Bolger Family Travels: The Room Where It Happens

So, Wednesday morning, we had to do the business for which we were there, which besides being a poorly written sentence, was interesting in its own right.

The conference is the XV Edicion de la Serie de Conversaciones: Cuba en la Politica Exterior de los Estados Unidos de America (loosely translated by a non-Spanish speaker: the 15th Edition of a series of conversations: Cuba and the political relationship of the USA.)

After breakfast, we all met in the lobby of the Hotel Nacional (no group text or email possible, remember) and cabbed over in a minivan. As a side note, breakfast is definitely European-style rather than American style (that's NOT a complaint, just an observation -- we love European breakfasts for a period of time!).

We walked in to the building, the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales, where there were Cubans and Americans milling about, sharing hugs and reminisces. Suddenly the program organizer, Soraya Castro Marino, grabbed me, give me a big hug, and planted a kiss on my cheek. As an American male not wanting to ever get accused of sexual harassment, I halfway hugged back, caught by surprise more than anything else. Now I know the custom, although if I do get back (as I hope to), odds are high it will have changed and I will be jailed for harassment.

We went upstairs to the fourth floor auditorium, found seats, and got ready. The program was sponsored by CIPI, the Centro de Investigaciones de Politica Internacional, and ISRI, the aforementioned Instituto (previous paragraph). They appear to be Cuban think tanks.

After an introductory speech, Charlie Cook kicked of the first panel. There was also a speaker from CIPI, an American University professor, and former Congressman Mike Kopetski (from Oregon). The main topic of conversation was Trump, with Trump as the beginning, middle, and ending of the discussion. It was Trump entree, Trump on the side, Trump for dessert. Understandably so, as his election will have an unpredictable impact on the opening between the US and Cuba.

Charlie and his panel

The good news is that they had simultaneous translation. While most panelists and questions were in English, there were Spanish speaking panelists and questions.

Paul and I went up for our panel -- we had a PowerPoint. We were last on the list of five -- and some of the panelists went long. The first speaker was from Harvard, but he is Latino and spoke Spanish. Then Bill LeoGrande, an American University professor -- and one of the leading American experts on Cuba for at least three decades -- went next. Soraya spoke, and then Peter Hakim from Interamerican Dialogue went.

Professor LeoGrande is a legend at American University (Carol and I both graduated from there). In fact, Carol took a class he taught in the fall of 1983!

By the time it was our turn, time was running out. Paul presented our bi-partisan poll from 2014, and then I went through more historical data from the past of American attitudes toward Cuba. I'm pretty sure we were interesting.

Paul, fittingly, is to my left.

While they may look like the Cuban government put

the human equivalent of car boots on our ears to

ensure we couldn't leave, those things on our ears

were actually the translation earbuds. They worked well.

After that, the conference broke for lunch, and we rushed down to get cabs back to the hotel. Just as we walked out the hotel, two cabs zoomed by, but they weren't looking at us. Then, of course, no cabs came by. We walked over one block to Paseo, which was more of a busy street. Still no cabs.

Then a coco taxi came along, and Carol and I grabbed it. It wasn't the fastest transport -- essentially a three-wheeled moped. As it labored up the hill to the hotel, a regular cab with our compatriots zoomed by as they mocked us. Still, we've managed to a new type of transport to our list.

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