Cuba is the new Argentina

Don't tell my mom, but last Friday I crossed into Nuevo Laredo, México, to go to a concert with a co-worker.


Omara Portuondo, a member of the Buena Vista Social Club, performed in N.L. during the IX Festival Internacional Tamaulipas. It's a month long festival with big name performers, like El Puma (the only name I recognized). They had a big name actress perform in a play last Thursday. On Friday, Omara Portuondo performed.

Last month, my co-worker and I saw the list of the performers and she was excited about the Portuondo concert. She was also disappointed that she wouldn't be able to go because her visa expired and it was taking a long time to get her paperwork. I tried to give her some hope by faking some confidence in the State Department and told her I'd go with her to the concert. Six weeks later, I found myself on a bridge fighting traffic crossing to N.L.

But I was glad I went because the concert was great. It wasn't as loud or big as a Celia Cruz concert, but she sang some standards and I didn't feel so lost.

Plus the usher needed people to fill up the front row and asked us if we wanted to sit up front so I danced in my chair and tried to be really into the concert. You can understand why I was disappointed when the singer motioned for the audience to get up and only got up halfway because everyone else was in their chairs. Even my co-worker was a bit embarrassed for me. I sat through the rest of the song and regretting not getting up. So when she motioned for us to get up again, I was the first one on my feet shaking my nalga.

A couple of days later I read about Americans visiting Cuba in the Travel section of the newspaper. In my militant chicana days, I wanted to tag along with the medical/religious folks traveling through Laredo to go to México to go to Cuba. I didn't go because I couldn't get off work, plus I knew my mom would make it difficult for me since she was the Keeper of The Birth Certificates (she kept mine even after was married). Now my co-worker wants to go to Cuba even after our trip to Argentina (another place for us cheap U.S. tourists) went bust.

I smiled and said, "Sure, that sounds like fun," but I didn't mean it. I don't think Cuba sounds fun at all. Yes I prefer to stay at locally owned hotels/motels and prefer mom and pop restaurants to chains, but Cuba? That's roughing it. Aren't people dying to get out of there?

For now, I can only hope that my co-worker's lawyer and the government keep increasing fees so she won't have money to travel because she obviously takes me seriously.