On Wednesday, in keeping with tradition almost all of us girls at the residence celebrated Halloween. It was fun and Aidan and I dressed as the Tortoise and the Hare complete with ears, shells, tails, and running outfits (which was quite the feat when you see what we had to work with.) Although we didn’t go trick or treating, I was given a chocolate bar during my film history class and for an added spooky effect, the electricity went out although that has been happening every week for the past 3 weeks.
Our friend who has an apartment allowed us to throw a Halloween party and so we all set out, fully costumed while a hurricane apparently passed by but not through Havana. We were surprised by the strength of the winds and when we saw the waves breaking on the Malecón sending spray 30 feet in the air we all stopped and stood in awe. It was at this moment that I felt one of my finely crafted “hare ears” rip from under the bobby pins I had used to keep it in place and when I turned around it grab it, it was already half way down the block, riding on a gust of wind. I figured it was a lost cause to chase after it and continued on to the party missing an ear. Whenever someone asked, “What are you?” I had to explain that I was a rabbit but my ear blew away when we were walking to the party and everyone got an endless amount of entertainment from this and called me, “el unicornio.” Other costumes included the ocean, a skunk, Crystal (a Cuban beer), and peace. All in all, it was probably the best Halloween I’ve had in a very long time and I’m glad it turned out so well.
This past weekend we went to Viñales which is a small town west of Habana. It was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been with these strange low lying mountain formations that almost look like giant loaves of bread, soft red mud, and tobacco farms. Immediately I fell into a fantasy world and imagined myself on my own finca, plowing the land with my oxen, planting tobacco seeds in the fertile soil, and grinding corn to feed to my hens and turkeys. We walked through the countryside for 2 hours and the smell alone made me never want to leave. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so immediately connected to a place before and my only regret is that Sunday afternoon I got back on the bus to return to Habana instead of hiding out and staying in Viñales forever.
I also got to stay in a casa particular, which was a great experience. The casa particulares are private homes that have a room or two that they rent out to people who are on vacation. The homes must be approved by the government in order to function legally and even then, the person staying in the home must have some form of official documentation which I learned too late and I was almost kicked out. I only got to stay because I agreed that I did not exist and if anyone asked where I was I would say that I didn’t know. Because of this, I feel a bit weary giving out the name of the owner in my blog but I will say that the woman who owned the house made me the 4 best meals I have had thus far in Cuba and all three generations of the family that lived there were the kindest and most hospitable people I have met during my time here. I also got to speak so much Spanish and feed her goat with her grandchild and talk to her about her life in Viñales. It was really wonderful.
I only have 6 weeks left here now, which is strange. In two and a half weeks we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving which should be fun. I’m in charge of making the mashed potatoes and while I’ve never made mashed potatoes for 35 people I am confident in my boiling, mashing, and seasoning skills…because that’s about all the cooking skills I possess. We’re going to have two turkeys and we’re making mac’n’cheese, stuffing, cake, pie, eggplant parmesan (for some reason), roast vegetables, and a series of other Thanksgiving-ish type things. I have to admit though, I’m going to miss Thanksgiving with my sisters and nephew and already I can’t help but think longingly about my sister’s cooking, champagne with frozen raspberries, and Trivial Pursuit (Baby boomers’ edition), but I think Thanksgiving here with be a great success. I just hope we’re still all talking to each other after a day of fighting over pots and pans, burners and oven space, and spices and butter.

Extra note: The saga of my Pensamiento Latinoamericano class continues with our first class since my professor got back from Colombia. On Thursday he happily greeted us by telling us that class was cancelled on Tuesday. Then we had some sort of strange debate in which he berated a group of girls for reading directly from their notes. What I now am finding most frustrating about this class is that I understand so much more and I feel like I have a lot to offer but just don’t have the language skills to speak that academically. In class on Thursday we were talking about the idea of the “Cosmic Race” which is a man who is a mix of every race (white, indigenous, black, and asian) and would have all the best attributes of each race thus creating an ideal man. I wanted so badly to question the idea of races having “attributes” or an “essence” because that idea was being taken as truth but either I couldn’t find the language or I couldn’t find the nerve. I’m finding that those two things are tied up together very tightly.