We started yesterday with a bright and early start with the bus leaving from the hotel to the airport at 7:45. After ample time spent in lines and paperwork wrangling, we boarded the plane at 10:30. Once we got everyone and all of their instruments on the plane, we took off for Cuba. The flight was very short, only around an hour, so we had plenty of the day to experience our first time in Cuba. After arriving in Cienfuegos and going through customs, we got to hang around the beach and pool of the hotel to relax, many of us participating in a pool volleyball game. At 5:30, we left for the center of Cienfuegos and had a lengthy lesson on how to dance the salsa and various other Cuban dances. We worked up quite the sweat and showed off our newly learned dancing skills for over an hour. At 7:30, when we finished, we stopped in the center of town to watch the end of the USA vs. Portugal soccer game. We left with some disappointment, but it was interesting to experience the game in a foreign country. Love for America the Free is not ubiquitous.
We returned to the hotel, ate some dinner and got reading for the 10 o'clocl check-in, expecting to be entertained after dinner by a dance competition being held by the hotel. However, several of us were roped in by the resplendent entertainment staff; four Groton students participated, with varying degrees of willingness. Evan Long, Andrew Sudol, Drew Bassilakis, and Steven Anton were partnered with four women from the crowd to dance salsa, mamba, tango, rumba, and other dances. What we expected would be a short twenty minute competition ballooned to an hour and fifteen minutes, punctuated with interludes from cross-dressing entertainment staff "demonstrating" the dances to raucous applause. When the dust settled, Evan and his Cuban partner, a native of Cienfuegoes, were crowed the victors, their final act being a reenactment of the final scene of Dirty Dancing. 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th place all went to our Groton representatives; in short, we dominated.
Today was our first full day in Cuba! We met at 9:30am to hop on the bus and toured the city center of Cienfuegos. We were met by a tour guide who showed us much of the town's history, including an incredible theater that they have intentionally kept as original as possible. It was all wooden seating and staging, so the acoustics were phenomenal. We also had the pleasure of hearing one of their choirs sing in rehearsal on the second floor of the theater and they blew us all away to say the least! I would say that it sounded much like a recording. After our walking tour, our next stop was a restaurant that served maybe one of the best lobsters of any that we've had! We were again serenaded by music while eating lunch, which seems to be standard procedure around here. It has been very pleasant each time.
We had a bit of free time after our lunch. These activities varied from swimming at the pool to kayaking on the ocean to just relaxing in many of the beautiful spots around the hotel. Then it was showtime! Today we got a chance to both learn from , hear, and play with some of the local Cuban musicians who were in a new-age, alternative rock band that incorporated traditional rhythms into their songs. The were amazing. They taught us various rhythms on the congas, bongos, and claves and then demonstrated their own music for us. We returned the favor following their performance and ended the night with a collaborative piece that we all enjoyed. Today was a great day and we look forward to another new experience tomorrow in Trinidad!
-Evan Long '14, Steven Anton '16, Drew Bassilakis '16
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