eQuilter Blog

I am writing to you on my last night in Havana Cuba, because I will be en route home on Saturday. It is always a humbling experience to visit a developing country where people have to do so much with so little. I was here all week on a cultural exchange, and I was delighted that a friend could come along who speaks fluent Spanish. During our home stay with a rural family in Western Cuba, thanks to her, we had a very intimate experience with the extended family of our host family. I brought along sewing supplies that will serve the whole village. We heard stories about 3 or 4 people sharing one needle between them, can you imagine? Now that village has enough needles for everyone, and many pairs of scissors for the families to share.

After I get home and catch my breath I’ll be sharing more photos with you. I have a couple batches already posted on my photo page. Today we visited a dance school in Havana and over a hundred students performed for us… from flamenco to Michael Jackson. Yesterday we visited a neighborhood that was full of mosaic walls and mosaic-covered sculptures… sort of a cross between Picasso and Gaudi. The home of the artist was like a giant Art Park and it had grown to encompass much of the neighborhood surrounding his home. He made his neighborhood into a tourist destination with his prodigious output of mosaic art – just amazing!

While spending 24 hours in a rural village, we had some fascinating experiences. There was an impromptu soccer game in a field with the local teenage boys, and some visiting tourists from several countries joined them in the muddy field. There were many languages being spoken which was surreal, considering we were so far out in the country. At the end of the game some of the local boys jumped on their little horses (who had been grazing at the edge of the soccer field), waved goodbye and trotted home down the village streets. The next morning we saw the farmers riding to work on their horses, and also in carts drawn by water buffaloes. The birth rate is low so we didn’t see too many babies or young children. One family had a 2 month old baby, and they said pretty much the whole village comes by every night to admire the baby.

What we *did* see was COLOR, amidst the crumbling renaissance-era facades. As I mentioned in my midweek newsletter, parts of Old Havana look like a war zone because of the deteriorating old buildings. It made me really appreciate what it takes to maintain these old structures. What impressed everyone in our group is how sweet and friendly the Cubans were, despite the extreme challenges of the economy here. No matter where I travel, people are people, and this has been a cultural experience I will never forget. As a photographer it was overwhelming to try to capture all that I experienced, but I’ll try to share the highlights in the next week.