Today I went boating with Jose and Carlos down around Key Largo. The sky was clear, water was very calm and sun was out. Pretty much the perfect day to enjoy the day out on the water. We met at Jose’s parents’ house. I went in and greeted his parents. They are probably in their 60’s or early 70’s. Jose told them that I am about to go on my 9-12 months trip starting in Cuba. Immediately, their faces turned from joyous ones into questioning and disapproving look. “Why are you going there?” “You are supporting Castro by giving him your money?” I knew Cubans in Miami usually don’t like Fidel, but boy, this was my first hand encounter with them and they definitely will let you know they don’t support Fidel. I discreetly extracted myself and went on my merry way.
Later that afternoon, we took the boat out and was cruising down the coast at a good 34 knots. The water was calm so that made the boat ride a smooth one. For a while, I was sitting up at the front of the boat, the wind blowing in my face. Even with my glasses, the wind was making my teary eyed, but it felt really awesome.
On our way to Tiki Bar, a restaurant where boats can pull up to dock, we stopped to get some gas. So if you think your car eats up too much gas, check this out. This was the bill for half a tank of gas on a 28 feet boat!!!
I guess I won’t be getting a boat any time soon.
So Carlos and I started talking about Fidel and why the Cubans in Miami don’t like him. Eventually we got around to talking about Jose’s parents and their dislike for Fidel. As it turned out, the old man I met a couple hours earlier, who sat pleasantly in his lazy boy chair, tried to start a mini-revolution against Fidel’s government in 1998. The story goes … he and his two buddies took a small fishing boat, one probably not much bigger than the 28 feet boat we were in, filled it with rifles, small arms and grenade, and arranged to meet their Cuban counters parts at a bay in Cuba. Maybe Bay of Pigs?! Of course, something went wrong; because of some miscommunication, they never made the connection and had to hide in some country house for a few days. The Cuban government somehow found out about it and caught them, sentencing them to 26 years in jail.
Putting things in perspective; these were 3 grandfathers, who back in 1998 would have been in their late 50’s or early 60’s, armed with rifles and granades attempting to do what the CIA and anti-Castro groups could not do in the 1960’s. I couldn’t help laughing when I heard this. I just met a real-life revolutionary rebel. Picture this, 3 old men on a fishing boat, trekking the 90 miles to start a revolution against Cuba, run by the bearded one…ie Fidel.
Haha. Luckily for them, Cuban government probably just thought these were 3 harmless grandfathers who had too much time on their hands. So after 3 years, they were released from prison to go back to Miami. Fidel probably got a good laugh out of this I am sure.
More pictures here