More Random Notes From Cuba

July 4, 2011 - The Urban Organic Farm has left me with a warm buzz not unlike the sweet manure produced by the cows we saw up close and personal. Lunch was truly inspiring and delicious: rice, mangoes, avocados, lettuce, peas, black beans, kale soup and so on. The operation is not quite "Organic" by US standards (asbestos fiber-board raised beds?), but they truly walk the walk on trying to close the loop of inputs and outputs. Perhaps more than ever, the farm is the model for society.

July 5, 2011 - Cuba is a system that doesn't know what it wants. It believes its past dictates its future, that the wrongs of Colonialism warrant special status and justify the wrongs in pursuit of its goals over the  past 50+ years. Though, I may just be ticked off at the three men who cut in line ahead of me to get coffee at the counter where the woman refused to serve me coffee because I had the wrong type of currency (no CUCs accepted here, Tourist!). A small moment of frustration, but also indicative to me of the "there are no rules here, just whatever I want to say is the rule at any given moment."

July 6, 2011 - After a light breakfast, a small group of us traveled into Old Havana to visit the Fine Arts Museum, which was truly incredible in terms of the style of Art being produced in Cuba circa 1950-1990. We enjoyed being carted around afterwards on a couple of 2-seater bike taxis before dining on a luciously rich lunch of lobster and shrimp. The museum was amazing, representing very unusual styles of paintings and sculpture, especially from the post-Revolution period 1959-1976. I bought a small poster in the gift shop. Later, following lunch, we visited the "Chocolate Museum" and supped overly sweet hot chocolates.

July 7, 2011 - Cuba: there is no dishonor in being true to yourself, even if it means you piss off the rest of the world.

July 8, 2011 - Because of the US Blockade there exists a black/white mentality regarding more than just foreign relations with America. Cubans believe they are justified and the US is not, just as Americans believe their nation is justified in its actions at home and abroad. Nationalism is the truly debilitating ideology that trumps all others and blinds us to the faults of "our side" and the plight of those we do not appreciate or understand. The Cuban 5 are either heroes or villains, martyrs or spies. There is no room for middle ground or complexity of thought, no admission on either side that the truth - if such a thing exists - is probably somewhere in between.