Learn Spanish in Cuba

Cuba, head high
It is not enough to have seen Ibrahim Ferrer sing, his cap on tight, the boleros of the older generation nor Compay Segundo adjust his nylon-stringed guitar, to have an accurate impression of Cuba. The island is a distillation of the Caribbean, a royal piece of the Antilles. Of course since the development of tourism in recent years, under the impetus of “Líder Máximo”, Fidel Castro, the visitor comes looking for the myriad of old American convertibles, the quays made salty by the high waves, and the sound, music which has conquered the world, along with the smooth rum and the strong cigars. But Cuba, it must be said, is more than the Buena Vista Social Club.

A living museum of socialism under the palms, the country stretches between its capitals, official and suggested, Havana, Santiago and Camaguey. Metro poles that beat to different rhythms, and can be joined up in a few hours on the tropical roadways. A flat country, where the rare hills don’t rise far above the ocean that surrounds them, Cuba is a cultural nursery. You have to go back a long way, perhaps to Beny Moré, the finely toned crooner, to understand what makes up its soul. Or maybe even further still, to the late Masses of Santeria, The Rule of the Orisha, religion of the liberated slaves whose shrines still animate even the most humble Havana home.

Cuba doesn’t seem to have changed a bit since its revolution. The old buildings with their patched up wooden floors and disarming concrete mouldings, everything seems to have aged with communism. And yet, between a captivating literature, a cinematic industry that metamorphoses at the speed of light, and a music industry that goes from the hip-hop of Florida to the classic mambo, the island is an artistic goldmine whose picturesque streets continually reflect this richness. It’s essential to take a tour of the markets of the big hotels of the capital, where groovy pianists play a syncopated Bach. Or the squares of Karl Marx, where ambitious youths dance in the open air. A new island of beauty.