OTTOVILLE — Robert Gasser has been all over the world, from London to Rome, Central America to Australia. But it’s the communist country of Cuba, off limits to vacationing Americans because of the U.S. trade embargo, that has long piqued his interest.
Cuba “has a mystique about it,” he said. “When you’re not allowed to go there, human nature tells you, I’d like to go.”
Gasser, 59, can cross Cuba off his bucket list. He’s recently returned from an eight-day cultural exchange visit with the educational tour group Explorica. Gasser has been leading tours for the Boston-based company since 2002, and took the trip with a son and 18 other Explorica guides and their family members.
“Having been there,” he said, “I can’t wait to go back.”
Gasser’s visit came at a turning point in Cuba’s history. Under President Barack Obama, U.S.-Cuban relations have thawed after decades of distrust and hostility. Trade and travel restrictions were eased in January, allowing Americans to travel to the Caribbean island nation without a special license. Diplomatic relations have been restored, too. Gasser and his fellow tour members posed for a picture before the U.S. Embassy in Havana on July 19, one day before it officially reopened. The group stood at the base of a forest of flagpoles, used for years by the Cuban government to fly Cuban flags just steps away from the embassy.
The flags “had been taken down,” Gasser said.
But the trade embargo is still in place. Only Congress can lift it. That means that Cuba has yet to benefit from — or, depending on one’s point of view, be ruined by — American business interests.
“There is a slow, but obvious, change going on there,” Gasser said. “A lot of people say they want to see [Cuba] before McDonald’s and Starbucks show up.”
“I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” he added.
Dan Kellard, executive vice president of Explorica, said interest in Cuba among students and school groups is high.
“We’re getting more and more requests every day,” he said. “Once the embargo is lifted, and presumably, it will be at some point, there’s concern that it will become another Puerto Rico.”
“No offense to Puerto Rico,” Kellard quickly added. “But right now, when you get to Cuba, it’s different.”
One big difference, one that Gasser looked forward to seeing, was the presence of vintage American cars, so-called “Yank tanks,” on Havana’s streets. Since the 1962 trade embargo, Cuban drivers have been unable to upgrade. But he also saw the toll of decades of economic isolation in Havana’s deteriorating infrastructure.
“There were so many neighborhoods that looked, not bombed out, but just falling apart,” he said. “On the other hand, walking the streets, people are people. They’re happy, they’re excited. I felt very safe, very welcome.”
He and his colleagues spent each day in “person to person” cultural interactions. They traveled to an organic farm, met with dancers and artists and visited schools. Gasser, who teaches advanced placement social studies at Kalida High School in Kalida, said the schools “are about what Ohio schools looked like 40 years ago. There’s no such thing as a Smart Board.”
As a seasoned globetrotter, Gasser is used to meeting strangers in strange lands. But he said he still didn’t know what to expect of Cuba and Cubans.
“I was nervous about, ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’” he said.
His fears were unfounded. Gasser said there were no restrictions on his movement after the touring day ended.
As for what to see and do in Cuba, Gasser said don’t go expecting to sightseeing.
“Havana is not Paris, where you’ve got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre,” he said. “They’ve got Revolutionary Square, where Pope Francis will hold his service, where Fidel Castro used to hold his speeches. But the real thing — and this is what you can lose in 20 years — is the interaction.”
One of the highlights of his trip was time spent at a local beer hut, hanging out with locals.
“They didn’t know English, we didn’t know Spanish, but by the time the night was over, we had a big table [full of people] and we were singing songs.”
Gasser takes the long view when it comes to the politics of Obama’s decision to renew diplomatic ties with Cuba.
“One can take a look at Vietnam, where we lost 58,000 of our young men, and within 10 years we reopened relations. You can argue that about China and Russia, too.”
Gasser said he wants to lead an Explorica adult tour to Cuba next year.
“Politics aside,” he said, “it’s a grand opportunity, both for us and for Cuba, for a new policy of the 21st Century.”
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