Travel read: Around the Bloc

by Brenda Yun on

I stumbled upon Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s writing on a stopover in New York City. She was reading from her third and most recent travel-related book, Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, at Book Culture near Columbia University. I was immediately struck by her engaging use of language and her savvy presence. It’s a pleasant sight to behold a young, female traveler and writer who is curious about the world and daring in her attempts to understand it.

Her reading finished, I bought her debut book, Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana, and when I asked her to sign my book I told her I too was an aspiring travel writer, working on a memoir of my own. “Can’t wait to read about your travels someday,” she wrote in curly script on the title page. I have since been in correspondence with Griest, who has agreed to have me interview her in early January. Until then, I plan to review her three books for Gadling. Here is the first review, of her debut book on her travels around the Communist bloc of Russia, China, and Cuba.
Griest’s three-part memoir documents her experiences in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana during the late 1990’s, and it does so with humor and humility. It took nearly three months for me to make my way through Around the Bloc — not because it was a slow read, but because I wanted to gain an understanding of the three places she writes about in her memoir. Russia, China, and Cuba have long intrigued me as culturally rich places with politically backward power struggles.

Similar to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, where the traveler’s experiences are summarized by culturally specific activities, Griest’s journey around the bloc are punctuated by drinking, dining, and dancing:”…while Russians bonded over drink and Chinese over dinner, Cubans connected through dance.” Griest’s youthfulness and occasional naiveté captures just how eye-opening one’s travels abroad can be. It is clear by the end of the memoir just how much her experiences in these countries reshaped her values and shook the foundation upon which her life had been seemingly secure.

The tragic Russian Mafiya, Chinese propaganda, and Cuban Revolution stories swirling in Griest’s memoir make her self-discovery that much more palpable. Griest navigates the socialist and political struggle of being in the bloc, and walks away not at all unscathed. Rather, she sets her original assumptions straight again, allowing herself to understand her place in the world that much better.

Of the three parts presented in her debut novel, I must say the most enlightening was the first on her experiences in Russia. It seemed that here, in Moscow, Griest experiences the most profound awakening. I sense these early times, fresh from her undergraduate studies in Austin, that Griest transforms from a hippie wannabe to a truth-seeking, life-living journalist and hearty traveler.

If the popular Eat, Pray, Love is any comparison, I feel Griest’s Around the Bloc far surpasses Gilbert in all the categories I hold dearest to a literary travel writer. Griest masters the art of language and humor; she is finely atuned to her youthful innocence (and, at times, ignorance); just as in life, Griest does not tie her three parts together into a perfect red bow. Instead, there is an imperfection that permeates through her memoir that is raw and real — not just real, but realistic. If Gilbert’s travel memoir satisfied you just enough, then Griest’s will take your breath away. It will teach you things you didn’t know before, but more than this, it will make you get off your couch and out into the wide world, experiencing things you once dreamed of but now can see with your own two eyes.

My review of Griest guidebook, 100 Places Every Woman Should Go, is forthcoming in about a week. Should you pick up any of Griest’s three offerings during the holidays and have a question you’d like me to ask her during my interview with her in early January, feel free to shoot me an email (brendayun@gmail.com).

Cuba in the mix

by Brenda Yun on

Late last week, Raúl Castro paid a symbolic visit to Caracas to meet with Venezuela’s controversial President, Hugo Chavez. It is Castro’s first international trip as Cuba’s head of state, and his talks with Chavez will likely mark a longer term, closer relationship between the two socialist countries. According to an op-ed article in Diario Las Américas, Chavez has long proclaimed himself to be a “son of Fidel Castro,” so his intentions to maintain his existing relations with Cuba are quite apparent. Some facts rendered from an Associated Press article report that Venezuela intends to double its per diem sales of crude oil to Cuba by 2013; in exchange, Cuba will continue to reciprocate Venezuela’s offerings in the form of health care, education, and agriculture.

In addition to his visit with Chavez, Castro attended a summit hosted by Brazil on Tuesday, December 16, which was one of the first occasions that a representative from neither the United States nor a country from Europe was in attendance.

Clinton in the Cabinet: What this means for Cuba

by Brenda Yun on

While most of America seems awfully and overly excited about Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Obama’s Secretary of State, I think there is more to be nervous about. In particular, the implications Clinton’s new role will have on our relations with Cuba is as uncertain as what Washington’s relations have been with Cuba for the past forty years. While Obama has been open to ending the embargo that exists between the two countries and even shutting down Gitmo, Clinton has opposed change to this longstanding policy and has sided with Bush and McCain on how we should proceed with regard to Cuba and Castro’s communist regime.

The recent flurry of news coming from Cuba tells us that change will come, as Obama prophesied during his Presidential campaign. Despite a ban on American tourism in Cuba, the cigar country is doing far better than its Caribbean neighbors with regard to visitors – especially visitors from Russia and Canada.Then there’s the sudden “confessions” coming from the detained 9/11 prisoners at Gitmo, hoping for a final, martyr-like curtain call. And, of course, as I had mentioned in another article, there are rumors of a Castro-Obama peace talk that could end a near half-century standstill between the two countries with regard to tourism and trade.

Finally, where and how Clinton will fit into this picture come January is a perplexing question. My guess is that Clinton, despite her disagreements with Obama on Cuba, will follow her boss’s lead and try to usher in change, as Obama certainly expressed a need for in an op-ed article that he wrote in the Miami Herald back in August.

Cuba is an increasingly interesting place in the world right now. Fidel Castro has fought a long battle with America, and he pretty much single-handedly fended of the most powerful nation for nearly fifty years. I imagine, if and when Cuba’s doors open – which could be as soon as next year, that Castro’s country will be a much different place. Whether that is for better or for worse will be a fascinating thing to witness.

Russia’s ties with Cuba

by Brenda Yun on

Russia’s President, Dmitry Medvedev, completed a four-nation tour of Latin America late last week with a final stop in Cuba. The relations between the two countries appear to be strained and, at present, intense; however, Russia, like China, has an interest in drilling for oil off Cuba’s shores and is seeking further military cooperation from the advantageously positioned Castro-ruled nation.

Medvedev’s visit comes just over two weeks after Russia and Cuba signed important trade and economic agreements that signaled a strengthening of ties between the two nations. Russia was also the first nation to send aid for Cuba’s hurricane relief efforts.I find the recent talks between Venezuela, China, and Russia somewhat — if not outright — suspicious, and wouldn’t be surprised if the three socialist nations expressed a serious interest in bringing Cuba into the mix. Ever since Fidel Castro’s brother, Raúl, officially took the reigns in February, and Hurricanes Gustav and Paloma hit Cuba’s shores in August and November, the spotlight has slowly settled upon this world-famous cigar country. Cuba’s precarious relations with the United States and its recent strengthening of ties with China, Venezuela, and Russia signal a real and tenable threat to its democratic neighbors. Despite this, Raúl Castro remarked in an interview with actor/interviewer Sean Penn this fall that he would be open to reconsidering his nation’s relationship with the U.S. with President-elect Barack Obama come the new Year. What this means for American-Cuban relations following Obama’s inauguration is speculative at best.

To be certain, all eyes are on Cuba — yet most uncertain is what Cuba will do and how it will handle the outpouring of interest, diplomatic or otherwise, that it has received these recent months.

Gadling Take FIVE: Week of Nov. 22 –Nov. 28

by Jamie Rhein on

A person could get pretty depressed when taking a gander at how money, or rather the lack of it is influencing the places we love to go.

Perhaps some of the change is due to cultural shifts that would happen anyway. It’s hard to tell sometimes exactly what condition is causing the change.

This week at Gadling, there are a few posts that have to do with changes that are taking place around the world.

  • In France, fewer people are hanging out in cafes these days. Jeffrey gives the issue some thought in one of his posts.
  • Brenda provided more insight regarding the woes of Hawaii’s travel industry. As a person from the state, and a world traveler, she has an understanding of the factors that are influencing people’s vacation decisions.
  • In a post yesterday, Brenda also offered musings about the state of travel given the fact that there are so many places that seem inhospitable. She’s interested in Cuba and wonders if Americans are welcome.
  • Aaron, however, usually a sunny sort, has great things to say about travel in Chile. If you don’t catch this one detail while you read, he’d love to go back and is looking for someone to take him along.
  • On another positive note, if you want to feel great today, look at ImprovEverywhere’s latest video. As their latest stunt proves, everyone in the world could use a rousing welcome home–even if it’s from a group of total strangers. All you need is signage, balloons and warm, smiling faces.