In May I found myself riding atop a very short horse, my feet nearly dragging along a red, mud path, in the spectacular scenery of Viñales, Cuba. I was with my boyfriend (riding an even shorter horse) and our guide (a farmer we had stumbled upon minutes earlier), headed towards a tobacco house. As I stopped to take my 119th picture under a particularly gorgeous mango tree, a campesino from a neighboring farm approached. He wore a typical, wide-brimmed straw hat, leather loafers, and a Mountain Dew T-shirt.
“Where are you from?” he asked me in Spanish.
“Los Estados Unidos.”
Instantly, a smile spread across his face.
“Ay los Estados Unidos!” He launched into an excited rant about how he watched Raul Castro’s speech on TV, how he cried when Castro said that the US and Cuba would resume diplomatic relations, how happy he was our countries were now friends, how much he loved President Barack Obama, how much he and his family had economically struggled, how much he hoped things would get better.
Suddenly he paused. Tears were in the corners of his eyes.
“You know, it’s the politicians who make these decisions and it’s the people who suffer,” he said. “We need this change.”
Change. It’s the word of the moment for Cuba. Ever since President Barack Obama announced that the US and Cuba would resume diplomatic relations the world has been abuzz. What does this mean for Cuba? For American travelers and businesses? For the Cuban-Americans in Miami? For investors and tourists from other countries?
There’s a lot of speculation, and countless ways to answer those questions, but one phrase I have heard over and over from people looking to visit Havana is: “I want to see it before it changes.”
Now, besides the inevitable catch-22 of that statement (tourists want to see the country before it changes, but each tourist is responsible for causing that change), it overlooks everything “change” could mean for the Cuban people. Just think about what it meant for the campesino with the wide smile and Mountain Dew shirt. Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Cuba has always held a certain romanticized fascination in people’s minds. Now that travellers fear the all-inclusive-resort-Starbucks-and-McDonalds-on-every-corner-ification of Cuba, there is an anxiety that this romanticized vision of “authentic” Havana will evaporate. People want to ride in the 1950s American cars before the Ubers arrive, see the decaying colonial architecture before the inevitable facelifts, nab some Havana Club rum and Cohiba cigars while they’re still “contraband”.... basically soak in “the real” Cuba before US commercialism messes it all up.
But it’s important to consider what this “authentic” Cuba is actually like for Cubans. For most, the status quo has meant tremendous economic hardship, it has meant living on around $20 a month and using personal ingenuity to scrape together the resources needed to get by.
When I travelled to Cuba in May it was my sixth time on the island. My first had been as a study abroad student in 2010, a four-month period during which I made incredible Cuban friends. Many evenings consisted of just sitting on a porch or in the park and talking for hours. We were all around 20 and thinking about what we might do with our lives. Already, my Cuban peers were feeling stuck, limited, pessimistic. One friend dreamed of starting his own music production company. Another of making documentary films. Another of travelling to Europe. They were plans spoken of without any hope that they would, or could, be realized. Life in Cuba was a lot of hanging around, talking about “what if…,” without ever thinking it would happen. Over the years as we kept in touch, several of my friends simply gave up on finding success and happiness in Cuba and did as so many had done before them: they left.
Back in Cuba this spring, a lot of my remaining friends were still cynical (and believe me, they are hardly thrilled about the possibility of a McDonald’s either) but I felt a new spirit in the air. More of them had found jobs they were happy with, some were opening their own businesses, a few had travelled to other countries and actually decided to come back. People I talked to on the street were optimistic about an end to the embargo. How it would mean access to affordable medicine, food, and resources they are still in need of. I guess you could say there’d been moderate change. Change for the good.
Don’t worry. The majority of the cars on the road are still 1956 Chevys put together with spit and a prayer and a refurbished 1980s Russian engine, and the apartments in Centro Habana are still in dangerous disrepair, and the services are still operating at a beyond inefficient/ bureaucratic pseudo-communist system speed…. but those are all things Cubans are ready to say adios to.
So the next time you see a news story that chooses to use yet another picture of an old car, just remember it’s more than the cool “caught-in-time” beauty of Havana, it’s somebody’s lived reality and daily hustle. And you can bet that when you make it down to Havana, some chauffeur will overcharge you to take a ride in it.
There are plenty of reasons to go to Cuba. It is a beautiful, fascinating, dynamic country (I wouldn’t keep returning if it wasn’t), and yes, the music and dancing is as incredible as all the hype. But as travellers we have the power to engage in responsible tourism-- tourism that encourages cultural understanding, that fosters economic growth without imposing, that goes hand-in-hand with being a Global Citizen. This is the tourism to bring to Cuba. To look beyond the cars and cigars and see what’s really there, and what the Cuban people are trying to accomplish.
As US-Cuban relations continue to evolve, and as the UN launches the Global Goals (Goal 8 and 12 specifically include targets about “sustainable tourism”), it is the perfect time to be extra conscientious as travellers. To ensure we are part of creating a more equitable and mutually-beneficial future, instead of repeating mistakes from the past.
Go to TAKE ACTION NOW to share in this vision of the future and join the Global Citizen movement!