All You Can Drink: The Real Picture of Canadians in Cuba
After eight years of living in and out of Canada, I finally received my first Canadian passport. I was so thrilled and excited and I could not wait to get stated on my first trip as a new citizen. Many people think that travelling abroad with a Canadian passport is a way to feel proud to be a member of one of the most respected countries in the world. As a new Canadian, I simply wanted to feel this way, so my best friend and I decided to organize a trip; and since my birthday was coming up soon, we decided to take a week off school and travel to one of Canada's top destinations -Cuba.
The purpose of the travel was to relax and become acquainted with a beautiful place on Earth. We wanted to experience the variety of local foods like seafood lobsters shrimps cooked Caribbean style, tropical fruits like coconuts pineapples and mangos, drinks (such as rum and liqueurs), the warm hospitality, the famous Cuban cigars, and of course the most breathtaking beaches!
On the contrary, what I discovered was beyond my imagination. The beach was just the way I was imagining it: white, soft sand, turquoise, clear ocean, endless amazing and beautiful landscape. Unfortunately, it was full of drunken, hangover tourists - Canadians, abusing the hospitality of the Cubans in ways I have never seen. This was not a spring break gone wild; it was nearing May. The locals called it the quiet season (I can only imagine how crazy the spring break was). I could see family people with their kids, setting the wrong example how teenagers should behave. There were drunk parents, acting provocatively and the worst was that they thought it was "cool". There was nothing cool about acting in such way, carrying their kids while they were intoxicated or falling into the pool because they did not know which way they were going.
I guess the purpose of the Canadians travelling to Cuba was simply to explore the "all you can drink" opportunity and to vanish in endless nights of partying. The sadness was that they were not only teenagers drinking without control, but also adults without respect, consuming anything, every possible minute, from early morning to late night, and ending up passed out in front of their hotel rooms, the resort gardens or just in about any possible public place.
So here I was, thinking, is that the way to behave and travel the Canadian way in Cuba? You have no idea how embarrassing it was to be asked: "Are you Canadian, too? " And guess what my answer was: "No, I'm from Europe, because I actually was born and raised in Bulgaria, but now I live in Montreal, Canada." Somehow, that made me feel less ashamed but still could not change the opinion Cubans had about Canadian tourists. So I was thinking, is that the group of people I belong to? Of course not, but just the fact that I belonged to the same nation with such people put me in that category.
As the days were passing by, I met many local people working at the resort and I understood the wrong and negative impression Cubans had about Canadians in general. It made me feel ashamed and shy for the Canadian tourists who were acting irresponsibly and arguably insultingly. Of course, the foreigners think that as long as they are given a good tip, it's all right to act in such way; but unfortunately it is not, because many of the people I spoke to were very down to earth, family guys. They work very hard, six days per week twelve hours a day, which even for workaholics like the North Americans, it is too much almost, non-human to handle.
Getting to know the island from the Cubans' eyes was one of the experiences I will never forget. We made friends with Javier who was working at the resort and who kindly offered to take us on a tour. We decided to take a day off the beach and to dive into the culture of Cuba, away from the falseness and the tourist routs. Javier showed us his beautiful but crowded poor city on a wagon tour, where we passed through the main streets, schools museums and local attractions. There was nothing flashy about it, it was dusty, poor and very ruined, and yet people were smiling listening to the beautiful salsa music singing and dancing around. It looked like there has been a hurricane just few days ago, but I guess that was just the sad reality they were living in. It looked very unfortunate but rich in smiles and positive people who had almost nothing material, but alot to share emotionally.
Our good friend was kind enough to invite us to his home and to introduce us to his mother, sister and cousins. Everybody was very nice and warm; they made us feel part of the house. Later on we went for an early diner at this small and very charming restaurant, where I had the most delicious Paella I have ever tasted (yummy)!
I wanted to take pictures because I was very impressed from the beauty of the island and also from the poverty of the people around. Unfortunately, this felt inappropriate, in fact for the first time in my life, I felt like one of the flashy tourist with big sunglasses, expensive clothes (when they were just regular). Taking a picture with my pink camera was going to look just wrong; because I felt the looks of everybody, they were staring at us because we were different we were not fitting in the scenery. So instead of taking out my camera, I took mental pictures of the kids playing and the guys on the bikes that I will never forget.
I have noticed that everybody we spoke to was trying to do something more with their lives.
They had goals in life such as building a house or helping their families. My impression is that People think the wrong way about Cubans, as a friend I met there told me: "The way Canadians think is that all we want is money, sex and a passport to get out of the country". For a lot of the guys I met there, the basic and most important thing is la familia. After this long and emotional day, outside the resort, we went back to fake world - the hotel, where we were able to see everything through another prospective. I guess we were feeling guilty of what we have and what these Cuban people don't have. How fortunate we are to have such a variety of anything we can think of and all the opportunities that we sometimes take for granted. This day outside in the city made has changed me in ways I'm not sure I can still realize them to the fullest.
I guess now is easier to imagine how the Cubanos think of us: las touristas who can't recall the previous night because they were way too drunk.
The point is not what the Cubanos think of us now, because the damage is done already, but what they are going to think in the future. I would like to think that the Canadians would realize how bad their behavior looks and change their behavior or behave as they would if they were at home when they are travelling abroad, not only to Cuba but to any other destination. Important part of travelling is getting to know the local culture and understand the way of life there, experience the country from another angle is the best way to have an amazing vacation.
Image source: Flickr
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