When I think about the differences between home and Cuba, the concept I keep returning to most is the way that time is perceived. It has been quite a transition for me to get used to the large chunks of free time that I have here. At Lewis & Clark, I’m consistently working or doing homework or doing a million other things that keep me going from early in the morning till late at night. I feel almost guilty if my days are not full and I feel a consistent need to be doing something. In Cuba though, things are different. There is much less pressure to get to places right on time, and events like meals, for example, take much longer here. There is something very refreshing about this for me. It is teaching me to really appreciate the time I have during the day, whether it’s structured or not, and it’s forcing me to slow down in ways that I am not used to. There are some days when I love the lack of structure, and others where I find it a little anxiety-inducing, simply because I want more to do. For the most part though, it’s really quite lovely. Before we left for Cuba, Elliott told us, “Don’t expect to get a lot of things done during the day,” and in the times that I feel a little stir crazy, I remember this advice. It’s okay to chill and enjoy the stillness of a day. I am still transitioning into this new way of life, and am savoring the lessons I am learning.
I think the way that the program split us all up into different homes has worked out fairly well so far. All of the men live together in an apartment, four women live together in a house, and I live with one other woman in an apartment. We basically are tenants in people’s homes. All of the families have been incredibly accommodating and kind to us. Our family consists of a middle-aged couple and the husband’s ninety year old mother. Their children and grandchildren come over regularly, and I spent one afternoon playing catch and coloring pictures with Alejandro, the five year old grandson. We pay our host mother to make us breakfast a few times a week, and that meal usually consists of eggs, toast with guava jam (a new favorite), some sort of meat, fruit, coffee, and mango juice. It’s not a bad life to live! Learning about how people access their food in Cuba is something I am quite interested in, and we have taken to going to the agromercados, which are the produce markets that see fruits and vegetables, relatively often. For the most part, we go out to eat because the program gave us all a living stipend to spend on food. Food is pretty cheap here, and there is a strange amount of Italian food…it was definitely difficult to find decent food at first, but through lots of collaborative effort as well as individual exploring, we have a running list of yummy and well priced places.
I am really enjoying having the time and ability to explore the city on foot. I have my little guide book about Cuba which I definitely refer to often, but I also like to ask people for suggestions or just try and scope out places on my own. It feels good to be familiarizing myself more with the area and feeling like I am finding some favorite spots to spend time at. Other than my home in California and in Portland, I have not spent this much time in one area ever before. I have not done a lot of traveling, and besides going to Canada a couple times, this is my first journey outside of the United States. I’ve enjoyed seeing things come to life that we learned about in the Modern Cuba class, and I’m thankful to have come here with the knowledge I acquired in that class. I am so fascinated by the history, and have gotten to learn more about it in some unique ways. For example, on one of the first nights, our host family gave us tickets to see “Cecilia Valdez,” one of the most famous plays in Cuba’s history about the social structure in colonial Cuba, and we saw it at the Gran Teatro de la Habana, one of the most beautiful theaters I’ve been to. I also took a walk through the Necropolis de Cristobal Colón, an absolutely epic and ostentatious cemetery where many distinguished people are buried.
There was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, especially when it came to new currency. I feel like I’m adjusted to all of those surface-level new cultural things. We are all getting better about flagging down boteros, the old classic cars that serve as public taxis, and we are also learning to barter with the drivers for a lower price. They still charge us more than Cubans, but we are slowly but surely working the price downward. It’s kind of a fun game to play. There is still much to learn and navigate of course, from gender norms to understanding the nuances of a communist society, and so much more that I am discovering each day.
One of my favorite activities we have done as a group together is go to the beach. When I pictured Havana, I imagined living much closer to a beach. Granted, I live in a large apartment building five blocks away from the ocean, but the closest beach is 30 minutes away by car. There is a sea wall running along Havana for about 8 km called the Malécon, so we are always close to the water. This can kind of be a tease on a hot day when all I want to do is jump in. The sharp rocks deter me from doing so, though. Anyway, I am to thankful to be close to beautiful beaches. The water is warm and the beaches are exactly what you think they would look like: white sand, clear water, palm trees along the coastline–– we have made the beach a regular weekly activity, and I can’t say that I’m complaining about being far away from Portland weather…
The academic side of things is going well so far, too. We have four classes in total. One is a research methods class with Sarah Warren that will eventually lead into an independent research project. There are so many fascinating aspects of Cuba, and I know everyone in the group has several areas of interest, so it will be really cool to see the different directions we all go in once we begin the research process. Sarah’s class is the only one we have in English. Having our other three classes in Spanish has been a challenge for sure, but I am loving trying to translate all that I can, and then being exhausted by the end of a day of just listening. It’s a new experience for me, and I can feel my language skills improving because of it everyday. The Cuban accent is incredibly difficult to grasp anyway. We have one class called “Vozes Contemporaneos,” and different distinguished Cubans come to talk to our class each week. The first week of class, we spoke with an art collector/expert on AfroCuban religion, last week a professor of literature came and we talked about haiku in Cuba, and this week we are taking a tour of a nearby theater with the director of the theater! Our other two classes are held at the Instituto Superior de Arte. We have our Spanish class and a Cuban art history class here. We alternate having our art history class at the ISA and at different sites around Havana: last week, we toured five different plazas in Habana Vieja, and we spent three hours earlier this week at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. I’ve never taken an art history course before, so I’m eating it all up. There is SO MUCH beautiful and cool art in Cuba. It’s everywhere and it’s amazing to see how it’s integrated into everyone’s lives here. We are always hearing live music or going to this or that art exhibition. The art scene here is incredibly lively and I am absolutely loving that aspect of this country.
We just returned from our first weekend long excursion outside of Havana. We went to Viñales, a rural town about three hours west of here. It’s known for its tobacco production and is also one of the more outdoorsy places to visit in Cuba. When we arrived, we went on a horseback ride through the scenic valley, and stopped at a tobacco plantation to learn about the production process. Viñales grows more tobacco than any other region in Cuba. We also explored a fascinating limestone cave, which is part of the largest cave system in all of Latin America. It was great to get out of the city and see something completely different. I am enjoying each minute of this journey and can’t wait to see more! I can’t believe we have been here for almost a month already!