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| Wild Cuban Days (if You’re Canadian, Maybe) | Wild Cuban Days (if You’re Canadian, Maybe) |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| I wouldn’t have thought Beyoncé and I and my mother and Jay-Z had much in common, but as we all traveled to Cuba recently I am feeling so sympathetic and empathetic I am wondering if I shouldn’t give them a call and set up a lunch. | I wouldn’t have thought Beyoncé and I and my mother and Jay-Z had much in common, but as we all traveled to Cuba recently I am feeling so sympathetic and empathetic I am wondering if I shouldn’t give them a call and set up a lunch. |
| I sympathize with Beyoncé and Jay-Z because even though they visited Cuba legally, following the travel requirements of our very own government, they were criticized. | I sympathize with Beyoncé and Jay-Z because even though they visited Cuba legally, following the travel requirements of our very own government, they were criticized. |
| I feel for my mother and me because we had to travel to Cuba under the same regulations, which — and I am quoting from a statement from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — gives licenses only to “People-to-People Groups that certify that all participants will have a full-time schedule of educational activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and the people of Cuba.” | I feel for my mother and me because we had to travel to Cuba under the same regulations, which — and I am quoting from a statement from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — gives licenses only to “People-to-People Groups that certify that all participants will have a full-time schedule of educational activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and the people of Cuba.” |
| This is my idea of a meaningful interchange with the people: Walk into a bar, buy a people a drink, then the people buy you one. Then you listen to the people playing Cuban jazz. Then if you are lucky, you dance with a people. | This is my idea of a meaningful interchange with the people: Walk into a bar, buy a people a drink, then the people buy you one. Then you listen to the people playing Cuban jazz. Then if you are lucky, you dance with a people. |
| These were some of the outings that were listed in the program on the nonprofit, educational travel group with whom my mother and I traveled: | These were some of the outings that were listed in the program on the nonprofit, educational travel group with whom my mother and I traveled: |
| “Meet and have authentic dialogues with a group of contemporary of local contemporary artists from the Artist Collaborative at their studio to learn about their work and lives.” “Engage with members of a senior community center to learn about the work done by the charity that runs the center.” “Meet with members of the Committee of Discourse and Reconciliation to learn about the work they do in peace-building and conflict-solving. Next meet with workers at a local orphanage.” | “Meet and have authentic dialogues with a group of contemporary of local contemporary artists from the Artist Collaborative at their studio to learn about their work and lives.” “Engage with members of a senior community center to learn about the work done by the charity that runs the center.” “Meet with members of the Committee of Discourse and Reconciliation to learn about the work they do in peace-building and conflict-solving. Next meet with workers at a local orphanage.” |
| What sort of idiot books a trip with activities she knows are going to drive her crazy? | What sort of idiot books a trip with activities she knows are going to drive her crazy? |
| An idiot who had grown up hearing about a regime she’d never had access to and wanted to see before the Castro brothers and their brand of socialism were gone. An idiot who had been told that visiting Havana was like time travel to the 1950’s and was desperate to see the magnificent, crumbling Art Deco architecture, the old cars, before they too disappeared. An idiot with a mother who has been hinting for some time that she needed a travel companion, if hinting is the correct word to describe the way railroad workers pound spikes in the rails. An idiot who, she would realize too late, had never been able to shake the romance and lore of Havana. | An idiot who had grown up hearing about a regime she’d never had access to and wanted to see before the Castro brothers and their brand of socialism were gone. An idiot who had been told that visiting Havana was like time travel to the 1950’s and was desperate to see the magnificent, crumbling Art Deco architecture, the old cars, before they too disappeared. An idiot with a mother who has been hinting for some time that she needed a travel companion, if hinting is the correct word to describe the way railroad workers pound spikes in the rails. An idiot who, she would realize too late, had never been able to shake the romance and lore of Havana. |
| “I guess you were thinking it would be more like ‘Guys and Dolls,'” my mother tells me one day. | “I guess you were thinking it would be more like ‘Guys and Dolls,'” my mother tells me one day. |
| You remember the show: the Broadway gambler Sky Masterson takes the Salvation Army girl Sarah Brown to Havana, lubes her up with Pina Coladas and sings, '"Your eyes are the eyes of a woman in love." It was set in a pre-embargo world. Not once does Sky talk of taking to Sarah to a Committee of Discourse meeting. | You remember the show: the Broadway gambler Sky Masterson takes the Salvation Army girl Sarah Brown to Havana, lubes her up with Pina Coladas and sings, '"Your eyes are the eyes of a woman in love." It was set in a pre-embargo world. Not once does Sky talk of taking to Sarah to a Committee of Discourse meeting. |
| Why am I so defensive about this? I wanted to go on vacation. Since the tour left most evenings free, I thought I’d be able to do it all. | Why am I so defensive about this? I wanted to go on vacation. Since the tour left most evenings free, I thought I’d be able to do it all. |
| I was also determined to be a good People to People ambassador. The tour guide book suggested we take gifts. I wanted something for the orphanage. My friend Bruce suggested soccer balls which, he explained, could be deflated for travel. Filled with love of human-kind and eager to do my small part to compensate for years of American support of corrupt regimes, I bought three of the brightest, prettiest soccer balls I could find — there you go, kiddies, hope that makes up for backing Batista. I also had to buy an inflation pump, which made me realize, in my selfish little capitalist heart, that if it came down to room for a sweater or room for a soccer ball in my suitcase, a Cuban orphan would have to do without. | I was also determined to be a good People to People ambassador. The tour guide book suggested we take gifts. I wanted something for the orphanage. My friend Bruce suggested soccer balls which, he explained, could be deflated for travel. Filled with love of human-kind and eager to do my small part to compensate for years of American support of corrupt regimes, I bought three of the brightest, prettiest soccer balls I could find — there you go, kiddies, hope that makes up for backing Batista. I also had to buy an inflation pump, which made me realize, in my selfish little capitalist heart, that if it came down to room for a sweater or room for a soccer ball in my suitcase, a Cuban orphan would have to do without. |
| So, after packing my bag (two soccer balls) and a one-hour charter flight from Miami, here my mother and I are in Cuba. I do not fault the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, as it is known in the Cuban tourist trade, for the cold snap that coincided with our five-day stay at the Hotel Nacional. I’m grateful for it. It enabled me look out at the pool before getting onto the bus for an early morning People to People experience without weeping. | So, after packing my bag (two soccer balls) and a one-hour charter flight from Miami, here my mother and I are in Cuba. I do not fault the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, as it is known in the Cuban tourist trade, for the cold snap that coincided with our five-day stay at the Hotel Nacional. I’m grateful for it. It enabled me look out at the pool before getting onto the bus for an early morning People to People experience without weeping. |
| And I did get to see a lot of the Cuba I had been aching to see, the Art Deco buildings; the cars dating back to the 30s and 40s. The tour leader did not object when my mother and I went off one morning on our own. But when it came to a full day of educational, cultural activities, my guys were serious. I’m not saying parts of it weren’t interesting: There were visits to artists’ home studios and a Flamenco dance performance of "Carmen"; a dinner with artists at an arts center; a Cuban jazz band performance just for tour members in a hotel meeting room. (See, this is what drives me crazy: If I am going to see a jazz band, I want to see them in their natural habitat, a club, late at night, with the booze flowing. Forcing jazz musicians to play during daylight is, I believe, ultimately injurious to their health.) | |
| The problem was that the days were so full of lock-step, educational activities that when night came there, I was too exhausted to go out and play. | The problem was that the days were so full of lock-step, educational activities that when night came there, I was too exhausted to go out and play. |
| And frankly, I was annoyed with our governmental interference. Do I go into the hotel room of the OFAC director, Adam Szubin, when he is on vacation and wake him up at 7:30 in the morning so he can make it to a lecture on five centuries on the country’s music? Do I drag him to a performance of a modern dance troupe and make him share a box lunch with the performers afterward to ask meaningful People to People questions about their lives? | And frankly, I was annoyed with our governmental interference. Do I go into the hotel room of the OFAC director, Adam Szubin, when he is on vacation and wake him up at 7:30 in the morning so he can make it to a lecture on five centuries on the country’s music? Do I drag him to a performance of a modern dance troupe and make him share a box lunch with the performers afterward to ask meaningful People to People questions about their lives? |
| O.K., part of my problem may be my lowbrow tastes: I cannot watch a modern dance performance without thinking of Jules Feiffer’s Ode to Spring cartoons. I hate be anywhere where young people are going to sing for me and worse, I will be encouraged to sing along. | O.K., part of my problem may be my lowbrow tastes: I cannot watch a modern dance performance without thinking of Jules Feiffer’s Ode to Spring cartoons. I hate be anywhere where young people are going to sing for me and worse, I will be encouraged to sing along. |
| Thus, a visit to neighborhood cleanup project, where a young man who had served a few years in prison sang one of his compositions (something about it’s better to clean up your neighborhood than to steal) was not a high point. This was followed by more young people singing. | Thus, a visit to neighborhood cleanup project, where a young man who had served a few years in prison sang one of his compositions (something about it’s better to clean up your neighborhood than to steal) was not a high point. This was followed by more young people singing. |
| “I’m starting to feel like Queen Elizabeth here,” I tell my mother. | “I’m starting to feel like Queen Elizabeth here,” I tell my mother. |
| This is one of the many points my taste and my mother’s diverge. | This is one of the many points my taste and my mother’s diverge. |
| “I think it’s adorable,” Ma says. | “I think it’s adorable,” Ma says. |
| My breaking point came on one of our last days, when we arrived at Veradero Beach. The sun was finally shining. The modern hotel, which charged the equivalent of about 45 Yankee dollars a day, was filled with Canadians, Brits and Europeans with not a shred of social conscience, sunning themselves like fat and happy seals. | My breaking point came on one of our last days, when we arrived at Veradero Beach. The sun was finally shining. The modern hotel, which charged the equivalent of about 45 Yankee dollars a day, was filled with Canadians, Brits and Europeans with not a shred of social conscience, sunning themselves like fat and happy seals. |
| The trip to the orphanage had been canceled. The afternoon outings were now to be a visit to a residential health care facility and a lecture on how couples with marital disputes are counseled in Cuba. It was a tough choice: marital conflict or Mojitos on the beach. | The trip to the orphanage had been canceled. The afternoon outings were now to be a visit to a residential health care facility and a lecture on how couples with marital disputes are counseled in Cuba. It was a tough choice: marital conflict or Mojitos on the beach. |
| I sure hope the Treasury Department doesn’t come after me. | I sure hope the Treasury Department doesn’t come after me. |
Previous “I Was Misinformed” columns can be found here. Follow Joyce Wadler on Facebook: facebook.com/joyce.wadler and on Twitter: @joyce_wadler. | Previous “I Was Misinformed” columns can be found here. Follow Joyce Wadler on Facebook: facebook.com/joyce.wadler and on Twitter: @joyce_wadler. |
| Booming: Living Through the Middle Ages offers news and commentary about baby boomers, anchored by Michael Winerip. You can follow Booming via RSS here or visit nytimes.com/booming. You can reach us by e-mail at booming@nytimes.com. | Booming: Living Through the Middle Ages offers news and commentary about baby boomers, anchored by Michael Winerip. You can follow Booming via RSS here or visit nytimes.com/booming. You can reach us by e-mail at booming@nytimes.com. |