Arte de Cuba

Cuba's art, dance and music is one of the most well known things about Cuba. Whenever I thought of Cuba before I went, I pictured tons of dancing and music everywhere. There is a huge variety of music playing everywhere, the type depends on where you are--in taxis pop music plays, in tourist zones you can hear traditional music being played, in neighborhoods and homes it might be anything from Cuban rap or pop  to American rock or salsa. Art has received strong government support since the revolution, leading to a flourishing art scene, although there has been censorship over the  years. Throughout our travels we checked out several different art scenes in Cuba.

Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos, according to our guidebook "the Paris of Cuba." Our last stop in Cuba before before heading back to Havana and flying home. When we first arrived, we weren't sure if we agreed with our guidebook's statement. Our apartment was much different then we were expecting and we were disappointed. Chocolate filled churros helped turn our frowns upside down when we found them a couple doors down the next morning, although we learned that you shouldn't eat two in a row even though they only cost 3 CUP, an eighth of a CUC or about 10 US cents. We spent the rest of our day looking for what made our guidebook call Cienfuegos the "Paris of Cuba," sadly we never found what did.

Trinidad

Our second to last destination before we go home, Trinidad. Trinidad is one of the most well preserved colonial towns in Latin America. We are going to stay here for a total of five nights and six days. We arrived on Friday, after a nine hour bus ride starting at 6:45 in the morning from Vinales. Once we arrived we went straight to the nice house where we are staying. It is right next to a cool plaza, the Casa de la Musica, and a street market where my mom bought a hand embroidered table cloth. After getting our bearings, we went out to a delicious dinner where we got the first chocolate cake I have seen on our trip.

A view from our door

Cuatro Dias en Vinales

We spent four days in Valle de Vinales. The valley is surrounded by mountains that have limestone cliffs climbing each side, and are covered with a huge variety of trees. A very recognizable feature of these mountains are the mogotes, steep limestone outcrops. There are fields dedicated to farming tobacco, pineapples, and many other fantastic crops. Tons of chickens and dogs roam about the streets and fields.

The farms

Agromercados en Habana

Instead of stocking produce in the mercados, there are agromercados throughout the city. When we arrived in Havana, our apartment host Marko, told us that the agromercado near us was one of the biggest in Havana. In these agromercados you can find a variety of fresh produce and sometimes meat, it is a lot like a farmers market. Most of our breakfasts are made up of the things we buy from these agromercados - comemos mucho pina y bananas.

Agromercado

We Found Salt!!!

After being in Cuba for five days, we finally found salt. Our apartment had only a pinch of salt on hand, making me realize how important salt is. We searched the few stores we could find, but again, they only had tomato sauces, sodas, and laundry detergent. We even thought about taking some from one of the restaurants we went to, but decided against it. After being cooped up all day, since everyone seems to be sick with a head cold, we finally left the apartment in search of food and just as importantly, salt. Any who, we walked to a mini-mercado a few blocks from our apartment, found some cookies, spaghetti, tomato sauce, sardines, and.....salt! It was magical, we could finally add flavor to the eggs, rice, and beans we have been making at home. I was honored when I was chosen to grab a bag of salt from the sack that was lying on the floor. I reached in...picked one up....and my hand got covered in salt. I sorted through the bags of salt, but alas they all had a gaping hole on the bottom, leaking salt everywhere, but we had to get salt, so, I grabbed one, put it on the counter, and wiped the salt onto the floor. This wonderful experience was the highlight of our day...no...our entire trip. I'm sitting here now watching my dad make spaghetti, that I will put salt on, oh it will be so good.