My Top 5 Observations from Cuba

An Educational Trip

A recent visit to Cuba was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. It was qualitatively different than any other trip I've taken. In a way that no other trip has, it challenged my thinking and perspective on a place that I had only been exposed to via the US media. As someone who prides himself on the varied destinations I have visited, I count my journey to Cuba as among the most meaningful and gratifying of my life.

The trip opened this neighbor-nation in a way that was illuminating, invigorating, challenging and a great deal of fun. It was especially meaningful to see Cuba before it undergoes significant changes, which will certainly come soon. I'm very glad that I got to see Cuba while it is poised on the edge of this great shift... yet still has not undergone too many changes.

Getting to Cuba was an interesting process. As an American, one cannot say, "I want to go to Cuba on vacation - to have good food, fine wine and lazy afternoons on the beach." If you state such a rationale, you won't get a visa to Cuba. Because of this stricture, my travel companion and I had an educational agenda structured for us - and it was simply amazing. On a personal level, my thinking has been changed forever... on a few different fronts.

Here are my Top 5 Observations from Cuba:

Observation 1 - Cuba is filled with very hard-working people

Even though there's a perception that Communism breeds a sense of entitlement or laziness, I can account for the fact that Cuba has some of the hardest-working people I have ever encountered. From exceedingly attentive waiters to motivated taxi drivers to growers presiding over spectacular tobacco plantations (yes, the cigars are that good), I saw great evidence of a workforce that is clearly motivated for better things ahead. I believe this sense of motivation arises from both a pride in their country mixed with a knowledge that more prosperity is just around the corner.

Observation 2 - Cubans are all looking up (literally)

Cuba is very restricted in terms of the public's access to media. Think of it - in Cuba it is illegal to have access to television stations like CNN or carry a copy of The Economist magazine. Also, there are very few cell phones, primarily because Cubans cannot afford them. Additionally, the very limited internet access on the island is run by the Cuban government and is very tightly controlled.

These facts are discouraging, but there is one upside - absolutely no one in Cuba is walking around staring at a mobile phone in their hand. Including the two of us! People throughout Cuba are walking around and interacting with each other. It's like life used to be in the US, which I am convinced was better in many ways.

Observation 3 - Cuba bet on the wrong system

Cuba became a Communist country as a result of an armed uprising against a brutal dictator. It's a story that multiple Latin American countries have experienced in one form or another. But Cuba was different, because the Soviet Union made a concerted effort to ensure Cuba appeared to be an affluent society. They wanted it to be a showcase of the Worker's Paradise in the Western Hemisphere. This worked relatively well for a few decades, but...

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it hit Cuba very hard. During the 1990s, the average Cuban lost about twenty-percent of their body weight because food became scarce. Too many Cubans built ramshackle rafts in desperate attempts to float onto US soil. The true strength of the Cuban economy became evident and the picture was not good.

Cuba aligned itself with a system of forced economic equality that has caused a profound hardship that can still be seen on the island today. Although the collapse of Communism in Cuba is proving to have a longer tail than many of us would have predicted, more change is surely afoot.

Observation 4 - Cubans have achieved some very remarkable stuff

At one point, we met with a retired agricultural scientist who was a young man when The Revolution happened. His son was our guide for the week. We asked to meet our guide's father, once we understood that he was a dedicated fan of Cuba's Communist system. This gentleman helped us understand how his generation saw/sees things, which was incredibly informative.

He said two things that stuck with me after hours of conversing in Spanish about how he sees the world.

"Can you consider that I, the son of a peasant charcoal-maker, would have a son who speaks four languages and a grand-daughter who aspires to visit The Eiffel Tower? That is the strength of The Revolution. Without it, I would have led a brief life of desperate poverty." Wow.

"But think of this, if Bill Gates gave away just a small portion of his enormous wealth, it could make the world a better place!" When we explained that he is doing just that through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he looked shocked. He had never heard of it. Again, there's only government-run media in Cuba, which I am sure gives no information on the work of generous philanthropists from the United States.

From that conversation, I was reminded that few things are a simple black and white when it comes to understanding Cuba.

Observation 5 - Cuba is poised on the edge of great things

Cuba is changing, and that change is inevitable, even accelerating. As a vestige of a fight that had the world on the precipice of mutual annihilation, Cuba serves as a reminder that The Cold War was deep and bitter and... is over. The side of liberal democracy and the free movement of information won that battle. And the Cuban people appear to be ready to take part in the world that has turned out very different than their leaders told them it would. Their beautiful countryside, dynamic cities, great nightlife, and hard-working people are a unique mixture that makes this a great destination.

In closing, I believe we would miss an important opportunity if we simply open a bunch of McDonald's and let Cuba become yet another outpost of the integrated, consumerist world that we live in today. We need to learn from Cuba. Cuba replaced a brutal and repressive system with a brutal and repressive system - of that there can be no doubt. But, Cuba made significant progress in the areas of universal education, access to health care, as well lifting some members of their society out of the deepest poverty imaginable. Those of us in the US - the winners of The Cold War - would do well to develop a deeper grasp on the significance of Cuba.

For there are certainly useful lessons for all of us.

@TriquetraIT on Twitter