Hello from Cuba (11) - Inside A Cuban Home

Etecsa Telecommunications Building, Downtown Havana, Wednesday,April 13, 2005, 3:06 pmSo I am sitting here in a new place and I gotta hurry since Ibought a $6 CUC Internet access card and I only have 53 minutesleft.At any rate, the dinner at Pedro´s family on Sunday was amazing.We took the GuaGua (Public Transit System) and after about 1hour we arrived in the area of Marinao. From there we had towalk another 30 minutes or so to get to his house.There I was received by an entire Cuban family, Pedro´s wife anddaughter, his sister in law and their two female cousins who hadcome in from out of town. It was amazing being in a Cuban home,after having spent a whole week in an impersonal hotel. It wasimmediately obvious that the Cuban concept of family is verydifferent from what I have experienced in Austria or Canada.Family members live in very tight living quarters since housingis scarce in Havana and often 2 or 3 generations live under oneroof.My friend told me that in his father´s house 3 of his brotherslive in one bedroom (and they sometimes receive visits fromtheir girlfriends who end up slee...

...ping in the same room), hissister and mother sleep in one room (as his mother is divorced),and the father and another sibling sleep in another room. It´svery difficult to imagine this type of crammed livingenvironment, there is definitely not much privacy....By Canadian standards, the home is very basic, located in acomplex with about 6 apartments, this apartment contains 2bedrooms which are shared by my friend, his wife and daughter(who together have one bedroom), his wife´s sister (who has theother bedroom) and the father of the 2 ladies sleeps in theliving room.Furniture and decor are very basic and instead of upholsteredsofas the furniture consists of traditional wooden chairs thathave a colonial appearance. One of the cousins who was in fromout of town got married last year to a friend of mine inToronto, so she came to Havana to go to the Canadian Consulateto get her visa to finally go to Canada. Getting to go to Canadais not an easy thing at all for Cubans, since it is verydifficult to obtain a Cuban passport.We talked a lot about Canada and about the fact that life isvery different, ...

... the climate, the environment, the concept offamily. This discussion was particularly relevant since Pedro´swife´s female cousin is hoping to come to Canada in the next 6weeks as she is currently pregnant.At any rate, the hospitality was great. I was received like along-lost friend and the ladies had really taken great care toprepare an outstanding dinner. The table was full of dishes:fried chicken, white rice with bean sauce, fried sweetplaintains (one of my favourite foods) and a tasty bean salad.We had flan for dessert and it was one of the best meals I havehad in Cuba so far.I had brought a little souvenir for the family: 2 sets ofcoloured pens for the little girl which she absolutely loved andsome beautiful flowers for the ladies of the house. Theatmosphere was a little shy at first, but after a while westarted chatting, asking each other questions about ourrespective lives in these 2 very different countries. All thewhile I was there I felt very special and I felt truly honouredto have had an opportunity to be introduced to a Cuban familyand to experience Cuban hospitality first hand.