BACK IN THE USA!!!

Soul Sauce returned to the states on July 5 happy to return to our familiar lives and material comforts. Two days later, I find myself reliving many wonderful sights, sounds, tastes, and human kindnesses offered by the warm people we met along the way.  Here are some of my favorites.

Cienfuegos

• Standing in the town square in Cienfuegos, I hear a heavenly choir from on high.  When our guide asks if we want to tour the Teatro Tomas Terry from which these sounds are coming, I answer yes. Not only do we tour this beautiful theater that once hosted performances by Enrico Caruso and actress Sarah Bernhardt but we are also allowed to attend the rehearsal of the Cienfuegos Choir.  This choir can sing anything from Monteverdi to contemporary music, and, most importantly, they provoke goosebumps and tears with their completely heartfelt and technically exemplary singing. 

Vinales

• Watching the sunset over the Valle de Silencio and the limestone mogotes, we enjoy an amazing "farm to table" dinner at a private organic farm.  
• The kindest hosts ever provide great food and an impromptu Casa de Cultura for salsa dancing and a musical rehearsal.

Cayo Jutia

• One of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen provides crystal clear, bath-water warm ocean  swimming.

Havana

• We meet Maria and Alexei, the hip hop duo Obsesion, on three occasions: once for a peña-an informal gathering of musicians performing for each other, another time as fans at our performance, and, finally, for a lively discussion of their work and rap in Cuba and the US.
• Alberto Faya shows us the roots of Cuban music, including a beautiful Bantu prayer that he sings in an arrangement created by his wife. His son, bass player David Faya, an amazing pianist, Miguelito, and an unbelievable percussionist transport us all with their virtuosity and heart!
• At the Canon Ceremony at the fort, we look back at Havana at sunset, the lights of the city twinkling, and can almost believe we have traveled back in time to 1958.

A Cuban Farewell - Our last day in Havana!

Today is our last day in Cuba and everyone will surely miss our time here. Everyone that attended the trip took time to reflect on three things which are listed below:

1. What your favorite thing in Cuba was.

2. What will you miss the most about Cuba?

3. What are you looking forward to going home?

I hope that you all enjoy and are looking forward to our return to US soil!! We are very thankful for all of the support from families and allowing these wonderful students to attend!

Michael Ma

My favorite thing was driving around Havana, seeing different parts of city with all the buildings (because there is air conditioning in the bus)

I will miss the most about jamming with random Cuban musicians on the streets, even though I have no idea what they're playing.

I am definitely looking forward to high-speed Internet, e-mail, and social networks.

Esteban Anton

1. My favorite thing in Cuba was seeing how different life is and how some parts are great while others aren't. It's cool to think that we could be some of the few Americans to see an unspoiled Cuba.

2. I will miss listening to the Cuban musicians and meeting the people here. Especially in Viñales, the people were very nice and fun to talk to.

3. I'm looking forward to some hamburgers and Internet. It's been nice to be away from those things for a while. ¡Viva Fidel!

Evan Largo

1.  I adored the state-sponsored soda.  One of the benefits of three being no corporations is that no one's started replacing sugar with corn syrup.

2.  I will miss announcing in Spanish and meeting random people on the street.  They speak absurdly fast, but Cubans are quite friendly.

3.  Taxis with seatbelts, computers with Internet, English TV, carpets, potable tap water, and Papa John's.

Erik Nadeau

1. My favorite part of the trip was Viñales. I won't necessarily miss the living conditions, but the thunder and lightning storms were unbelievable. It was really fun playing baseball with the local Viñales kids, even though we lost.

2.  I will miss how music is integrated into the Cuban culture. I enjoyed seeing and listening to amazing Cuban musicians of various genres.

3. I'm looking forward to safe tap water, variation in food, and most of all capitalism.

Zahin Das

1)My favorite part was the exposure we had to so many different aspects of Cuban culture. Architecture, music, art e.t.c.  I had never been to this part of the world before so experiencing Latin America was really cool.

2) The music. A lot of our meals were serenaded and I will definitely miss the Cuban tunes that have become so familiar. 

3) Clean tap water.

Paul Lopez

1.)My favorite aspect of Cuba is the culture and music which is very mine.

2.) I will miss speaking Spanish and learning about this wonderful place.

3.) Viva Cuba 

Matt O'Donnell

1) My favorite part of Cuba was the bus rides. It was great being on a nice, comfortable, air conditioned bus, while being able to see beautiful views in the countryside,  see famous buildings and sights in Havana, and learn about Cuban culture.

2) I will miss attempting to speak Spanish with the Cuban locals, and the Cuban coffee

3) I'm looking forward to seeing my family and using my cell phone.

Drew Bassilakis

1. My favorite part was meeting new and interesting people like Pablo and Pops.

2. I will miss the beautiful Cuban terrain especially the mountain ranges and interesting and varied plants.

3. I'm looking forward to having high speed Internet and safe tap water.

Christine Bernard

1. I enjoyed the beaches the most (We all know that the Caribbean has some of the best beaches on the planet.)

2. I will miss Viñales the most, it was a nice, small community where you see the same people pretty often.

3. I am looking forward to slightly cooler temperatures along with everything else mentioned (high speed Internet, burgers, cell phone usage, etc.)

Violets Papathanasiou 

1. My favorite thing about Cuba was the relaxed culture 

2. I'm going to miss practicing my Spanglish 

3. Dogs on leashes 

Miguel Tú

1. My favorite thing about Cuba was talking to and getting to know Cuban people.

2. I'm going to miss bisabuelito (pops) and the family that took care of us in Viñales. Also will miss being called chino all the time.

3. Looking forward to getting Internet back.

Peter Zhang

1. I enjoyed visiting the Old Havana the most. The beautifully decorated buildings are truly impressive.

2. I'm going to miss the Cuban cuisine and the special drink called the San Francisco.

3. I'm looking forward to playing tennis back home.

Andrew Sudol

1. My favorite part of Cuba was seeing how different it developed as a result of communism and the embargo. Political propaganda, defunct infrastructure, and Che Guevara faces were on display everywhere. 

2. I'm going to especially miss the warm people of Cuba. Everywhere we went, there was always someone ready to talk to us. 

3. I'm most looking forward to my family, hygienic bathrooms and being able to talk to my friends again! 

Kenji Kikuchi

1. Cuban people are amazingly warm. I couldn't communicate as I wished but I liked them a lot. 

2. I will miss the music played by live musicians! The music here is real. 

3. I'm looking forward to making more music with more warm feeling I got in Cuba. The weather and people are both warm here. I'll try not to freeze the feeling in the cold winter in Boston. 

Ronnie Dixon 

1. My favorite thing about Cuba was gaining a new perspective on the world within one country. I also loved the live music, the host family I stayed with in Viñales, and meeting our trip leaders, Collin and Yvette.

2. I will miss the interactions with the locals the most and seeing all the American classic cars on a regular basis.

3. I'm looking forward to speaking with my family and friends, the Internet, McDonald's, and fitted sheets.

Universidad de Habana, el Museo, y la Musica

Today we had a much more relaxing day compared to yesterday. In the morning, we actually had a college tour at University of Havana, the oldest in Cuba, founded in 1728. For local students, college education is completely free, compounded with additional perks such as half price for movie theaters and public transportation; and even a promised job after graduation and even a small salary designed so that the students will not have to worry about finding a job. Unfortunately, if any of us go there, we will have to pay a tuition. The symbol of the university is a flight of stairs that leads towards the “Alma Mater” statue. If this sounds familiar, you’re probably right. It looks extremely similar to Columbia University in New York. After the tour, we all had a good idea about what studying in Cuba might be like. Ultimately, however, most of us gave up that idea because of the heat.

Afterwards, we went to the Museo de la Revolucion, where the Cuban revolution peaked. Before the revolution, the museum served as the palace of the dictatorship of Batista. The grandeur of the building, mainly built with marbles, clearly shows the wantonness of the previous dictators. The whole museum consists of three floors. The third floor hosts several exhibition rooms that introduce the important events in different time periods of the revolution. Clothes, weapons, documents as well as photos of the leaders captured the attention of many visitors. A small store of souvenirs is located on the third floor as well. Three meeting rooms sit on the second floor: one for a large group of audience, one for the panel of leaders, one for small conversations. Old furniture that remains in the rooms enables visitors to visualize the so many important meetings that took place in the palace. On the first floor, there is a lobby where a bust of lies. After walking through a corridor with sarcastic paintings about Cretin, visitors will arrive at a patio with a huge Cuban flag hanging down from the third floor. All of us were amazed at the size of the flag. We then walked through a gate from the museum to a square with the display planes, tanks and battle ships. And this symbolized the end of our morning activities.

After a long break in the afternoon, we went to a tapas bar a few blocks away from our hotel. There we were served with tapas, a traditional hispanic food. Then we heard an impressive talk from two of the best guitar players nowadays. Amazed the guitar players in our band got the chance to play with the special guitar the musicians brought along at the end of the talk. This was surely an enjoyable experience for many of us. 

By Michael Ma '15 and Peter Zhang '17

2 for 1 Jazz blog special - Havana continued...!

Monday, June 30, 2014 - Tuesday, July 1, 2014

6/30/2014

The day began with visiting a local farmer’s market. While only a small section of the market was open today, it was still a colorful and interesting scene. One of the most interesting parts of the market area was seeing that the price for one pound of rice in the ration market was the equivalent of $0.01 in American cents. Of course there was a limited implemented of pounds per person that varied according to age. We also saw an extravagant house that, though now government owned, once belonged to a rich lady. The house was built with bricks of the sands of the Sahara desert. After this, we saw a statue of John Lennon in a park (which was in fact John Lennon and not Vladimir Lenin as many had suspected on hearing “Lennon statue”). After returning from this short walking tour of parts of Havana, we visited a Havana music school. Students at the school were of ages approximately 10-15 performed for us. They were extraordinarily talented and impressed with performances on the piano, clarinet, bongos and other instruments. A few members of our band even jammed with these students during a couple of their jazzier numbers. Afterwards, Soul Sauce took the stage and several of the students of the school including a very talented saxophonist and a few percussionists jammed with us to some of our songs. From the music school we went to an instrument repair shop. Here we were offered some insight into the musical scene in Havana, and in return Ms. Lanier donated violin strings which were happily received. We had lunch in an Italian restaurant called San Dominica. Afterwards we were treated to a walking tour of Old Havana, which featured fascinating statues, architecture, and long wall mural of figures of history who were important to Havana. This was a predominantly white group due to prevalent racism at the time. On this tour we also witnessed a cathedral that at one point held the ashes of Christopher Columbus. The ashes were subsequently removed when the Spanish lost control of the city due to the revolution. The day was capped off by dinner at the hotel.

7/1/2014

This morning began with a fascinating discussion with a former Cuban-European Union diplomat who explained the fractured relations between Cuba and the United States down the years. He provided valuable insight into some of the barriers between the two nations and the political ideological frictions that prevent the current embargo from being removed any time soon. After this discussion, we went on a bus tour of Havana in which we had several photo opportunities in areas such as the obelisk and the main square in Havana. These stops produced several excellent shots of us posing in front of buildings with the faces of Che Guavarra (spelling questionable) and Fidel Castro sprawled down entire sides. Highlights of the bus tour include passing several groovy cars (Cuban vehicles never cease to amaze) and the Capitol building, a design based off of the one in Washington, DC. After a short stop at the hotel to don decently formal clothes, we visited the highly sophisticated and secure American Intersection in Havana. From here we filed into a well-cooled bar with a small stage in the corner, and were treated to a half lecture, half performance on a brief history of music on the Cuban island from the 15^th century to today. We learned about African and European influences on Cuban music, with demonstrations performed by our highly talented hosts. On the conclusion of this, we rehearsed whilst keeping an eye on our national soccer team competing against Belgium. Our concert was even delayed as everyone at the bar (which as usual consisted mainly of supporters of whatever team was playing against Los Estados Unidos) held their breaths to the final whistle as USA tragically crashed out of the competition. With sadness in our hearts we somehow managed to deliver what was probably our best performance of the trip so far. After a dinner in which the pizzas would not stop arriving at our table, we visited an old Spanish fort in the dimming twilight to witness a widely popular spectacle. In colonial times a cannon was sounded at 8:00 every evening to announce the changing of the guard. Although now merely a tourist attraction, the cannon is fired every evening at 9pm. The Spanish fort is a fantastic scene in the night and has a mystical feel when lit up by the torch of the flame bearer. After a long drawn out procession filled with much anticipation, and a sea of tourist phone and camera screens, the cannon was finally fired to end a very full day for us.

Fin

Paul Lopez’17 & Zahin Das ’16 responsible for the last two entries 

Goodbye Vinales, hello Havana!

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

Last Day in Vinales

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Today we drove to a serene beach about an hour away from Vinales. Aside from an intense sun, the beach was flawless with beautiful white sand and crystal clear water. Some of us tried to rent paddle boats to explore the coast while others swam and talked with the locals. We had a quick yet delicious bagged lunch with state-sponsored cola. After we left the beach, we returned to our individual casas particulares in Vinales. For dinner, we went to another tobacco and organic farm/paladar where we enjoyed a family style meal while a veritable menagerie clucked, barked, and meowed around us. There were early three times as many animals as people near our table. During dinner, a group of musicians played classic Cuban music. Once we finished eating, our saxophone players performed three songs, including Brittany Spears' "Toxic." After dinner, we were diven time to spend out last night with our host families. Packing for our journey to Havana did not toake too long and the rest of the night was spend in the town plaza dancing and talking to locals, or relaxing in our rooms. Tomorrow morning we say goodbye to our host families and travel to Havana.

Erik Nadeau '14

Day 1 in Vinales!

Friday, June 27, 2014

We started the day eating breakfast with our host family. The home-made Cuban breakfast consisting of tortillas, mango juice, and omelets was surely a unique experience. Though the food offered in the breakfast was different from a typical American breakfast, we all enjoyed the Cuban cuisine.

After breakfast, the group set out to go to a tobacco farm a few minutes away from the houses in which we were staying. We saw a variety of animals and plants on the farm as well as witnessed the intricate method of harvesting tobacco and making cigars.

Shortly after watching the complicated process of cigar-manufacturing, one of the cigar makers lef us on a hike through the mountains. We walked through the dense woods and up to the top, where there was a cave. We ended up on the other side of the mountain and walked on the trail where we began.

On this tobacco farm we were able to see the process , which most Americans never have the chance to witness, of making the infmaous Cuban cigars and we were able to see amazing views and sights of the mountains and plains of the peaceful countryside. Being able to see and learn this much in one little place was truly special.

At 3pm, we had an all saxophone rehearsal. Since we will be performing without a rhythm section, we needed to make some adjustements in our current music, learn a few new songs, including Toxix, a popular Brittany Spears song. The rehearsal was very focused, because we needed to learn a lot in a short period of time, but after a productive hour, we got to witness Kenji jam out with a local Cuban saxophonist.

The last event of the day was an amazing dinner at a farm with a gorgeous view of the mountains. After we had arrived, we first had a tour through the farm. We saw various kinds of plants and fruits as well as their harvests. Apart from the delicate food, the pleasant conversations and beautiful scenery also made the dinner especially enjoyable. The hue of the setting sun and the rainbow surrounding the mountains made the valley seem divine from a distance. The lightening and dark clouds covering the sky were truly impressive as well, provoking a melancholic feeling from time to time. The dinner certainly pleased everyone. After dinner, we had a brief and pleasurable Salsa lesson. This must be the best way to end a long yet exciting day.

By Peter Zhang '17 and Matt O'Donnell '17