‘You’ve been to Cuba?’ Camp asked me after our first brews arrived and we got comfortable in our usual seats on the lovely Gibson’s harbour.

            ‘Yes, a couple of times. Once in January 2008, a few months before Cuba got hammered by a devastating hurricane season. Fay, Gustav and Ike swept through the island causing widespread damage to homes, schools and livelihoods and displaced thousands of people. The other time was over 2019 New Year. We stayed in a pre-revolution villa in Vedado and drove around in Taxis like celebrities. There were items missing every day from the grocery shelves. One day you could get eggs or not, the same with toilet paper or even beer. One time I was told that they were out of beer. Imagine that. All in all, we enjoyed the people, the city of Havana and the dramatic country side in Viñales.’ 

            ‘Obama opened the embassy in 2015 and he was relaxing relationships with Cuba, allowing more visits and exchanges of goods and money with expats. That didn’t last long because in 2017 Trump suspended most services following those unexplained incidents known as the Havana Syndrome, where embassy staffers experienced eerie sounds and troubling brain abnormalities. A sonic device was suspected as the cause but no evidence has ever been found,’ Camp said.

            ‘Weird,’ I said, ‘not what Cuba needed at the best of times.’

            ‘And here we are, 67 years after the revolution and the people in the whole beautiful island nation are in the worst situation ever. Trump stopping Venezuelan oil shipments to the island nation only helped to cripple their economy.’

            ‘I know. It’s a humanitarian disaster. Thousands of tourists cancelled their Cuba vacations, travel advisories told people to stay away; outbreaks of Dengue and Chikungunya, both mosquito born diseases, ravaged the island and then comes Trump with his imperialistic and arrogant ambitions.’        

‘Just the other day he blinked and allowed the Russian tanker ‘Anatoly Kolodkin’ with 730’000 barrels of oil into the port of Matanzas, postponing a human catastrophe, for now at least. Food is scarce and difficult to refrigerate; hospitals are cancelling surgeries because doctors and nurses can’t commute to work; clinics are struggling to provide care because of the frequent power outages; ambulances are parked because they have no fuel and the bankrupt state can’t afford to buy medicines and flights are cancelled due to the lack of jet fuel. Private vehicles have to wait up to a month for a tank of gas and taxis are allowed to fill up once a week. People are siphoning off some of that gas and selling it on the black market for $40 a gallon.’ 

‘And yet, the regime in Cuba is unrelenting, citing the revolution as the most important facet of their wretched lives and everybody in the government is fiercely loyal to the Castro doctrine. If Trump wants to invade Cuba it will be a repeat of the Bay of Pigs disaster,’ I said.

‘Meanwhile at Guantanamo Bay, everything functions just fine. There is even a bowling alley, a sports bar and an arcade. Would you go to Cuba today,’ Camp asked.

‘Probably not, even though I want to support the people there and I know they need the tourist dollars. Travelling is ever more a perilous undertaking. Cartels in Mexico, disease and misery in Cuba, hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Middle East on fire. I think I’ll stay home for a while, watch the humming birds and smell the flowers.’

Maybe you’re right. It’s good around here if you don’t read the news or pay attention to the price of gas and groceries. Here comes Vicky with some fresh goodness.’

‘Have you ever travelled anywhere to a warm place?’ Camp asked her.

‘No. I was too poor when young and then I had a kid and moved in with my mom. She keeps talking about going somewhere sunny in the winter. I know you guys hitchhiked around the world in your day.’

‘Yes, lucky us.’