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Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba
 
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Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba [Hardcover]

Christopher Baker (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Mi Moto Fidel, Christopher Baker's intriguing account of his three-month romp through Cuba on a fire-engine red motorcycle is perhaps the most thorough portrait of this faded Communist country to date. Baker leaves no stone unturned as he revisits Ernest Hemingway's haunts in Havana, checks out a secret cave in the foothills of the sierras that once served as Che Guevara's command post during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and sips motojos at a thatched-roofed beach bar on Playa Los Pinos. On this exhaustive journey, our leather-clad "yanqui" interacts with a myriad of characters from artists to farmers to fisherman to prostitutes and engages in lively discussions on everything from politics, sex, cigars and, of course, on the ageing revolutionary himself, Fidel Castro. Baker effectively captures the essence of the Cuban people--primarily their generosity and resilient spirit and his various dalliances with beautiful habaneras (Daisy, Sonia, Juanita to name a few) will pique readers' interest (men's more than women's, perhaps). By the time Baker winds up back in Havana he has covered some 7,000 miles on his cherished bike. After reading Mi Moto Fidel, you'll no doubt be inspired to hit the road. --Jill Fergus

From Publishers Weekly

Often hilarious, sometimes hair-raising, this engaging travelogue documents Baker's journey across Cuba astride a gaudy BMW motorcycle. The thrust of the book is relatively simple: child of the New Left grows up, takes monstrous icon of capitalism to former ideological paradise, locals ooh and ah at the chrome behemoth and the freedom it supposedly represents, writer becomes disenchanted, denounces socialism. Throw in enough skirt chasing by the 41-year-old Baker (a travel and natural science writer) to elicit images of a Yorkshire Mickey Spillane, and you've got an entertaining and thought-provoking, if frequently meandering, tale. Baker encounters an extraordinary cross-section of Cubans, including Fidelistos loyal to el barbudo (a nickname for Castro) and dissenters who speak of betrayal and corruption. Baker's own somewhat "pro-triunfo" beliefs change as he slowly cracks el manto (literally, "the mantle" of ideology and government propaganda) and sees what many believe to be the true product of Castro's regime. Baker's ideological revelation is compromised by his basing his transformation almost entirely on one conversation with a formerly middle-class couple, and by his inability to convince the reader that Cuban corruption has been more devastating than the U.S. economic stranglehold. His dabbling in ideology mars the book slightly; still, if the reader accepts Baker's treatises as nothing more than amateur musings, this account of a marvelously eccentric trip remains a very engaging read. Eight pages of full-color photos. (Feb.) Forecast: The clever cover, in reds and golds, will have browsers lifting this off shelves to see what it's all about.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
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 (12)
4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Still a great book, Aug 1 2006
By 
Road King (Muskoka, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba (Hardcover)
This remains a great book, even after re-reading it years later. It ought not to be dismissed as an account of the author's mid-life crisis, and it remains a truthful, perceptive account of real life in Fidel's Cuba, as well as the sheltered perspective of the tourist (usually Canadian or Euro-trash equivalent).It is also a poignant story of the loss of love and the loss of redemption, wrapped up in a travelogue of considerable insight. Added Bonus: it's about motorcycles, too.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Solid Prose Ruined by Imperialist Activities, July 17 2004
This review is from: Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba (Hardcover)
Mi Moto Fidel is a good story of Cuba and it's people, and, of course, Fidel.
The author, Christopher Baker, is a good observer and accurately portrays a nation awash in poverty thanks to Marxism run wild.
In reading the book, one becomes impressed with the staggering physical beauty of the place, almost as a metaphor for the wonderful humanity of the people of this caribbean emerald of an island. The Cubans are as he describes them: resilient, positive, generous and heroic in their survival against enormous economic degradation.
The book, though is troubling, and these troubles don't arise from either the "Moto" or from Fidel.
Mr. Baker's pomposity makes him, as the narrator and main participant in the work, a most unlikable protagonist. To him all tourists are obese, ignorant, rude and unwelcome. Spaniards, English, Americans, Germans and Canadians are all disparaged.
It seems as if Mr. Baker believes that he is the only non-Cuban entitled to visit the place.
Perhaps worse is Mr. Baker's role as a profligate participant in sexual imperialism. The most ethically bankrupt possible thing that a beneficiary of the developed economies can do is travel to a poor country and take advantage of the country's poverty by having sex with as many women as possible. Especially the young attractive ones.
And Mr. Baker seemingly indulges in this as often as he rides his "moto". He boffs in doorways, in hotel rooms, and as a guest in homes.
From his actions, Mr. Baker proves that he is not rich, he certainly isn't generous and from his website, he doesn't have movie star looks. The only reason that these women canoodle with him is for the meagre dollars he tosses around like manhole covers.
I have to conclude that despite the value of the depictions of the country and its people, this should be a do not read.
(...)
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5.0 out of 5 stars Off the beaten path - A "spot on" account., May 1 2004
By 
Canuck (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba (Paperback)
While no expert on Cuba I have traveled to Cuba three times. The first with a large mixed group of singles to a package holiday in Varadero, the second for a solo 3 week backpacking trip from Havana to Santiago de Cuba (and places between) and the final trip with a couple of friends for 2 weeks in Havana. These trips took place from 1998 and 1999. During all 3 trips I used Christopher Baker's travel guide on Cuba by Moon Travel. I found this guide extremely accurate and very helpful.

Having discovered "Mi Moto Fidel" I was able to relive all of my previous experiences while enjoying Mr. Bakers. I can say that like his Travel guide, "Mi Moto Fidel" is spot on and a true account of what you may and can find in Cuba. The only thing I would like to add is I was fortunate to encounter a number of foreign travelers (French, German and Italian) similar to myself and my situation (back-backing and off the beaten path) who greatly enhanced my Cuban experience through, help, advice, shared experience and occasionally company.

I would recommend not only 'Mi Moto Fidel, Mr. Baker's Cuban Travel guide and most importantly, to get out of Varadero and see and experience the "real Cuba".

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