Cuba Si! Yanqui No!

Well, we’re on the way to Los Angeles. Right now we’re a hundred and fifty miles or so south of Acapulco traveling northwest at 20.1 knots. There is not a breath of wind and just a very low and broad swell. There is not a cloud in the sky. I just had a very respectable breakfast and can’t imagine how I could feel more chipper.

Last evening I finished “The First American – The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin” by H.W. Brands. It is an extremely well written book about a most interesting man. At this point, I think I will take a break from the Founding Fathers. I have greatly enjoyed getting to know them and I MAY bore you with my musings on their lives and times should I find myself with time on my hands the next few days at sea. Then again, I may take a nap instead.

Yesterday was very relaxing. I stayed onboard while many of my colleagues went ashore on various 6-8 hour trips into the Guatemalan heartland. Reports were mixed. Most tours included a visit to a working coffee plantation and I sense that while modestly interesting, it was not something you would need to do more than once in a lifetime. At least one bus had a malfunctioning air conditioning system; and these guests did not look happy upon their return to the ship. Still, I believe HAL is to be commended for putting together tour packages at all three unscheduled Central American ports of call on very short notice.

Remaining aboard ship, I had another hot stone massage, a soak in the spa whirlpool, and after a nap headed-up to the Crow’s Nest to await the afternoon round of team trivia.

In the Crow’s Nest I fell into conversation with a group of Canadians and not for the first time on this cruise, the subject turned to Mr. Obama’s apparent interest in reaching an accommodation with Cuba. It is my impression that virtually all hands on board support lifting all American travel restrictions to Cuba. The HAL folks for obvious reasons – I’m sure that ship itineraries have already been drafted and kept under lock and key somewhere in corporate headquarters. And the American passengers of all political stripes now appear to be of the opinion that it is their God given right to visit Havana. The Canadian perspective is slightly more nuanced however.

My Canadian comrades suggested that while it is obvious that the current American policy towards Cuba is an anachronism and should be jettisoned along with many other policies of our late but not lamented recent Chief Magistrate; they also confessed that on a personal level they will regret losing an American tourist-free zone in the Caribbean. All at the table, myself excepted, had visited Cuba in the fairly recent past and found the place charming in a quaint and dilapidated sort of way. And no one doubted that the arrival of the American tourist and American investment would, in short-order, dramatically and irrevocably alter the Cuban landscape, both physical and social, for both good and ill.

“Havana doesn’t really need her,” explained my new friend from Vancouver – gesturing toward an empty table where, minutes ago, a semi-finalist for the 2009 ‘Ugly American Poster Girl’ had been holding court and polluting the room with a loud and long diatribe on how she was going to demand a free therapeutic massage given that HAL had been unable, despite her explicit and detailed instructions, to provide a pillow that provided precisely the correct amount of support for her wrinkled and sun baked neck.

Although I have encountered several boorish Canadians on board, I cannot help but note that a far higher percentage of American guests are simply rude and disgusting. To be sure, a large majority of all nationalities on board are decent, respectable and amiable folks; but I cannot doubt that any reasonable person would rapidly conclude that there is an all too readily identifiable number of my countrymen on board who should be placed in lifeboats (amply provisioned with bread and water) and towed well behind the ship for the duration of the cruise.

Although I could not help but agree with my Canadian friends, I nevertheless elected to change the subject and ordered a round of drinks to fortify us for the upcoming round of team trivia. This was well received.

Well, time to go workout. And then I have a 2 PM premium wine tasting event in the Pinnacle Bar. And I may take in a Bingo game – the Captain is going to be calling the game – a reflection, no doubt, of the cruise director’s probably justifiable concern that four uninterrupted days at sea is a long time to keep us entertained and amused.