September 11, 2016
A city lost in time and a long church service
Morning came quickly after a late evening of organizing and delivery of small welcome bags for the team. At a lovely room overlooking the surroundings(cows and horses), we enjoyed not so strong coffee, yogurt, omelettes made to order.
A walk into "town" took us past a lake, with an egret standing guard, beautiful steel sculptures, and the wifi park. Ciego De Avila seems like a city lost in time: once elegant brightly colored buildings with ornate steelwork stand as they were, guardians of a past time of prosperity. Homes and businesses that were once proud and likely luxurious stand as they were: still inhabited by local families and businesses but in disarray and disrepair. The old cars from the early 1960s line the streets, some pristine, others rusted and beyond help. Horse carriages line the bigger streets, replacing the usual motorized taxis.
Arriving at the money exchange, I was definitely prepared for a long wait( I mean, 12 people from the USA, all trying to change different amounts of money?). Suddenly I realized from my air conditioned perch, that it was my turn! Fast and furious, the two cashiers had efficiently (and with warmth and good humor), exchanged everyone's money.
Onward in the sweltering heat for a short tour of the town, including Jose Marti Park, and then back to Emanuel Baptist Church , where we joined in the Sunday morning service. We were greeted warmly by both Eduardo, as well as the congregants, as the Cubans do like to say hello with a kiss! Most of the service was in rapid fire Spanish, so I was in the dark, but we could understand the flavor of things, and the music was lovely with beautiful voices. From what I could tell, Eduardo gave a fiery sermon about the role of the church, but as someone commented, he does "go on for a bit".
After greetings to "go in peace", our hungry group enjoyed our first ride in a "coche y caballo"(horse drawn carriage) to arrive at the community center for a scrumptious and typical lunch of rice & beans, pork, and my new favorite: fried plantain chips.
Eduardo started off our orientation with passionate words about the relationship with Global Volunteers: it is a bridge between two countries, it is the way of the future, it is not about how many weeds you pull, how much English you teach, or how many walls you paint, it is about the relationships between people that will lead to change and lead to mutual understanding. He made my job easy after that: explaining Global Volunteers philosophy of service, he had said it all. And way more articulately than I could have.
Despite some groans and grumps from some veteran Global volunteers, we proceeded with our goal setting and orientation activities. This is a great team and rapidly came up with goals, characteristics of an effective team, as well as a schedule of who would do which projects tomorrow. By 4pm a tired, very hot, but organized team headed back to the hotel for beer, mojitos, and a delightful swim in the pool. From what we've seen so far of the Cuban people, I shouldn't have been surprised that the pool was full of family and friends, loud music, and lots of dancing!
A short walk through the nearby sculpture park lead us to our restaurant for the evening, where after some struggles with language and menu items all was settled with pork, fish, chicken, as well as beer and wine. Then ensued a lively conversation about the politics and history of Cuba(only partially informed by the facts!), as well as sharing of photos of dogs and kids.
A tired but seemingly content team has dispersed for the night, and it is very quiet in our comfortable room. Looking forward to some great sleep, before our work projects begin tomorrow am.
With love to all of you from Cuba
Go in peace
Barbara
A city lost in time and a long church service
Morning came quickly after a late evening of organizing and delivery of small welcome bags for the team. At a lovely room overlooking the surroundings(cows and horses), we enjoyed not so strong coffee, yogurt, omelettes made to order.
A walk into "town" took us past a lake, with an egret standing guard, beautiful steel sculptures, and the wifi park. Ciego De Avila seems like a city lost in time: once elegant brightly colored buildings with ornate steelwork stand as they were, guardians of a past time of prosperity. Homes and businesses that were once proud and likely luxurious stand as they were: still inhabited by local families and businesses but in disarray and disrepair. The old cars from the early 1960s line the streets, some pristine, others rusted and beyond help. Horse carriages line the bigger streets, replacing the usual motorized taxis.
Arriving at the money exchange, I was definitely prepared for a long wait( I mean, 12 people from the USA, all trying to change different amounts of money?). Suddenly I realized from my air conditioned perch, that it was my turn! Fast and furious, the two cashiers had efficiently (and with warmth and good humor), exchanged everyone's money.
Onward in the sweltering heat for a short tour of the town, including Jose Marti Park, and then back to Emanuel Baptist Church , where we joined in the Sunday morning service. We were greeted warmly by both Eduardo, as well as the congregants, as the Cubans do like to say hello with a kiss! Most of the service was in rapid fire Spanish, so I was in the dark, but we could understand the flavor of things, and the music was lovely with beautiful voices. From what I could tell, Eduardo gave a fiery sermon about the role of the church, but as someone commented, he does "go on for a bit".
After greetings to "go in peace", our hungry group enjoyed our first ride in a "coche y caballo"(horse drawn carriage) to arrive at the community center for a scrumptious and typical lunch of rice & beans, pork, and my new favorite: fried plantain chips.
Eduardo started off our orientation with passionate words about the relationship with Global Volunteers: it is a bridge between two countries, it is the way of the future, it is not about how many weeds you pull, how much English you teach, or how many walls you paint, it is about the relationships between people that will lead to change and lead to mutual understanding. He made my job easy after that: explaining Global Volunteers philosophy of service, he had said it all. And way more articulately than I could have.
Despite some groans and grumps from some veteran Global volunteers, we proceeded with our goal setting and orientation activities. This is a great team and rapidly came up with goals, characteristics of an effective team, as well as a schedule of who would do which projects tomorrow. By 4pm a tired, very hot, but organized team headed back to the hotel for beer, mojitos, and a delightful swim in the pool. From what we've seen so far of the Cuban people, I shouldn't have been surprised that the pool was full of family and friends, loud music, and lots of dancing!
A short walk through the nearby sculpture park lead us to our restaurant for the evening, where after some struggles with language and menu items all was settled with pork, fish, chicken, as well as beer and wine. Then ensued a lively conversation about the politics and history of Cuba(only partially informed by the facts!), as well as sharing of photos of dogs and kids.
A tired but seemingly content team has dispersed for the night, and it is very quiet in our comfortable room. Looking forward to some great sleep, before our work projects begin tomorrow am.
With love to all of you from Cuba
Go in peace
Barbara
No comments:
Post a Comment