Hello From Cuba – Part 4 – Bureaucracy Galore –
Hello From Cuba – Part 4 – Bureaucracy Galore – The University Of Havana
Yesterday I had to enroll for my Spanish route at the University of Havana. The Campus of the University is an astoundingly attractive sequence of classical structures and a Cuban tank graces the entrance to the library.
At 9 am all of the overseas college students, about forty of them, met inside the Edificio Varona and we had been shepherded through a number professors into a particularly antiquated lecture corridor. (By the approach, of the 5 or 6 washroom stalls inside the womens toilet, merely 1 or 2 have toilets in them, no bathroom seats, and no walking water in the sinks. Again a sign of as a substitute run-down infrastructure…)
There they informed us approximately this system, yet most effective in Spanish, which become very well for me, considering that I dialogue Spanish, but approximately half the institution became utterly lost. We then had to do a fast written placement examine to assess our existing Spanish expertise after which the bureaucracy started.
We stumbled on out that we vital right here documents:
– a duplicate of our passports
– an legit copy of the lodge visitor card and/or a duplicate of the licence of the confidential Casa Particular
– two hundred CUC (Convertible Cuban Pesos) in income for a 2-week course or extra for other courses
– 40 CUC for replacing our traveller visa to an academic visa (in monetary stamps which we needed to achieve abuot 5 km away)
– 2 passport photos
– 25 CUC in money to expedite our instructional visa if we're on the town for handiest 2 weeks.
I linked up with a bunch of overseas students and we headed off together on our quest to meet the Cuban wish for Burocratismo. We first got earnings at financial institution on the Hotel Havana Libre, then were given the passport images accomplished (to be ready for pickup three hours later), then searched for the other financial institution on Calle 23 that would offer us with the 40CUC stamps for the academic visa. With enormously lengthy lineups around the globe, this took us approximately 2 or 3 hours.
Then we bought sincerely hungry and we were approached via a nearby “Jinetero” (eating place tout) who promised us a comprehensive meal with principal dish, salad and area dish for six or 7 CUC. We walked with him, only to discover that the wait at the Paladar (confidential eating place) would be approximately 45 mins to even sit down down, no longer adding nutrition practise time.
So we walked up Calle 21 and a confidential eating place owner approached us for a meal and we gave in and came inside of. It was once a stunning colonial villa, excluding that the visitor room with is obligatory 3 tables and 12 seats changed into in a darkish small dingy room totally without home windows.
However, we had a scrumptious dwelling-cooked meal, I had roasted bird with rice & beans, salad and a lemon gentle drink, thinking about eight CUC (approximately 8 US$). 2 of my pupil colleagues have been from Germany and the opposite fellow is from Toronto as properly, but in the beginning from Poland. We had some important conversations bahamas yacht rentals and it used to be fascinating linking up with a group of Europeans in Havana.
After a quick relaxation inside the motel, my family member Pedro once more picked me up in the nighttime and I couldnt support yet tell him about my journey with the Cocotaxi motive force yesterday, who had tried to decide upon me up, even with my clarifications and statements that I used to be married and not serious about any amorous occasions.
Pedro explained that sexual family in Cuba are a extraordinarily trouble-free, user-friendly-going factor and that that is very familiar for laborers to link up for quick “significant in a single day relationships”. He observed the Cuban employees as very “passionate and sizzling-blooded”, I bet that explains multiple the advances that I had been receiving thus far, exceedingly considering that there may be additionally highly quite a lot of intercourse tourism in which guys (or even women folk) come to Cuba to engage in truly purchasable erotic experiences.
Pedro and I walked thru the previous town and of path along the Malecon (the seafront side road) and noticed the wonderful Plaza Vieja and the Plaza de l. a. Catedral where a mass was being held for the passing of Pope John Paul II.
This become very pleasing, given that Cuba is a Communist / legitimate atheist united states and there are a good deal fewer Catholics at the present time than in the past the Revolution. Actually a great deal of Cubas faith is a combo of Catholicism and Santeria (spiritual practices of the African slaves). Regardless of religiousness, Cuba has declared a 3-day “duelo nacional” (a nationwide mourning duration for the Pope) and the mass turned into attended with the aid of a whole lot of persons.
Pedro and I then had a pleasing meal in the “Barrio Chino” (Havana’s Chinatown) for 5.60 CUC (less than US$6) for 2 other folks and a pair of vegetarian meals and tender drinks. After a pleasant dinner he back flagged down a neighborhood individual vehicle motive force and gave him about 1 CUC for identifying us up and shedding us off at my Hotel. At midnight I dropped into bed, exhausted.
However, at 4 am this morning I wakened with great intestinal difficulties. Apparently my Chinese meal had not turn out to be me so properly and I had severe digestive issues emanating from both aspects of my frame. This morning I realy felt rotten and I ended up the usage of my own scientific kit for the first time and took a few Immodium.
I was not able to consume breakfast, however I made my method to the collage wherein at nine am our periods all started. Surprisingly the position look at various had put me into the extent of “perfeccionamiento”, the top stage and the level of Spanish in my type turned into certainly very prime. The classification incorporates 7 college students, a younger female from England, a young female scientific student from Denmark, a middle-elderly girl doctor from Finland, a younger male rules pupil from Sweden, a young female and guy from Norway and myself from Austria/Canada.
Obviuosly there is a completely heavy Scandinavian slant in my magnificence and it appears each person in the category is a pastime sociologist, political scientist, environmentalist and historian. We asked some especially not easy questions about Cuban existence, the political method, the fiscal hardships, the double economy, the problem of females and blacks in Cuba, machismo and the place of the atmosphere.
Some of these questions made our girl professor think extraordinarily uncomfortable and it seemed like she turned into squirming lower than the barrage of probing political and sociological questions. She bought very shielding a number of times approximately the Cuban formula and only when we mentioned the good and undesirable aspects of European and Canadian societies did she relax a bit of and develop into a chunk extra open and frank approximately the authentic Cuban lifestyles. It seems that to nowadays Cubans ought to be very careful approximately what they say in public.
For instance, she frankly admitted that racism still exists in Cuba and to these days this is still a rustic with many of machismo. However, she did not admit that Internet get right of entry to and get entry to to non-Communist media is forbidden for Cubans, she in simple terms defined it as an financial situation. (Several of my colleagues had heard differently in their travels in Cuba, actually that a Cuban seriously is not allowed to have access to the Internet). She also admitted that it is not very allowed for Cubans to consult with the traveler spaces of the Cayos (e.g. Cayo Coco) that's solely reserved for travelers and Cubans have no access to that place in any way, a yes element of contention many of the locals.
Class ended approximately 1:20 and my disillusioned belly did now not allow me to intake any nutrients. I headed returned to my motel, slept a little and had been on the Internet for the prior 2 or so hours (racking up a invoice of about $US 20.00 or s0), documenting my journey.
It’ll be a quiet night time tonight given that I am trying to relax my abdominal. But I am bound the adventures and the discovering will maintain the following day.