还有四天就要启程了, 这几天里忙着决定路线, 在Lonely Planet论坛上问些初级问题, 找西班牙语日常对话的小册子, 久违的对陌生城市的向往与兴奋一天比一天强烈. 在美国的这几年习惯了机场-公路-汽车旅馆的旅行方式, 真怕自己已经忘记了该怎么搭长途汽车．

我对古巴的了解一只手板就能数出来：David Allan Harvey的影集,the Motorcycle Diary，Buena Vista Social Club和Fidel.就是这么点东西就足以让人心痒, 希望能亲眼看看这个经历了许多苦难贫穷却不屈不挠的岛国．再一想到自己能赶在那帮穿着星条旗短裤，脖子上挂着数码相机的胖老美们之前领略一下加勒比海的最后一块净土，更禁不住感到自豪． :-)

两天前收到了Pedro从哈瓦那发来的电邮，确认我预定的casa.临了他预祝我旅途顺利，用他满是拼写错误的英文说道：God tavel to Cuba，我猜他说的是"Good travel to Cuba"，不过他说的也不错，上帝也要去古巴．

It was nearly two years ago, I was channel surfing one night. On the screen a tall white man, in his early 30s, dressed in bright yellow jump suit, wearing a shiny gold chain as thick as my thumb, moving his hands like a black gangsta rapper coming straight out of MTV, was interviewing Buzz Aldrin, the 2nd man ever walked on the moon.

The tall white man was Sacha Boran Cohen, aka Ali G, aka Borat, aka Bruno, and his interview was CRAZY:

ALI G: When you went to da moon, was da moon people friendly, or did they scare you?
BUZZ ALDRIN: We had no hopes of finding any life there whatsoever.
ALI G: When is man going to walk on de sun?
BUZZ ALDRIN: It's much too hot on the sun; we can never go there.
ALI G: We could go in de winter, when it's colder.

Later Ali G would mix Louis Armstrong with Neil Armstrong, compare Michael Jackson's move to Buzz's walk on the moon. You get the idea.

Since then I was hooked with the show, and learned about Cohen's other alter egos: Borat the Kazakh reporter and Bruno the Austrian gay fashion journalist. They were all outrageously ignorant and out of place - to the extend that people let down their guards and show their true selves.

That was totally what had happened in the Borat movie.

The movie is simply a series of Borat episodes sew together, with very little plot. Some scenes are almost straight out of the Ali G show - like singing the national anthem in a rodeo game, or messing with a group of frat boys. And granted, lots of scenes were dim-witted and simply were there for the sake of being funny (but not much so).

In my mind's eye, I have this strange association of Ali G/Borat/Bruno with Robert Frank, the great photographer who relentlessly showed the unflattering side of the US when lots of Americans were in a mood of extreme supremacy. Both from Europe, both Jewish, the two artists (I know some would not agree on this) poured freezing cold showers to the Americana. Let it be the black passengers sitting at the end of a bus or the homophobic rodeo owner who agreed gay people should be hung, 50 years ago or yesterday, realistic or absurd, the same ironic message was sent. However, one thing is different - how the Americans are treating the two - RF's "the American" was doomed with ill fate for years, not even Jack Kerouac's introduction could save it; on the other hand, Cohen was hailed by film critics and fans as a great comedy genius for his outrageously "brave" acts. Sure, we are becoming more open minded since the last 50 years, but have we learned from our mistakes and become less apathetic? That's the question.