Havana Good Time

After unloading 73 individuals in Freeport, Bahamas, I woke up early on December 9th to watch as the MV Explorer came into the Havana Harbor. It was a beautiful morning in Cuba and we were excited Semester at Sea allowed us to come to this forbidden country after a 9-year hiatus with the program. The people of Cuba were apparently interested in us as well (or maybe just in a cruise ship) as people were stopping their cars to watch us come into the port.

Everyone on the ship was required to go to some opening sessions. This was great because I was on call the first day, so this allowed me a chance to get off the ship for a while! We were greeted on the ship by the delegation of Cuba, all 650 students/faculty/staff loaded 17 tour buses (though many students were stopped by reporters for interviews first; I know I saw CNN), and we headed to the University of Havana (with a police escort). Every bus had 2 students from the University of Havana as well as a tour guide to point out different areas of the city as we made our way to the university. When we arrived outside the university everyone gathered for a short welcome and as a group (just as the freshman classes does every fall), we climbed up the steps leading to the University of Havana. For an added effect, John Lennon’s song, Imagine, was playing over the loudspeakers.

 Climbing the steps to the University of Havana 

"Imagine all the people...living for today."

With the sun beating down, everyone gathered outside the science building, where a stage had been set up, for some more welcome speeches. Academic Dean Kathy Thornton (astronaut) and Executive Dean Nick (not an astronaut) spoke for Semester at Sea and the University of Havana had a few professors speak as well. After the speeches, all the SASers were supposed to go to one of 3 presentations (US-Cuba Relations; Politics in Cuba; or Ecology in Cuba); however, before the speeches were over, I struck up a conversation with Kimani, a journalist from a Cuban online newspaper. We talked for close to half an hour about various topics (SAS coming to Cuba, the embargo, politics in both the US and Cuba, the poor economy, and more). By the time Kimani had to leave, the presentations rooms were already filled to capacity, so I struck up a conversation with some of the University of Havana graduate students helping with our program.

 Student Life Team at the University of Havana

Turns out the 30 or so grad students who were helping with SAS had 2 weeks of intensive English courses prior to our arrival and then were allowed to miss 4 days of classes to serve as liaisons between SAS and the University of Havana. Thus, these 30 students were immersed around the SAS our entire time in Cuba. I spoke with Jose (Law Student), Yazmin (Law Student), and Yullietto (Computer Science) for another half an hour, just trying to get their perspectives on everything happening in Cuba, their feelings towards the United States, and more.

When the sessions ended, everyone gathered back near the stage for performances from the students in the performing arts department. The performances were fantastic as students showed off their voices (opera, pop, choirs) as well as their dance moves (traditional, tap, swing, etc.). The last group to perform (dancers) grabbed people from the audience and soon 300+ people (combination of University of Havana students and SAS students) were dancing together. They let this go on for probably about 20 minutes before we had to return to the ship for lunch and a meeting with the US diplomats (though returning to the ship and going through security with 650 people took a long time).

The US diplomats were very…diplomatic. They introduced themselves, talked about SAS returning to Cuba, and then opened it up for a question and answer session. They seemed to be calculated and answered each question very carefully and thoughtfully, so as to not say the wrong thing. Once this session was finished, SAS was free of obligatory sessions and could explore Havana on their own. I was on duty, so all I could do was exchange my Euros for CUC (Cuban convertible peso). It is equivalent to the US dollar; however, the dollar ceased to be accepted in Cuba in 2004 because Cuba cited the need to retaliate against further sanctions by the US.

In the evening, SAS had a social with members from the Cuban educational system in the Glazer Lounge (Faculty/Staff Lounge). As I was stuck on the ship, I went to chat with these individuals (administrators, professors, members of foreign affairs, etc.). Only about half the delegation from Cuba spoke English, so when I would approach a person standing by themselves, I was never sure if we’d actually be able to communicate with one another, as my Spanish is very rudimentary. I was about 50-50, though when I found out a person didn’t speak English, we would still try to converse. I spoke with one individual, Rolando, for about 10 minutes before I asked RD Carla (language expert extraordinaire) to help translate both ways for us. I ended the night by speaking with Lisa, a woman who helped organize the last SAS trip to Cuba (and has received 2 medals from Fidel Castro). Lisa is from Pittsburgh, PA and is very pro-Cuba and sounded extremely anti-US government.

Getting to speak that day with members of both US and Cuba was interesting. The saying, “There’s three sides to every story,” definitely applied here. There’s the US story, the Cuban story, and probably the truth somewhere in the middle. Regardless, it was extremely interesting to hear both sides of the US-Cuba relationship. In addition, President Obama shook hands with Raul Castro in South Africa, for Nelson Mandela’s funeral, so maybe change will finally come with the US policies towards Cuba. I mean…the cold war ended and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989…you’d think the "wall" between US-Cuba would have done the same by now.

Cuban Flag Flying over the MV Explorer

Being that the MV Explorer was so close to the states, the ship picked up an NBC station (not sure why it was one from Casper, Wyoming, but it was), so I watched some Jimmy Fallon before going to bed. Unfortunately, it was a very short sleep as I woke up and had to be the observing RD in the “VIP Room” when intoxicated students came back. I was in the room from about 2:30am-6:00am, before Carla (who was the secondary on-call person) came to relieve me.

After a handful of hours of sleep, I awoke and boarded a bus to head to a Cuban League baseball game between the Havana Industriales and the Artemisa Cazadores. About 400 members of our community took advantage of this program and SAS had 11 buses to take us to Artemisa, a city about 1 hour from Havana. The stadium was pretty basic with cement stands/bleachers and (thankfully) overhangs to block out the sun, which beat down on the field. The tickets to a game were equivalent to 4 cents US, or if you wanted to sit in the expensive section, 10 cents. I wasn’t sure what to make of the Cuban baseball league and after seeing a man score from first base…on a bunt!…I thought maybe I was watching a little league game. However, the play was very good from that point on and it was as if we were watching an MLB game. The “stadium food” wasn’t your typical US food, but they did sell hotdogs, beef hamburgers, and drinks (though thankfully no alcohol is sold at the stadium). Havana ended up scoring 2 runs in the 8th inning and winning the game 3-2. After the game ended, they allowed the SAS program to go on the field, run the bases, as well as meet & take pictures with the players. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun during the game and the rain came right after we boarded the buses to head back to Havana.

Artemisa Cazadores (Hunters)

Havana Industriales at Artemisa Cazadores

In Havana Blue

Havana scored 2 runs in the 8th to go up 3-2. By the way they celebrated,

you would have thought they just won the World Series!

Group of SASers at the Game

Two Baltic Bandits - Marisa & Grace

 SASers Storming the Field & Running the Bases

I was selected to be a Bus Liaison for a Farewell Celebration program happening in the evening. We went to an outdoor venue where a stage with a live band had been set up. When everyone was seated, the music began and dinner was just starting to be served, when it started down pouring. Many people ran for the pavilions/indoor areas, but about 50 people stayed out and just started dancing. I decided to join this group, as I was already pretty soaked. Pretty soon everyone had forgotten about the food and were just dancing. The night was a lot of fun, dancing to a fusion of US top hits and Cuban salsa; however, the venue allowed people to buy unlimited amount of alcoholic drinks (including buying whole handles of hard liquor). For the majority of people, this was fine as they didn’t go over their limit. Unfortunately, 2 students had to be taken to the hospital (by RDs Nathan and Carla…who weren’t even supposed to be working) and a few more went to the VIP room immediately when they got back to the ship.

After showering, it was 1am and I decided my night was not over, so I wandered the city to see if anywhere else was opened. Side note: I felt completely safe in this city...even at night walking by myself. I wasn’t finding anything until I came upon the Plaza de la Catedral, where some SASers were just hanging out and having a drink, so I joined this group and chatted with them. We all returned to the ship together, but I decided to run back out and take a picture of the ship. On my way out, I ran into Nathan, Carla, and Bri (one of the students who works the Activities Desk), and heard all about their stories from the night.

MV Explorer in Cuba

When I awoke the final day in Cuba, I contacted Carla as we were going to wander the city together. We started in the Plaza San Francisco with the Basilica and Monastery of San Francisco de Asis (Saint Francis of Assisi). This church was built at the end of the sixteenth century, though it is no longer used for church, but concerts instead. We walked through the Plaza de Armas, where street vendors were selling all types of materials (books, posters (Vampires in Havana), music, etc.)…mainly about Che Grevara (the Argentine Marxist revolutionary) and Fidel Castro (former President of Cuba).

 Basilica and Monastery of San Francisco de Asis

Plaza de Armas

It was scorching hot outside, so we decided to duck into the Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force), which is considered to be the oldest stone fortress in the Americas; construction began in 1558 and finished in 1577. It was originally built to defend against attacks by pirates, but with the poor strategic location of being inside the bay and too distant from the mouth of the harbor, this didn't really occur. We walked around the castle, looking at the artifacts of Cuba’s maritime past, including a replica of the Spanish flagship, Nuestra Senor de la Santisima Trinidad, the world’s largest warship in its time, until it sank in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. After walking around on our own, Carla started speaking with a worker, Daisy, who toured us around the fort. In addition, Daisy told of how hard life is for the people of Cuba with the economy so bad and very little help from the government. Daisy indicated she makes what would be equivalent to $10 (USD) per month. We tipped her a couple months salary and she invited us to have dinner with her and her family. Carla and I had to decline, since we were going to be leaving Cuba a few hours later.

 Castillo de la Real Fuerza

 Nuestra Senor de la Santisima Trinidad

Daisy & Carla

Carla and I kept walking the city, passing the Parque Luz Caballero, Parque Cespedes, and the Police Headquarters. Cuba feels like a city still in the 1950s or 1960s as it has all these vintage American cars (1957 Chevrolet, 1953 Ford, 1958 Dodge, etc.) driving the road. The US embargo against Cuba has prevented the importation of American made automobiles since 1962. Thus, these classic American cars are the standard on Cuban roads today. 

Our final stop before lunch was the Monument to General Máximo Gómez, in the Parque Martieres del 71. This monument was built through a competition held for the beautification of the coast of the city. This statue was dedicated to the General of the independence of Cuba in 1898. Máximo Gómez was a Dominican Major General in the Ten Years' War (the first of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain). He was also Cuba's military commander during Cuba's War of Independence from 1895-1898. When the war ended, he retired to a villa outside of Havana. He refused the Presidential nomination that was offered to him in 1901 (in which he was expected to win unopposed) because he disliked politics and believed that a Dominican-born should not be the civil leader of Cuba.

Monument to General Máximo Gomez

We grabbed a tasty lunch at a nearby restaurant and had about 20 minutes to kill before needing to be back to the ship for embarkation duty. Carla and I decided it was too hot to walk back, so we decided to grab one of the classic American cars turned taxi to drive us around the city. Our driver was great and took us all over. He drove us past the Museum of the Revolution, the President’s home, the Memorial of the Granma (the yacht that was used to transport 82 fighters of the Cuban Revolution from Mexico toe Cuba), the Havana Art Museum, the National Capital Building, the National Ballet, and more. I wish I would have had more time in the city to walk around these areas and explore the museums, but we had to get back to the port…maybe I’ll return when the embargo is lifted (or on another SAS voyage!).

Our Lunch

 Our Ride

 Museum of the Revolution

Cuban National Capital Building

We returned to the port to help with the embarkation from Cuba. I stopped in a few of the souvenir shops in the terminal to spend my final CUCs (since I’m not going to be able to use them in the US) and then worked to get everyone on the ship. At 2000, we left Cuba and made our way back to Freeport, Bahamas. The students from the University of Havana stayed in the terminal to watch us leave and the SASers waved goodbye to their newfound friends!

 University of Havana Students Saying Goodbye

That evening, I met for a final time with my Sea Olympics Committee to thank them for their hard work and give them cake and cookies. I then met up with other faculty/staff members in the Glazer Lounge for a photo share. I have easily taken 5000 photos myself on this trip, and probably got a few hundred more from everyone else during this event.

"Farewell is said by the living every day. It is said with love and friendship, with the affirmation that the memories are lasting, if the flesh is not."