Cuba Trip, January 2003

Cuba Trip, January 2003

Day 10-11: Santeria and Rhumba

Our last day. San Cristobal Square stiltwalkers.

Day 10 Havana: Santeria and Rhumba dance

Santeria tarot card reading- Sinai knows a couple in Havana that do santeria readings, either reading shells or reading tarot cards so Ronni and I head out and take an egg taxi over to their house. In my reading, the "babalawo"(priest of Santeria) finds that I have a lot of the Orisha (god) named Chango showing up in my card reading. This is the orisha of thunder, the drums and dance, so I am quite pleased since I like both drums and dance. The orishna is more typically male, she states. I'm not surprised, given how many times I have been referred to as "sir" or assumed to be "Ronni's brother" on this trip.

Rhumba dance and music show- we cab over to see this activity, which is every other Saturday and it is filled with Cubans and tourists. Elvis probably got his hip movements from this dance. Rhumba is African based and was usually relegated to the lower classes due to the lascivious nature of the dance. In my reading, I find the native rhumba folk dance is a sex pantomime. There is a lot of exaggeration of hip movement.

Casa de la Trova- this is near Miriam's house so we walked over. Unfortunately, we were late, the show started at 8:00 PM, so we had 15 minutes. The house will filled with tourists and we were harassed by a couple men who wanted money for the performers. Generally speaking, I haven't felt harassed at all on this trip, so to have it happen at such a cultural monument as a Casa de la Trova, was disappointing. The Buena Vista Social Club performers were discovered at a Casa de la Trova by Ry Cooder, thus the emerging popularity to tourists.

Cine Yara- We walked to this area which is in Vedado, a part of Havana. This is primarily where gay people meet and plan the evening parties. Before the police whistles come out at midnite to send everyone off.

See the exaggerated movements of the rhumba.

Casa de la Trova "House of Cuban Folkmusic"

In front of Bim Bom, a cafe that used to be a gay hangout, but no more, since the police moved in.

Day 11 Havana

Museo of the Revolucion- This is a took us 3 hours to walk through much because there was a lot of interesting stuff to see. Much of the signage was in English as well as Spanish and really gives a thorough history of the entire revolucion including the continual anti-imperialist slant. As a US citizen, I find it incredibly entertaining, because the propaganda is so excessive, not just here but throughout the country. At the same time, it makes you step back and be aware of how we are equally excessive and pro-American in the USA.

The museum is housed in the former presidential palace. The exhibition shows many artifacts like "hat worn by such-and-such when he was gunned down by imperialist troops". One can see Batista's office, where there was an assassination attempt and the secret passage he used when fleeing. There are still bullet holes to be seen in some parts of the building.
In the back of the museum is the armory of the Revoluction: a truck, tank, missile and guns clustered around the boat 'Granma', on which Fidel sailed back to Cuba from Mexico to start the revolution. Fidel had bought this boat and the misspelled word of Granma now sits in history books as well as having a province named after it.

We took a Ferry to Regla, across the Havana bay, a 10 minute ride. The old town of Regla is a centre of Afro-Cuban religions. Several famous babalawo (santería priests) reside in Regla. The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla is notable for its Black Madonna. She is associated with Yemayá, the spirit of the ocean, and patroness of sailors.

That night we have an enjoyable "last supper" at Jorge's. He cooks up an amazing meal and Ronni and I are amazed that our trip is over just as its beginning.

Day 12 Monday
5:00 AM Leave for Airport
Don't put Cuba on entrance card!