This Scene is Dead- We Are Scientist

Just some more fotos from my time in Cuba. All fotos de Meg, except the first, that's mine.

One of our first days here. Looking across the bay near Habana Vieja.

On our walk home from school.

Some ministry of something. But that's Che's face! He's everywhere.

This is an ad on a paper placemat at a restaurant that we love (they have great fries). But this ad says "Panoramic Restaurant- Maybe the best restaurant in Cuba." Maybe? So silly.

Meg and Steph found a frog in their toilet in Cienfuegos.

The smallest car on the face of the Earth.

The foreground shows Cuban homes. In the background is a five-star hotel.

My hood.

Some chicas hanging out on the porch.

The Righteous and the Wicked- Red Hot Chili Peppers

So Cuba lost to Japan in the Classic, which is greatly upsetting for all Cubans and me. It was a pretty sad game too; Cuba lost 6-0. Ouch. But tonight! there is a Cuba-Japan elimination game, so there's some esperanza. This is a double-elimination situation. The USA is guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals in L.A. after a GREAT game against Puerto Rico (three-run rally in the ninth to win 6-5). Also going to the semi-finals are Venezuela and Korea. And either Cuba or Japan. So much excitement! We're going over to a friend's house to watch.
In other news, it may be spring time in Boston but it is full on SUMMER in Cuba. Everyday I feel like melting. It's terribly humid and generally gross. But for some reason, I love it. This city fits me.
Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and that makes me miss home a lot. i was really craving Diane's Irish soda bread, some mashed potatoes, and a good beer. Instead, I had rice and beans and some rum. All of which are delicious, don't get me wrong. But they don't make me feel particularly Irish, you know?
We were planning on going to the cervezería and then to this "Irish" bar in Habana Vieja (contradiction, I know). BUT with a recent influx of work, we could not. Who knew there was tarea in Cuba?
This new homework came from Dr. Brown who is teaching my Caribbean Music class. We had a test yesterday that included 5 takehome essays due thursday (this on top of a paper due today, a paper due tomorrow, a paper due tuesday for other classes.) I don't want to rant, I just want to say that never have I felt so unprepared for a test after studying for five hours. Yep, five hours. It was extremely unfair and I'm still so upset about it. (I had another five paragraphs, but I deleted them because it's just me complaining about how unfair this test was.)
Ahhh okay. Tomorrow we leave for Santiago de Cuba! It's a big city on the other end of the island, near Guantánamo. If you can believe it, it's supposed to be even hotter there! Ay dios. But I'm excited, we're flying there! So we'll get to see some real Cuban air travel.

I have ten days left on this island. I'm freaking out.

This is how I will remember Cuba: loud.

Pictures of Me- Elliott Smith

Just some silly fotos from all different things.

This was taken at Callejon de Hamel, where every Sunday they have a rhumba festival. This was our first or second weekend in Habana and this guy named Saulé (the Cuban version of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean) had his own version of an ipod. He had a stethoscope taped around his cell phone. Now I don't think he used his cell as an actual phone, just as a musical device. But who knows. Foto de Steph.

This is a shot of Sonya and I walking to Habana Vieja. On the left is the water (Cuba's north shore, facing east) and on the right are some of the restored buildings along the Malecon. This is how I will remember Cuba: bright. Foto de Sonya.

This was one day when Steph, Meg and I wandered home from our happy place (a.k.a. this place that serves decent pizza). We found a whole street of these wonderful trees. We jumped for joy. Foto de Meg.

José Marti! I know Danny and Maggie would appreciate me bringing the 'stache to Cuba. Foto de Meg.

Meg, Steph and I standing on top of Arco Iris. Well, actually I guess it was under Arco Iris. Foto de Michelle.

A photo of the Capitol building. This building was designed after the U.S. Capitol building in D.C. Foto de Steph.

I think that's all for now.

The New American Apathy- Mazarin

On Friday, the gang went to America.
Kind of.
We had planned a visit to the U.S. Interest Section. Since the U.S. doesn't have diplomatic relations with Cuba, we don't have an embassy here. Technically, it's part of the Swiss Embassy. It was really interesting and we earned a lot. The following are some of the more interesting things.
1. Purpose of the U.S. Interest Section
This took a lot of explaining. If the U.S. doesn't want to have anything to do with Cuba (no trade, travel, etc.) why do we need our own section? Well, at the Section they help U.S. citizens living/visiting Cuba (legally). They also help Cubans who are looking to receive asylum in the U.S. The U.S. legally accepts 20,000 Cubans a year. The waiting time for immigrants from an country to get a green card can be 10 or 15 years (or more). But Cubans have a special status. All Cubans are considered refugees (most people are considered refugees until they leave their country, but since Cubans can't leave, they're refugees when they are in their own country). Therefore, they can become an LPM (Legallys Permanent Resident) in about 18 months. Also, any Cuban who sets foot in American soil is legally allowed to stay; the U.S. will not deport them (this is called Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy). The agreement used to be that any Cuban who made it to international waters (via raft, boat, what have you) would be brought to the U.S. as well, but that law changed in the 90's. Now, anyone found in international waters must be returned to Cuba with an agreement that the Cuban government doesn't punish them in any way (no jail time or anything). The U.S. periodically does checks on these people to make sure that they're being treated properly.
The Section also tries to gather as much info as possible on Cuba to send back to the U.S. This is especially important because Obama is reviewing our policy on Cuba right now, so the more information they can send, the better. The problem with this, however, is that the Cuban government will not talk to FSO's at the U.S. Interest Section. They try to set up meetings or whatev and they are denied. So the U.S. has to go through thirs parties to find out stuf (Mexico or Spanish embassies). So this just makes it hard to get info.
2. Internet? What a novel idea.
The U.S. Interest Section runs two 9soon to be three) internet "cafes" to give Cubans better access to the internet and specifically to international news. The internet is uncensored and anyone can sign up for a slot of 1-2 hours of free internet. They have about 40 cmputers right now with more on the way and apparently hundreds of people use them every day. BUT you always have to think of possible consequences for Cubans. If you have visited the American Interest Section, there can be negative effects career-wise; it can hurt your chances for getting a promotion if you've used the American internet.
3. Forest of Flags
A little more about Cubans access to news: I might've mentioned this before, but on the side of the building there's a scrolling news bulletin. It's updated 4 times a week and has world news headlines (in Spanish!). Things about Obama's inauguration, stuff in Iraq, Israel/Palestine conflict, what have you, are flashed across this giant screen. Recently, a big item was about a priest who was murdered in the Cuban province of Villa Clara. This went unreported in the Cuban press. Shortly after the U.S. started broadcasting these messages, the Cuban government erected about 50 black flags in from of it in an attempt to block the news.
4. The U.S. breaks it's own laws
Okay, not really. But I think I may have incorrectly reported on this before: the U.S. trades with Cuba. In fact, it is the island's fourth largest trading partner, after China, Venezuela, and Spain. In the 2008 fiscal year, The U.S. did $717,000,000 USD worth of sales to them, up about 65% from the previous year. Othe countries who trade with Cuba know that they have no money, and kind of allow them to buy stuf on credit (i.e. they don't have to pay them for years and years). The U.S. on the other hand, makes the govenment of Cuba pay in cash upfront before we even ship them anything. Also, in the grand scheme of things, 717 million dollars isn't that much money. That wouldn't even bail out our banks.
5. They will not throw you in Guantanamo
Tip for anyone who wants to enter Cuba illegally: if you have a problem, they will help you. They do not stricly enforce the no travel policy. So if you lose your passport, all of your money, or you're plane ticket, they will help you out. Don't worry.
Okay, so that's all I have for the U.S. Interest Section. Let's move on to the U.S. marines
While leaving the Section, the woman who talked to us (she was annoying, self-rightous and American-centric) invited us to the Marines house for a St. Patrick's Day party. She told us there would be green beer, green jello shots, and dancing. Everyone from the Section was invited.
We go out to lunch after and discuss. Were we going to go? For one, we didn't know what to expect. I was thinking that this party was going to be like a frat party: a bunch of boys in the Marines who haven't talked to girls in months (neither the Marines or the FSOs are allowed to date or even really befriend Cubans). Others were thinking it was going to be like a cocktail party because families of the people who worked at the Section were invited. Either way, we decided it would be an adventure. Eight of the gals got dressed up and went to Miramar.
Thankfully, when we walked in, we saw one of the women who had talked to us that morning. She pointed out the bar and the dance floor and told us to have fun.
The barmen (and woman!) were the Marines who lived in the house. First, the Staff Sargeant (I'm not actually sure if this was his title, but he was the one in charge) came up to us and asked who was 21. We all nodded slowly, confused. The drinking age is 16 and unless I'm buying drinks in USD, I don't understand the point. Also the fact that none of us were asked for ID was odd. So we hung out at the bar for a while, meeting some of the Marines. I talked to the only female in the whole house for a while. Aside from being one of the most socially awkward human beings I have ever talked to, she was pretty nice.
She told me that she's only 21 (the youngest one out of the 8 Marines in the house) and she's been serving since she was 18. Before Cuba, she served in Iraq and Senegal. She's currently working with the Department of Homeland Security to get her degree in Terrorism (yes, it is called a degree in Terrorism). Tara asked her if it is difficult to be a woman in the Marines. She said yes, because first, it's more physically demanding and you don't get any slack (which is expected), while at the same time you have to work twice as hard to earn people's respect even when you can complete the physical tasks. Ahh, the hypocrisy.
So anyway, as the night went on and the Marines started to loosen up and share some more info (might've been the green beer).
What I learned from the Marines:
1. They don't like Cuba. Because it's Cuba, they're not allowed to leave the island or the city! For a lot of them, traveling was the reason why they joined the amred forces. Some one told us that when he was stationed in Korea, he went to Vietnam, China, Thailand, and Japan. Here, they can't even leave Havana.
2. They don't take advantage of being in Havana. They say they go out at night and such, but they pretty much limit themselves to Miramar (a really rich, touristy suburb of Havana where they live). They're not allowed to date or even really hang out with Cubans. In other words, they don't really know anything about Cuba.
3. They think really ridiculous things. Like Cuba is a super dangerous country. We told them that we travel around the country quite a bit and they asked us what kind of security we travel with. Excuse me? I never feel unsafe in this country. It's like living in any other city: don't be stupid and you're fine. Also, this is a very safe place especially for Americans. The Cubans want the embargo lifted. Something happening to an American here would be a PR nightmare. Speaking of the embargo, there was a Marine who didn't really know what it was. Meg was talking to him about how Cubans are starving and he was trying to blame it on the Cuban government (which, yes, they play a role in this as well). Meg then said "Well, I don't think the Americans have helped then out very much either, with the embargo and all." He then looks at her, in all seriousness. and asks "What do you mean?"
They were also convinced that "the Communists" (Yes, those are the words they used) are watching us all the time. Oh dear.
So in other words, I think that since they don't know Cubans or the real Cuba, they will never understand anything about this country. Not that I do or can or pretend to.
All in all, the whole night was weird, interesting, and fairly sad.
I come home in exactly 2 weeks.
In other completely unrelated news, I have the first sandal tan of my life. I thought my feet were dirty for like a week until i believed it. It's very faint but I kind of like it.
Also, I really miss cheese.

The Book of Right On- Joanna Newsom

So as to the links from yesterday, this is the first step taken by the Obama administration to undo some Bush administration rules that strengthened the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.
This bill, which was passed by Congress yesterday, is a $410 billion appropriations bill that states that Cubans in American will be able to visit the island more (Bush rules limited travel to just two weeks every three years, and confined visits to immediate family members). The amount of money they are able to send to the island will also increase (right now, they are only allowed to send $100 a month to family in Cuba). It will also loosen trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, making it easier to ship agricultural products and medical supplies to the island.
Many Cubans rely on remittances from the U.S. to supplement their low wages here in Cuba. But for people who do not have family abroad, they're out of luck. This bill, while greatly improving life for many Cubans on the island, will create an even greater wealth gap in this supposedly "classless" society. I'm not blaming the U.S. for this because I think passing the bill is the right thing to do, but I think that Castro needs to take into account that this bill, in addition to other changes in U.S. policy regarding Cuba that are sure to come in the future, will change this country forever.
Obama said that he is open for talking with Cuban leaders but that, like other U.S. presidents, he will only consider a full lifting of the embargo once Cuba's communist government makes "significant moves" (democratic elections and the like).
I am excited about the easing of trade because this will mean more food and more medicine on the island, both of which are greatly needed.

The News- Jack Johnson

US Congress eases curbs on Cuba- BBC March 11, 2009 2:54 G.M.T.

Cubans applaud U.S. bill easing trade, travel- Reuters, March 10, 2009 9:57 p.m.

Some good news for Cubans and Cuban Americans alike. Will discuss possible implications of this later.

In Other Words- Ben Kweller

A quick note on propaganda in Cuba: it's everywhere. There are no billboards in Cuba selling things, only propaganda. All fotos de Kate.

This is my favorite billboard and it's everywhere; it says "We're working, are you?" with pictures of ants. And an old fashioned car.

This isn't really "propaganda" but it is a speech by Fidel, which is practically the same thing. This is written on the wall of the paladar I wrote about previously. At the top it says "For this we say, liberty or death!" Come on Fidel, lets be original.

Che quotes are everywhere (sides of buildings, buses, houses), along with the iconic photo.

This is another good one- pictures of Hitler, Bush, and two other guys who I don't know (maybe you guys can help). It says "Full of assassins." Not really sure why it's half in English, half in Spanish.

Anyway, I think propaganda is kind of silly and it's usually pretty entertaining. But considering their newspapers are pretty much propaganda, its all the Cuban people have to go off of. All of the Cubans I have talked to have told me that it is a waste of time to read the newspapers. Most people here don't speak English so they can't really read any other news, especially since most papers don't report on Cuba, it's difficult. Also, I've been discovering things about the press here which make me sad: they don't really analyze things here. Raúl Castro recently fired a bunch of people that had been close to Fidel, including Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque. So the Cuban press reported on this, but offered up no ideas about what this could mean for Cuba, Cuba's relations with other countries or the U.S., etc. This doesn't help the Cuban people at all.

Children's Games- Antônio Carlos Jobim

So as I'm sure some of you (I hope?) know, it is currently the World Baseball Classic. While this may not be a big deal in America, it is certainly a big deal in Cuba. Every single hotel, bar, taxi you sit in, it's playing. And Cubans aren't only concerned with Cuba, they check out Puerto Rico against the Netherlands and Japan versus Korea so they can rate the teams and such. Now Cuba has an amazing team, as I think I have mentioned before. Now, they aren't having regular league games because a lot of the players are in the Classic.
Anyway, it's a lot of fun to watch the different games and it reminds me of home. If only there were panuts in the country.
Something odd I have learned about baseball in Cuba: all of the players have other jobs! It's because they don't get paid to play baseball because Cuba sees organized sports in the sense that we have in America to be extremely capitalistic. Which they are, to an extent. Anyway, Fidel doesn't want baseball players to be making 100,000 moneda nacional a year (HAH that's only about 4,000 dollars), he makes them work other jobs. And the players still get paid even when their not a work (like if their traveling or something) but I think it's extremely interesting. Also, all athletes get the samerations as everything else. No Michael Phelps with his 12,000 calories a day in Cuba. They get a bit of meat, some rice, no milk, not a lot of eggs, etc. Some of the girls here are good friends with boys on the national water polo team and they are so starved for protein we made them peanut butter sandwiches one day. The yare so hungry and they practice 6-8 hours a day. Crazzzyyyy.
In 2006, the U.S. didn't want the Cuban baseball team to play in Puerto Rico during the Classic because they don't get paid and the U.S. didn't think that was legit (or they just wanted to be difficult and anti-Cuba, I don't know, it's up for debate). Anyway, P.R. was like "Ummm, no they can play" and the Cuban team ended up donating their earnings to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. (Actually, this too as a slap in the face to the U.S. government because right after Katrina hit, Fidel offered the U.S. 5,000 Cuban doctors to go to New Orleans as part of the relief effort and Bush said no. Even though they were starved for doctors during the time.)
I would like to point out that the love of my imaginary life Derek Jeter is the captain of Team USA.

Prarie Fire That Wanders About- Sufjan Stevens

So this past weekend we went to Cienfuegos and Trinidad. Our last trip to Matanzas was so awful that I couldn't even blog about it, so we were all a little hesitant about it. Also, 5 hour bus rides are usually not fun.
Meg, Steph and I chatted on the bus ride through the beautiful country side. I always forget that Cuba has mountains. We get to our hotel right at dinner time (dinner at the hotel was pretty delicious), so Thursday night was just some food and some T.V.
Friday morning we got up earlyyyy and got on the bus to go to Palmira, a town about an hour away. Palmira is a center for santería in the western part of the country. Now, considering all of my classes talk about religion and santería and orishas and all of that, I had no desire to go to all of these cabildos (secret societies) and museums about santería, but apparently there were other plans. All morning we went from place to place and they were all fairly similar (read: boring). Then we had lunch and spent the afternoon on our own in the city of Cienfugos.

Don't we all look so excited? Foto de Honorio.

Cienfuegos was fun, we went into all the little stores, did some shopping, had some rum boxes, and then sat on the pier. The weather was beautiful and we all had fun hanging out.

I know I look really sleep and kind of angry, but I wasn't! I promise! Sitting on the pier. Foto de Meg.

Saturday we went to Trinidad, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It's an old colonial town that's been preserved pretty well. The whole town made me sad because it is one big tourist site and not "authentically Cuban" as my film professor put it. But whatev, Sonya, Emma, and I walked all around the city, up these little residential seats. We ended up on the top of this big hill where you could look out over the whole city and see the ocean in the distance. Very pretty.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Valle de los Ingenios, where a lot of the old sugar plantations were. We had lunch on an old ingenio (plantation) which consisted of not very delicious ropa vieja. My mama makes better. Next to where we ate lunch there was a big tower with very scary steps/ladders all the way up (Whitney told me there were 108 steps in total). I don't know what the purpose of this tower was, but you could see the whole valley from the top and it was beautiful. After this, we took a drive throught the valley and went back to the hotel.

The contraption that they used to squeeze the sugar cane to get the juice in the olden days. Notice Honorio in the backround, so exhausted from squeezing the cane. Foto de Danny.

Valle de los Ingenios. Foto de Meg.

Sunday was a lazy day: sleeping in, some beach, some lunch, and then the long ride back to Havana. I love getting out of the city to see the rest of the country, but I always love coming back to the residencia. Maria, Milady and Chino are always waiting for us with hugs. It's so nice.
All in all, a good trip.
Sunday was also Daylight Saving Time! It's so nice because its still very light out after dinner, until around 8! I love it. Sorry Boston, but I do NOT miss your weather.

Walk on the Water- David Byrne

More pictures from the flood! All fotos de Meg.

Me looking at the rio (river) that is Calle A.

Geovanis carrying some woman across the street.

A typical Cuban walking his dog and drinking a beer at 10 a.m.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood- Neko Case

So while everyone was having a snow day on Monday in Boston (yayy spring break!), we almost had a flood day. Almost.

When we get a cold front (it usually correlates with bad weather in the northeast, give or take a day), the malecón goes crazzyyyy. The waves come crashing over the wall and all of Calle Primera is slightly flooded. But yesterday, we go out to walk to class. The water was coming up Calle A, and going down Tercera. So we turn the corner at Tercera, on the sidewalk so we're dry. We get to Calle B and cannot cross! Its like a rio out there, water almost up to our nees and moving. Then we are trying to decide what to do (skip class? because of a flood? is this legit?) and then the water is coming over the sidewalks and flooding everywhere. So we all get wet and walk home.
I run upstairs to call school (we're already about 20 minutes late at this point). I finally get in touch with Caridad, our academic coordinator. She's so cool and is like "Oh, yeah, that happens." So I go back downstairs to tell everyone the good news. Some people had gone to the gallería to get provisions (wine, cookies, etc. We were preparing for the worst). We sit and watch some of the silliness (Cubans on motorbikes, silly little dogs swimming in the street, etc.) and then I go back upstairs. What do I discover but Caridad had called back and they were sending us a BUS. I wish I had photo of the Casa bus in the water, but its ridiculous. I feel unsafe in that thing even when it's not trying to be a boat.

Casa Bus. Rum for your life! Foto de Meg.

So then we had to go to class and we just watched a movie and although the movie was good, it would've been better if I was snuggled up in my jammies.

I will be uploading another silly picture of the flood when I find it. Get ready!

Water May Walk- Devendra Banhart

So this past weekend, a bunch of us wanted to get out of Habana. Some girls took a bus to the caves in Matanzas that we didn't go to when we were there, and some of us rented a car! It was quite good.
Danny, Tara, Meg, Steph and I were planning on renting a car to go to Soroa to see some sweet waterfalls, maybe some caves if we had the time. Apparently Cuba is big on the cuevas. Michelle was going to be alone all day because everyone had plans, so we told her that if we could rent a car that would fit six people, she could come. Well, we couldn't rent a car for six people. We had a very normal sized sedan. But Michelle came anyway, and the back seat was so unconfortable. Luckily, I had over a pound of Twizzlers for roadtrip food!

The ride was only supposed to be an hour. Danny started out driving, but after driving around Habana for almost three hours, he was getting a little cranky. We had finally found the autopista, but didn't really know how far away we were. I could barely feel my left leg, so I volunteered to drive. The highway was empty which was nice. The car drove wonderfully and we were having so much fun until we were there! Well, almost. We didn't know exactly where the waterfalls were, but we were close. But we followed a sign that said tourist center up a hill. It was so beautiful. On the way up the hill, we met a cow and her cow friends.

I stopped to take a picture of our new friend.

The guy told us that we still had to go a little further on the autopista. We turn around, pass the cows again, and finally make it to the waterfalls. We were starving, so we ate lunch at a little cafe (decent mojitos), and then started the trek to the waterfalls.

This day was also the first day of showing off my new haircut that I hate. Foto de Meg.

They made us pay in CUC, which I was mad about (I tried my method of yelling a lot, but no luck). It was only three CUC though, so it was fun. We get all the way down into the valley (quite the walk down all of these uneven silly steps of crumbling concrete) and then we see the waterfall. Like a lot of things in Cuba, it left a bit to be desired. I was expecting these gushing falls (for 4 USD, I should get my money's worth), but it was just one little waterfall. But after some investigation, we learned that from last year's hurricanes, a bunch of it got wiped out. So sad.
But we still got to go swimming in the pools of the waterfall, climb up the rocks, stand under it, and generally be little kids. It was fun.

Arco Iris! Foto de Michelle.

After the falls, we decided to go to the mineral baths. It was gettting late and the caves were far away and we had to be home for dinner! So the mineral baths were really close (as in next door) so we walk in to this sketchy little building that reaked of sulfur. The mineral bath were free and kinda cold and kinda weird (it was like a small swimming pool, but was fed by these natural springs). The guy running the whole operation spoke English, but it was hard to understand (Meg described his accent as "One of those male hairdressers who tries to fake an Italian accent to seem edgy"). Anyway, were in the baths for a while, and then we get out and Tara was going to go first for a massage. We're standing outside in the sun, when she comes out and is whispering that the guy is creepy and we should skip the massage. Apparently, this guy kind of touched his forehead to Tara's forehead and left it there for a while. It was just all very odd. And very Cuban.
After that we drove home to a lovely dinner of pizza and bok choy. Yum.