Cuba - Day 4 (Finally!)

The plan for this last day was mostly open. I decided to start walking in direction to the building of the Synagogue and Jewish Community to say goodbye to my friend W that worked there. I found all the workers outside the building because Health Ministry workers came to fumigate all the buildings in the area against dengue fever. W told me that it seems like there is an epidemic, but the Cuban government is very careful not to declare that officially in order not to affect tourism.

I then walked to Havana University. A beautiful campus. The Union of Communist Youth (UJC) is very active in campus, and you can see their offices and fliers all around. Many UJC fliers contained pictures of Che Guevara, Simon Bolivar and Abraham Lincoln. In the middle of the campus there was a tank as a tribute to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. I managed to reach the Social Science Faculty, and I stood on the hallway, and heard what looked like an economics class. They were talking about capital gain and exploitation... was it pure coincidence? Maybe...

Main Entrance to University of Havana

I went to the bookstore to buy some books. One of them showed in the front a huge demonstration of Cubans wearing red shirts. I asked my friend W about those demonstrations, and how come they are so crowded even at mid day (when people are working). He told me that he remembered that some times in the University classes were canceled and there were buses outside in order to let people reach the demonstration. Sometimes, you even had to sign that you reached the place. It seems like there is a lot of control inside the university. The student bodies are well connected to other state intelligence organisms. Avoiding these demonstrations could cause you trouble in the future.

From there I went walking to Jose Marti Memorial building, which is a 70 stories building from where you can have a panoramic view of Havana. There I met a group of 30 elementary school students, who were somehow amazed when they found out that I was there (not for me being me, but for me being a tourist). It is a beautiful place. I managed to payed the lowest price (the one in Cuban pesos) by saying that I am a Venezuelan student in Cuba, making an ophthalmology course. Before you say I am cheap, I did this not that much because of the money, but in order to see whether that 'sympathy' towards Venezuelan was real or only rumors. Here are some pictures of Havana seeing from this tower:

Panoramic view of Havana

House of the Communist Party in Havana

I spent the rest of the day walking and watching, watching and walking. I ate dinner with Roberto and his family, and I also met again S and M to say goodbye. I sat for a while in Malecon to see the sunset, and went to ask a taxi cab to pick me up at night for going back to the airport. Please enjoy as I did from a seeing the Malecon in the late afternoon:


Lastly, from all the things I learned in Cuba, there was one phrase that I saw in Roberto's place, that really helped me to somehow summarize what I have learned from Cuba and from Cubans. Here it comes:

"Good, please grant me with

SERENITY to accept the things that I cannot change,

COURAGE to change those I do can, and

WISDOM to identify the difference between these two things "

Let's hope God will give Cuban people these three elements...