Cuba's beaches are no longer as beautiful as they were in the 1940s and 1950s

Paradise Lost

Cuba's beaches are no longer as beautiful as they were in the 1940s and
1950s
By Ana Menendez | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 9, 2009

I have photos of Cuba's Varadero beach from when my father was growing
up there in the 1940s and '50s. They are remarkable mostly for what's
missing: high-rise hotels and their tangle of tourists. Instead, the
camera captured wide expanses of sand, palm, and cocoplum.

I grew up in Tampa, far from that mythical beach. Every year the
extended family vacationed on the Atlantic, and every year we children
endured complaints from the elders about how inferior Florida beaches
were to their beloved Varadero.

In 1997 I finally traveled to Varadero and found that it bore little
resemblance to the beach of my imagination. The water was cloudy. The
shore was littered with block hotels, and well-fed European women
suntanned topless by the pool. Still, hoping to bring back some of the
magic for my family, I packed an empty water bottle with the sand that
was always described as white and fine as talcum powder. When I returned
to Miami, I distributed it in little flasks. Pouring some into their
hands, my father and his siblings were aghast. "What's this?" cried my
aunt. "This is not our sand!"

I still tell the story for laughs. But Cuban exiles are not the only
ones who have spent the past 50 years romanticizing the island. The
moment an American learns of my background, the first comment is
usually, "I want to visit Cuba before Castro falls and it's ruined"—the
implication being that U.S. capitalism will flatten paradise. It's an
assumption that carries a double irony. First, these are often the same
people who think the embargo should be lifted. And second, Cuba didn't
have to wait for the Americans to turn it into Cancún. Spain and the
rest of Europe beat them to it.

Last spring President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to allow
unlimited family travel to the island. And last month a senior State
Department official visited Cuban authorities in Havana to continue
talks. For moral and practical reasons, these are the right steps to
take; just a few years ago, they would have been impossible. But
Cuban-Americans have grown weary. Like others in their generation, my
parents, now in their 60s, have lived most of their lives as Americans.
Obama's overtures mean little to them. Even if the Castro brothers fled
today, my parents would not return.

When I brought back sand from their beloved beach, I robbed my parents
of a protective nostalgia. As relations with Cuba improve, Obama may end
up doing the same for the ordinary American.

Menendez's latest novel is The Last War.

My Turn: Obama and Improved Relations With Cuba | Newsweek Politics |
Newsweek.com (10 October 2009)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/217024?from=rss