The city of Havana is characterized by it’s old sports car taxis, it’s stark contrast of old, pre-revolution buildings and new, post-revolution buildings, and it’s stretch of concrete next to the ocean called El Malecon. Compared to Trinidad, it’s loud and bright, sprawling across a huge area. Trinidad feels much more like a small town, lacking the skyscrapers of Havana and crowded by horse buggies rather than sports cars. There are little to no traffic lights on the cobble stone streets and the city seems more welcoming to tourists. There are excursions to waterfalls and beaches on every street corner, hostels and casas up and down neighborhoods, and pop-up souvenir shops in new places every day. However, because of the emphasis on tourism in Trinidad, things are also more expensive. A meal of fried pork, rice, and salad in Havana for 5 CUC (about $5.65) would cost closer to 8 CUC (about $9.00).

The city of Havana is characterized by it’s old sports car taxis, it’s stark contrast of old, pre-revolution buildings and new, post-revolution buildings, and it’s stretch of concrete next to the ocean called El Malecon. Compared to Trinidad, it’s loud and bright, sprawling across a huge area. Trinidad feels much more like a small town, lacking the skyscrapers of Havana and crowded by horse buggies rather than sports cars. There are little to no traffic lights on the cobble stone streets and the city seems more welcoming to tourists. There are excursions to waterfalls and beaches on every street corner, hostels and casas up and down neighborhoods, and pop-up souvenir shops in new places every day. However, because of the emphasis on tourism in Trinidad, things are also more expensive. A meal of fried pork, rice, and salad in Havana for 5 CUC (about $5.65) would cost closer to 8 CUC (about $9.00).

The city of Havana is characterized by it’s old sports car taxis, it’s stark contrast of old, pre-revolution buildings and new, post-revolution buildings, and it’s stretch of concrete next to the ocean called El Malecon.  Compared to Trinidad, it’s loud and bright, sprawling across a huge area.  Trinidad feels much more like a small town, lacking the skyscrapers of Havana and crowded by horse buggies rather than sports cars.  There are little to no traffic lights on the cobble stone streets and the city seems more welcoming to tourists.  There are excursions to waterfalls and beaches on every street corner, hostels and casas up and down neighborhoods, and pop-up souvenir shops in new places every day.  However, because of the emphasis on tourism in Trinidad, things are also more expensive.  A meal of fried pork, rice, and salad in Havana for 5 CUC (about $5.65) would cost closer to 8 CUC (about $9.00).

The US and Cuba have a long history of tension-filled relations, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when going to a country not many Americans have been to.  Especially not being a fluent Spanish-speaker, I didn’t know how I would communicate with locals, but I was determined to get to know people around our casas.

In Trinidad, our casa was situated across the street from the home of Luz Mary (pictured above), one of the oldest neighborhood girls and clearly the leader of the group.  She could speak some English from lessons as school and loved to show us her photo albums and tell us about her family.  Many of the other neighborhood kids were her cousins or siblings, and she acted as a mother figure for them while they played outside, scolding them when they were mean to each other or telling them to go back inside when it became late.

We were lucky enough to be invited to her younger cousin Luis’s 8th birthday party one night.  The kids were planning on staying up until midnight so they could ring in Luis’s birthday with soda, pizza, and singing to him.  Luz Mary provided us with glasses and soda after we ventured out to buy pizza from street vendors, and we clinked our glasses to celebrate Luis.  He was a naturally shy kid but he wouldn’t stop smiling at the attention.  Luz Mary conducted us in singing to him, and threw homemade confetti as the crescendo to the song.

The day we left Trinidad, Luz Mary gifted us with beaded necklaces and waited for our taxi with us.  We were sad to say goodbye to her after seeing her every day for two weeks and playing soccer with her and her cousins.  We made sure to take plenty of pictures with her!

The other picture I included above is in Santa Clara.  While waiting for our taxi, an older man stopped by to chat with us.  Overall, Cubans were very friendly to us and just wanted to talk or hear about the US.  Many Cubans have family in the United States, mostly around the Florida area.  He asked to take pictures with us (after asking if I had a boyfriend) and grinned when we showed them to him.

One of my favorite parts of our trip was getting to know the locals and learning about their stories.  We made some great friends, which made it even harder to leave, but it just gives us another reason to go back.

Over the two weeks we spent in Trinidad, our group took four salsa dancing lessons with a professional instructor, Yusell Garcia. He teaches a version of Cuban salsa called “casino”, which is characterized by close partner dancing and connection maintenance (not letting go of one’s partner).
We started off basic: the front and back movements, side to side movements, crossing our feet behind each other, etc. Men always lead with their left foot, mirroring the women who lead with their right foot. As our lessons continued, Yusell added steps to our repertoire and included some spins and what seemed to us to be some pretty advanced moves. Each lesson we practiced with and without music, switched partners, and tried to move with the ease Yusell did. Following the steps was easy enough; it was the hip movement and attitude that were harder to emulate.

Besides the lessons, our group took to night clubs to practice our moves and I can’t help but think it was painfully obvious we were beginners. Many of the locals at the clubs were there every night and danced just as well as Yusell did.

One stereotype I had heard about Cuba was that men randomly grab you off the street to dance with you, something I hadn’t experienced in my time in Havana and Trinidad. In the salsa clubs, it was different. Men of all ages would ask us to dance with them. It seemed like no one was allowed to sit down at these clubs; there wasn’t a single song I sat out on.

All of the local men were amazing salsa dancers, whipping us across the dancefloor and spinning us until we were dizzy. Salsa is a social dance, so many Cubans have grown up dancing salsa and casino at parties and events. Boys also learn the female parts when they’re younger in order to better understand their job of “leading the dance”.

While I must have stepped on a million toes during my salsa dancing with locals, they never became impatient or aggravated, a testament to the nature of salsa dancing: it’s not necessarily just about getting the steps down. It’s about having a good time and connecting with others.

Cuban ceramics mostly seem to be bright and colorful, organic in design, and often glazed in a semi-glossy coat. We visited a ceramic shop on the outskirts of Trinidad where they make and sell ceramic pieces like vases and ashtrays. An older man sat at the throwing wheel with a cigarette in hand, placed a chunk of white clay onto the wheel, and went to work.
The process starts with the collection and mixing of the clay in the back of the studio in 3 large troughs. I was showed how the dry material is mixed with water to create a workable consistency. A garden rake is used to stir the trough. Next, the clay is laid out and allowed to dry just a bit in the next trough and then transported to a small, dark shed where it is covered and waits until an artist takes it to the wheel.
At the wheel in the front of the studio, the older man used a large chunk to create multiple smaller pieces, shaping the clay into a cone on the wheel and using the top point as his clay to create with. I watched as he molded a small bowl, pulling the clay out and in and occasionally dipping his hands in a water to shape with. After each piece was finished, he cut them off the larger piece of clay with a wire and placed them on a board, ready to dry out.
After the drying process, the pieces are loaded into brick, open air kilns on shelves above the flames. Typically pieces stay firing in the kiln for hours, but because the kiln uses direct heat from fire and is harder to regulate, these times vary.

After firing, the pieces are either left in their natural color or glazed/painted and put out on display for customers to browse and buy. Because the wheel is in the front of the shop, customers are also able to see where their purchases come from and watch the creation process occur, an experience that unique to the artistic process.

For two days every month, the Cuban government provides families within cooperatives cigars to sell to make some extra cash. On New Year’s Eve, the locals were selling the cigars for half off, so some of us students explored central Havana in search of the cheapest cigars. We met a Cuban percussion teacher named Roberto who took us under his wing and showed us the neighborhood where the cooperative is held. He gave us a quick pep talk, encouraging us to haggle with the sellers in order to bring down the prices. “Just look relaxed,” he told us.

When we entered the neighborhood, there were no signs advertising cigars, just seller standing in their doorways and waiting for us to approach. Roberto pointed out a young man, telling us to go talk to him. His name was Carlos and he led us up a narrow flight of stairs to a small room in his apartment with cedar cigar boxes. He let us smell the cigars, showing us how to roll them between our fingers to see if anything fell out, the sign of a bad cigar.

The cigars were more expensive than I had thought, up to $200 for a box of twenty. Sean managed to haggle, bringing the price down for $130 for 20 cigars and a picture of the room. Roberto was very proud and claimed that Sean was a better bargainer he was.

The cigars themselves weren’t bad; they were almost chocolatey in taste. Later on we all shared one around the casa porch, like many Cubans do.

Later on in our trip, once we got to Trinidad, we ended up finding packages of 20 cigars for 25 CUC and they tasted just about the same, but at least we got an interesting haggling lesson from our cooperative adventure.