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In preparing to go to Cuba for the first time, I packed summer clothes like every other European, refreshed my knowledge about Cuba, and as it would later turn out, I took a load of prejudice with me to the island nation. That Cuba is a country often misperceived and misunderstood became immediately clear to me, even while we were still at the Charles de Gaul airport in Paris. The personnel at the check-in counter stubbornly insisted that I needed a visa to be allowed in to the country, while I insisted that Serbian citizens do not need a visa. The discussion lasted so long, and was so tiring, that I had to finally run to board the flight, which would take 11 hours to reach Havana.
My first impression upon landing was tropical air and tobacco smoke, specifically the omnipresent Cuban cigar. And then Havana … However ready you think you are for this country, you are always surprised by the intensity of colours, smells, tastes, sounds. To put it more simply, the intensity of life is simply everywhere. On the way to Havana from the airport, one already notices that Cuba is a paradise island where life is more intense than in other places. A temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius is typical in early November and it takes a while to adapt to the humidity, which was about 77 percent when we arrived. Yet, when we recalled the weather from where we had come, the adaptation period grew considerably shorter.
Hotel National, built by the Americans in the 1930s, is a meeting place for foreigners, mostly business people and diplomats, but also the Cuban elite. I had the opportunity to see Minister Raul Castro sipping his coffee quietly with two assistants who were obviously not his bodyguards. Once again showing my prejudice, I had somehow expected to see an entire battalion surrounding the president's brother.
In front of the hotel were the expected taxi drivers with their old American cars from the 1940s and 1950s, but also the most recent models, especially Mercedes. Like cigars, rum and music, the old cars, though American, are practically symbols of Cuban life, but which are actually disappearing. A great number have been modified as in those cable television programmes that feature spruced up cars; metallic paint and embellished with additional nickel-plated parts and a new interior…
"Early on, we somehow managed to get spare parts", says one taxi driver, "and next we used and adapted parts from Russian cars, and even from agricultural machinery. When these also disappeared, those who could get parts began to modify their cars and those who could not drove them as long as they could. Then they would put them on a sort of trailer and leave them in front of their houses. But separate from them they could not.
The cheapest and best taxis in Havana are state taxis, usually featuring the relatively new Ladas. A drive from the Hotel National to downtown Havana costs between two and two and a half Cuba pesos (for 100 US you get 80 pesos). The same distance in a modified cabriolet old-timer will cost you up to five times more. However, it will be something special…
And then Havana Vieja, the old Havana. A meeting of worlds, a meeting of lives, an impression so strong that it leaves one breathless. The Spanish colonial style is predominant in architecture, while the building facades are generally dilapidated to such an extent that many apartment houses completely lack windows. They probably don’t need them. Still, such poverty is rarely seen, but it is a poverty that cannot defeat life. Despite everything, salsa can be heard on every step, and the smiling faces are everywhere… In the beginning, you think that the smiles are a shield against hard life, a spasm perhaps, a way to endure hardship more easily… But no, these are the smiles of those who rejoice life as it is in a given moment. They refuse to think about the next moment. The smile should be the main symbol of Cuba. I know it is difficult to understand, but it is so. A mouthpiece of paella with beans and perhaps fish, a glass of rum, some music and that's life…
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As at the beginning of November the visitors in Cuba are mostly pensioners from Europe and Canada, and you have the opportunity to compare them with locals of the same age. And what you see is remarkable – the Cubans look much better though they have had, at least in our opinion, a far more difficult life.
When you recover from the overly strong impressions, you see that Cubans are extremely attractive and beautiful people. Mostly they are mulattos, originating from the Spaniards and Africans who have created an admiring mixture. Both women and men have long legs, spindle-shaped muscles, absolutely upright postures and a graceful gait that can not be seen anywhere else. Perhaps that's why they are talented in so many sports, in which they achieve top results. Not to mention dance.
And then music, everywhere, at every moment. A dried gourd filled with seeds, a guitar, drum, any combination will do, and there is the joy, there is the challenge of fascinating body movement… During the day, and especially in the evenings, a majority of restaurants have live music that draws people like a magnet. Bands playing for tourists always pull out their "Buena Vista Social Club" songs, as Raha Cudera has contributed greatly to the popularity of the Cuban sound across the planet.
Some history. At the beginning of the 14th century, Columbus "discovered" the island known today as the State of Cuba. From then until 1909, Cuba was a colony under Spain, Great Britain, France and the USA. In 1909, Cuban general Gomes liberated the country and established a military regime. The military and political regimes alternated several times until 1959, when Fidel Castro Ruiz established a socialist republic following a revolution. In 1962, Cuba took centre stage in the world when the so-called Cuban missile crisis broke out; the Soviet Union had stationed missiles in the United States and they had no intention of withdrawing them. In the same year, Kennedy and Khruschov finally found a mutually acceptable agreement and the USSR pulled out its missles, but the economic blockade has remained until today.
Without political engagement, one should say that in spite of such long sanctions, Cuba lives and achieves results that foreigners can hardly understand, at least when looking from outside. Up to 35 percent of Cubans have university education, 85 percent have secondary school education, and there are practically no illiterate Cubans. There are no the incurable contagious diseases, and in some branches of medicine, according to one of our renowned professors at the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine, Cuba is 15 years ahead of others in the world, like in regenerative medicine, bio-medicine, transplants, some cardio-vascular diseases and cancer, psoriasis and vitiligo. The professor attributes this to talent and the fact that the world’s pharmaceutical industry has no impact on Cuban medicine.
The Cubans are also very well informed. They are sociable and speak English quite well, and it is amazing how many of them knew that Serbia and Montenegro no longer existed, that is was now just Serbia. They discuss various issues, mostly politics, although we had the prejudice that they were fearful of discussing politics with foreigners. In this field, the scope of opinion was enormously wide, from "We are free, nobody works here under pressure and we advance slowly, step by step" to "12 million Cubans all work for Castro and his social experiment some live superbly but others live in poverty".
What is really clear is that nobody can envision Cuba's future after Castro, but this doesn’t seem to bother them too much either.
A foreigner is for Cubans a potential source of income. Selling cigars, souvenirs, recommending a restaurant or finding a taxi and many other favours, but mostly charming to earn a peso. When you realise that cigars you have just bought are very like the original but actually are not, you are not angry at all. Our man will always find an excuse. "Doesn’t matter, in any case I have bought them as a present to friends. They certainly don’t know an original Cuban cigar, for God's sake!"
Cigars are one of the most important export articles. I had the opportunity to visit the plant "H. Upman" in the centre of Havana; 350 workers roll 25,000 cigars of various sorts every day, of top quality Cuban tobacco. All cigars are handmade, rolling two tobacco leaves, and then wrapped in a third one. The entire production is exported.
Tompuses, as the Cuban cigars are popularly called, are a challenge for tourists. If you buy them in shops, at better hotels or at airport duty-free shops, they cost from 8 to 50 US$ a piece. If you trust your ability to recognise the original, you can try the alternative ways of purchase and buy 50 pieces in a wooden box for 50 Euro. In one way or another they will be smoked.
In some way immediately after cigars and rum follow the products with | 
