I have a week left in Cuba now, which is terrifying. Luckily there is enough to do to keep me happily preoccupied. Right now I’m sitting outside on the veranda in the morning sun, watching doves flit from building to building and it’s really hitting me how much I will miss Habana. It’s funny because for a big city the morning sounds in Habana are no louder than what you might expect in the suburbs. The occasional rumbling of a car, some far off construction, a few people talking and getting ready for the day. I remember being in New York City a few times in the morning and realizing how much quieter it was but it was never anything like this. There were still massive amounts of traffic, people opening up their stores, yelling, and dogs barking, but here it’s so quiet I just heard a baby crying and it must be at least four houses down. Morning is definitely my favorite time of day here. When you walk in the streets the men are still sedated by sleep and rarely yell at you, you can walk in the middle of the street with no problems, and you see other people quietly enjoying the morning either on their front porch or on the roof of their building.
Currently the huge International Film Festival is happening in Habana. It shows over 300 movies in 10 days and they play at least 4 movies everyday in every neighborhood movie theater in Habana. The price of a ticket is affordable for everyone (about 25 cents) but the problem is actually getting one since the lines for every movie are usually so long. Thankfully, SLC got us passes and we’re allowed to cut the ticket line and just go in.
I really love Cuban theaters because they’re massive, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie theater as large as the ones they have in Habana and they fill up almost consistently no matter what film you’re going to see. In one of the films I saw, La Noche de los Inocentes there was a line that was something like, “In Santiago de Cuba people will break windows for soap and laundry detergent, but here in Habana people will break windows for movies.” That film, La Noche de los Innocentes was actually my favorite film that I’ve seen so far. It’s by a Cuban director, Arturo Sotto and was hilarious and touched almost every controversial subject in Cuban society today, interracial relationships, homosexuality, jineterismo, machismo, everything!
Cuban film is highly contextual and while you can never go to Cuba and still enjoy Cuban film, everything about the film opens up once you know Cuba. As a result, watching La Noche after having spent 4 months in Cuba with a Cuban audience was awesome. The theater was packed and everyone was roaring with laughter as one of the characters tried to figure out how to answer a cell phone and an Italian man trying to start a company in Habana blamed the blockade for why his Cuban girlfriend cheated on him. There were all sorts of excited chatter throughout the theater in between laughs and I truly believe that the film was a groundbreaking film in Cuban film history.
Yesterday was the anniversary of John Lennon’s death so Aidan, Tiana, and I went to Lennon park where there is a statue of John Lennon sitting on a bench and we had a picnic. We bought a bunch of sunflowers and put them in John’ arm and poured out some wine for him. As we were doing this, a security guard came and stopped us because he had to put John’s glasses on, which the security guard keeps in his pocket because people kept stealing them. It was really nice sitting in the park and watching people bring Johnflowers and get their photos taken with him. As we were getting up to leave 4 little kids with guitars and an old man walked up and placed a huge bouquet on John’s lap and then sat down next to him and started playing “Imagine” and “Hey Jude” and it was really sweet and people gathered around and sang along. Afterwards the old man gave a speech saying that John Lennon was a musical genius, comparable to Beethoven. Then the security guard told them they had to stop because people wanted to get their pictures taken so played one more song and everyone applauded. It was really nice.
In the night Aidan, Tiana, and I went to the bar at the top of the Focsa building. The Focsa building is the tallest building and largest apartment complex in Habana and maybe even in Cuba, but I’m not sure. At the top there is a bar with all glass walls and you can see the entire city. I drank my first bloody mary, which I didn’t like that much but I was craving tomato juice for the first time ever and although it wasn’t very good, the view and the strength of the drink made it seem pretty good by the end. I really enjoy seeing cities from above; I think the aerial view says a lot about the place you’re in and Habana is very unlike any other big city I’ve seen from above but mainly because there are very few cars in the road (comparatively) and nothing is as brightly lit.
Hopefully before I leave I will be able to write again but who knows if I can find the time. Cuba is unlike any place I’ve ever been before and I really hope that I will get to come back some day because even though there are things that frustrate me about it (men, inaccessibility to certain things, men, disappearing professors, and did I already say men?) I truly love it here.