Keeping Afloat in the Gulf of Mexico...

Dear faithful blog readers: Brace yourself, this will be a long one.

I haven’t written recently because SURPRISE, the internet hasn’t been working for the last 5 days. The electricity had gone out on Monday and everything got fouled up. The best part of the power outage was that the elevator didn’t work, so up we went, all the way to the 13^th floor…about 3 times that day. In honor of the power outage, we instated “Happy Hour”, with low budget Cuba Libres and high class cigars. (I bought my first pack of tiny Cohibas yesterday. You really can’t feel Cuban without a really good cigar.)

Monday was the first day of classes, which are really interesting. We do a lot of reading and a lot of writing, so it’s pretty perfect. There’s a lot of very opinionated people in this program, which sometimes gets frustrating when we’re trying to learn things. Discussions get taken to extremes, often for hours after class is over. According to our professor Raquel, “Ideas have no time limit” which can be a bit annoying when I miss lunch.

On Wednesday we watched a great documentary called Fidel, which everyone needs to rent and watch. The history of Cuba is truly amazing, and the Cuban Revolution is nothing to take lightly. It’s strange how in the United States we are taught to think of Fidel Castro as such a monster, when in fact he accomplished some very admirable things. Did you know that the revolutionaries that based in the Sierra Maestra mountains, among them Che Guevara and Fidel Castro and a lot of WOMEN, started with only seven guns? Such an amazing and sad story for an island that has only been independent for about 50 years of its entire existence. We have had many discussions about the tragedy of American youth, not will to fight for anything. It is inspiring, and yet I’m not sure what to do with this empowerment yet.

I won’t lie to you, America. I’ve been a bit homesick lately. I had a couple good cries, found some very wonderful shoulders to cry on. It may have been brought on by this long and depressing discussion we had in class about feeling useless and American. I ended up convincing myself that I wasn’t good at anything in Cuba, and turned off my happy radar. Today I feel absolutely liberated. A group of girls and I went swimming off the Malecon, which is the waterfront right in front of our house. The tricky part about swimming in this part of Havana is that there’s no beach, just intimidating rocks and one lonely ladder. But the water is so blue (see the picture I posted of my view – it’s the same spot) that it’s worth dodging the rocks and sea life.

Yesterday was really great, too. Instead of class on Thursday, we do guided tours of different historical areas with Geraldo (my favorite Cuban professor I’ve met). Yesterday we went to the presidential palace, which is of course, is no longer a palace for any sort of royalty. The building is now a museum of the revolution, with artifacts and pictures from the whole process of overturning the Bautista Regime. One of the most prized pieces of the museum is the boat “Granma”, which brought over 82 revolutionaries from Mexico to begin their siege of the island. It’s kept in a heavily guarded glass building, kind of like our Liberty Bell, but so much better.

Some students and I are trying to plan a trip to Santiago de Cuba, which is about…eight hours away, but we hear it’s about $300 for a bus ride. We’re hoping we can find something cheaper, and hopefully slightly comfortable. Santiago de Cuba is the city where Carnival is held every July, and it also holds great revolutionary significance. And of course, it’s on the ocean and apparently breathtakingly beautiful. I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Something really interesting about Cubans that I want to share is that they don’t believe their revolution is over. They don’t expect that what happened in 1959 was the beginning and end of changes. The Cuban people have been through so much tragedy and somehow have pulled through to near triumph. They are ready and willing to ride out the temporary storms, in order to achieve all socialist goals put forth so long ago. Yes, there are problems here. By American standards, Havana is a nightmare. All the buildings that used to be majestic are now literally crumbling down. Stray dogs are everywhere (and they are NOT friendly), and the city smells like fermenting garbage at night. But Cubans are artists of life. It seems that every Cuban boy plays baseball in the street at sundown, and all little girls run through the streets in tutus and ballet slippers. There is music and poetry and swimming and dancing. Geraldo, a university professor of History, is paid the equivalent of $60 a month, and yet he is so fond of his home.

It seems so obvious now, more than ever, that money will never be the key to our dreams.

Love always,

Caitlin