27 Marzo 2010

We arrived early in Santiago after a pleasant one-hour flight. We drove in our monstrous tourist van to the hills of San Juan and also to the scenic castle of Morros. We were exhausted from our 4 hours of sleep the night before so we napped for a little while at the hotel before we went out to Casa de La Trova, a music house of traditional Son music, for our after dinner entertainment. As we were walking back to the hotel we passed by a massive crowd of thousands of youth leaving a concert or some event. We were annoyed by the number of guys who asked us ‘where are you from’ in English and I have never in all my travels experience that number of people who would veer into our path to touch our hair or say ‘beautiful ladies’ (in English). The street was loud with hissing. We have been warned that we would receive compliments and invitations, and that we should take it lightly- “it is just a joke- a complement”. I hate that the only thing they ask us is where we are from. Normally we ignore the question. I hate it because it is a reminder of how much we stick out no matter how hard we have tried to integrate ourselves into Cuban culture and regardless of the language we are speaking. Also, as I’ve said before, I never feel physically unsafe in Cuba, but I often feel uncomfortable because the Cuban men can be very sexually aggressive. They nearly never immediately accept our rejections – either to dance, or to leave with them to other places.
The experience of male foreigners, and the experience of our male professors who told us to take the compliments lightly are very different than those of four girls walking together without a male. They have no way of seeing what we are subjected to. The Machismo has sparked conversation among the group as to whether women are or are not treated with respect here in Cuba.