Costa Rica, a great place to write

  Two years ago, I was looking for a place to forget my business career and to fulfill a lifetime ambition.  This was to write novels and thrillers. Plots and ideas had been popping into my head for some time.

 My wife and I have lived in the UK, Asia and the US. We visited many countries for business and pleasure.  We wanted a place with good climate, reasonably developed infrastructure and friendly attitude to immigration. We wanted to find a tranquil place, close to Nature.

 We considered locations in Europe and Australasia as well as Latin America and chose San Isidro de Grecia in Costa Rica. The only problem so far is that there is so much going on socially. It often interferes with my writing.

A useful and surprising bonus is that there are many others publishing books who are based in Costa Rica. Importantly, they participate in writers’ groups to share insights expertise and ideas and meet on a regular basis. The writers are all interesting and there is a social side as well.

 The constructive comments on unfinished chapters and tips on writing and publishing are incredibly helpful. Just published is my first thriller as Aaron Aalborg, my pen name. It is titled, ‘They Deserved It’ and it is available from Amazon.com as a paperback and e- book.

Living in Costa Rica helped in writing the novel. It provided a good location for some international espionage between China and the US, as the plot nears its climax.

 Costa Rica is a hotbed of Expat creative writing, just as it is for painting and sculpture.  There is no stimulus like the tranquil tropical views across the mountains and rain forests, whilst sipping a cold cocktail.

Excellent internet connections make research on international locations and historical events and personalities easy. Another attraction of writing here is the airline schedule and modern airport, for trips to Latin American, North American and European locations for further research.

Here are just some of the other authors that I have met here and each has gained advantages from living in Costa Rica.

Albert A. Correia is from California and is a retired journalist living in San Jose.  Since arriving in Costa Rica, he has published three books, Even in Eden, Health Politics Rage and A President for Eden.  All take place in Costa Rica

Greg Bascom is American and a long time resident of Escazu. His book Lawless Elements is a novel of adventure, thrills and adult romance set in the exotic Philippines.  

Lucinda Gray a respected psychologist. She is a resident of Santa Ana and author of works on tranquility. She certainly chose the right place for that.

Lenny Karpmann writes about food and places to eat in Costa Rica. He has published The Food Bridge to Everywhere and is currently writing a book on offal. He lives in Laguacima in the Central Valley

Karen Luedtke is a Texan and resident of San Isidro de Grecia. She is publishing her work on cognitive science and studies of Capuchin Monkeys. Her books are illustrated with splendid photographs of wild life, taken here in Costa Rica by her husband.

Neil Martin is from Tulsa Oklahoma and is the author of several books including: Blood Red Dirt; Blood Red Sea; Blood Red Sky; Blood Red Retaliation; Chester and Denise and How about a Quickee. He lives in La Garita

Larry Rusin is the author of Avalon, California's Child and Beyond Avalon The Retreat. He is currently writing a fourth book. His is publisher is Kamel Press. Larry organizes meetings of a writers group every second Wednesday of the month at the Hotel Colinas del Sol in Atenas. Members and guests usually arrive at noon. He can be contacted at:

www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7192098707670033001t crcaseyboy@gmail.com 

New members are always welcome. 

K . Francis Ryan is a novelist living in El Cajon de Grecia  He is the author of the Echoes Quartet, a series of paranormal mysteries.  His debut novel Echoes Through the Mist is a paranormal mystery/romance set in present-day Ireland and is scheduled for release this month.  

Jo Stuart is from California and is a long time resident of San Jose. She writes a regular column for AM Costa Rica and is the author of Butterfly in the City. This book is about her many happy encounters with every variety of Costa Rican culture.

The Atenas group benefits from the professional experience of Jenny Kitson. She was an editor in Canada and now lives in San Jose. She has edited many of the books published above including  my own They deserved it.

With so much talent in Costa Rica, there are plenty of other writers to learn from. We have had writers of many genres, including poetry; novels; professional and academic articles and texts; websites and blogs.

We are a friendly bunch and welcome both experienced and novice authors.

55 words

55 Words

This is an exercise that a writers' group uses. We develop a story, poem idea and express the whole thing in exactly 55 words excluding the title. 

It is good training to be succinct and to use the space available.

Here are some of mine, they vary from silly, depressing or sad, to attempts at profundity and wit.

Churchill and my Granddad

Granddad hated Churchill.

At 14, his father pulled him off a ship to Gallipoli. His pals were killed.

Churchill broke the strikes in the depression. Granddad was unemployed.

U-boats put Brits on tight rationing. When Churchill came to town, his personal luxury foods came too.

I admired them both, but I loved Granddad.

Born too late

Cougars were a recent invention, due to the empowerment of women.

At 15, I would have been desperate to meet a cougar. Before texts or Face Book, we would have been safe back then. I might have felt the same at 40 or even 50

At 62 my cougars might be 90. Misery!

Costa Rica – The power of nature or what they did not tell us when we bought the house.

Each moment different, each moment a joy

Dark slashing, lashing rain

Explosive storms, lightening, flickering, stabbing,

Thunder blasting, rattling the panes

Water rushing, tumbling, foaming

Trees cracking and crashing

Earth trembling, walls shaking

Smoking Volcanoes…suspiciously large rocks in the garden

Musings on the body

400 species of microorganisms live on the forearm, myriads of others elsewhere. Body parts comprise specialized small creatures. Digestion requires a zoo.

Are we mere walking reefs?

Aliens with microscopic vision might see the space between our atoms. Could they tell the separation between a chair and its occupant?

We will return to dust.

Tranquilo

The plumber breaks the kitchen cabinet. Tranquilo.

The furniture maker never calls back, Tranquilo.

The Van driver blocks the road, chatting to his friends. Tranquilo.

Axle breaking holes in the road reappear. Tranquilo.

Abandoned dogs are starving. Tranqulio.

We queue round the block for the documents. Tranquilo.

I slit my throat, no more Tranquilo.

Trapped in Costa Rica

“We love it here”, they say through gritted teeth.

We discover that they are still trying to sell in the US and, since four years, here.

They were robbed six times. They find costs high. They have little income.

They want to go home. They cannot afford to. They live hand to mouth.

Pura Vida!

 Further musings on existence

We are born puny and helpless. A neuroscientist tells me that every cell in our body is replaced, sometimes many times. Our attitudes and experience change the way we think.

As we are all different people now, should we prosecute war criminals in their dotage?

Can we ever forgive both left and right for their errors?

A Dilemma

Tax evasion is a national sport. Taxation and payment systems are deliberately obscured. Spending is corrupt, lavish and ineffective.

As everywhere, ministers, officials and the rich are champion evaders.

If rich foreigners evade, are we just sensible or depriving poor Ticos of the little that trickles down to them?

What should we do?

Digging a deeper hole

‘Fools rush in’. Risk averse expats rent or buy well within their means. In extremis, they can bail out.

It would be nice to improve the garden; build a pool; install solar heating; build a path; add more security.

Dig too deep and you will be mired here! Is that such a bad thing?

On the Lam

Forget the lies of the realtors and retirement advisors who inveigled us here. New friends mask their hiding from the IRS, alimony, child support or prosecution.

Others invent colorful pasts, improving on banal reality. This is a game we can all join in.

Did I ever tell of the time I was James Bond?

In pursuit of happiness or the taming of an alpha male

I tried booze.

I tried drugs.

I tried sex.

I danced with death.

Various combinations were all fun, but none quite hit the spot.

Hell, I tried them all, time and again, with the ever diminishing ecstasies.

Then I found true love, or it found me, undeserved and unlooked for.

 “Love is all you need”.

Who needs fairy lights?... or romanticism degenerates.

Monsoon rain,

Sunset wreathes deep valleys in mist and the sky in golden clouds.

Pines, bananas and palms are silhouetted.

Bats hunt against the dusk sky.

Night sounds, a cacophony of cicadas and nightjars

A thousand fireflies twinkle sexual messages

“Come and get me! My aedeagus explodes with desire!”

“Oh flashy one, take me now!”

 Simone, the Parrot, invents perpetual motion

Ivy buys healthy cereal. Simone spits it on the floor. She gets a tastier brand. My breakfast is the hated, cardboard product. It should be called ‘Horse Mix’.

Simone likes Sun Flower seeds, tossing some from the patio. Sunflowers grow below, to feed Simone with their seeds.

“Let us recycle Simone as Pie”.

Ivy demurs.

The Big Bang

We sit in Adirondack chairs, sipping Dry Martinis, watching the storm.

Flash! Crash! The loudest bang we ever heard smashes down near the house. We are deafened.

A squillion volts enter two pines a hundred feet up, superheating the sap. They explode, hurtling bark and splinters.

Later, still darkness, silent lightening flickers in high clouds.

The Human Race. Cheery thoughts, prompted by the terminal illness of various close friends.

We toddle unaware.

We run, swim, jump and climb. John drowns.

High speed motorcycling. Joe crashes. It cannot happen to us.

Older colleagues die. We take their jobs.

Friends are disappearing fast, cancer or infarction.

Others toddle again, on mechanical joints.

Our turn is coming.

Wrinkled faces, crumbling bodies, accepting inevitability.

Every breath, nearer death.

Rant

“Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot.”  An old nursery rhyme celebrating events in 1605.

The capture and execution of thirteen dissidents, attempting to kill the King and Parliament in Westminster, is celebrated annually.

Many wanted to rebel against their inept and corrupt elites in the sixties. Most went on to lead worthy, bourgeois lives. In old age they rant at the TV.

Perhaps Guido Fawkes was right after all?

Aid for a developing country?

Costa Rica receives technology and advice from the IRS. Its government wants to know every penny Ticos spend. Spy drones will reveal those dodging the luxury tax on houses.

1984 finally comes here.

What excellent opportunities such technology provides for greater corruption amongst the police and officials.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Does this aid help?

Schadenfreude in a Fools’ Paradise

Smugly drinking cocktails, we watch yet another tropical sunset, painting the clouds in reds and orange.

“What a mess the world’s in. Our friends, their savings stolen by governments and banks, sit freezing.”

“Terrible, paying for armies and drones to stir up hornets’ nests!”

Poas rumbles. Our scene is obliterated in a pyroclastic flow.

Costa Rica Ennui- The Lotus Eaters

Drifting through the lees of life.

Party-time, same shorts and old T shirt for every party.

So elegant! Mindless of bad legs and fat ass.

Chat about, not addressing, the World’s problems.

Leave on the TV.

Boca food is dire, but easier than cooking.

Dozing in the hammock, reading vacuous trash.

Achievements today, nothing.

Ernesto Che Guevara, a retrospective

Che, iconic champion of the proletariat, you acted whilst others talked. Eschewing middle class respectability, you led violent revolutionaries in Africa and Latin America against corrupt elites.

Oh Che, if you had escaped CIA orchestrated execution, would you be proud of poor, decayed Havana.

Your dream was poisoned by communist stifling of freedom and enterprise.

Literary events and Book Fares

Frustrated librarians toil among the musty books, tending brattish kids, pushy moms and indigents, reading magazines to keep warm.

Publishing is dominated by intelligent women.

Books are full of romantic inspiration.

 Only now, I hear that literary conventions are hotbeds of rampant sex. Why do I write so late in life, with my wife watching?

The Next Naive Wave or Paradise Lost

New retirees to Costa Rica mingle, full of hope.

“We come from....

“We came because...

“We are renting in....

“I worked in....”

Shoot me, before I say,

“You’ll last X months”.

Better, shoot the realtors, lying about National Geographic.

The climate sucks.

Social security is insufficient.

The thieves are the cops and the lawyers!

Good Intentions and reality

“Let’s pass a law to become greenest and cleanest.”

The propaganda sounds great.

New taxes pay for enforcement.

The fields burn.

Gold miners are in the parks.

Cops share the turtle eggs.

Few pay taxes.

Corrupt ministers siphon the money into their businesses.

Tourists are being conned!

This is just a delusional developing country.

Droning on about drones

The unasked question,

“Are extra territorial assassination and collateral civilian casualties by robots either legal or morally justifiable?”

If the answer is yes, then it must be OK for other nations to send them to DC, London and Tel Aviv.

This is asymmetric morality. We can deploy nukes, torture and invade, but others must not.

Papal Bull

The Church taught so the child thought that:

white or black smoke was a miracle;

the whisky breathed priest’s inappropriate hand was God’s will;

suffering, poverty and exploitation were divine tests;

rewards would come in heaven;

evil would be punished;

this religion was the only true religion.

Some children grew up.

Others chose not to.

What are the old for?

We: passed on our genes; raised kids; retired.

What use are we now?

If the kids don’t need us for babysitting, jobs about the house or funds, their selfish genes focus on the next generation.

The sooner we die and pass on the money, the better.

Flee. Party till we drop in Costa Rica.

Luck and social justice

The greedy justify their immense incomes and wealth.

They cite market forces, their superior, skills, intelligence or entrepreneurial rewards.

Truth is they were lucky.

They had good genes, upbringing and nationality or merely luck in their market bets.

Motivate them a little, but remove those who block redistribution. Shoot them as a last resort.

Time bending

Atomic clocks measure objective time to a zillionth

For Einstein time and space were curvy

Now, I see that time moves in kangaroo jumps.

It is slow when there is little change.

It leaps forward on new love,

on divorce or relocation.

Kid’s summers last forever.

It accelerates with age.

Then it stops, for us.

Next year the revolution with be on Tuesday  4th of June

Politicians are there, because they know better than us, in deciding everything for us.

They strive to centralise decisions, seek power and raise more funds

Their morals and loyalty are available for money or advancement.

The only way to remove them is revolution.

New people who know better then arise.

We must institutionalize regular revolutions.

The keys to writing success.

1.    Be Earnest Hemingway or better R.J. Rawling or best God.

2.    Identify your characters with a memorable characteristic, e.g. three buttocks.

3.    Include suspense. Will the parrot attempt to bonk the Llama or not?

Will the zombie pedophiles beat the superhero extra terrestrials in mortal combat with exploding loofahs?

4.    Well endowed women wearing kinky boots.

5.    Be lucky

On Autumn and Spring Relationships

On spring and autumn relationships

Some readers of "They Deserved It" have remonstrated with me. They feel that there are legitimate reasons for younger people having sexual relationships or marriages to older partners.

Some feel that my novel implied that women who have affairs with or marry older men are gold diggers or virtually prostitutes.

Some older men feel that I have been unfair to them. They feel that their relationship with a younger woman is based on mutual respect and love rather than any lustful or power play on their part.

My initial reaction is to say, ‘Hey it’s a novel, not a learned discourse on all possible relationships. I am not putting myself forward to judge the lives of real people. Well with one or two exceptions.’

Thinking further on this I offer the following comments.

1.    Anyone who writes is of course biased or at least influenced by their own experiences and feelings.  Call me atypical or worse, but I can see that there are many women of my daughter’s age or younger or even quite a bit older,(she is just turned 30), who are pretty, beautiful or interesting. However, I have yet to be sexually attracted to any. Yes Honestly! If I analyze why that is so there seem to be a number of possible reasons.

a)    Maybe I lack the self-confidence to feel that they would be attracted to a man of 64 and therefore I subconsciously tune them out.

b)    Perhaps I have an over heightened sense of what comprises pedophilia.

c)    I certainly prefer the company of women around my own age, give or take a few years. They have extensive life experiences and seem more interesting to talk to. Maybe young men are less interested in the talking part.

      

2.    Recently, I have observed two male autumns in relationships with female      springs. They both seem to be cases where the man has shaped, mentored or helped the woman to grow and fulfill her potential, in her career and other fields.  There seems to be a mutually loving relationship in both cases. Of course, one can never really tell what is going on in the lives of others.

Acing as mentor and helping a woman to develop her potential seems a fair reason for a relationship and mutual attraction.

A negative relationship of this type might be of the Svengali type. The man is merely shaping the woman for his own ends. 

      3.  Looking at female autumns and male springs is also interesting.  There are gigolos and gold diggers there too. However I feel that if that is what the women want and they know the score that is up to them. I admit that I feel that the schoolboys who are approached by their female teachers are rather lucky and that it is not the same the other way round. Call that irrational, but I know many men feel the same way.

Aaron Visited Cuba

Cuba Libre - Points of View

Introduction- Aaron Aalborg’s visit to Cuba

Aaron visited partly to observe a largely failed communist experiment, partly for fun and partly to see it before it turns into BigMacWallmartopolis.

Background

Cuba has been a contentious communist presence on the doorstep of the USA since its revolution. After the debacle of the Bay of Pigs invasion, it became the fault line of a near nuclear holocaust 

Aaron wanted to understand the contentious issues about Cuba, as background to his forthcoming novel Revolution.

Questions to be answered

There are a number of questions that we will address. Answers to each of them will spring into your mind as soon as you have read each one. The nature of your answers will depend on whose propaganda has had the most influence on you. Please expunge your initial answers and suspend judgment until you have read this piece.

Cuba’s regime was and still is demonized in the US press. In contrast, much of the developing world and the now extinct communist states saw Cuba as an example of how to cast off US dominance and end exploitation of the poor masses by corrupt governments, exploitative capitalists, gangsters and foreign interests. What led to of these diametrically opposed points of view and what is their validity?

Were the Castro brothers and Ernesto Che Guevara liberators of the downtrodden masses, with good intentions or murderous tyrants?

In old age, Fidel Castro saw his dreams implode, with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the rampant enterprise culture in China. The Cuban economy is starved of western investment and more recently of subsidies from sympathetic regimes. This is partly due to US policies, partly by regime choice and partly because the only remaining supporting regime is Venezuela. What is the impact of these economic forces?

Cuba is a thriving tourist destination for the middle classes of the World, with the exception of most potential visitors from the US. The land of the free restricts interaction and trade. Despite burgeoning tourist income, the country remains backward in many respects. Why is this?

Looking to the future, with the replacement of the aging revolutionary leadership, will the country become a western type capitalist democracy or will it follow the Chinese model, where the party rules but liberalization of trade, inward and investment and private enterprise drive development and growth?

To answer these questions we will begin by giving two versions of history. Next, we will see how the interests and politics of other countries impacted Cuban affairs.

Lastly, we will consider how the current situation in Cuba and the rest of the world might shape the future.

Two Versions of History

The two versions of history are so radically different, that it is essential to read a little of events, that underlie both versions. Rather than regurgitate a long version of history here, those who are interested might visit Wikipedia to refresh their understanding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba

Firstly, we will list just a few important historical events, with no partisan comment.

1.    During the early Spanish Empire, Cuba was an important naval base for consolidating and defending shipments of loot from Latin America, it had little intrinsic interest, being devoid of discovered precious minerals. Later, it was an important source of tobacco, coffee and sugar. Slaves were imported to work in the fields. That is why there remains a significant black population descended from slaves. 

2.    The independence movement in the last years of the 19th century was partly driven by exiles in the US, but the explosion on the warship Maine, which has since been proved to be caused by internal explosion, was used as an excuse for the US to join in the war of independence and to play a role in driving out the Spanish. The US occupied Cuba. This gave the US a seat at the table in the peace process. From this it acquired a permanent base at Guantanamo, trade concessions, several US controls over aspects of Cuban sovereignty. More importantly, there is a persisting political view that the US is entitled to play a continuing role in influencing Cuban affairs.

3.    During the interwar years, Cuba became the unregulated playground of rich Americans, including mob leaders. The country was a corrupt, rigged democracy, dominated by landed, industrial and political elites. Post WWII, Batista conducted a bloodless coup, supported by the labor unions and communists as well as the US. During his time there was an emerging middle class and economic development was the highest in Latin America, with the typical very uneven ownership of wealth that is common in such situations.

4.    In 1956, Fidel Castro invaded from exile in Mexico with US training. He staged a revolutionary war. The US initially recognized his regime, but after six months decided that he was intent on operating independently from US influence. The US spent the next decades seeking to oust him and his regime. Partly because of this and partly due to ideological conviction and the influence of Che, who was a Marxist, Cuba turned to Communism.

5.    This led to various plots to murder Fidel Castro, supported or instigated by the CIA, including the use of poisoned cigars. Many rich landowners, industrialists and opponents of the revolution fled to the US to escape imprisonment or firing squads. Sanctions against Cuba from the US, including the refusal to refine Cuban owned crude oil. There were restrictions on US citizens traveling to Cuba and trade sanctions.

6.    Cuba strengthened its ties with the communist countries at this time especially for the acquisition of military training and equipment.

7.    The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 was conducted by Cuban exiles from the US and supported by the US military. It failed because the US forces were held back at the crucial moment by President Kennedy. This led to greater paranoia against the US in Cuba and rabid frustration among Cuban exiles.

8.    The Cuban Missile Crisis was an attempt by the Soviet Union to base nuclear weapons close to the US. At the time, Russia had US nukes based on its own frontiers in West Germany and Turkey. Kennedy faced down the Russians and the missiles were withdrawn. This incident left permanent suspicions in both the US and Cuba.

9.    The Castro regime saw itself as a model for the overthrow of capitalist regimes in the third world and conducted campaigns in Africa and Latin America to export its revolution, with varying levels of success.

a)    The Cuban regime’s version of history- Fidel Castro and his invaders were heroes. They freed Cuba from rule by corrupt political and industrial elites that exploited the poor. They increased education, improved literacy, introduced universal medical care, redistributed land and took ownership of the means of production for the people of Cuba. They were opposed by ruthless forces from within Cuba and the US. It was necessary to destroy these with equal ruthlessness. The regime believes that the CIA is constantly trying to overthrow its regime, including introducing swine fever, assassinating its leaders, arranging the murder of Che, when he was already a prisoner in Bolivia and much else. The US has done its best to strangle Cuba economically and this has led to slower economic development.

Che is seen as a special kind of hero. A doctor, he sacrificed middle class prosperity in Argentina to help the poor of Latin America and elsewhere. He was brave and effective in battle; necessarily ruthless with deserters and counter revolutionaries; handsome and attractive to women and a martyr to the cause.

Guantanamo is a base which should revert to Cuba and is maintained as a provocation and to keep prisoners without trial and outside of international law.

b)    The US perspective- The US has a continuing right to involve itself in Latin America in general and in Cuba in particular, due to its proximity to the US. This thinking dates back to the Monroe Doctrine and ‘manifest destiny’.

 Previously, Cuba provided a base for communism and attempted to project this into Latin America and into the developing world. It posed a specific nuclear threat to the US and this had to be dealt with. The US was right to use the CIA and all means, both under international law and illegally to maintain its essential interests. Guantanamo bay provides it with a location to keep alleged terrorists outside US and to avoid the legal complications of holding them and trying them in the US.

Cuban exiles are a rich and important lobby in the US. They want to see the overthrow of the current regime, the restoration of their property in Cuba and a return to non-communist rule in Cuba. They welcome a US presence in Guantanamo and due to their political influence and power can prevent any rapprochement between current and future regimes in the Cuba and the US.

Some argue that this is an older generation issue, but the US Republican party garners significant support from Cuban exiles.

The cult of Che is still to be feared. He was a Marxist Leninist, exporter of communist ideas and a murderer of those opposed to him.

The impact of international politics

Cuba was both a front line state and a pawn in a bigger game.

Post 1945, the US felt itself to be threatened by nuclear aggression from Russia.       McCarthy was a driving influence in US domestic politics and foreign affairs.

Around the World America felt threatened. There appeared to be a danger of falling Asian dominoes that would isolate the US in the Pacific.

There were significant communist parties in Italy and France, as well as many other West European countries.

The corrupt regimes of Latin America and the Caribbean fostered potential revolution, but at least they were not communist. Duvalier in Haiti, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Peron in Argentina, Noriega in Panama, Pinochet in Chile, Stroesner in Paraguay and various other crypto fascist regimes were all at one time or another supported by the CIA as necessary bulwarks against communism.

On the other side, the Russians were obsessed with the threat of NATO and the need to expand communism in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. If you take a map of Europe, turn it and view it from the perspective of the Soviet Union and even more so modern Russia, their country is and was surrounded by hostile Western Regimes with US bases in them. America made frequent, public threats of aggression, as did Russia.

China and Russia were both happy to lend economic support to the Cuban regime, through subsidized food, raw materials, cars and military equipment.

East and West fought a public cold war and a clandestine hot war of spooks and surrogate military involvement around the World.

The current situation

Cuba’s GDP per capita is just over $5,000 a year and the state spends most of it. This is barely a tenth of that of the US. Any tourist can see that Cuba needs change.

On the way from the airport, the wide roads, communist and parade squares and concrete buildings decay and are interspersed with trash and scrub. Sad slogans like ‘Socialism o Muerte’ are painted on old concrete walls. The beautiful, but crumbling facades of Havana hide evil looking tenements. Cobbled streets are potholed and reek of sewage. Masonry blocks and stucco lie where they fall from above.

The state hotels would be considered luxurious by the locals. These buildings show attempts to regain the past splendor of the private houses that they once were. By international standards they are badly finished with bare wires, dingy lighting and defective plumbing. The service is indifferent and the cooking of the excellent ingredients is poor, as was common in European communist states. There was no competitive drive to shine, nor any benefit to the employee of good performance. As an example, Lobster in Cuba is cheap and widely available, but with few exceptions is merely grilled and sometimes ruined.

Higher level jobs remain in the hands of the whiter element of the population, with blacks pedaling trishaws or doing other menial jobs. The pictures of the revolutionary leaders in the Museum of the Revolution do not include any blacks.

 The old clunkers from the 50’s are part tourist attraction, rather than just an indication of a poor nation. They rumble side by side with Skodas and other communist models, but more modern vehicles are creeping in.

One positive development is the vibrancy of the tourist influx. It is astonishing. There are tourists from Europe, Canada, Latin America and Hong Kong in abundance. This is funding serious restoration, fanning out from the old cathedral square. It is also benefitting the small private enterprise eateries that are newly allowed and street businesses from prostitution to craft stalls, with their exuberantly garish paintings and nick knacks. Tourism alone will drive growth and change, but needs help for there to be rapid and large scale impact.

We did not experience the benefits or otherwise of universal health care. Our suspicion is that, as elsewhere, the limited funding available leads to  delays, queues and restricted treatment, at least for those without regime connections.

The Future

Left to its own devices, Cuba will grow on the back of tourism. It would be a shame if that is its future.

The US needs to stop interfering in Cuban internal affairs and perhaps it already has. Cuba is no longer a threat to the US.

Arguably US sanctions, travel restrictions and intervention have been totally counter-productive. Ideally, Guantanamo should be returned to Cuban sovereignty and an open trade policy with Cuba should be adopted. The murders on both sides are still close in living memory. Because of this, due to the power of the Cuban lobby and dreams of continued world domination among the more bellicose US politicians, realistically, such events are unlikely.

The idea that property should be returned to those who fled needs to be either dropped or made conditional on the return of the colonial estates in the US, expropriated during the revolutionary wars.

As the Castros fade into history, their iron grip on the economy is already relaxing. Free trade and free enterprise will return and even small changes in relationships with the US can lead to a resurgent and freer economy. If the US does not relax its intransigence, it will miss out on the growth that will come in Cuba.