Sunday, March 30, 2008

Update!

Hola Asere,

How is everyone? I’m a dork again and haven’t written in forever. I apologize…I lose. Good news is that its because I’ve actually found a social life here and its keeping me hopping! So anyway…on with the show.

Let’s start with our group trip to the central provinces of the island. It was fantastic!

We set out Wednesday the 12th for the four hour bus ride to Santa Clara and the Escambray Mountains. Our first stop was the Ernesto Che Guevara Museum and Memorial in downtown Santa Clara, which documents Che’s life, his role in the revolution and in others in Africa and Latin America, and is also where he was laid to rest after his body was returned by the Bolivian government. Santa Clara was chosen for this site because it was there that Che launched his attack on an armored train that was carrying supplies to Batista’s troops, which guaranteed victory for the rebels and resulted in Batista fleeing the country the next night. It was really interesting museum, but I found more value in exploring the surrounding streets, located behind propaganda billboards and tourist bus stop. The houses were made of wooden planks, tin and cement and are in a state of serious disrepair with their residents on the front steps watching kids play baseball with broom handles or coming back from work on their horses. As I passed between the museum and a park, a mother came up to me and said “I know you’re a tourist here and that you’re carrying soap and shampoo for your travels, will you go back to the bus and give me some?” It was heart breaking and made me wonder how these residents live such a hard life with strong pro-revolutionary slogans in their face everyday. The revolution definitely has its good points, but there was a striking disparity between propaganda and reality in this case. After we wrapped up the museum, we headed into the Escambray Mountain Range at sunset to our hotel on a beautiful reservoir, with a pool, rooftop lounge, and best of all…hot water and French fries!! It was pretty much heaven. After getting settled, we went to the Escambray Theater, an institute that creates and performs plays based on controversial issues of the revolution, hopefully provoking participation and reactions that will help to perfect the situation for the population. We watched a movie about the history of the theater, me the actors and had an amazing 5-course dinner. Around 11, we headed back to the hotel, hung out for a bit, then tucked in for the night.

On Thursday, we met in the morning for breakfast and a boat tour of the reservoir. We rode for an hour and saw a good portion of the lake, then were taken to a site owned by the tour company, which had a restaurant, live band and hiking trails. I set out with a few others up the trail, which was unexpectedly straight up, to the top of the hill and a great panoramic view of the lake and mountains. After heading down, we got French fries-amazing-and listened to the salsa band play the typical Chan Chan and Guantanamera set, then went down to the water. We collected some shells, then were given the ok from the boat captain to dive in the lake off of the boat…so clearly we did! Don’t worry…we were safe! We had a great time in the water until our time was up and we had to head back to the hotel. We hung around the pool for a while, got a nice tan, then went for another hike with Abby. We found a trail up one of the higher mountains near the hotel and timed it perfectly for sunset! It was amazing. We had such an good 360 degree view of the lake, mountain range and valley as the sun went down and changed the colors of the area. It was one of those once in a lifetime experiences. One element that we forgot-sunset means no more light….oops. So we trekked down following our tracks in the dark and made it home without a hitch…yay us! After showing and getting all of the prickers off of my shoes, we went back to the Escambray Theater to watch a play about the prohibition on Beatles music being lifted. It was really interesting to see how different frustrations were paralleled with the songs, and how despite these existing issues, some have been alleviated. It was pretty fun to watch. After that we had another great dinner, but an awful dessert…boiled candied orange rinds=no good and had a dance party with the actors until 1am.

Friday, I woke up for sunrise across the reservoir, which was a beautiful way to start the day. We had breakfast, packed up and headed out for our second leg of the trip to Trinidad. What should have been a 1 hour ride turned into 3 hours of sheer torture as we took a “short cut” through the twisting, crumbling, narrow mountain roads and our air conditioning broke in the 98 degree heat. Needless to say, there were 35 grumpy tourists in Trinidad. We got some free time to walk around the town and explore the art galleries, cathedrals, and UNESCO supported colorful colonial homes. After a few hours, we headed to our hotel, which ended up being an all-inclusive beach resort with not only hot water and French fries, but also a hot tub, real pizzas and catamarans! Life is good, epecially when its all on AU’s tab. Some days I love my school. So we ate several pizzas and plates of fries with pineapple slushies before heading to the pool and life-size chess board. We had a buffet dinner, which had good marinara sauce for the pasta, a garden salad and pies…things which are hard to find around Havana! After that, we saw sunset on the beach, watched an awful attempt at a dance show, then joined a conga line to the bar led by one of our academic advisors here…shes such a crazy, awesome 65 year old.

Saturday, we had breakfast, then headed into Trinidad for our guided tour of the Museums of Architecture and Romantic Arts, then had some free time to make purchases in the galleries and artisan fair and visit other parts of the city. From there, we went back to the hotel for beach time and lunch, where I had a vegetable pizza and went for a kayak ride. After that, we headed into Valle de los Ingenios, where the sugar mills were based in the 1920s and 30s. It was a gorgeous, long valley with a tower in the middle, which we were able to climb, that was used to keep watch over the slaves. Susan, Cate, Matt and I went back into Trinidad after that to watch the sunset from the top of one of the Cathedrals, but ended up on a hill above the town, with a great view of the ocean, city and mountains below us and a beautifully crumbled early 19th century church behind us. We had some great conversations with local artisans on our way back to the city and found out some non-guide book listed things about Trinidad. We had a great rest of the night, with dinner, swimming and watching ESPN…I was in my glory.

Sunday morning we left Trinidad to head back to Havana, with a pit stop in Cienfuegos along the way. It was an easy drive and we arrived with enough time to take a quick tour of the historic plaza in the city. There was a quaint, yet extravagant theater in the middle of the town, with an unassuming façade and gorgeous balcony seating and a mural on the ceiling. Back on the bus, we drove 4 hours back to Havana and arrived just in time for the always wonderful ANAP dinner and our house family waiting for us with hugs as we came up the stairs.

Next up: Juegos Caribes! Matanzas! And plans for future travels due to some unexpected changes! Coming on Wednesday…I promise!

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