This Summer I spent two weeks in Cuba, specifically in Havana,
Matanzas, and Varadero. The two weeks were incredible and more than anything I
ever could have imagined. On the first day when we arrived in Havana it was
raining, and already I could feel the heat sticking to me. We boarded a bus
with no air conditioning and made our way to the city of Havana. To be honest I
did not have any prior expectations of Cuba before going because growing up I
had always known Cuba to be closed off from the US so travelling there never
occured to me. What surprised me about Havana was just the sheer amount of
people that lived there. There were building stacked three-four stories high
and smushed so close together for as far as your eye could see. That night we
went to a jazz club which was the first taste of the rich musical culture that
there is in Cuba.
The next morning, and for many other days on our trip, we were
scheduled to take a tour of Havana. Havana was beautiful and had many
interesting sculptures and I quickly realized during my trip how important
plazas are to them. The thing about Cuba is that internet is kind of scarce,
and people aren’t addicted to their phones like they are in the US, so on any
given evening in Havana, and Matanzas as well, you could see hordes of people
gathered just to sit together and talk. Plazas are also a place where you can
connect to internet, but that didn’t seem to matter so much because people
genuinely would get together just to converse. That night we went to “Fabrica
de Arte” which featured art exhibits, live music, and live performances. It was
there that I discovered a phrase that was so accurate for my first week in
Cuba. The phrase was “este tarde es otro dia” which means this afternoon is
another day, which is how I felt because my first week in Cuba were some of the
longest days of my life. I had always known that there are 24 hours in a day,
but I had never used them to such an extent before.
As much fun as I had in Havana, it was absolutely nothing compared
to my experience in Matanzas. I loved Matanzas, I loved their food, their
people, and their culture. Matanzas had to have been the safest city I was ever
in in my life. They’ve built such a wonderful sense of community and everyone
knows each other and looks out for one another. Everyday we had something new
to see and experience, from tours of incredible museums, to fun jazz concerts,
to salsa workshops and dance clubs. Matanzas is not only where I had the most
fun, but also where I got to get started on what we were there to do, which was
translate the work of local Matanzeros. This Summer we translated the short
stories of 12 authors from Spanish to English. What I can say above anything
that whether it’s painting, sculptures, music, or literature Cuba has some of the
most talented people I have seen in my life.
Passion radiated throughout the City. In murals and sculptures and
museums and even on the streets I was constantly confronted by their talent and
beauty. We worked in two different publishing houses Ediciones Matanzas and
Ediciones Vigía and I have never seen books published the way that they do it.
Basically take everything you know about a book and throw it out the window.
They turn every piece of literature into a work of art, made by hand, in the
most creative ways possible. Their expression is incredible. I had the honor of
working with an author Manuel Navea who wrote a beautiful and universal piece
about someone who loses their memory. I had such a great time with the piece
and I worked to ensure that his vision and his voice was carried over the
language barrier so that his work wouldn’t be tarnished by the English
language. Everything about the city was so authentic and people were so
authentic. No one felt the need to cover their truth, instead they found ways
to express it and share it. I’m so grateful for this experience and I will
never forget those I met along the way. I already want to go back.
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