[Editor’s Note: A good friend suggested I increase the size of the embedded photos. Enjoy!]
A big part of me is dreading the end of this amazing trip and experience seeing the closest of my family with whom I’ve been apart for decades! But all good things come to an end, as the cliche goes. It’s the day before International Workers Day in Cuba (the equivalent of the United States’ Labor Day), so we decide we want to take a tour of Santa Clara and the Ernesto “Che” Guevara plaza and memorial. Gregorio will give us the guided tour all the way there. A bit more on International Workers Day, compliments of Wikipedia.
The date was chosen by a pan-national organization of socialist and communist political parties to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886.[6] The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International, called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace."
We embark on the one-hour drive to Santa Clara from Cabaiguan along El Autopista Nacional (National Highway). When I say that this “highway” couldn’t have been in a worse state of disrepair, I’m not exaggerating! Gregorio actually had to slow down to 20 or 30 miles per hour to navigate around entire unpaved sections of the highway. Due to the potholes and general mayhem all along the highway we’re ranging anywhere from 30-50 miles per hour, on average.
As soon as we arrived into the city limits of Santa Clara, the streets of an amazingly better state of maintenance and quality. It’s not surprising how the government ensures the facade of the cities or wherever tourists may reside and visit. Before heading to the Che Guevara plaza, it’s time for a nice meal and a beer. We decide to go to a famous restaurant in Santa Clara called Don Quijote. It actually has really great reviews, but a bit of a tourist trap. Nevertheless, they have beer, they have food, and they have Cuban coffee. Or in Cuba, it’s just coffee :) I feel bad going to a buffet restaurant with incredibly obvious tourists dressed like they were on the boardwalk in South Beach Miami with their pastels, brightly colored Nike or Adidas shoes, and the bling. OH THE BLING! You can see them a mile away. The “look at me, I have money and I know how to dress” crowd from Miami. They are NOT representative of the amazing Cuban immigrant community in South Florida, but that’s another post for another time.
We wrap up our lunch with some awesome flan and coffee (yes, that’s Cuban coffee…the dark tar and bitter elixir that helps me wake up every morning here). Back into the car to search for the Che Guevara plaza. I navigate us with my offline Google map of Santa Clara (GREAT feature!) and behold, it is closed to cars because of the setup in preparation for International Workers Day celebration and march. So, we decide to hoof it to the center of the plaza as we park at the barricade outskirts. This is not without some complaining on the part of my mother who doesn’t want to walk all that way. It’s probably 1/4 mile. So she decides to stay by the car. She then insists my father stay as well, but if you knew my father, even with the limited mobility, there’s no way he’s staying behind. So my beautiful wife decides to take his arm and walk slowly with him while Gregorio is giving me the guided tour ahead of them.
Mind you, the Che Guevara Plaza isn’t just a plaza, but also contains his mausoleum that houses Che’s remains. It was actually quite a site to walk around, see how his story during the Cuban Revolution is depicted in the artwork along the mausoleum and memorial. So much history, so much idealism in the stories Gregorio told me about the different figures carved into the marble and granite of the memorial structures. The status of Che looms larger than life overlooking the plaza, carrying his rifle, observing over the horizon to his vision of freedom for Cuban from repression and dictatorship of Batista, at that time. How different things turned out.
One particular carving I took interest in was a map of the Cuba showing all the cities and towns of Fidel’s revolutionary army as they “liberated” them.
After some great narration from Gregorio on all of the pieces of the memorial, it’s time to head back to Cabaiguan. Along the way back to the car we encounter a small group of boys with their fighting cock on a leash. The boys ask me how much I paid for my tattoos (the ones on my calves). I say, “too much” as I imagine the cost of my tattoos is more than what these boys have ever seen…ever. I love traveling the world for the opportunity to observe so many perspectives of people’s lives and lifestyles. Especially when I can reset my own world view and get out of my head.
And alas, the final day is here! We get up the next morning to “desayunar fuerte” (breakfast strong, literally). It’s reminiscent of “brunching hard” in Portland, so I get it :) While we’re passing time before the drive to Santa Clara Airport, we’re watching the broadcasts of the various International Workers Day marches around Cuba, the biggest one being in Havana, of course. I’ve never observed this holiday spectacle quite like this. We see the medical workers, students from various universities, hospitality workers, and several other groups marching together showing their solidarity. I took several pictures of the TV screens, in particular, a few of the new president alongside Raul Castro watching the march in Havana. The Jose Marti Plaza de la Revolucion is an impressive structure where Fidel addressed many Cubans over the years. It’s actually the 31st largest city square in the world at 72,000 square meters!
That time of the final day has come to say goodbye to my family. We laugh, we hug, we cry, we’re generally recounting some great times had over the last few days. This isn’t goodbye, it’s seeya later. Hopefully soon, but the complexity of the Cuban immigration visa grant process for my family and I prohibits coming back on a whim. It unfortunately requires about a 3 month process to obtain the visa for some of us. We’ll give it a shot next year nevertheless. In the meantime, we have Facebook, WhatsApp, and email to stay in touch. Recently the indigenous cellular operator in Cuba launched mobile internet service, so some members of my family locally may be able to afford the service. We’re a part of each other’s lives now though, so we’ll find a way.
