  Another of the endless bars that Ernest Hemingway frequented.  This one was dark, dirty, and packed with tourists—none of them bought a drink.  Outside, on the even smaller street, dozens of people took photos, pushed each other for a shot of the interior, and dodged the many musicians who wanted money.

Four blocks away we all found another bar called, La Floridita.  Many people complained because it was closed.  They wouldn’t have bought a drink anyway.

Next, people piled into buses and driven to the small suburb of San Francisco de Paula.  It’s a dusty, shabby little place.  Wooden buildings that probably predate Ernest Hemingway still stand in the sun.  When the buses turned between two tall stone pillars and climbed the road, you know they’re getting close to the shrine of his house.

Out of the buses, people flood the grounds in all directions, seeking . . .something—since I doubt any of them (many foreign people) know much about the writer or his work.  You can’t go inside the house.   But all the windows are open and you stand next to hundreds of people, straining to get a view.  The interior has been preserved as Ernest Hemingway left it.  Even down to the bottles of booze on a cart in the living room.  (The guy drank a lot)

There were so many people stomping around, I was surprised no one fell into the pool.

I found the preserved history fascinating.  But even more interesting was what fame does to people.  Hemingway has been dead for almost 60 years.  And yet, people come from all over the world to get a glimpse.  And meet Ernest Hemingway..

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