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REMINISCING CUBA

who had all helped us in so many ways, we were able to plan the akad
nikah which took place on 3 March 2011 at the Embassy. T e ceremony
was solemnised by the late Imam Yahya Pedro Lazo Torres, President of
the Muslim Association in Cuba. We also had the wedding reception in
Havana at Restaurante Pabellón del Tesoro at the Marina Hemingway the
next day. We really appreciated the Ambassador’s assistance in making the
arrangements, particularly in having the resident ASEAN Ambassadors and
their spouses present at the event. It certainly brought some prestige and
glamour to the reception, with Cuban cigars all round, compliments of the
host.

T e f nal event was held at Restaurante El Palmar at Hotel La Granjita,
in Santa Clara. My daughter and her new husband had made all the
arrangements, and the guests were mostly their friends from the university
and my son-in-law’s family and relatives. It was here in Santa Clara that I saw
a dif erent side of Cuba, one that I was unable to see on all my of cial visits
before. Away from the fancy hotels and resorts, and typical tourist traps, I
was fascinated to experience this other side; things I had only read about in
the stories my daughter told us in her emails – the horse-drawn carriages that
are part of the local transport system, hailing rides from strangers in classic
50’s cars, witnessing locals break out in song and dance in the street, and
the hospitality and kindness of the people. Even with the little they have;
they are one of the warmest and most generous people. It was no wonder to
me that the iconic Ernesto “Che” Guevara had chosen Santa Clara to be his
home in Cuba, where his remains still lie today in the Guevara Memorial
Mausoleum, together with 29 of his fellow combatants, killed together with
him in Bolivia in 1967.

I was certainly intrigued when Yoyi related to me recently, the story about
his grandfather actually meeting Che Guevara in Santa Clara. But I will save
this story for another time.

It has been almost three decades since I f rst step foot on Cuban soil. Looking
back at that f rst time, I would never have imagined the impact it would have
not only on my life, but on my daughter’s as well. She would say that it was

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