Ninety miles from the prosperous shores of America, a world apart, lies the beautiful Island of Cuba. Most of us are intrigued by this Caribbean jewel, because we know so little about it. As we flew in over Havana, we saw vast fields, rugged terrain and sporadic spots of development.
Everything moves at a slow pace here — the operative word is ‘flexibility’. At street level one is immediately taken in by beautiful old American cars — lots of them — from the 50’s. Not sure that the local people find anything beautiful about them. For them, it is not a matter of choice.
Isolated pockets of the city are modern, bustling with visitors each more hungry than the other to see Cuba “before the developers come calling”. Most of the city is weather beaten and dilapidated. Old buildings, narrow streets, and dingy hallways, tell stories of a rich history and if difficult times. Life is clearly not easy for the local people. Socialism is at work.
The US embargo is the elephant in the room, but more on that in a later post. The contrast between our two countries is stark. One, the leading nation in the world; the other caught in a time warp, as if frozen in history. There is a romantic appeal to this old time look and feel, but that is for us visitors. As we retreat to our luxury hotels, we leave the locals to fend for themselves — and there is nothing romantic about that.
About Hemant Rustogi