Hija de Obbatala

Thursday was the day of destiny. Chelsea, Honorio, and I went to the Padrino (and I don't mean the Godfather, although that is the literal translation of the word). The Padrino was our professor's guide into the world of Santeria. Now, he is technically ours as well. We went to him in the afternoon for a reading of the shells, in which he would be able to see our destinies as well as tell us how to take precautions if he saw anything negative coming up.

The Padrino was seated on the floor, on top of a blue and white woven carpet, which is sacred. I sat on a chair on the edge of the carpet, with my shoes off (otherwise would be an insult to the orishas). The Padrino started the reading by three times dipping his fingers in a small bowl of water next to the mat, and flicking droplets onto the floor; I think each of the three splashes were to honor his orisha, his Padrino, and his Madrina. He then began mixing the shells on the floor while chanting in the Yoruba-Spanish creole used in Cuban Santeria. Finally, he lifted the shells and touched them to my head, shoulders, knees, and feet, before resting them in my hands for a moment. He then threw the shells on the floor, and with them, my destiny.

The first thing that came out for me was related to the orisha Ogun, one of the war orishas, lord of knives and metal. You can imagine this doesn't bode well. The first admonition I received was to "beware the blood" or "take care of the blood". He further explained, telling me to take care when needles are involved, saying that I am prone to infection. Basically, my blood is weak and something could happen to me because of that.

The second warning I received (and Mom, you'll love this, since you always warn me about the same things- have you been in touch with the orishas lately?) was to be careful in the street. Honorio got this same warning, only his meant to actually beware of people in the street that will try to trick him. Mine was to legit take care when crossing the street, because it's possible that I will get hit by a car.

Now this all sounds like a lot of bad news, doesn't it? However, the first step towards winning the battle is knowing what the battle is, so I know what to watch out for. Also, we are going back to the Padrino's tomorrow, because we need to do a variety of cleansing rituals, so that should make for another fascinating blog.

Here's my favorite part of the reading. First understand that the Santeria belief is that everyone is the world has an orisha that looks out for them (akin to the Christian idea of a guardian angel). Regardless of whether or not you are a practicant of the religion, this orisha is with you and guiding you. So Padrino did the readings for each of us, and it came to be known that Obbatala is my guardian orisha, hence the title of my blog, which says in Spanish "Daughter of Obbatala". Obbatala is the most powerful orisha, and her realms are those of peace and purity. She is represented by the color white and the symbol of the dove (new tattoo idea right there). This fits in rather well with my world view, so I'm glad that this was what Padrino read in the shells.

Yesterday was also Rebekah's birthday, so as a group we all went to hang out with the Cuban guys that some of the girls have befriended. We basically just had a huge dance party in the salon where some of them work. Everybody had a great time and there are definitely some great stories, but hey...what happens in Cuba, stays in Cuba. There is a blockade, after all.

Obamarama 2K9

So during these three months in Cuba, there were only two things that I knew I'd be sad about missing. One of them was the Lost Season 5 Premiere. The other was, obviously, the inauguration. Instead of being in DC, though, we are in Havana and therefore harassed our teacher until he agreed to give us a one hour break in the middle of class to watch the swearing in and the speech. We left class and went to the nearby, aptly named, Hotel Presidente to watch the inauguration on the pool-side television while having a celebratory drink. Not many other people were around, so some of the hotel staff actually gathered with us to watch the ceremony. Later that night, we carried the party into Habana Vieja, although no one really seemed to be partying like us. We did get invited to a random house party, where we danced reggaeton for a half hour before moving on to our next destination. The house party was an interesting experience because, although the facade of the building was gorgeous, the interior was falling apart and we had to step over a makeshift bridge to get to the other side. It makes you think about things and how there's this certain outward presentation, although inside things are rotten and festering. In some ways that reminds me of the system going on here in Cuba. They put on this great face to the world, look at our medical skills and our literacy rates. And I don't mean to disparage those things, because they matter as well. But you can't say that your system is thriving when it is remittances and family-brought goods from the United States and other countries that allow people some sort of cushion that would otherwise be a difficult lifestyle.

Being here gives me the chance to think about what might come in the next four years. First of all, as glad as I am to see Bush go, it's also a little scary, in the sense that he's been the president for as long as I've been politically conscious. Also, he led us into this utter mess (I could use my new favorite Cuban slang, reajo, which translates roughly to clusterfuck), and now Obama's stuck with the job of trying to get us out. I feel like there are so many things riding on Obama's shoulders, so many things that he has to fix from previous mistakes, before he can ever really lead us back into a better place. And it worries me because I don't know how our country will react to that, if people will have the foresight to see those things.

Hugs from the Gods

I’ve been feeling very Cuban lately; it’s been a weekend full of activities both mundane and extraordinary. First thing Friday morning, a few of us went to a press conference over at Casa de las Américas; they were announcing information about the literary prizes to be awarded in February. This wasn’t nearly as exciting as our introductions to two FAMOUS Cuban writers, Roberto Fernandez Retamar (also President of Casa) and Nancy Morejon. I’ve read some works by each of them throughout school, and it was a thrill to be able to meet them, especially Nancy, because she’s about to go to France for a bit, but said that she’d meet with our group on her return.

Later that day, I did like a Cuban woman and went to the salon. I ended up getting my hair cut (Mom, you’ll be so happy). I was a little leery at first, because as the girl made the first cut, she told me that this was her internship through University of Havana, where she is studying hairdressing. But she did a terrific job- I can’t complain. The only interesting part of the haircut experience is that here they charge you extra to comb your hair between the shampoo and the cut…unfortunately, I didn’t figure this out until the end. Oh well.

Friday night we were back at Casas for an art opening. The art didn’t particularly grab my eye; it was supposed to be abouot kinetic art yet most of what we saw was very stationary. Then again, I’ve never claimed to have an eye for art- I like what I like and that’s that. Probably the best part of the art show was the free wine and the fact that Chino, who is part of our house family, was there drining with us and kidding Megan about the crush she has on one of the computer techs that works at school.

So I think I already wrote abouot our friends getting taken away by the police, and we didn’t know what the deal was with them getting arrested…still no news on that front.

Saturday morning I did my laundry. Although they do use washing machines here, dryers aren’t so popular because they suck up a lot of the precious energy. And why bother when you have free breezes outside your house to do it for you? I just got a kick out of standing on our roof deck, hanging out my laundry. And there’s definitely something to be said for the scent of fresh air in your newly cleaned clothing.

Saturday afternoon we went to a tambor, which is a ceremony to attempt to call down the gods. Pulling up to the location in our van-taxi, we could already hear the rhythmic pounding of the sacred drums. We stepped through the doorway into a living room painted white and emptied of most furniture. The drummers were at the head of the room, flanked by someone leading the songs or chants to Yemaya, orisha of the seas. The music was beautiful, though I couldn’t understand the lyrics because they were in Yoruba, an African language. The middle of the room was full of dancers, Santeria practicants, my professor being one of them. The pace of the dancing was usually slow and steady, though at times the urgency of the music and the crescendo of sound would urge the dancers’ feet into more frenetic movements. We filed along the back of the room, some of us cramming into the small nook which held the altar that you see pictured here ( we couldn’t take many pictures, because it is forbidden to photograph the drummers, but a professional photographer was there and we will be getting copies from him eventually). The dancing went on for an hour or more until we noticed that something was starting to happen. One of the male dancers was slowly making his way to the center of the circle, as the others instinctually moved aside to give him room. His dancing had become more akin to spastic body movements, and at times his entire back was bent horizontal to the floor. His eyelids were not completely open, but you could see the lack of connection to the earthly world in the portion of his eye yet visible. The dancer’s body gyrated more quickly and the sweat began pouring down his face, occasionally mixing with spittle from his mouth. I watched, feeling anxious, not knowing what was happening, until the dancer threw his body erect and emitted a loud, “AHA”. The goddess Yemaya had descended into his body, and promptly began to greet those present in the room. Yemaya did not only greet the Santeria practicants, she made her way around to the rest of us as well, giving each a hug. With not a little trepidation, I stepped up to receive my greeting. I’ve always been fascinated by the supernatural, yet being confronted with something like this that I couldn’t understand was frightening in a way. Yemaya then closeted herself with my professor and his two guides in Santeria, his madrina and padrino. The rest of us took breathers of fresh air right outside the now-muggy tambor room. Finally, Yemaya and the others made their way back into the main room with the rest of us, and Yemaya made her way around the room, stopping to speak to various people…including a few of us. Yemaya (channelled though the dancer) spoke to us in a creole of Spanish and Yoruba, which to me sounded a bit like Portuguese. She was first telling us that we are known to her because we crossed the ocean, of which she is the god. Furthermore, she advised us to be careful and to always be listening to the people that speak to us while we are here. I cannot explain to you all the sight of this man, who was now dressed in the costume of Yemaya, and how it felt to be watching him as the voice of a god came out of his mouth. I write that as though it is something I believe. I still don’t know what to think about what I saw, but I can tell you that the others in the room certainly believed that that was what was going on. Yemaya spent more time dancing with the group, periodically releasing those startling, “AHA”s that I never quite became accustomed to. Finally, the dancing seemed to wind down, Yemaya once more was closeted with the principal actors of the day, and the rest of us were served the food that had been placed before the altar. Eventually, the closet conference was broken up, and from it emerged no longer the god but the male dancer, looking exhausted and haggard. This was our exit cue to walk home. I’m still waiting to talk to Profe to find out about a lot of things, but I am so glad that I was present to see what happened.

Coming home, we encountered another aspect of Cuban life: the frequent breakdown of the elevator in our building…and we live on the 13^th floor. Let me tell you, if I hadn’t been able to keep focused on the idea that waiting for me above was my dinner, I don’t know how I would have made it. Just kidding, we’ve had to do it a bunch of times already, and we do it for exercise sometimes as well. But man, it is a long, grueling haul, let me tell you.

Yesterday we went to a rumba “concert”, although it wasn’t nearly so organized as a concert, plus it was free, in the Callejon del Hammel, which is the grotto of the artist Salvador Gonzalez (this statue, for lack of a better word, is his work). It was loud and hot, but the music was incredibly good- something about the African-inspired beats just won’t let me keep my feet still. We also met a pirate (seriously, he was like Johnny Depp in “Pirates”, down to the mannerisms) who told us he was a “boy prostitute”. His words. He was pretty terrific.

We then went for a walk towards the Capitolio…ok, we were really heading to a pastry shop, and it happened to be near the Capitolio. Both pastries and the building were a good time, and then the final piece of the weekend fell into place: we had to take egg carts. I’ve already posted (maybe not on the blog but on my online photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/haughney.t) some pictures of them, but they’re the little yellow three-wheeled conveyances. I should note here that normal Cubans probably wouldn’t take an egg cart, they are more expensive than other modes of transport, but I felt like it was an experience unique to Cuba and that I should do it. Normal Cubans would go either by their own cars, buses, or Cuban taxis (which can be paid in moneda nacional and not just CUCs). This was an worthwhile experience, despite the constant worry I felt upon realizing that our driver and the driver of Honorio and Steph’s eggcart were intent on playing bumper egg carts the entire way home…but we made it safely in one piece, and I’m glad we did it.

Time has been going so fast here, and I can’t believe our trip is a sixth of the way over already. It’s such an interesting feeling to be an American here. In some ways it’s great, because most people are really willing and eager to talk to you. On the other hand, there’s always the anticipation or expectation that once befriended by a Cuban, they will ask you for something or expect something from you. Yes, we are college students, and in the US just saying that tells a lot about your economic situation. That doesn’t work here, because if we had the kind of money to travel here and not be working for a couple months, we are rich by their standards. And thus the expectation- almost necessity- that we pay their way, because otherwise they basically wouldn’t be able to afford going out with us. Here, being an American in the minority position is also loaded in the sense that we want to positively rep our country and everyone at home. For Cubans, I’m sure interacting with us isn’t always easy, either- Maria was telling me the other day that she and Chino get a lot of pressure from Casas and whatnot to make sure that we are well taken care of, because if something happens to an American here, it sours things for the entire Cuban nation. This is just so much more than an ordinary study abroad. In terms of being a minority racially, I don’t see that as such a big deal. I mean, yes, obviously we stick out, but I often feel that its more because we are a large group of people speaking English than how we actually look- Cubans come in a pretty large array of shapes and colors, so it’s not inconceivable that some of us could pass.

Go, Go, Fidel...I mean, Gaza?

It’s been a pretty busy week, once again. The most interesting of the events so far had to be the Pro-Palestine rally that we attended at the Universidad de la Habana. We arrived to find a good-sized crowd, and were eager to hear what sorts of things were being said. It went along the lines of this, “Go Cuba, go Fidel, go Raul, boo U.S….and oh yeah, Israel is evil for what they’re doing in Gaza, go Palestine”. So mostly it was a state-staged event that had a lot more to do with keeping patriotism up and putting down the evil Yanquis than it did with actually demonstrating solidarity with another people. I figure that most of the people there were also aware of the farce, because the majority of the students our age seemed more into socializing and eating popcorn than being inspired by anti-imperialist fervor. Nonetheless, it was an interesting experience to see a Cuban rally for the first time after reading so much about them. Hopefully Fidel will be at the next one.

So the weather here in Havana has been intersting lately; apparently we are experiencing colder than normal temperatures. It has also been extremely windy, and the Malecon is constantly awash with waves, negating my plans to sunbathe after class. I’m sure it makes all of you in the colder climes of Pennsylvania and Boston so sad to hear that I am forced to wear long-sleeved T-shirts to stay warm.

One of the classes this week related to Cuban mental health practices. To sum it up, psychology and psychiatry here are informed by the theory that nurture has a lot to do with one’s current state of mind. We also talked about the ability to confront stress with reason and turn stress into a positive, motivating force. While the class was very theoretical, I enjoyed the philosophy behind it.

OMG Newsflash as I’m writing this, which is now the new most interesting thing this week. Last night, a bunch of us were going to go out with some Cuban guys that other girls in the group have already been hanging out with. As we left our apartment, we walked across the street to meet them all. Not 30 seconds after introductions, a swarm of about 10 or 15 other men came pouring out of the woodwork and the cracks in the street and surrounded us. It felt like a scene from West Side Story or something, and I wanted to start snapping my fingers. Only it was so sketchy that I didn’t. After a quick exchange between our guys and these new people, our guys told us that they’d be back in a minute. We spent about 20 minutes waiting on our stoop, before deciding “screw this”, what is going on. So we left and ended up at another club. HOWEVER, this morning Jose (Whitney’s friend) calls her and asks to talk to her in person to explain what happened. The result? The police arrested them. For no reason except being black (according to these guys). But no charges were actually pressed, and they spent a night in jail before being released this morning at 8 AM with no further consequences. This makes absolutely no sense and I honestly can’t figure it out. The weird thing is that many of the police that were there were also dark-skinned. It’s interesting because the official party line here is that racism isn’t a problem, but I don’t think that’s the actuality of the situation. We have a class on Cuban racial relations coming up soon, so hopefully I’ll have some follow-up information to this.

A few words about Cuban food. It is delicious. I don’t know if they put crack cocaine in it or what, but it’s addictive and I find myself wanting more five minutes after finishing dinner. This is what a typical meal schedule looks like for me:

Breakfast: assorted fresh fruits (pineapple, guava, and bananas are the usual), orange juice, coffee, and then a roll, onto which we can put any assortment of ham, cheese, eggs, butter, or tomatoes. Usually I take a banana to go, and eat it during our coffee break in class.

Lunch: Since it’s not provided here at the residencia, we usually forage whatever we can from street vendors for lunch. My two favorites are a stand right next to our house that makes ham sandwiches for less than US $0.10, or a little cafeteria halfway between school and home that puts together little takeout boxes of rice, tomatoes, slaw, sweet potato, and some sort of meat. This is also cheap, for maybe US #1.00. Delicious.

Dinner: Rice, beans, rolls, some sort of meat (usually chicken or beef but sometimes fish), beets, carrots, sometimes green beans, cole slaw, boniato (Cuban version of sweet potatoes). This is always topped off by dessert, whether it be ice cream, rice pudding, flan, or mago puree with cheese. Mmm.

Fourth meal: Sometimes you just can’t help it. Our fourth-meal of choice is a place called “Oportunidades” (opportunities). They make delicious fried chicken fillets and also croquets. Mmm. I have to say, at this point I don’t miss any sort of American food. The only thing I would add is avocados, which we might have eventually, they just aren’t in season right now.

We also spent some time discussing Santeria this week. I don’t want to repeat the lecture word for word, since it was three hours long, but it has to do with the idea that all of us are guided by different “divine energies”, or orishas (you could equate this to say guardian angels or saints in Christianity). Whether or not you are actually aware of the divine energy that guides you (that is to say, whether or not you become a practicant of Santeria and find out who your orisha is), they are present with you as you go throughout life. Becoming a practicant means that you actually tap into this divine energy with you, and then you can begin to change the future. That is to say, they believe that you can see the future or your destiny, and because you are aware of it, you can also do things to change it. The other thing is that with Santeria, there is not a proscribed set of rules, there is a certain code of ethics, and that’s it. Anyway, I’m pretty fascinated by the whole thing. In a few hours, we are going to our professor’s tambor, which is a type of ceremony to pay homage to an orisha. I can’t wait to go, both to compare it to the Haitian voodoo that I’ve seen, and to explore more about this religion in its own right.

Amanda

It's 2 in the morning and I really wish I was sleeping, but I can't until I write about this. OMG. So tonight, we were hanging out in the residencia, and Honorio, Danny, and I decided to go down to the gas station/liquor store to buy a few rum juiceboxes. Innocent enough. Well, we get there and were deciding which flavors to buy, when all of a sudden this Cuban girl starts talking to us, and tells us that we should just buy a small bottle of rum and some juice to go with it. Yes, this was the most economical option, and we had already thought of it. But we wanted the juiceboxes. But in the end, we ended up buying the rum anyway. So as we were walking out, this girl (Amanda) says to us, "oh, wait a minute". Now, this was after 1) she had already asked if Danny was the son of Honorio and myself, implying that we were old, 2) saying that Danny was 33 (we are all 22, so she was REALLY aging Honorio and I if we were the parents), and 3) told Honorio that he was fat. Anyway, she ends up coming with us to a little bar/food place next door. She won't let us talk to the waiters, telling us they will rip us off, and goes to get us some chicken (they charge her the same prices they charged us the other night anyway).

Next, as we open the rum, she starts telling Danny that he has lots of problems in his legs, and that she can't take his pulse through his veins the normal way "because he suffered some kind of trauma as a child". OMG. Tremendous medical advice- and she says that she's a doctor. So the whole time she's hitting in Danny, who is clearly not interested. She's touching him, offering massages, etc. The pollo is taking forever, so she goes to find out about it. In the meantime, this guy that works at a stand next to the bar walked by. He'd already met Danny a few nights ago, and whispered, "Hey Mex (Danny is Mexican), that girl is no good". Now, it's just Danny and I at the table at this point, and we both look at each other like WTF?!?! She comes back and we hear more crackpot medical advice. Then she starts asking us to buy a pack of cigarettes for her. We offered her the remains of a pack that we had on us. She declined, saying they were not the type that she preferred. Honorio responded by telling her that he doesn't usually drink rum either, but since that's what's here, that's what he drinks (beggars can't be choosy, as Danny told her). She didn't really like that, but drops the subject for a second. Finally, the chicken comes, so Honorio and I rip into it. She continues asking for cigarettes, and I have to say the guys have more balls than I do, because I probably would have given in. Since the guys are still denying her, she goes to ask other people at the bar for a cigarette. I soon see her talking to the cook and gesturing wildly towards our table. I alert Honorio (Danny was talking to someone at the stand next door, trying to find out more information about this girl), and as we are rapidly shoving rice, beans, and fried chicken down our throats, we have this intense debate about whether or not we should stay or run away (we'd already paid for the food, no worries). We keep saying "oh, we should go", yet continously eating and making no move to escape. Finally, she went in the bathroom, enough was enough, and we start sprinting towards our residencia across the street (thank God we never told her where we lived), grabbing a confused Danny on the way.

This was definitely my most bizarre experience so far. I don't even know how to describe it, and I need to think more about it before I can properly reflect, but I needed to write all this down immediately. All I can say is that I'm currently sitting on my balcony, in cold and windy weather, scared that somehow she'll know I'm in the penthouse of this building and all of a sudden come get me. And let me say, I've met lots of strange people in all my travels, but never had quite the same feeling as I got tonight.

My last reflections of the night are this: 1) I get lots of medical advice in other countries that I will feel free to never use. For instance, in DR I was told not to shower after eating or I would suffer a stroke. Here, hearing Amanda's advice to Danny convinced me that Cuban health care may not be as good as I thought, at least not if she's really a doctor..., and 2) Americans have lots of faults. I completely understand this. However, I also feel that as a population, Americans are not as pushy. At least, for me and the people that I am close to in the States, this is certainly true, but it's definitely not a universal thing in the world.

Time to sleep, but more comments on this at a later date.