March 12
Today we took a tour to Trinidad, a colonial city on the Caribbean. Throughout the drive Turkey Vultures circled in cluster after cluster. The bird for me, is a metaphor for where Cuba is going and points to the poverty of Castro's revolution. Everywhere we went things were broken. Discarded tractors rusting in fields, fallen masonry left of street corners, broken windows left unboarded. Debris is scattered everywhere.
Cuba left the modern world fifty years ago. Regardless of causes and perpetrators, the island is in an advanced state of decay. Overlooking Trinidad from the tower of the museum, the roofs of the houses look like smashed toys. Cornices have crumbled on many buildings, a great number of roof tiles were missing which created a crazy patchwork of white and red, brick railings had broken away and have never been fixed. Throughout the country cars have been left by the sides of the roads. People ride bicycles of course. But the number of horse drawn carriages were astounding, perhaps accounting for fifty percent of the transportation in the countryside. Manure covers the roads. And those discarded tractors and threshers, means that we saw farmer after farmer using a hoe.
The impact has been enormous. Cubans are shrinking. The most recent generation is shorter by as much as 3 inches from the previous generation. They are suffering debilitating diseases and conditions. Realizing this the Cuban government has instituted a national food program for youth with the objective to reverse the trend. I admire the spirit of the Cubans, but just a year and half after our last visit they suddenly seem tired and broken. Truly sad to see.
Two last images on the ride back to the hotel. Rounding a corner and caught in the dying light of the sun a boy, perhaps 12 years old, on a roof, playing a saxaphone. The brass of the instrument flashed. That is hope. And later as we approached Matanzas, the sun had become a huge fireball on the horizon. A single vulture crossed the sun, wafting, hesitating, then diving. And then the sun was gone. That is despair.
Today we took a tour to Trinidad, a colonial city on the Caribbean. Throughout the drive Turkey Vultures circled in cluster after cluster. The bird for me, is a metaphor for where Cuba is going and points to the poverty of Castro's revolution. Everywhere we went things were broken. Discarded tractors rusting in fields, fallen masonry left of street corners, broken windows left unboarded. Debris is scattered everywhere.
Cuba left the modern world fifty years ago. Regardless of causes and perpetrators, the island is in an advanced state of decay. Overlooking Trinidad from the tower of the museum, the roofs of the houses look like smashed toys. Cornices have crumbled on many buildings, a great number of roof tiles were missing which created a crazy patchwork of white and red, brick railings had broken away and have never been fixed. Throughout the country cars have been left by the sides of the roads. People ride bicycles of course. But the number of horse drawn carriages were astounding, perhaps accounting for fifty percent of the transportation in the countryside. Manure covers the roads. And those discarded tractors and threshers, means that we saw farmer after farmer using a hoe.
The impact has been enormous. Cubans are shrinking. The most recent generation is shorter by as much as 3 inches from the previous generation. They are suffering debilitating diseases and conditions. Realizing this the Cuban government has instituted a national food program for youth with the objective to reverse the trend. I admire the spirit of the Cubans, but just a year and half after our last visit they suddenly seem tired and broken. Truly sad to see.
Two last images on the ride back to the hotel. Rounding a corner and caught in the dying light of the sun a boy, perhaps 12 years old, on a roof, playing a saxaphone. The brass of the instrument flashed. That is hope. And later as we approached Matanzas, the sun had become a huge fireball on the horizon. A single vulture crossed the sun, wafting, hesitating, then diving. And then the sun was gone. That is despair.
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