It is summer and Cuba knows it. Schools are experiencing a momentary recess and temperatures are rising with each passing day. The tropical heat imposes a need for rest and a more relaxed attitude than usual.
In the town of Baire, the unmistakable passing of the summer months is also perceived, but not with all the atmosphere that is expected of them. Have we not turned on the summer mode that is so much talked about in all spaces? The answer lies in a myriad of conditioning factors.
The first thing that stands out is the country’s current economic situation. In the midst of so many shortages, there is little that the families of Bairos can do individually for their recreation, especially since there is no river nearby to take a dip in the afternoons, which have become desperate due to the heat. Not to mention trips to beaches and campgrounds, which despite collective efforts do not always materialize due to their very high costs and the limited availability of transportation. This is a significant loss, since in the Cuban imaginary, a visit to the sea or rivers during the summer is practically a ritual.
Faced with the impossibility of traveling, the population waits for recreational activities in the community, traditionally in charge of INDER and cultural institutions. These have filled their schedules for July and August with sports meetings, participation games, literary, musical, theater and plastic arts workshops in the Zoila Rosa García Arias Culture House and in communities, aimed at children and adolescents. But what is planned is sometimes insufficient, because the options only reach the historic center of the town, while the sports teams and art instructors reach the more distant neighborhoods to a lesser extent.
It is then when television enters the summer scene as an alternative for entertainment, also with the limitation that most of the time there are no pleasant spaces, or the absence of electricity does not allow to enjoy them. Yes, the energy crisis also affects the summer 2024 mode in the maximum expression of daily life.
Young people, although they have literary and musical options on different days of the week in the House of Culture, prefer not to attend; only the Saturday night musicals in the central park of Baire manage to group a considerable number of them, not to mention the inconvenience of blackouts at this time. In the private sector, which generally plays a leading role in everything, there are not many bars or discotheques, so many Baireans go to the municipal capital in search of what they cannot find in their own territory.
For adults the panorama is even more complex. The proposals for this age group are similar to those of adolescents and young people, but are not fully exploited due to tastes and the difficult day-to-day life of families facing shortages and the proliferation of endemic diseases in these months. In this way, a possible summer enjoyment is relegated to a second plane and the care and attention of the home is left as a priority. In the case of the elderly, the grandparents’ home has become the epicenter of their recreation, since most of the cultural and sports activities offered to them take place there.
The analysis points out that in this summer 2024 in Baire, there are planned activities for recreation and fun, both cultural and sports, but they do not cover the preferences and possibilities of the different age groups, in addition to the lack of resources, which limits their expansion to the areas farther away from the center of the town.
The economic, energetic and even epidemiological adversities have contributed to make the “summer mode” more of a slogan than a real experience. It remains to recognize the effort of the institutions to create a pleasant environment in the stage and the individual will to guarantee with personal means at least the minimum welfare, which gives a different nuance to such an awaited season.
Written by Yadila Mesa Chacón, Journalism student.