Desde La Habana

Last Wednesday, most of the other students from the United States left Havana for an educational excursion to Trinidad and Santa Clara. Those of us from the SUNY program had to stay though since we take classes directly with the University of Havana. While the Residence was a little bit quieter, there was plenty going on. Friday marked the National Day of the Press so a party was held here at the Residence of the José Martí International Institute of Journalism.

From 7:00 on Friday night to 3:00 Saturday morning, I celebrated the occasion with journalists from across America (North, South, and the Caribbean). We sat around a table with drinks on the house (the State) and sang songs from our respective countries. Represented at the table were songs from Cuba, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and of course—the United States. I settled with Calle 13 featuring Orishas “Pal Norte.” While it may not be a traditional song back home, the U.S. obviously plays a central role in the song as the country many refer simply as el norte.

Saturday—despite being out until the early hours that morning—we woke up at 6:00 a.m. to begin a four hour journey to Santa Clara. As our school bus pulled up, complete with wooden seats, I knew we were going to be in for a long drive. Just about an hour out from Havana though, we found ourselves back in Cuba as the bus broke down and we were stranded on the highway. With a van coming to pick us up (all 15), the driver was finally able to fix the bus about two hours later and we made our way back to the city instead of risking getting stuck again. Everything worked out and by noon I was sitting back on the white sand and crystal clear waters of Guanabo with some other international students from the University.

Sunday began early as well since we changed the hour here and 9:00 breakfast suddenly felt like 8:00. Shortly after, four journalists and I walked down Avenida de los Presidentes to catch the P-11 heading toward Habana Vieja. We spent a few hours at the Museum of the Revolution and later the Granma Memorial. There’s so much history in that building though (the old Presidential Palace) so I’m sure I’ll be going back again for a third visit sometime soon. Next up was a stop at the Camera Oscura where we got a pretty cool view of the entire city.

Finally, after lunch at the Residence, we took another bus to Miramar where the National Aquarium is. Of course, no visit to an aquarium is complete without a dolphin show and I’ve never seen one so cool. One of the highlights has to be seeing the dolphins dance to different types of popular music here in Cuba—merengue, then reggeaton, and finally rock (which is ridiculously popular in Havana). Speaking of something you wouldn’t expect to be popular here, Cubans love the theme song from Titanic. It played no less than three times during a two hour visit to the aquarium. On our way back, I took advantage of being in Miramar to find the Supermarket (actually Giant or Safeway sized, but it was closed early for some reason) and the only Mexican restaurant in Havana. Now I should seriously think about doing some reading since I have a semanario tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.