19 Feb 2014
Getting Our Bearings – La primera día
Our first day in La Habana, we were ecstatic to find out what the city had in store for us. The morning began with a generous breakfast comprised of eggs, pineapple, batidos and papaya (a false cognate in Spanish that should not be uttered). After breakfast we took to the streets of Vedado to complete several errands and explore the neighborhood. We walked to a bank to exchange our foreign currency into CUC and into moneda nacional. The lines were quite long, but this gave us time to reflect on our new and unfamiliar surroundings. Lawrence and I struck up conversations with an elderly Cuban man and a woman who invited us to play music with her son. They gave us their contact cards. After waiting for more than an hour at the bank, some of us were famished. Elliott took us to a nearby restaurant where we consumed several plates of pork and rice. Some of us felt saucy and ordered tronquitos — a cake-like dish. We then went to the nearest open air market. Some of us bought fruits and vegetables for tomorrow’s breakfast. Following the market, we went to the hotel presidente and the supermercado right off the malecon. The supermarket did not have many food options to chose from and some of the products that were readily available seemed somewhat random; aisles of olives and pickled products ran throughout the market. Some students bought rice, oil and other essentials. As we were all parched and exhausted, we headed home for a siesta. In the evening we headed to an upscale restaurant next to the FAC (fabrica del arte cubano) — a gallery and bar erected in an old oil refinery. After an eloquent dinner, we headed to the fabrica. The atmosphere of the gallery surprised us. We’d jumped from the streets of Havana into what felt like a Brooklyn art club. We grabbed some drinks while we explored the gallery. The art displayed was profound. Many of the pieces expressed subtle critical views on the revolution. One painting I found particularly striking displayed a billboard with the words “enjoy the revolution” in the same type face as coca cola advertisement. The night carried on as we watched a live band play an eclectic mix of Cuban classics and jazz fusion. A member of the Buena Vista Social Club even came up on stage and sang several traditional Cuban songs like “Quizas” and “Guantanamera”.
The first full day in Cuba was a success and I am ready to become familiar with the city and begin classes next week.