Salutations to the Poly Community from Ian and Desmond-
Today is our last day in Havana, so we fully embraced our opportunities in this beautiful city. In the morning, we were able engage in a dialogue with Christina Escobar, a Cuban journalist who works for national televised news. She is brilliant (you can find her on YouTube), and she has even been to the White House. With her, we were able to discuss, in detail, the role of state media, economics, and foreign policy in Cuba. This informative experience also gave us a unique insight into the complex nature of US-Cuban relations. It was interesting to learn about these issues from the Cuban perspective- which is quite different from what we hear on American TV. It sounds like there's a lot of international relation work to be done. We asked Christina many many questions that provoked educational realizations for the entire group.
After our colloquy, we proceeded to the studio of the Havana Compás Dance company. There, we observed a culturally immersive performance of dance intermixed with percussion. The company has developed a unique style of performance in which the dancers play various percussion instruments, especially Wooden chairs, while simultaneously dancing based on traditional flamenco and Afro-Cuban styles. It integrated many of the elements we had seen earlier this week!
Before lunch, we continued to the whimsical home of artist José Fuster. There, we enjoyed taking in the unique architecture based off of the work of Spanish artist Anton Gaudí. It's tiling which is the foundation of his work is spread throughout their entire community. Wow! Soon after, we also enjoyed a delicious lunch served at the house. What a rare treat.
After lunch, we went back to the open market (where we went Sunday), and we were enticed to buy treats for ourselves and our families. We've had varying success at saving money; some of the more streetwise students negotiated their prices with ease, while others were easily swindled into spending unnecessary amounts of money.
We now are in the hotel in anticipation for a lovely dinner at Havana 21 before our final night in the city. Other students are journaling right now, and we are all getting hungry. Our time in Havana was educational and insightful, and we are so lucky to be here. What a wonderful chance to see the changing world!
¡Adios, Habana!
No comments:
Post a Comment