First the base. They call Cuba the Pearl of the Antilles. This naval base is a little corner of paradise mixed with orwellian 1984. Things you should know if you ever get the chance to visit.
1) This is a secluded base on what is basically a third world country. We produce all of our own water and electricity because there is no local utility company for us to buy it from like on every other base. We lose power fairly often. When there is a bad storm they will turn it off because it is easier to shut it down and then bring it back up than it is if it gets knocked out. And if there is say, a FUCKING FIRE at the electrical plant, well pull up your big girl panties. They'll fix it when they get a chance.
2) While many people seem to imagine GTMO as just a place to keep detainees, that is not the case. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has a long and illustrious history outside its controversial present, and it continues to fill other roles. We serve as a stop over for all our ships heading to south america on aide missions. We fuel them up and stock them up on supplies and give their sailors a chance to stretch their legs. We provide humanitarian aide and are a stop over point for many refugees and asylum seekers while their futures are decided. Only a small portion of the base is set aside for the detainees.
3)This base runs on the power of migrant workers. Seriously I can't stress this enough.
4) It's hard to get stuff here. We get mail mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. Its not delivered. The post office is not open on saturdays. We get our supplies by barge so when we run out of stuff we are out of stuff for up to two weeks until the next barge gets here.
Sometimes its just as well. The fountain soda here tastes like it has lemon pepper and sewage mixed in. It is hideous.
5) I hope you don't have an dependencies. The internet sucks. Its like dial up all over again. They block anything that sucks up a lot of bandwith like skype and it makes it impossible to update games like world of warcraft. The cable sucks. Its grainy and there aren't many channels. We don't even have the comedy channel. The make up, book, and soda selection is dismal. I have spent a small fortune on amazon.com since moving here. The one thing they do have in abundance here is affordable booze. Gotta keep the sailors happy.
6) At 8 am and around sunset every day the base comes to a standstill while they play the anthem. Traffic literaly stops in the street. It confused the shit out of me the first time.
7) We live in earthquake country. That was kind of a surprise too. I work on the second floor of a rickety old building that used to be a warehouse. I fully appreciate now just how much that floor can bounce during a 5.1 quake.
8) The weather is on drugs and can roll in like the hand of an angry god.
But don't get me wrong. Its not all bad. I love it here! It's the middle of winter and it gets to almost 90 everyday! We have over 11 beaches to choose from, each with its own personality! You can find sea glass and semi precious stones literally just laying on the beach.
There is an abundance of flora and fauna to appreciate, not to mention the history just laying around.
Now there are large chunks of the base that is restricted so you can't take pictures for security reasons. So its kind of like paradise meets 1984 meets an exclusive resort. You're chilling in the sun enjoying the sound of the waves in full view of guard towers. It's definitely an interesting experience.
We also have lots of hiking trails. Just don't go hiking by yourself... We have mountains and a lot of the trails are steep and gravely and next thing you know you're at the bottom of the hill, by yourself, not on the trail you told people you would be on, wondering if your knee is broken and starting to worry that a cuban boa is going to eat you. Did I mention that I'm not the brightest?
I was going to include a summary of interesting fauna and my humorous experiences with them, but i think everyone who has made it this far deserves a cookie, so that will be a separate blog.
No go get yourselves a cookie. More will follow later.
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