Sunday, October 28, 1492
It was such a pleasure to see all the green and all those forests and birds that I could hardly turn away. This island with her many good harbours and deep rivers is the most beautiful which I have ever seen. And there seem to be no tides, because the grass on the shore reaches all the way to the ocean. (...) Between all those islands I have not encountered any stormy sea so far. Everywhere on the island there arise very beautiful mountains (...). As far as I can understand the Indians travelling with me, there are many rivers on the island (...) and that they could not circumnavigate the island within twenty days in their canoes.

Monday, October 29, 1492
I tend to believe that all Indians of this coast are fishermen; they probably bring their haul to the interior of the island, which appears to be of considerable size. There are trees with deliciously tasting fruit. The wind blows gently and agreeably during the nights, neither cold nor warm (...) here solely reigns a mild climate like in May. The mountains are a lovely sight...

Saturday, November 3, 1492
I pulled the boat onto the beach, went ashore and climbed up a small height in order to obtain an impression of the area. Due to the dense forest, which was fresh and fragrant, I could not achieve vision of anything. All is so beautiful, that one could never have enough of this sight or become tired of the chant of the big and small birds. Today many canoes approached the ships to trade things spun of cotton, including the nets in which these people use to sleep. 

Tuesday, November 6,  1492
The Spaniards reported that the Indians had received them with great solemnity, and all men and women had wanted to see them, and they had been accomodated in the best houses. (...) On their way to the interior of the land, my men encountered many native people, men and women, who held a charred and hollow piece of wood in their hands, and also herbs, to smoke them in it, which is a custom among them. (...) All these people are willing to give their belongings away at a ridiculously low price.  (...). The people lack all sense of belligerence...

Sunday, November 25, 1492
I can hardly find words for what a joy and pleasure it offers to regard all this.  (...) As this region would deserve, I have not yet praised it to a hundredth part, and Our Lord pleases Himself to show me ever more new things. For what I have discovered so far has always proved to be even better than what I had seen before (...).

And nobody will be able to believe all this unless he has seen it with his own eyes.

1992  

I went to Cuba 
because I was curious; 
because no one agrees on its strengths; 
because I’d read so much about it; 
because it is forbidden; 
because it’s heartbreakingly lovely; 
because so many people have championed it while so many others have abandoned it; 
because Cubans make great music and aromatic cigars; 
because they’ve thumbed their nose at their former patron for more than three decades; 
because I’d grown weary of writing about Latin American "democracies" where forlorn illiterate campesinas sit on city street corners selling combs, nail clippers and undervalued handicraft, while their malnourished barefoot youngsters turn their palms up and say "gimme" instead of learning how to hold a pencil or read a sentence; 
because of its rich literary tradition; 
because my favorite players on the Washington Senators in the 1950’s were Cuban; 
because I’m an incurable romantic; 
because we still have a navy base there; 
because Cuban women are astute and alluring; 
because in the last five hundred years of travel writing few cities in the world have been so effusively praised as Havana; 
because Teddy Roosevelt led the charge up San Juan Hill; 
because I liked "Our Man In Havana" an "The Old Man and the Sea"; because I got a kick out of Desi Arnaz; 
because I was distrustful of Cuba’s bashers and its cheerleaders; 
because I liked the twinkle in Fidel’s eyes; 
because I had never been to a Communist country; 
because I wanted to learn to rumba; 
because it has hundreds of miles of unspoiled beaches; 
because of its mystique.

© 2005 Platten Sailing Cuba - Kontakt: PlattenSailCuba@aol.com