This morning we said goodbye to our host families and left for Havana. On the way, we stopped in a small town called Puerta Golpe. Unlike Cienfuegos, there was no house of culture (a center for arts) in town. Instead, local artist Mario Peligren uses his home as the community center for learning arts. we were given a tour of Peligren's Patio, which included art galleries, a farm, and a small library. We spent most of the morning at Peligren's and ate lunch while listening to artists of all ages perform. Our saxophone playters once again performed the repertoire they played last night. After lunch we got on the bus for the two hour ride to Havana. We cruised into Havana around 2:50pm as our tour huide pointed out many important landmarks and goverment buildings amd arrived at the hotel at 3:15. Everybody unpacked and had free time until 4:30 when we went to get ice cream and ovserve a local gathering of musicians. Once a month, the rap group called Obsession rounds up the rap and hip hop artists in the community and has a cultural gathering. We listened to the various performers sing and rap and even sent Malik and Steven up to freestyle rap battle with the locals. Then we enjoyed a family style dinner at the National Hotel, a famous building that has been a meeting place for the mafia and a film site for the movie Godfather in the past. Now, everyone is resting in the hotel and awaiting the arrival of Michael Ma! We look forward to exploring the rest of Havana this week.
Michael You '16
No comments:
Post a Comment