Dreaming in Cuban

(1980)

Celia gathers Felicia’s belongings for her funeral. Felicia had requested to be buried in the white clothes of a santera, and Celia had agreed. After sorting through her daughter’s clothing and miscellaneous belongings, Celia puts on Felicia’s swimsuit and marches into the sea.

Pilar

Pilar and Lourdes arrive in Cuba. Pilar is struck by the proliferation of billboards advertising the revolution “as if it were a new brand of cigarette” (215). Lourdes is struck by the poverty and crumbling buildings. As they make their way to the house on Las Palmas Street, they listen to a news story about a group of Cubans storming the Peruvian embassy, hoping to be able to leave the country. After looking at the shuttered family home, they enlist a taxi to take them to Santa Teresa del Mar. As they proceed along the coastal highway, Pilar looks out at the ocean. She remembers that she once planned to cross it from Key West in a fisherman’s boat and thinks about the many people who have attempted the treacherous crossing in the opposite direction, hoping to reach Miami safely and begin new lives.

When they arrive at Celia’s, they find her sitting on her porch swing, gazing at the sea. She is covered in sand and seaweed, and she tells her daughter and granddaughter that she went for a swim the night before. Lourdes bathes her, and they feed her soup and put her to bed. Lourdes notices a framed photo of El Líder on the table; Celia has wedged the photograph of Castro over a picture of Jorge.

Lourdes and Pilar go for a walk and purchase a stalk of sugarcane to chew on. It is not as sweet as Lourdes remembers. Lourdes continues to be struck by the country’s poverty and blight and tries to tell the Cubans she meets that if they were in America, their lives would be better. She notes the proliferation of vintage American cars, some held together with rope and twine. These ancient, hulking vehicles still work better than the newer Russian models available in Cuba, and Lourdes cannot help but be angry at how “brainwashed” the Cuban populace has become through so many years of propaganda, obfuscation, and misinformation.

Lourdes

Lourdes continues to notice the poverty and thinks that in spite of socialism’s promises, inequality persists; Ivanito devours plate after plate of food at the tourist hotel she takes him to because red meat and seafood are not part of the local diet. The ration coupons provided to locals do not allow for such delicacies, which are reserved for tourists and for export to Russia. Lourdes meets Luz and Milagro, and they go dancing with Ivanito. Although she thinks that her daughter Pilar dances like an American, Ivanito is a beautiful dancer. Lourdes travels back to the finca where she and Rufino once lived. She remembers their early days together, then recalls her rape and their hasty exit from Cuba.

Ivanito

Ivanito spends time with Lourdes, Pilar, and his sisters Luz and Milagro. Pilar encourages them all to consult the I Ching, and Lourdes and Ivanito’s sisters both roll their eyes. Lourdes calls it “garbage,” and Luz and Milagro characterize Pilar as “another loca” in the family. Although Ivanito is interested in talking to Pilar, Lourdes tries to monopolize his time. She tells him stories of everything that is possible in America but ignores him when he tells her that he would like to be a translator for world leaders because his Russian is so fluent.

Pilar

Celia and Pilar have developed a closeness, and the strength of their bond is evident in the amount of time they spend together and in the ease of their interactions. Pilar offers to paint Celia’s portrait and Celia laughingly tells her granddaughter that she would like to be painted in a red flamenco dress. Celia also tells Pilar about Cuba before the revolution. It was corrupt and poor, and the entire economy was based on sugar, the profits of which were mostly funneled to American companies. Pilar interrupts to point out that there is still corruption, repression, a lack of opportunity, and constant shortages of food and other basic necessities. Pilar wonders how her life would have been different if she had remained on the island with Celia. Although her mother cannot wait to leave so that she can stop giving “hard currency” to El Líder’s regime, Pilar wishes to stay longer. Celia gives her granddaughter the collection of letters she wrote to Gustavo, as well as a cherished book of poetry by Garcia Lorca.

Lourdes

Lourdes heads to the Peruvian embassy in Havana to assess the deteriorating situation. El Líder himself appears, and she gets so close that it occurs to her that she could easily kill him. He tells the people gathered at the embassy, the would-be defectors who are desperate to leave, that they are welcome to go to any country that will accept them. She leaves the embassy, packs Ivanito a bag, gives him 200 dollars and a statement written in English declaring his status as a political prisoner and identifying Lourdes Puente as his aunt. She tells him to take the first flight that he can. El Líder is allowing Cubans to leave en masse for the first time. An exodus from the island has begun.

Pilar

Celia’s neighborhood is abuzz with talk of the mass immigration. Pilar and Celia realize that both Lourdes and Ivanito are missing, and they set off in a borrowed Lada to locate the pair. When they arrive in the capital, they are immediately mired in a massive traffic jam. They slowly make their way to the embassy, and although Pilar is injured by a rock in the chaos, she finds Ivanito. She hugs him tightly, then lets him go. She finds Celia and tells her that she was unable to locate Ivanito, and they leave. Pilar is not sure that she has made the right decision.

Celia

Celia returns home. She recalls her first days in Havana as a young girl. She realizes that she has never left Cuba or traveled to Spain, and that the waters that lap the edges of her island are the furthest she has ever been from her home. She walks down to the sea, enters the water, and one by one, casts her drop pearl earrings into the ocean.