The Guys

I feel like I've been really picking up on the Cuban lifestyle this past week, or at least the sleeping patterns. AKA, I haven't been getting much. Some of the girls had already been friends with this group of Cuban guys, and since I hit it off well with one of the guys, I've been spending alot of time with them as well this past week. The guys are Yohandy, Alex, Ruben, and Jose. There are a few others that come out too, but these are the ones who are always around and who are a really good time. With them, we've been playing lots of dominoes and going out salsa dancing. I don't think I've ever felt as incompetent in my life as when I'm on the dance floor with Yohandy. Basically, Cubans are born dancing. I was not. This puts all of us girls at a slight disadvantage. But it's so much fun trying to learn anyway.

Dominoes, thankfully, is much easier to pick up on, especially given my time in DR and all the sessions at Penguin's with people from Sociedad. A lot of our nights are spent just hanging out, sharing some rum, and laughing over dominoes. I'm really glad that we've become friends with these guys; it adds another dimension to life here to have contact with Cubans. You become alot more aware of the realities here and what Cuban life is really like.

One interesting dynamic in the relationship that we have with them is that we have money and they don't, to put it bluntly. Before we ever came to Cuba, Profe told us that if we were going to go out with Cubans, it was more or less necessary that we'd pay for them to get into a club or bar or whatnot, because they couldn't afford it (the cover to the last discoteca we went to would have been about a third of Yohandy's monthly salary) otherwise. Obviously for us, it's worth it to pay their way because it's fun going out with Cubans and dancing and talking with them. But I know it's also hard on them; Jose and Yohandy have talked with Whitney and I, respectively, about how they don't like us paying for them. That's why, a majority of the time, we end up staying in with rum and playing our own music and dancing (which I think is just as fun as going out anyway). Like I said, it's not such a big deal to us, but I keep trying to put myself in their situation. I thought about Boston and how, if I want to go out for a drink at night, I go without thinking twice about it. There are so many things that I take for granted at home, and being here makes me see it alot more clearly. I wish that the youth from Sociedad could experience life here; a lot of them have talked about wanting to make more money or have more hours. I can understand that, and granted it takes a lot more money to live in America than it does here, but I want them to understand that they could have it so much worse, as well. As could we all.

More Santeria Stories

So much has been going on since I last wrote. First and foremost in my mind, since they just happened, are the two santeria rituals that I've gone through since I last wrote. Last Saturday, Chelsea, Honorio, and I had to go back to the Padrino to buy herbs and do our cleansing rituals. My cleansing ritual occurred first. I had to stand in front of the altar to the orishas. Padrino took a handful of the herb called vencedor (I don't know what it is in English, but in Spanish that literally means the Vanquisher). He then broke a small piece of chalk all over the herb, and as I slowly began to twirl in circles. Then- as violent and unpoetic as this sounds, but I won't beat around the bush, if you will- I was beaten with the bush. Of herbs. It didn't hurt, but it also wasn't a caressing motion. I mean, hey, he had to get rid of the negative energy around me, right? So that took a few minutes, and then I was properly cleansed.
Honorio was next, and his was the head-cleansing ceremony, because "he doesn't have a head right now", according to Padrino's reading of the shells. He sat in the chair with his palms facing up on his knees. Padrino then used some sort of watery substance (water itself? holy water? coconut milk?) to draw a series of crosses on Honorio, starting at the top of his head, moving to his temples and the back and front of his neck, down to his hands and then his feet. These crosses were then topped by shredded coconut and pieces of cotton to complete the cleansing. Not gonna lie, watching this happen and watching the Padrino chew up cocoa butter to spit on top of Honorio's head were rather amusing moments and I'm a little surprised I didn't end up laughing. We had to wait about 45 minutes or so while Honorio sat with a cap tied around his head to keep in the cleansing properties of the cocoa butter and coconut. After the ritual, all the materials that had been used to cleanse him were tied up in a little baggie, which Honorio had to offer to the sea (his orisha lives at the bottom of the ocean).

We went back again on Tuesday for our final necklace ceremony. First thing, Chelsea and I had to go through the same head-cleansing ceremony that Honorio did (see picture above). Another part of it is that, as all of the cleansing agents are in place on your body, the padrino asks the names of your deceased relatives. I listed mine, and he threw the coconut shells a few times, and told me that my ancestors were pleased with me, which is good news. He didn't say that to either Honorio or Chelsea during their ceremonies, so in a way it gives me a comforting feeling to think about Grammy being happy. We each were then made to kneel on the sacred mat another time, and we were given our santeria necklaces. I got four, for the four main orishas. My personal orisha, Obbatala, is one of the four. Chelsea and Honorio got five necklaces, because they belong to other orishas that are not part of the major four. In this picture, the white necklace is for Obbatala (peace and purity), the red and white is for Chango, the blue and clear are Yemaya (the ocean), and the yellow and gold is for Ochun (beauty and sexuality). The other thing we each received was the stone you see in the middle, which represents Elegua. We are supposed to, once a week, spit a little bit of rum and blow a little tobacco smoke at the stone, and speak to the gods through it.

We also recently attended another tambor, or drumming ceremony, this one to honor Elegua. This one was at the house of one of our professors, who is a big-time santeria priest here. We weren't there for long, but long enough to be impressed by the intricate altar. Here I am kneeling on the sacred mat and asking for a favor from Obbatala.

I'm still thinking about santeria and exactly how I feel about it; my sentiments are mixed. I'm definitely planning on seeing the Padrino once more before I leave; I can use all the help possible for the upcoming job search.