Day 3: From Carmen and Salma

Hello from the other side, it's us: Salma and Carmen. This one is for our Cuban friends. :) We enjoyed a lovely Easter Sunday in the beautiful, yet extremely humid, city of Havana. A group of 12 kids woke up early to attend an 8:30 church service- which wasn't actually in service until 10 (whoops!). So instead, we all met up with after the service at the Museo de Bellas Artes. Outside the museum, a small group of us spoke with a Cuban History professor, who gave us the Cuban prospective of the end of the embargo. He was a big advocate for Hillary 2016. In the museum, a tour guide took us through Cuban art chronologically. We began with the "Cuban Mona Lisa" and worked our way up to contemporary art. Our lovely tour guide explained to us how widely available cultural activities are since the revolutions pointing out how cheap movie tickets are (just 50 cents!!!). Unlike the Soviet Union, Cuba never burned controversial paintings, and we even saw a couple of paintings critical of Fidel-- yes, he knows! Just across the way from the museum's gift shop many of the students enjoyed an impromptu dance recital filled with acrobatic stunts and interpretive dances, while other students purchased authentic Cuban movie posters.

After a fun trip to the museum, we headed to Plaza de Armas, located in Old Havana. There, students enjoyed stunning archeticture, sugar chips, ice cream, and slightly creepy larger than life cat/dog sculptures. Needing a break from all the excitement the Poly group headed to the tourist hub "La Bodegiuta del Medio," which was once a hangout spot for our good friend Ernest Hemmingway. The restaurant walls were filled with messages from previous visitors, and we even got to sign it ourselves!! During our meal we enjoyed the musical stylings of an extremely talented trio who played the big hit, "Bailando." Fulfilled by our meals (except for Rijul who needed more veggies in his next meal!), we went to an open market complete with every kind of touristy gift that our American hearts could desire. Through this exercise we able to enhance our haggling skills and bring down the prices-- you were wrong, Mateo! Next, we headed to "Callejon de Hamel," which was a hub for Afro-Cuban culture and religion. This area was filled with murals by our other good friend Salvador whose art is yet to be government approved (unlike the previous stuff we saw). While at this venue, we witnessed in took a part in a Santeria dance ceremony in which the dancers represented different Afro-Cuban gods. The goddess of love took a particular liking to some of the boys. Having just sweated profusely from the dancing, we all loaded up in the bus and headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed a couple of hours of free time. At 6:45, the group headed out to get some authentic Cuban tacos!

A couple of kids may have gotten lost along the way today, but we've barely even noticed their absence! (Jk hahah). Anyways, we are really enjoying our stay here at Habana Libre, but we're super tired after this exciting and long journey today. Enjoy the capitalism back home!

Adios,
Salma and Carmen!