did you see any cats or dogs? when I was in Cuba in the late 1970s, I didn't see any of them. I was wondering if someone had decided that they were luxuries. (I asked about it and our guide accused me of thinking that people had eaten them!)
Come to think of it I didn’t see any cats at all, but I did see a few dogs. I guess I don’t think it was related to the luxury thing, as many people would also consider musical instruments luxury items and there were plenty of those around Cuba. I spent some time at a “campesino” farm cooperative and there I saw some dogs. Btw, these cooperatives actual produce around 70% of the vegetables, fruits, beans, corn, and tobacco in Cuba now, and this shift away from the Soviet models to the cooperatives has been growing since 1994.
I had the best malanga with mojo sauce EVER at the campesino -- been experimenting to try to reproduce that very recipe. Was it lime or sour orange? :)
the motivational billboards ("one man may die, but the party lives forever") were everywhere out in the countryside, especially near the Havana airport, when I was there.
The messages are much more related to the successes of the revolution now...and how they're still in struggle...
siempre con combate
...as most of us are.
The buses were stuffed to the gills when I was there. Is that situation better?
Well, the "camel" buses are still pretty stuffed, but there are more cars now and other modes.
It's interesting that I never saw any pictures of Fidel Castro, except in some homes.
That's still true and noticeable...but is sincere to the spirit and nature of the revolution in Cuba.
One can, however, see the "Granma" ship that ushered Fidel and 81 others from Tuxpan Mexico to Cuba in 1956, at the Museo de la Revolucion in Havana.
Speaking of ships...
Way, way back, Cuba and the US signed a treaty giving the US a “perpetual lease” to Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamera is a girl from Guantanamo Bay.
“Pete Seeger writes that in 1961 a young Cuban was working at a children’s summer camp in the Catskill Mountains when he read some simple verses by Jose Marti. He found that the verses could be fitted to an old popular song of Havana that was used to sing any verse one wished. He combined Marti’s patriotic verses with a chorus addressed to a country girl (Guajira).”
GUANTANAMERA
Original music by Jose Fernandez Diaz
Music adaptation by Pete Seeger & Julian Orbon
Lyric adaptation by Julian Orbon, based on a poem by Jose Marti
I am a truthful man from this land of palm trees
Before dying I want to share these poems of my soul
My verses are light green
But they are also flaming red
Chorus:
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
I cultivate a rose in June and in January
For the sincere friend who gives me his hand
And for the cruel one who would tear out this
heart with which I live
I do not cultivate thistles nor nettles
I cultivate a white rose
Chorus:
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
[Add a new verse as you wish]
