Time Capsule
In 2006, while staying at Havana's Hotel Nacional, I met an interesting man named Dr. David Guggenheim. David is a marine researcher. He studies marine life including corals in the seas around Cuba as part of his duties as the Director of The Cuban Marine Research and Conservation Program of The Ocean Foundation.
David and I had a few conversations about his work in Cuba, and his insights helped shape my ideas on the unique opportunity Cuba has to make a real contribution to marine science in particular and to natural conservation in general.
David pointed out Cuba is like a time capsule sealed away inside of the cornerstone of an old building. Time capsules contain little bits of our lives at the time the building construction begins. Presumably, in 50 or 100 years, when the capsule is opened future people can see tangible tokens of the way life was way back when.
David's comments were aimed at explaining the state of the natural environment of Cuba and the seas around it. For 50 years or more, Cuba has been somewhat sealed off from the rest of the world in many ways. In particular, much of the rest of the world has spent the last 50+ years in a hell-bent race for development and industrialization, but not Cuba, where much of the environment is like it was in 1959.
You could say that now Cuba is coming into the modern world. Modern hotels are springing up on the beaches, and even this week we heard of a huge Spanish oil rig beginning to drill in the Florida Straits just 70 miles from Key West. But David points out tht much of Cuba's natural treasures are still there to be seen. Protecting them should be an obligation for Cuba and for nature lovers everywhere.
Actually, within the Cuban government is an appreciation and willingness to protect the country's natural treasures. David himself told me how difficult it is for him to ger licenses and permission to enter vast protected undersea locations. He also talked about how there are many natural preserves like the Zapata swamp and Cayo Coco and Las Terrazas, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. But, there remain many more valuable natural areas which could become natural preserves. Now is the time to act while the land values are low and development has not ruined them.
I recently saw a one hour TV show on David's work showing some of Cuba's natural wonders including a rare type of coral that still grows in no other part of the world. The show just renewed my hopes that this natural time capsule—a place with little development during a period of 50 years of helter-skelter development in the rest of the world—will somehow be saved. At least we have some hope that it can happen.
The plants and animals of Cuba are so precious, and the island has a staggering variety from Cuban Crocodiles to Ebony trees. Wouldn't it be great to be able to visit them alive in their natural settings?
Les Inglis
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Project Fidelity
Project Fidelity
Some animal rights people object to making dogs into servants of mankind. Seeing the use of dogs on chores for men as a form of slavery, they speak against seeing-eye dogs, St Bernard rescues in the Alps, or guard dogs—all long time jobs for man's best friend. But now that we know more about the many ways dogs can help us, the question of ethics in making them work for us is even more important to answer. Now dogs can sense the onset of an epileptic seizure, tend to someone with a PTSD episode, sniff out drugs and many other types of contraband. In short, dogs doing chores for a living is a much bigger subject than it was even a few years ago.
I started thinking about this ethical question years ago sitting in the lounge of a cruise ship preparing to float us from Miami and off to some island. Lined up on the dock were rows of passenger luggage and cargo. Men with handsome dogs loosed them on the cargo, and the dogs gave every item on the dock a thoroughgoing olfactory inspection. On detecting the scent of drugs, their training would have them signal their handlers to make a search of the bag or box. Fortunately no drugs were detected in the cargo that day.
OK, those dogs weren't being paid, and paying them would not help them. All they need is food and medical care and human companionship. Dogs will learn to do a huge variety of chores for people only because they have evolved to live in symbiosis with mankind.
Yes, since that day thousands of years ago when wolves found food after overcoming their fear of men as they drew near to the garbage dumps of people, wolves have been evolving into dogs and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with people.
How can putting dogs to work be slavery? Are not all creatures placed here for them to earn a living somehow? By finding ways for them to earn a living, isn't humankind actually helping his canine friends? Of course taking care of them and treating them as dear companions goes without saying, but that is all but assured by the natural affinity between the two species.
Given humane treatment for the dogs, which arises naturally in normal people, training and using a dog for service to humans is not cruel, not unnatural, and not unfair. It's really part of the natural evolution of both species. Thus, for me, I settled an old niggling ethical question that has consumed the thoughts of many animal rights people.
More recently, through our website, I met Davis Hawn, a most unusual man with a consuming interest in service dogs and service dog training.. He was planning his first trip to Cuba and had many questions about taking his service dog, Booster, to Havana with him. I could help a little, and Davis got his best answers from Bahamas Air which flew him to Cuba with an education exception to the Cuba travel restrictions. I helped him to meet Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President, and she helped him to publicize his ideas about service dogs and their training—something he calls Project Fidelity. Nora had connections to help him produce an informative, professional video piece on CD about Booster and service dogs in particular, and he appeared on Cuban television with Booster.
While in Cuba Davis found a stray dog on Obispo street in downtown Havana and decided to adopt him. He arranged for someone to foster him during the long wait for medical tests, paperwork, and shipping arrangements. Knowing some Cubans have cheated some traveling dog lovers out of money while providing poor or no foster care, I talked Davis into having Nora inspect the foster family and their home. Nora arranged for a different foster family and began the involved process of generating inoculations, medical certificates, and shipping arrangements to send the dog out of Cuba. Davis met Fidelity after a flight of a few hours to Toronto. They flew on to Chicago and then New Orleans area, their home.
And what is Project Fidelity, you ask? It's Davis' masters degree from Bergin University. Davis is proposing granting scholarships to Cubans to support sending young Cubans to Bergin University for an intensive course in training service dogs. These students, on completing their training would return to Cuba, each with a puppy for training, set about training other dogs and the people who need them. Training of people's pets could be undertaken too. Their new positions would be as paid employees of Aniplant. Davis has selected Aniplant to operate the program in Cuba. An ongoing program of training and encouraging the expanded use of service dogs is foreseen.
All this was packaged into a Master's Degree Thesis by Davis and submitted to Bergin University, and I, along with others, was asked by the University to review the thesis and offer comments. Needless to say, Davis got his Master's Degree, and he and Nora are now in the early stages of this exciting program. Scholarship recipients have been tentatively selected, and it appears their training will take place this summer.
I believe this program, Project Fidelity, will offer opportunities for useful, happy lives for many Cuban dogs, and the presentation of this program to the Cuban people by Aniplant and Nora will help assure that success.
Thanks Davis, Nora, Bergin University, and the scholarship recipients for your collaboration in this exciting program.
Les Inglis
Some animal rights people object to making dogs into servants of mankind. Seeing the use of dogs on chores for men as a form of slavery, they speak against seeing-eye dogs, St Bernard rescues in the Alps, or guard dogs—all long time jobs for man's best friend. But now that we know more about the many ways dogs can help us, the question of ethics in making them work for us is even more important to answer. Now dogs can sense the onset of an epileptic seizure, tend to someone with a PTSD episode, sniff out drugs and many other types of contraband. In short, dogs doing chores for a living is a much bigger subject than it was even a few years ago.
I started thinking about this ethical question years ago sitting in the lounge of a cruise ship preparing to float us from Miami and off to some island. Lined up on the dock were rows of passenger luggage and cargo. Men with handsome dogs loosed them on the cargo, and the dogs gave every item on the dock a thoroughgoing olfactory inspection. On detecting the scent of drugs, their training would have them signal their handlers to make a search of the bag or box. Fortunately no drugs were detected in the cargo that day.
OK, those dogs weren't being paid, and paying them would not help them. All they need is food and medical care and human companionship. Dogs will learn to do a huge variety of chores for people only because they have evolved to live in symbiosis with mankind.
Yes, since that day thousands of years ago when wolves found food after overcoming their fear of men as they drew near to the garbage dumps of people, wolves have been evolving into dogs and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with people.
How can putting dogs to work be slavery? Are not all creatures placed here for them to earn a living somehow? By finding ways for them to earn a living, isn't humankind actually helping his canine friends? Of course taking care of them and treating them as dear companions goes without saying, but that is all but assured by the natural affinity between the two species.
Given humane treatment for the dogs, which arises naturally in normal people, training and using a dog for service to humans is not cruel, not unnatural, and not unfair. It's really part of the natural evolution of both species. Thus, for me, I settled an old niggling ethical question that has consumed the thoughts of many animal rights people.
More recently, through our website, I met Davis Hawn, a most unusual man with a consuming interest in service dogs and service dog training.. He was planning his first trip to Cuba and had many questions about taking his service dog, Booster, to Havana with him. I could help a little, and Davis got his best answers from Bahamas Air which flew him to Cuba with an education exception to the Cuba travel restrictions. I helped him to meet Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President, and she helped him to publicize his ideas about service dogs and their training—something he calls Project Fidelity. Nora had connections to help him produce an informative, professional video piece on CD about Booster and service dogs in particular, and he appeared on Cuban television with Booster.
While in Cuba Davis found a stray dog on Obispo street in downtown Havana and decided to adopt him. He arranged for someone to foster him during the long wait for medical tests, paperwork, and shipping arrangements. Knowing some Cubans have cheated some traveling dog lovers out of money while providing poor or no foster care, I talked Davis into having Nora inspect the foster family and their home. Nora arranged for a different foster family and began the involved process of generating inoculations, medical certificates, and shipping arrangements to send the dog out of Cuba. Davis met Fidelity after a flight of a few hours to Toronto. They flew on to Chicago and then New Orleans area, their home.
And what is Project Fidelity, you ask? It's Davis' masters degree from Bergin University. Davis is proposing granting scholarships to Cubans to support sending young Cubans to Bergin University for an intensive course in training service dogs. These students, on completing their training would return to Cuba, each with a puppy for training, set about training other dogs and the people who need them. Training of people's pets could be undertaken too. Their new positions would be as paid employees of Aniplant. Davis has selected Aniplant to operate the program in Cuba. An ongoing program of training and encouraging the expanded use of service dogs is foreseen.
All this was packaged into a Master's Degree Thesis by Davis and submitted to Bergin University, and I, along with others, was asked by the University to review the thesis and offer comments. Needless to say, Davis got his Master's Degree, and he and Nora are now in the early stages of this exciting program. Scholarship recipients have been tentatively selected, and it appears their training will take place this summer.
I believe this program, Project Fidelity, will offer opportunities for useful, happy lives for many Cuban dogs, and the presentation of this program to the Cuban people by Aniplant and Nora will help assure that success.
Thanks Davis, Nora, Bergin University, and the scholarship recipients for your collaboration in this exciting program.
Les Inglis
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Vedado
Vedado
In the early history of Havana, keeping a lookout for unfriendly ships was a key part of defending the city. In those days there were no air forces and armies were no threat to the island nation. So ships and defenses against them were threats until proven otherwise.
You couldn't enter the Bay of Havana with bad intentions except at your own peril. At the mouth of the Bay across the water from the city itself is El Morro Castle, a huge stone structure with thick walls, canon, and a commanding view of anything on the water.
Across the water on the city side is a smaller fort, the San Salvador Castle. Both these forts were finished at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Any invaders by sea would face withering canon fire from opposite directions if these forts wanted to deny them entrance to the bay.
Today, El Morro Castle and its mate, San Salvador still stand watching the entrance to the city. El Morro has a distinctive appearance familiar to many. If an illustrator wants to evoke Cuba, or more specifically, Havana, that fort's picture is often selected.
Another tactic of the city's defenders was to use local high ground for lookouts. Being elevated afforded longer views, which provided more warning of the approach of the enemy. Old Havana with its waterfront is low lying. Moving westward you're in Central Havana with a little more elevation. Westward still brings you to Vedado, a section of the city purposely kept undeveloped for decades. "Vedado" means "prohibited" and building anything there was what was prohibited. The high land in the southern part of Vedado made a great lookout for approaching ships, so the city prevented blocking this view with new construction.
As time passed, reliance on men with telescopes waned, and pressure to build so near the growing city combined to end the prohibition. IT was a golden age, and construction of some of Havana's most elaborate structures began, and a new "embassy row" appeared. Today a walking tour through Vedado is an architect's dream. While many Vedado buildings are not in good condition, Vedado buildings in general are in better shape than other, older parts of the city. The few restored buildings are masterpieces.
My hotel is in Vedado, and embassies and ministries are its neighbors. The very large old homes there are taken over by courts, museums, schools, etc. The truly chic place to live these days is Miramar, further to the west, a suburb reminiscent of some American upscale neighborhoods.
It doesn't take much to entertain me in Havana. Stepping out and walking around the area near the hotel will do it. I don't think of Vedado as a tourist area, at least not the part near my hotel. So, mercifully, there are fewer stray animals on the streets. They prefer more restaurants, parks, etc. as discarded food is a magnet to the "satos" or strays.
Perhaps when I am in Havana, I'm also a "stray." I don't seek food, but to soak up the local ambiance. I could say it's almost European in mood. Anyway, strolling through this special part of town has occupied many happy idle hours over the last several years.
Les Inglis.
In the early history of Havana, keeping a lookout for unfriendly ships was a key part of defending the city. In those days there were no air forces and armies were no threat to the island nation. So ships and defenses against them were threats until proven otherwise.
You couldn't enter the Bay of Havana with bad intentions except at your own peril. At the mouth of the Bay across the water from the city itself is El Morro Castle, a huge stone structure with thick walls, canon, and a commanding view of anything on the water.
Across the water on the city side is a smaller fort, the San Salvador Castle. Both these forts were finished at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Any invaders by sea would face withering canon fire from opposite directions if these forts wanted to deny them entrance to the bay.
Today, El Morro Castle and its mate, San Salvador still stand watching the entrance to the city. El Morro has a distinctive appearance familiar to many. If an illustrator wants to evoke Cuba, or more specifically, Havana, that fort's picture is often selected.
Another tactic of the city's defenders was to use local high ground for lookouts. Being elevated afforded longer views, which provided more warning of the approach of the enemy. Old Havana with its waterfront is low lying. Moving westward you're in Central Havana with a little more elevation. Westward still brings you to Vedado, a section of the city purposely kept undeveloped for decades. "Vedado" means "prohibited" and building anything there was what was prohibited. The high land in the southern part of Vedado made a great lookout for approaching ships, so the city prevented blocking this view with new construction.
As time passed, reliance on men with telescopes waned, and pressure to build so near the growing city combined to end the prohibition. IT was a golden age, and construction of some of Havana's most elaborate structures began, and a new "embassy row" appeared. Today a walking tour through Vedado is an architect's dream. While many Vedado buildings are not in good condition, Vedado buildings in general are in better shape than other, older parts of the city. The few restored buildings are masterpieces.
My hotel is in Vedado, and embassies and ministries are its neighbors. The very large old homes there are taken over by courts, museums, schools, etc. The truly chic place to live these days is Miramar, further to the west, a suburb reminiscent of some American upscale neighborhoods.
It doesn't take much to entertain me in Havana. Stepping out and walking around the area near the hotel will do it. I don't think of Vedado as a tourist area, at least not the part near my hotel. So, mercifully, there are fewer stray animals on the streets. They prefer more restaurants, parks, etc. as discarded food is a magnet to the "satos" or strays.
Perhaps when I am in Havana, I'm also a "stray." I don't seek food, but to soak up the local ambiance. I could say it's almost European in mood. Anyway, strolling through this special part of town has occupied many happy idle hours over the last several years.
Les Inglis.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Casa de las Americas
Casa de las Americas
My hotel in Havana is hardly two blocks from the Florida Straits, which separate Cuba from Florida. To get to the water's edge, you leave the hotel, walk north along Avenida de los Presidentes for two blocks, cross the Malecón, Havana's seaside esplanade, and you're there.
The first time I took this walk, I had gone one block, and I was in front of a truly remarkable Art Deco building about ten stories high. It looked like a big temple with a steeple or tower, and there was no cross on top. There seemed to be a bookstore on the first floor, but it was closed the first evening I saw the building. A huge replica of North and South America in relief filled a plain space above the main entrance. I learned its name was Casa de las Americas or The house of the Americas.
Havana, like Miami has a fair number of Art Deco buildings, and some in both cities are really good examples, and many of those in Havana are deteriorating. But this beauty shows no neglect, and it's a pleasure to see when you pass by. It intrigued me, so I set out to learn what I could about it. I found out it opened in April 1959, four months after Castro's Cuban Revolution was won. It was one of the first buildings to be finished after Castro came to power, and one of a relative few to be built in the 63 years since. Its purpose was to house a center to promote Cuban and Latin American Culture and literature. This organization was founded by Haydée Santamaría.
Haydée was one of two women in the little band of revolutionries which attacked the Moncado, one of Batista's military buildings in Eastern Cuba in 1956. She survived their one-sided defeat, was captured and sent to a Batista prison where she was tortured. In Cuba there is no status higher than to be one of the original revolutionaries. Haydée was one before Castro went to Mexico, came back in the boat Granma, lodged himself and his platoon in the eastern mountains, and began to take over the country.
After victory one of Haydée's rewards was the Casa de las Americas. There she changed from political warrior to culture warrior. She established an annual prize for literature Called the Casa de las American Prize, and many famous Latin American authors have won that prize.
Havana has bigger, taller, more celebrated buildings, but this one has lodged in my head.
Every time I walk by it, I reflect on its role in promoting culture. Cuba has an old, interesting culture, but it has no humane laws, no municipal humane shelters, and a not-well-developed humane ethic. Perhaps the animals of Cuba deserve a book about them—perhaps one good enough to win the Casa de las Americas Prize.
We'll have to start talking this up.
Les Inglis
My hotel in Havana is hardly two blocks from the Florida Straits, which separate Cuba from Florida. To get to the water's edge, you leave the hotel, walk north along Avenida de los Presidentes for two blocks, cross the Malecón, Havana's seaside esplanade, and you're there.
The first time I took this walk, I had gone one block, and I was in front of a truly remarkable Art Deco building about ten stories high. It looked like a big temple with a steeple or tower, and there was no cross on top. There seemed to be a bookstore on the first floor, but it was closed the first evening I saw the building. A huge replica of North and South America in relief filled a plain space above the main entrance. I learned its name was Casa de las Americas or The house of the Americas.
Havana, like Miami has a fair number of Art Deco buildings, and some in both cities are really good examples, and many of those in Havana are deteriorating. But this beauty shows no neglect, and it's a pleasure to see when you pass by. It intrigued me, so I set out to learn what I could about it. I found out it opened in April 1959, four months after Castro's Cuban Revolution was won. It was one of the first buildings to be finished after Castro came to power, and one of a relative few to be built in the 63 years since. Its purpose was to house a center to promote Cuban and Latin American Culture and literature. This organization was founded by Haydée Santamaría.
Haydée was one of two women in the little band of revolutionries which attacked the Moncado, one of Batista's military buildings in Eastern Cuba in 1956. She survived their one-sided defeat, was captured and sent to a Batista prison where she was tortured. In Cuba there is no status higher than to be one of the original revolutionaries. Haydée was one before Castro went to Mexico, came back in the boat Granma, lodged himself and his platoon in the eastern mountains, and began to take over the country.
After victory one of Haydée's rewards was the Casa de las Americas. There she changed from political warrior to culture warrior. She established an annual prize for literature Called the Casa de las American Prize, and many famous Latin American authors have won that prize.
Havana has bigger, taller, more celebrated buildings, but this one has lodged in my head.
Every time I walk by it, I reflect on its role in promoting culture. Cuba has an old, interesting culture, but it has no humane laws, no municipal humane shelters, and a not-well-developed humane ethic. Perhaps the animals of Cuba deserve a book about them—perhaps one good enough to win the Casa de las Americas Prize.
We'll have to start talking this up.
Les Inglis
Friday, December 23, 2011
Moving Around Cuba
Moving Around Cuba
Transportation in Cuba is unique and very strange to Americans or to others in the western world. We have mental pictures of the 1950's cars kept running by Cuba's street mechanics for all these years, but because they once plied our streets, they aren't really so foreign to us. If we think of them as strange, we may be too young to remember when they were common here. For the 50's cars, strangeness is more of a time warp effect.
But the first time I saw a camello, an old fashioned Cuban bus, I thought, "that's really weird." I've mentioned camellos before in these blogs. They are basically tractor trailers where the trailer is fitted out as a bus. The center part of the trailer is lowered to make the step up from or the step down to the street surface easy. The front and back of the trailer are raised to give head room to the passengers riding above the wheels. This gives a two-humped (camel-like) look, and thus the Spanish name, camello, or camel in English.
When I first visited Cuba, camellos were common. They could hold a prodigious number of passengers, and you might guess one was coming when a busy corner on a main artery would be packed with a couple hundred commuters. The old tractor would limp to a stop and pandemonium would ensue as one hundred who wanted to leave the bus had to get by another hundred trying to get on the bus—all through the same set of doors. When finally everyone was on or off as he wished, the tractor would accelerate, grinding up through its gears to repeat the drama at the next bus stop.
Thankfully camellos made their last runs a few years ago, and today a fleet of sleek Chinese buses get people where they are going.
Cuba's intercity buses and trains have some of that weird flavor too. You can ride them and pay in the old Cuban Pesos or pay for a higher class of service in CUC's, Cuba's convertible currency, mostly used by tourists. If you use the old Peso buses, you have a much lower class of service. If you pay in CUC's, you ride in a different train or bus, generally with well-to-do people. This was being discussed recently in our email, and I quote Nora's words to describe the low class service:
Dear Les,
Of course it is much cheaper, but for this very reason it is a very difficult way to travel. Normally they are problematic—as much for the schedules, which are not respected, but for the people who operate them and the people who use them. I would not recommend this option—much less for a vacation in the eastern part of Cuba. As a Cuban, I would never use those trains or regular buses (paid in Pesos).
Nora
Of course many third world countries have trains and buses most of us would avoid, but Cuba may be the only one with two classes of service paid for with two different Cuban currencies. Adding to the transportation weirdness are Co-co taxis, basically a motor scooter for three, Asian style human powered pedicabs, and bicitaxis, a strange cross between a bike and a pedicab.
It's all part of the fun of being in a strange place.
Les Inglis
Transportation in Cuba is unique and very strange to Americans or to others in the western world. We have mental pictures of the 1950's cars kept running by Cuba's street mechanics for all these years, but because they once plied our streets, they aren't really so foreign to us. If we think of them as strange, we may be too young to remember when they were common here. For the 50's cars, strangeness is more of a time warp effect.
But the first time I saw a camello, an old fashioned Cuban bus, I thought, "that's really weird." I've mentioned camellos before in these blogs. They are basically tractor trailers where the trailer is fitted out as a bus. The center part of the trailer is lowered to make the step up from or the step down to the street surface easy. The front and back of the trailer are raised to give head room to the passengers riding above the wheels. This gives a two-humped (camel-like) look, and thus the Spanish name, camello, or camel in English.
When I first visited Cuba, camellos were common. They could hold a prodigious number of passengers, and you might guess one was coming when a busy corner on a main artery would be packed with a couple hundred commuters. The old tractor would limp to a stop and pandemonium would ensue as one hundred who wanted to leave the bus had to get by another hundred trying to get on the bus—all through the same set of doors. When finally everyone was on or off as he wished, the tractor would accelerate, grinding up through its gears to repeat the drama at the next bus stop.
Thankfully camellos made their last runs a few years ago, and today a fleet of sleek Chinese buses get people where they are going.
Cuba's intercity buses and trains have some of that weird flavor too. You can ride them and pay in the old Cuban Pesos or pay for a higher class of service in CUC's, Cuba's convertible currency, mostly used by tourists. If you use the old Peso buses, you have a much lower class of service. If you pay in CUC's, you ride in a different train or bus, generally with well-to-do people. This was being discussed recently in our email, and I quote Nora's words to describe the low class service:
Dear Les,
Of course it is much cheaper, but for this very reason it is a very difficult way to travel. Normally they are problematic—as much for the schedules, which are not respected, but for the people who operate them and the people who use them. I would not recommend this option—much less for a vacation in the eastern part of Cuba. As a Cuban, I would never use those trains or regular buses (paid in Pesos).
Nora
Of course many third world countries have trains and buses most of us would avoid, but Cuba may be the only one with two classes of service paid for with two different Cuban currencies. Adding to the transportation weirdness are Co-co taxis, basically a motor scooter for three, Asian style human powered pedicabs, and bicitaxis, a strange cross between a bike and a pedicab.
It's all part of the fun of being in a strange place.
Les Inglis
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Rebecca's Cat House
Rebecca's Cat House
After a few trips to Cuba, I had seen a few dog refuges, so I asked Nora to arrange for us to visit a cat refuge. Aniplant does not operate an animal refuge, but they help several with rations of food and some veterinary care.
Nora chose Rebecca's cat refuge, and after not finding her at home the first time, we found her the second time. Rebecca is an older woman, perhaps 80, and she lives in what was once a very luxurious house not far from our hotel and a stone's throw from the Florida Straits, which border Havana to the north.
Rebecca's house is a fairly large one floor home with a front porch all across the front face. The ceilings are high and the windows are huge. All stand open as there is no air conditioning, and the cats move from the inside to the porch by jumping through the windows. The porch roof is supported by Corinthian columns. All around the house is a tall wrought iron fence, and the lower eight feet of the fence is covered by sheet iron wired to the fence. That sheet iron is what keeps Rebecca's 30 or more cats inside her yard.
Rebecca's family was once wealthy as you might expect from the large house and the proximity to the water. She told us that when she was a little girl there was no Malecon (Havana's waterside Esplanade, and the sandy beach (now nonexistent) used to extend the two blocks up to her house. Rebecca received us on her large front porch, so I never got to see the inside of the house, although I could peek in the windows and through the screened front door. Years of deferred maintenance, chipped paint, and rusty iron sheets on the fence told me that her situation was more pressed now than when she was young.
And the cats? You ask. Well, they were everywhere you looked--front yard, inside, outside, porch. Frankly, they didn't look too healthy with their fur ruffled and dirty and many with ticks and fleas. At least Rebecca feeds them and water bowls were visible in several places.
Nora tells me Rebecca is very headstrong and doesn't easily accept suggestions about caring for the cats. After many decades of keeping such a collection of cats, she believes she has most of the answers. Nora knows differently, of course. Not every cat is neutered, which means the population will never decline. Once in a while Nora can get her to neuter her females or use a flea treatment on them. Nora knows she has to bring up suggestions for better care slowly and in a spirit of helpfulness. If Rebecca took offence, then the whole refuge would become worse off, so Nora displays her considerable patience and tries for gradual improvements.
Rebecca may have no money at all, but she can't be moved from her house. Until last month, all Cuban real estate was owned by the state, but now this is changing, and Cubans can buy and sell real estate. Rebecca inherited the right to live in her house from her parents, and she will undoubtedly stay there with her cats until she dies.
Then will come the hard choices of what to do with the cats. Not many people are ready to accept a cat or a few cats into their home. They may be killed by the crews of prisoners who patrol the city picking up stray, sick or ownerless animals. Who knows?
All I can say for sure is her cats are one notch better off than homeless. At least they have food and a safe place to sleep.
Les Inglis
After a few trips to Cuba, I had seen a few dog refuges, so I asked Nora to arrange for us to visit a cat refuge. Aniplant does not operate an animal refuge, but they help several with rations of food and some veterinary care.
Nora chose Rebecca's cat refuge, and after not finding her at home the first time, we found her the second time. Rebecca is an older woman, perhaps 80, and she lives in what was once a very luxurious house not far from our hotel and a stone's throw from the Florida Straits, which border Havana to the north.
Rebecca's house is a fairly large one floor home with a front porch all across the front face. The ceilings are high and the windows are huge. All stand open as there is no air conditioning, and the cats move from the inside to the porch by jumping through the windows. The porch roof is supported by Corinthian columns. All around the house is a tall wrought iron fence, and the lower eight feet of the fence is covered by sheet iron wired to the fence. That sheet iron is what keeps Rebecca's 30 or more cats inside her yard.
Rebecca's family was once wealthy as you might expect from the large house and the proximity to the water. She told us that when she was a little girl there was no Malecon (Havana's waterside Esplanade, and the sandy beach (now nonexistent) used to extend the two blocks up to her house. Rebecca received us on her large front porch, so I never got to see the inside of the house, although I could peek in the windows and through the screened front door. Years of deferred maintenance, chipped paint, and rusty iron sheets on the fence told me that her situation was more pressed now than when she was young.
And the cats? You ask. Well, they were everywhere you looked--front yard, inside, outside, porch. Frankly, they didn't look too healthy with their fur ruffled and dirty and many with ticks and fleas. At least Rebecca feeds them and water bowls were visible in several places.
Nora tells me Rebecca is very headstrong and doesn't easily accept suggestions about caring for the cats. After many decades of keeping such a collection of cats, she believes she has most of the answers. Nora knows differently, of course. Not every cat is neutered, which means the population will never decline. Once in a while Nora can get her to neuter her females or use a flea treatment on them. Nora knows she has to bring up suggestions for better care slowly and in a spirit of helpfulness. If Rebecca took offence, then the whole refuge would become worse off, so Nora displays her considerable patience and tries for gradual improvements.
Rebecca may have no money at all, but she can't be moved from her house. Until last month, all Cuban real estate was owned by the state, but now this is changing, and Cubans can buy and sell real estate. Rebecca inherited the right to live in her house from her parents, and she will undoubtedly stay there with her cats until she dies.
Then will come the hard choices of what to do with the cats. Not many people are ready to accept a cat or a few cats into their home. They may be killed by the crews of prisoners who patrol the city picking up stray, sick or ownerless animals. Who knows?
All I can say for sure is her cats are one notch better off than homeless. At least they have food and a safe place to sleep.
Les Inglis
Friday, November 25, 2011
Drop by Drop
In Spanish, "el cuentagotas" means medicine dropper. It is one of a weird collection of Spanish words with a plural feminine ending that is, indeed, masculine and singular. The word literally means count ("cuenta") drops (gotas"). We've all used these little droppers to dispense drops of medicine into eyes or ears or wherever.
I'm reminded of what's going on between Cuba and America as both governments take tiny, tentative, and measured steps toward a more normal relationship. Pride seems to prevent either side's launching an all-out peace initiative, but economic necessity presses both sides to relax its long time sanctions against the other. Neither country seems ready to wage peace, but both keep throwing little teasers out to see what will happen.
Consider these relaxations on the part of Cuba in recent years:
1. Cubans can now have and use cell phones.
2. Cubans can stay in tourist hotels now.
3. Cubans can now buy and sell their houses and cars.
And, not to be outdone, the US has made these changes:
1. Many Bush era restrictions on travel to Cuba have been dropped.
2. Educational and people to people tours have been restored
3. Many US airports are now allowed to offer direct, non-stop flights to Cuba.
Personally, I rejoice at each liberalizing change. At the present time we are planning a trip to Havana next March. When I called Alex, my travel agent in Miami, to get some information for the trip, I was worried when his office told me he was no longer with that firm. They were nice enough to tell me he had moved to Tampa and to give me his new phone number.
Why did Alex move? Well, Tampa is one of the new group of several cities authorized to have direct flights to Cuba. And,a s Alex is a smart businessman; he knows Tampa has a very large Cuban population--probably due to the old cigar industry in Tampa and to the large shipping trade between Tampa and Havana before the embargo.
It seems obvious that more traffic between Cuba and America means more jobs here, and maybe more there as well. Also, instead of being a mystery to Americans, Cuba will be better understood and perhaps both countries will treat each other better.
Not all people see these changes as good for America. Some stick by the policies of the last 50 years, insisting that any interchange between the two countries is appeasement to Cuba's leaders and should be avoided. With such a sharp division in beliefs regarding better relations, we should not expect rapid change from our ossified Congress of recent years.
But I'm celebrating that I'll be flying out of Tampa instead of Miami, and in the process, I'll avoid 300 miles of driving, renting a motel room for an additional night, and having to get up at 4:00 am to catch a flight.
Les Inglis
In Spanish, "el cuentagotas" means medicine dropper. It is one of a weird collection of Spanish words with a plural feminine ending that is, indeed, masculine and singular. The word literally means count ("cuenta") drops (gotas"). We've all used these little droppers to dispense drops of medicine into eyes or ears or wherever.
I'm reminded of what's going on between Cuba and America as both governments take tiny, tentative, and measured steps toward a more normal relationship. Pride seems to prevent either side's launching an all-out peace initiative, but economic necessity presses both sides to relax its long time sanctions against the other. Neither country seems ready to wage peace, but both keep throwing little teasers out to see what will happen.
Consider these relaxations on the part of Cuba in recent years:
1. Cubans can now have and use cell phones.
2. Cubans can stay in tourist hotels now.
3. Cubans can now buy and sell their houses and cars.
And, not to be outdone, the US has made these changes:
1. Many Bush era restrictions on travel to Cuba have been dropped.
2. Educational and people to people tours have been restored
3. Many US airports are now allowed to offer direct, non-stop flights to Cuba.
Personally, I rejoice at each liberalizing change. At the present time we are planning a trip to Havana next March. When I called Alex, my travel agent in Miami, to get some information for the trip, I was worried when his office told me he was no longer with that firm. They were nice enough to tell me he had moved to Tampa and to give me his new phone number.
Why did Alex move? Well, Tampa is one of the new group of several cities authorized to have direct flights to Cuba. And,a s Alex is a smart businessman; he knows Tampa has a very large Cuban population--probably due to the old cigar industry in Tampa and to the large shipping trade between Tampa and Havana before the embargo.
It seems obvious that more traffic between Cuba and America means more jobs here, and maybe more there as well. Also, instead of being a mystery to Americans, Cuba will be better understood and perhaps both countries will treat each other better.
Not all people see these changes as good for America. Some stick by the policies of the last 50 years, insisting that any interchange between the two countries is appeasement to Cuba's leaders and should be avoided. With such a sharp division in beliefs regarding better relations, we should not expect rapid change from our ossified Congress of recent years.
But I'm celebrating that I'll be flying out of Tampa instead of Miami, and in the process, I'll avoid 300 miles of driving, renting a motel room for an additional night, and having to get up at 4:00 am to catch a flight.
Les Inglis
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