So I’m back in my office after a very successful lecture on Cuba. The students loved my stories about the trips I made to that country. My story about the naked men was especially popular. I’m not sure if I shared this story with you, so I will tell it anyway.
The very first time I traveled to Cuba was in 1999. I was 23 and too naive and sheltered for that age. I was staying at a hotel in the middle of Old Havana because the purpose of the trip was not to have a beach vacation but to discover how the Cuban people really lived. In front of my hotel and very close to it, there was another building. All day and night whenever I would look out of my window, I would see naked men showering in the rooms of that building. There was an endless procession of these naked men who took turns showering.
Finally, I decided to ask my Cuban friend Armando what was happening.
“Is this some sort of a public bath facility?” I asked him. “But then why aren’t there any curtains in the windows?”
“Oh, Clarissa,” Armando said. “You are so naive. You are like a child. These men are renting the shower rooms in the building in front of the hotel where Western tourists are staying. They do that in order to show their goods to tourists who want to purchase sex. If you like what you see, all you have to do is go and stand in front of the building and the man you chose will come down. Then you can negotiate the price.”
Another story the students loved was the one where I was approached by a man in the streets of Havana who offered sex and was shocked when I refused.
“But why not?” he asked. “It’s just $5. Don’t you have $5?”
“Yes, I do have $5,” I responded, feeling desperate. “But I don’t want to buy sex.”
The man looked confused.
“Then why did you come to Havana?” he asked.
“To learn about the culture and improve my Spanish,” I explained.
“This is the first time that I meet such a weird tourist,” the man concluded.
He thought for a while, and then his face lit up.
“Do you prefer girls?” he asked. “Because I have a sister. . .”
Clarissa's Blog 
I wouldn’t have considered that as an option either regarding what they were doing!! 😮 I doubt I can be considered all that sheltered though, but it does seem very culture specific. Have you encountered that in any other cultures?
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Oh dear, I wouldn’t have thought of that either! I doubt I can be considered particularly sheltered though. It does seem like a very culture specific behaviour. Have you encountered that kind of thing in other places?
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To this extent, never. This isn’t culture-specific at all. This is the inevitable result of a communist system.
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I know where I’m going on vacation. ha. Just kidding.
This is utterly bizarre, but my gosh, it makes for a good story.
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And great class material to wake people up at the end of the semester. 🙂
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What else seemed particularly USSR-like?
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The nasty attitude of people. The colonial mentality. The dishonesty. The apathy. The hatred of work.
It was really weird because I suddenly found myself in a tropical climate, a completely different architecture, but the exact same Soviet people that I’d left behind. They had Soviet facial expressions, everything. Scary shit.
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It is interesting because my theory is that those attitudes are what go with the cultivation of sugar cane. Cuba, Louisiana, Brazil, all with different, yet related colonizations and then Cold War and other overlays. Cuba is truly fascinating since it is so very closely imbricated with Spain, and the US, and the USSR.
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In Ukraine we cultivate sugar beets. It is one of the main crops that was almost destroyed because the Ussr preferred to support Cuba by buying Cuban sugar.
I love Cuba passionately but what a horrible fate it has had! Tan lejos del cielo, tan cerca a Los EE. UU.
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