Something Out of a John LeCarre or Graham Greene Novel

Okay, I guess it's official:  Leon has turned out to be "the place that sticks" for me on this trip, at least for the present moment, since tonight I'll spend my fifth night in a row here (Day 22).  I'm still agnostic on returning to Las Peñitas for a couple days, but I'm definitely sure about heading out somewhere else tomorrow.

I'm staying here a bit longer not because there are tons more westerners here, including young European backpackers and American college kids, than I've seen anywhere else in three weeks.

Indeed, there are also plenty of Our Man in Havana types lurking about in the bars and cafes.  Am I one of them?  It reminds me of the time I returned to Bangkok after a long absence and encountered two Brits who tried to wind me up by accusing me of being a DEA narc.

There's another "quiet American" type sitting over there in the cafe where I'm writing this "dispatch," but he's drinking beer while I'm enjoying my late morning latte.  He's "old school", I guess.

By my demeanor, the folks from Witness for Peace must think I'm an operative for the top secret "ABC" agency, with a direct line to the Managua station chief himself.  "I'm a Suzuki violin teacher," I tell them, feeling somewhat lame as I do so.  Yeah, right!  That sounds like a perfect cover, or "legend", for my true purposes here.  After all, why else would I be asking so many questions about the Colombian, the Venezuelan, and the Cuban legs of their fact-finding mission?

M says WfP has offical permission from the State Department to make this trip to Cuba.  The organization also requires Cuban government permission--not difficult for them to get if they are as liberal as they are made out to be on the internet.  "The bad thing about that is we won't be able to escape our Cuban government minders," he says.  M and R both invited me to join them for the Nicaraguan leg--"There's always room for more"--but I mentioned that I knew I'd have to pay $1000 for the privilege, which they readily confirmed.

R acknowledged that WfP does make a profit from their volunteers at this $100 per day rate.  "But that also includes room and board with local families, overland transport, expert guides and interpreters," she says.

We discuss the risks of traveling, as Americans, to Cuba without offical U.S. sanction.  I've heard that a common route is through Cancun, where the cheapest Havana flights and Cuban visas are available at around $300 for the total package.

I remember a story about a California musician who bought old upright pianos to refurbish which he then turned around and exported to Cuba for use in the dance and music academies.  Upon his return to the U.S. from one of his Cuba trips, the authorities nailed him, and the Treasury Department imposed an $8000 fine.  As I recall, the musician's reaction was something along the line of "this is a situation of can't pay, so won't pay."  He didn't even have enough money to hire a lawyer because all his extra money was going into second hand pianos.

M claims that if I failed to slip back into America from Cuba without the authorities noticing, and if Treasury were to hit me with a big fine, then the ACLU would take my case.  "And they've never lost a case," he says.  I don't know how accurate this information is, but it's an interesting question:  Is full liberty to travel, where and when you please, without government interference, a First Amendment right?  How ironic that Washington demanded the end of all Iron Curtain travel restrictions at the height of the Cold War, yet today retains its own anachronistic restrictions.

It seems that this 50 year-old Washington anti-Cuba policy serves no one except a small but vocal constituency in Florida.  This policy does not benefit the U.S.A., and it doesn't prevent the Cuban government from doing exactly what it wants.

These economic embargo policies really have only losers:  both the American and Cuban peoples.  Cubans miss out on the economic benefits of free trade with the U.S.  And Americans miss out on the many cultural benefits of Cuban arts, music, dance, food etc.  In other words, the good stuff.

But beyond all that, in the 21st century, isn't it time to end all passport restrictions for Americans?  Currently, even this "minor" restriction vis-a-vis Cuba seems just a bit. . .well, unAmerican.

Willy: A Typical Upper Class Nica Teen?

Last night the rains came in again heavy at around 4 p.m. which more or less restricted me to my immediate block.  Hanging out in front of our hotel were M from WfP, a couple security guards from across the street, and Willy, a kid from the neighborhood.  His family's shophouse is just three doors down the block.

Grabbing an opportunity to practice his pre-Twinkle level English, Willy engaged both M & I in a spirited discussion of all things Nicaraguan and American--including his circle's favorite rap musicians (Snoop & Dr Dre), clothes, pastimes & so on.

Grabbing my opportunity to practice my pre-Twinkle level Spanish, I learned that his family is actually Cuban on his mother's side, but that he grew up in Leon.  His family business makes metal plaques for other homes & businesses, but also busts & stylized pictures of Sandinista heros & other icons from Nicaragua's history.  The shop does very high quality work.

Willy, 17 years old, is still a high school student, but also works for the family business.  He plans to attend university in two years.  He told me the family's shophouse is valued at $80,000 (very cheap, he said) but when I joked that I didn't have that kind of money lying around, he quickly assured me "it's not for sale."  If his shop house was in America it would be worth a million dollars, he said:  "Twenty million cordobas!  Mucho dinero. . ."

He has traveled to the U.S. a couple times (he has relatives there), and he was struck by the differences between homeless people in the two countries.  "The American homeless are very crazy--they'll do anything.  There are a lot of crazy people in estados unidos."

The very little English Willy had seemed to come partly from Afro-American culture with a lot of "whassup" and "you feel me?"  But this kid was so energetic and engaging, it was no problem at all catching his meaning.  He talked about how he likes Nicaragua's "natural life (style)" but that he prefers foreign girlfriends (from other Latin American countries).  "My girlfriend now is from (El) Salvador."

Willy admired M for using some of his retirement time to volunteer for an organization in Nicaragua.  And he seemed to appreciate my efforts to listen and commnicate with a typical middle to upper middle class Nicaraguan teenager.

Americans Abroad as "Witnesses for Peace"

My first night at the Casona Colonial I had the entire hotel to myself, but last night more visitors moved in.  This morning I met them, a trio of Americans from Duluth, MN and Superior, WI who are on a volunteering mission for an organization called Witness for Peace.  You can check out their website linked to the right.  I've also added Wikipedia's controversial articles about the organization, which supposedly is very pro-Sandinista.

The man, who I will call M, is a retired academic, and he told me they are part of delegation that will tour various agricultural regions in Nicaragua to assess the impact of NAFTA & CAFTA on the economies here & in other countries like Colombia & Venezuela.  M is traveling with R, a woman--also an academic from University of Wisconsin.  And a third younger woman is also traveling with them for part of their journey.

I visited WfP's website and checked out the page about the Nicaragua delegation.  It appears to be another one of those deals where you pay big bucks to "volunteer."  It's not a bad thing, I don't mean that, but $1000 plus airfare for a ten day mission strikes me as a little dear, at least for me personally.

At some point in the future, I might want to do some "volunteer travel."  It seems to be not such a bad way to put in some time, somewhere, for a good cause, to try to do one's part for the bigger picture, and so forth.  But I'd prefer to sign on with some organization that doesn't require me to pony up the thousands of bucks some of them ask for.  I can see giving either my money, or giving my time (and paying for my expenses as I do so).  But I can't quite bring myself to give just a little bit of my time and a lotta bit of my money, both.

The Wealthy Part of Town for Cuba Flights

I'm writing from a cyber cafe in the Edificio Atlantis, a high rise office building in Guatemala City´s Zona 10--also known as the wealthy part of town. I know this area from my visit in August 2008, and I knew about this building, the cyber cafe, and the fact that you can get delicious espresso drinks for $2.00 or less and internet access for about $1.50 an hour. The building also has an ATM of the bank I prefer to use, so it made a lot of sense for me to set up the Atlantis Building as my headquarters for the day.

Imagine my surprise then when I was researching Cubana Airlines and discovered they have their offices in this building--or at least they did when my edition of the Guatemala Rough Guide was published a few years ago. I have confirmed that there are a number of travel agencies as well as the office of U.S. Airways in the building, but Cubana seems to have gone elsewhere.

Do I really want to go to Havana anyway? Well, yes, I do (and I have wanted to visit Cuba for many years), but it remains an open question if I will attempt to do so on this trip. I didn't do much research at home, and I´m not even sure of the current restrictions post-Bush era, but as far as I know it is still illegal for most Americans to spend their dollars in Castro's Cuba (but not illegal, at least technically, for Americans to travel there). So I wouldn't want to do anything overt--such as pay for a Cuba flight on a credit card--to break that law. And I don't know if I'll be able to access enough cash in a timely manner to pay for such a flight. Still, the possibility is enticing. And I'd like to go before Washington eases the rules and Cuba is invaded by Yankee hordes.