Part 2!

Ok…part two, as promised. I know that it’s not Wednesday, but not my fault this time! Cuba had no internet…ok excuse?
Next up, are the Juegos Caribes. These are the 2 week games between the departments (Facultads) of the University of Havana. This year was their 86th year, which also coincides with the 280th anniversary of the University and the 85th year of FEU (University Student Federation-Federación Estudiantil Universitario), so there were lots of anniversary celebrations.
Tuesday, the 18th, were the opening ceremonies in the University stadium. As per usual, the event started late…about 2 hours late tonight, but all was well since I got to meet and hang out with Cuban students from my Factultad-Filosofia e Historia. We exchanged phone numbers and hopefully will be able to hang out soon. When the event started, the crowd went wild and so began the craziest week of my trip so far. First up was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Jr. or so I like to call it. It was this amazing group of 7-10 year old martial arts students that performed a routine of flips, kicks and balancing like you’ve never seen before, it was incredible…no worries, I taped it! After that, we were welcomed by members of the University and FEU administration and the parade of Facultads began. Each Facultad had planned their own skit, so I didn’t get to participate, but it was just as fun being in the crowd for it. Each came past the stadium seating and their respective fans went wild, but none compared to ours, which snagged a telephone pole repair truck, the ones with the extendable basket, for the night and decorated it for different time periods, with our athletes dressed up accordingly. It was awesome…we pretty much crushed everyone in the creativity aspect. After the parade was done, the games were officially opened by an official from INDER, the governmental sports authority (Instituto Natcional de Deportes y Educacion Recreacional). Woooot. After that, members of FEU and past Juegos stand-outs ran the torch around the track, up a hill and lit a torch at the far end of the stadium! Then the party broke out, a group of young gymnasts performed and the stadium was suddenly transformed into a club. The performance ended and the track was opened for all of us to dance, as a DJ began to play the current Cuban pop songs. It was sooo much fun, we stayed for about an hour, but the music got worse as the night went on, so we headed out.
Two days later, Thursday, I had my first day of competition. Track (atletismo) began at 9 and I was scheduled to run the 3k and the 1.5k. I was pulled from the 1.5k because apparently athletes are unable to run 2 distance races in the same day, so the Facultad had more runners for that one than needed, so only ran the 3k…the last race. I spent the day chatting with my team mates and had a great time hanging out and exploring the campus of the Havana Sports University, the site of our races. Background-the only races that day were the 1.5k, 400, 100 and 3k, pretty short schedule, right…wrong. This is Cuba. The 3k didn’t go off until noon, right in the middle of the blazing sun in 103 degree heat. Yikes! It was so hot, but off we went. Two girls went out from the start and continued to widen their lead through out the race, but I ran in 4th place until the last 3 laps of the 7.5 lap race. After that, I went into 3rd, tried unsuccessfully to catch 2nd place and finished with the bronze…yay!! The Facultad was very proud and I walked away from the day with one of Filosofia e Historia’s two medals from the day. After that, I came home to ANAP, chilled out for a bit, ate dinner, then went to see a baseball game-Industriales versus Sancti Spiritus! We played clueless tourists, bit knowing where to sit and went down to the front row, since tickets are only general admission, except for the front rows behind home plate. So we were asked to move to up to the general admission section, but were then told…nevermind, just sit in the third row. Third row seats behind home plate…woot! That was fun. Industriales (the Cuban version of the Yankees) were up 2-0 when the rain came pouring down in the 3rd inning. Some how, we managed to meet one of the Industriales sponsors who was at the game that night. Yea, that was lucky. So when the game was officially cancelled, he took us to the team buses and had each of “his boys” come over to talk and take pictures with Katie, Cate and I. It was pretty fabulous. After that, we walked with his friends and him to the Plaza de la Revolución, where we talked about different things about our program and his work, which we each found very interesting. After that, we caught a cab home and called it a night.
Friday was another day of races, up bright and early with the sun to run my heart out. Oh...I forgot to mention one of the best parts of all of this. The Juegos are a pretty big deal around the campus, so if any professor tries to give you a hard time about missing a class for a game/race, the dean of your Facultad will write you an excuse no questions asked….pretty good deal, eh? Luckily I only missed 1 class and the professor told me to go and represent the Facultad well, I would learn more there than in her classroom that day. So…I headed to the University and picked up Kristen and Kelly from UNC along the way to catch our guagua (public bus) to the track. First race was the one that all three of us were registered for…the 5k. Woot. We warmed up for that, checked in almost immediately and got ready to get the hardest race of the week over with. I was assigned to the same lap counter as yesterday’s 3k, who was also the Sports University professor that invited me to her running club after the marathon, so we became good friends. The 25 racers went to the line, the blocks were clapped and we were off. The pack went out slow and I decided to stay in 3rd, on the shoulders of the 1st and 2nd placers for a bit. On the 3rd lap, I made my way up to 2nd and stayed there for another 3 laps. After that, I had a burst of energy and went for it into first. Who knows what came over me, but I forgot about any pain and just loved running in this race in Cuba, with my Facultad cheering from the sidelines for the three of us crazy Americans. It was fun and fueled me through the next 6 laps. On the final lap, I went full throttle and kicked hard to the finish line, finishing in first by 300 m! Kelly and Kristen did amazing, finishing close behind in 4th and 7th place, giving it there all after not feeling too well that morning. I was so excited…brining home the gold! It was an amazing feeling and the Facultad came up to celebrate with me. Until the 200m, my next race, was called to check in before the last of the 5k racers had crossed the line. Quick awards ceremony, ran across the track to the 200 starting line, switched to my make shift racing flats, the flipped the switch to the sprints, or velocidad here in the 537 (Havana…almost 518 for home, but not quite). I was in the outside lane and went out hard, but the 5k kick caught up with me and I hit the wall after the first 100. I still ran hard and didn’t lose any ground, but couldn’t produce that finish to place me higher than 3rd in my heat to qualify for tomorrow’s finals. Oh well. I was done for the day. Wait…nope, they told me at the finish that they needed a sub for the 4x400 relay. It was still 2 hours away, so I agreed, rested up, took my vitamins (yes Mom!), and practiced hand-off with my teammates-Tatiana, Yodi and Lili. When race time came, I was told to be the anchor and we went out to the start. The first three legs went out hard, but couldn’t seem to finish quite as strong, which put us back to 5th place out of 6th. I got the baton and ran strong, but not my max until the last 200, then hit the booster to try and catch the 4th place girl, I got within 10m of her before she saw my shadow and out kicked me to the finish. 5th place, not too shabby and we were done for the day. We headed across the infield to pack up, but then across the megaphone they announced the qualifiers for tomorrow’s finals…4x400m-last qualifier-Filosofia e Historia!! Somehow we managed to make it to finals, I learned some new Cuban swears pretty quickly after that was announced! How did that happen!? Who knows, but it did! Although it didn’t make any difference because we had no more substitutes and 2 of the girls couldn’t make it tomorrow. Oh well, we had a great time anyway! I headed home at 5, showered and rested my tired legs, and had an amazing ANAPpetite (what we call our ANAP dinners…clever, no? ok…maybe just dorky, do you have ANAPinion? Got that one?) I got all dressed up after that and went to see the National Ballet, directed by Alicia Alonso, perform Giselle. That was wonderful! I wish that the US had as many cultural events open to their citizens as Cuba…where else could I see world-class ballet for USD $0.20?
Day 3 of the Juegos competitions. This time swimming. Yup…you read right, I some how got rooked into swimming. Up with the sun again, but luckily had time for coffee…phew. I met Sara and Alex at UNC on the way to the University and after waiting for an hour, we went to the swimming stadium on our own. It was pretty sweet, we took the guagua outside of Havana to the PanAmerican complex built for the 1991 games that Cuba hosted. We had time to warm up, I saw a guy wearing an AU shirt (although he had no idea what AU was) and the races began. First race was the 50m butterfly (mariposa), which Sara got a bronze…yea Fresa! The next race was the 50m backstroke (espalda), which both Sara and I both competed in. The whistle blew and all I remember was my flailing arms, frantic legs and water rushing up my nose, but when all was said and done, Sara got first in our heat and I got third! Neither of us ended up medaling, but we had a good time. Alex was in the guys heat and also had a great race, but didn’t medal. Third was the 50m breaststroke (pecho), which Sara and I also raced in together. Whistle blew, goggles filled with water, kept swimming the breaststroke, and somewhere along the way switched to the butterfly…oops! So I got disqualified, I don’t profess to be a swimmer nor ever will, and Sara got second in our heat, but no medal. Unfortunately, my legs got mad at me after that and went shaky for a bit, so I went for a walk and withdrew from the next race, the 50m freestyle (libre). I was all better when the race began and watched Sara swim to a third place finish in the heat, but no medal, and Alex get fourth in his heat. Next up…relays! Our Facultad only brought 4 girls, so we all sucked up our fatigue and went for it. First up was the medley relay-I swam backstroke, Dania swam breaststroke, Sara swam butterfly and Dahlia was anchor with freestyle. At the end of my leg, we were in 3rd and each successive leg closed the gap between us and 2nd place, but we fell just short and got 3rd. Bronze! Yay! Our Facultad was very proud and came down to the pool to congratulate us. Not much time to spare though, the guys were soon in the pool and we were there to cheer them on as well, they swam a tough race against stiff competition and just missed the podium by a few seconds. After that was the 4x50m freestyle relay. Three days of intense competition was taking its toll on my body, but by getting in the pool, it gave my three competitive teammates the chance for another medal. I was lead-off, the whistle blew and I was ok for the first 25m, but after the turn, I was done. My legs just didn’t want to move, they did to the finish and were enough to keep us in 4th, but it was time to call it quits after that race. Sara was in next and pulled us right back in the race, then Dania pulled close enough to swim in the bubbles of the 3rd place swimmer. Dahlia dove in and took charge, brining us comfortably into 3rd! Another bronze! Wooot! After that was the guys and they were well on their way to a silver, when the third leg suddenly got the biggest cramp I’ve ever seen-baseball sized and visible outside of the leg-and had to be pulled out of the water before he could finish his leg. They were disappointed, but glad he could get help quickly. Alex was our final racer, in the 200m free, where swam hard, but not quite enough for a medal. We waited for a bit for the totals to be calculated, then had the medal ceremony. Winners from our Facultad-Sara with an individual bronze and our relay with 2 bronzes! Team-wise, the guy’s Facultad members placed 7th and the girls got 3rd! Daikel, our Facultad president was impressed that we placed so high with the minimum number of girls needed to compete…go us! After a long day, we went back on the bus and got some ice cream before the rain clouds got the better of us and let it pour. I went back to ANAP, had dinner, they got ready for another night out on the town. This time, I went with Susan to the Hannover Boys Choir at the theater down the road from the residence. They have always been too far away or too expensive for her to see in Germany, so this was a perfect chance. They sang a beautiful mix of classical compositions and contemporary music from both Germany and Cuba. From there, we headed to our friend Ray’s house and had coffee with his mom, grandmother and sister and talked about his upcoming move to Germany, which they’re all very excited about. The rain came again and Susan and I headed back to ANAP and called it a weekend.
Lets stop there…are your eyes tired yet? Part 3 will be separated from this for your sake-coming up is Easter (3 ½ hr. Christian rock in Spanish) and Matanzas (Santeria goat sacrifice). This weekend I will be traveling to Camaguey, so I suppose I should include that too. April is pretty crazy with travel, as the government is taking our ID away at the end of the month to process our exit visa, so I’ll be away every weekend until then. Fist-Camaguey, then two weekends in Oriente-Santiago de Cuba, Baracoa and the Sierra Maestras, then last weekend off to Isla de Jovenetud. Just a little itinerary there! Talk to you all soon! xoxo