Two
weeks in Cuba have been the best rewarding days of my life. I departed without
knowing really what to expect, the only thing I knew was that my classmates and
I were going to translate Spanish to English. The day of the departure I couldn’t
believe I was actually going to Cuba, until they put an oval sticker in my
boarding pass with a Cuban flag. We made it to Havana in as little as 2 hours and about 20 minutes, I still can’t
believe that Cuba “esta tan cerca pero tan
lejos.” When the plane touched ground in Havana’s airport everyone in the
plane started clapping with joy, I was too. First thing I noticed out of the airport was the
colorful classic cars, everywhere that I would look there was one, Chevrolets,
Buicks, Fords and a few Russian cars. I felt like I was traveling back to the
1950’s, not just because of the classic cars but also because of the
architecture of the bright colored dusty buildings and narrow endless streets.
Everything once I watched in movies and tv, I was looking at with my own eyes.
What a better way to enjoy our first night out in la
Havana, we visited the Jazz Café, where we enjoy beautiful Jazz music, while
having a delicious first time dinner in Havana. Next day after breakfast in the
B&B a long day awaited us. It was amazing, we visited some of the main
points of interest like La Havana Vieja, Plaza de la Catedral y paseo del
Prado. We walked a lot, but I don’t regret it, it was amazing to see all the
colorful building, culture, music, art, classic cars and people, just what I
had seen in tv, but this time I was looking with my own eyes. I didn’t want to
leave Havana without taking a ride in one of the classic cars with the top down
along the Malecon. So, some of my classmates and I decided to go out and ride a
taxi classic car to give us a ride around Havana and the Malecon. The ride was
awesome, the taxi’s owner was a young guy who was guiding us around and drove
along the Malecon. We were so excited, I could feel the breeze and the wind on
my face and my hair going everywhere. The young guy even became our own
photographer and took some beautiful pictures with us in his blue top down
taxi.
To say goodbye to Havana we visited Fábrica de Arte
Cubano, this place was very interesting, I thought it was an art exhibit but
for my surprise it was that and more. All the art in one place, art exhibits,
live music, Dance, film and more, nothing I had seen before.
Next day we made our way to Matanzas, the place where we
were going to be most of our time. We arrived at the Hostal Azul our place of
meetings, breakfast and Lunch. Then we walked to Ediciones Matanzas where a
delicious lunch and poets waited for us. The lunch was fantastic, arroz moro is
a must in Cuba and the banana chips, this is some of the traditional Cuban
food. Also, we meet the poets whose work we were going to translate to English.
Laura Fuentes and I became a team to translate Derbys Domínguez poems. We had a
chance to talk to our poet and learn a little more about him, his poetry and
what poems he wanted to translate. He was present and on time in Ediciones
Matanzas every day that we would come to work in his poems. When we needed a
better explanation of a phase or metaphor he helped us to understand what was
the meaning so that the poem in English had the same feeling as in Spanish. We
did come across some Spanish words that didn’t existed in English, so we had to
select a word or phrase close to the meaning. However, Derbys was always there
willing to help as well as Professor Cuesta and my classmates. It was
challenging translating 9 poems to English but we did it. Out of the 9 poems we
worked very hard in, “Una Isla” and “Diálogos bajo la llovizna,” because we
were going to recite them on our last day at the Ediciones Matanzas. I’m very
happy with what Laura and I accomplished with the poems, Derbys was very
excited because he said that this was the first time someone had translated
some of his poems. Also, that he had wrote the poems like 20 years ago. I
never, in my life thought that one day I was going to translate poems, but this
was a great experience, now I can say I enjoy translating short poems.
For the next 2 weeks in Matanzas we had a full itinerary,
Professor Cuesta did a good job on keeping us busy every day, but also, we had
breaks and free nights to hang out. The activities occurred most of the time
around 3 p.m., right after lunch in the Hostal Azul. Some of the activities and
events we attended are as follow, a guided walk around Matanzas with the
historian Silvia Hernandez Godoy and expert in Cuban history, she has been
recognized and awarded for her history knowledge.
We visited the Ediciones
Vigía a place where they handmade books, it was very interesting to know that
every single book is decorated, colored by hand, also we meet the poet Laura
Ruiz who spoke about her work as translator.
We were able to meet Georgina
Herrera a Cuban poet who recited some poems at el Museo Farmacéutico and who
has visited the University of Houston before. After Georgina’s poems, some good
friends of Professor Cuesta, Lien and Rey started playing and singing for us
and people that work at Ediciones Matanzas. It was a private concert just for
us all, Lien amazing voice and Rey’s way of playing the guitar just outstanding.
Also, it was the first time Lien and Rey’s daughter Luna was playing live with
them, she was outstanding as well.
That same day full of activities we visited la
Casa Templo in Pueblo Nuevo, a walking distance from our Hostal, where we danced
some Afro Cuban music along with the drums, it was very relaxing dancing following
the beat of the drums, also it was very humid and hot but that didn’t stop us.
We all deserved a break from
our busy schedule so we made our way to Varadero Cuba, for the weekend.
Varadero, is a town that provides resort areas very close to the beach, we
stayed in the resort Villa Cuba all included, in our own house with a private
pool. It was the best thing, everything was inside the resort no need to go
out. The beach was amazing one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen in my
life, with crystal clear water and white sand. We spent most of our time in the
beach getting a perfect tan, in the private pool and eating in the resort’s
restaurants. Sunday was our last day in Varadero so we decided to wake up early
and watch the sunrise, it was gorgeous, no words, just like the sun set that we
had watch a day before.
We started the week at
Ediciones Matanzas again, ready to work on the last poems and then a workshop
on how to manufacture a handmade book took place in the Museo Farmacéutico,
with the artist Rolando Estévez. I remember it was on a rainy afternoon,
actually the only time I was able to see rain in Cuba. To manufacture the book,
we had to use our imagination to create the decoration of the front cover by
adding recycle material, like pieces of card board, color paper, water colors,
acrylic paint, fabric, yarn, and gruel. Every book came out beautiful, each
adding their own personal style.
Next day we took a ride in a old
soviet bus from back in the days, to visit the Cuevas de Bellamar, the caves
were amazing, we walked underground for a long distance going up and down rock
stairs, that was a good work out day.
Another experience was
visiting the Castillo de San Severino, la Ruta del Escravo, this place was like
out of a movie, with lots of history, the historian Silvia Hernández was able
to tell us the history of this place and tales. That same day full of emotion,
we took a salsa lesson with the instructor Jean Marcos Monclus, he is very
young but he is a great professional dancer. We learned some new moves it was
incredible, my partner Isis and I had a little trouble doing the complicated
turns but at the end we became experts.
One of the best food for lunch
we had was at la Finca de Proyecto Comunitario Agropecuario, this event took
place just outside Matanzas. Carlos León the owner of the Finca, along with
sister and mother prepared the best lunch for us. All the food was basically grown
there at the Finca, we drank mango, guayaba, pineapple fresh juice. We ate rice
with corn, pork, banana chips, tamales, and other delicious dishes, including
dessert.
Our last day in Ediciones Matanzas arrived, what we all
had worked so hard for the past two weeks finally came to an end. We recited
two poems from our poets in front of a large crowd. The poet recited the poems
in Spanish and my classmates and I in English, everything turned out awesome.
We had a live concert between poems with the band Atenas Brass Ensamble, we
also enjoyed our last meal at the Ediciones with lots of food.
Before heading to Havana to take the plane to come back
home, I enjoyed my last brunch at Hostal Azul, fresh fruit, coffee, mango
juice, scramble eggs and toast with butter. After brunch and having my suitcase
pack and ready, I decided to walk for the last time to the Parque de la
Libertad. I sat in one of the benches and just watched all the people pass by,
all the classic cars, everything around me. I could believe that the end had
come, I was feeling a mix of emotions, thinking about all the things we had
experienced in as short as two weeks. In a way, I was ready to come back home and
on the other hand I just wanted to stay there for longer, away from the big
city, my car, my job, technology and unhealthy food. I still wanted to get up,
get ready to go back to Ediciones Matanzas and work in translations but that
was not going to happen again. It was time to say goodbye to beautiful
Matanzas, the people and friends we all made.
It’s been 2 weeks since I got
back from Cuba and I still feel like I’m not fully ready to go back to my
routine. Every time someone wants to know about my adventure in Cuba, I have to
express all the wonderful things that the beautiful Island has to offer and the
impact it has left on me, and that one day I will go back again.
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