Anticipating
Cuba! When I was seventeen, I met a
beautiful exotic dark-eyed girl named Renee’.
She spoke of an island she loved named Cuba. I’ve dreamed of traveling to the island since
our magical meeting. She told me her
family had lived in one of the most beautiful casas (homes) in the whole wide
world, but had to leave during the Castro led Revolution in 1959. She made me promise if I ever had the chance,
I would travel to visit her paradise.
Now
forty nine years later, I’m traveling to her home 112 nautical miles away from
Key West, Florida on our 42 foot sailboat, the JonNe’, named after my husband, Jon
and my name, Renne’. I have never
forgotten the young black haired beauty, as we both shared the same name,
Renne’/Renee’.
We
received permission from the United States Marine Treasury Department to travel
to Cuba under the category, “In Support of the Cuban People”. We were allowed to go as I am an author of
children’s books and was planning a presentation on “Being An Author” to
primary schools on the island. I had given
similar presentations previously at eight schools in the Bahamas in 2013 and at
the Sigsbee Charter School in Key West in 2014.
Barbara
Schindler and I began preparation by putting together illustrations of Nighty
Night Sailboat, the book I had written and translated into an English/Spanish
version, as “Noche Noche Velero”.
This would allow Spanish speaking children to begin learning
English.
Our
first day in Cuba was spent resting and exploring the marina area. We located the Hemingway International Yacht
Club, where we arranged to exchange burgees for Portofino Harbor Yacht
Club. We were surprised to see our local
TMCA (Texas Mariner Cruising Association) burgee already hanging on the
ceiling. We asked to meet with the world
renowned Commodore Jose’ Esrich, and we were assured of that opportunity before
we departed for the United States.
As
we walked around the school, headed for the Library, the children outside were
excited to see strangers. Students were
assisting the school with chores they performed. At least a dozen were out picking up leaves
and raking the schoolyard, keeping it neat and clean. It reminded me of having the privilege of
erasing the blackboard for my favorite teachers when I was in elementary
school. These kids were proud of the
work they were doing.
We
all assisted in setting up the Library with seven tables for 7-8 students
each. The first group was to be students
from first to third grades (7-9 years old).
We would have an hour with each group.
The second presentation would be another fifty students from fourth to
sixth grades. As the precious younger
children arrived, I could see the eagerness in all of their faces. Their eyes were full of anticipation. This would be their first experience with
Americans. We wanted it to be a positive
one. This was also the first bilingual,
Spanish/English presentation these children had ever had. The children filed into the room in an
orderly manner, table by table. Barbara
is much better at Spanish than I. While
Doug and Jon flipped pages on our picture board, Barbara began the
presentation. She was enthusiastic and
the children had fun. My part began when
we came to the pictures of the Sea Creatures.
I would read the name of the Sea Creature in Spanish, and they would
vocally repeat it. Then I would translate it into English, and they would
repeat that. They all enjoyed the
interaction as they actively participated, repeating the names in both Spanish
and English. The children had smiles
from ear to ear. What we were impressed most with was how well behaved and
attentive these students were.
As
we worked with the children, we noticed that all of them looked healthy and cheerful. We were informed the school feeds them in the
morning and at lunch, ensuring at least two healthy meals for each child per
day. Outside we found them playing hide
and seek as we did as children, and they seemed to really enjoy having their
pictures taken, and were amazed to find we could show them the images
afterward. As we looked around we
noticed furniture for the younger kids.
We were informed they were made by the parents and teachers using
cardboard and paper mache. They were
very creative and fun, and painted in vibrant colors with flowers
As
each child filed out of the room, their expressions of gratitude were expressed
by a kiss on the cheek for both Barb and me.
It was a touching gesture of thanking us, and a memory for many years to
come.
Nighty
Night Sailboat/Noche Noche Velero was the first book translated into both
Spanish and English they had ever received.
It is available on Amazon/Kindle.
Unfortunately, the school had no operational computers and no sour for
the internet. Cuba has a long way to go
until it is a computer friendly country.
To
prepare for the children’s presentations, Barbara assembled a group of large
poster boards with the illustrations from my book. Not knowing what type of electronics, if any,
were available at the Cuban schools, we wanted to be prepared for the
children. Barbara and I sat at the
Navigator Bar and Grill at the Naval Air Station (Boca Chica, Key West) to
color the poster boards for the children.
The
Departure
As
morning got brighter, our Boca Chica boat friends blew their traditional conch
shells upon our departure as if to say, “Safe Trip”. We arrived in Cuba twenty-four hours later,
tired, but excited about seeing this new country
Photo
by Lou Lippi
While
our husbands, Jon and Doug, were working on sailboat projects requiring their
expertise, Barb and I struck out on foot to find a local school to talk
to. We both had made several attempts to
contact the Cuban Embassy and their Education Minister by both email and phone,
and all attempts led nowhere. Therefore,
with the assistance of local residents, we were able to find our way down
Avinida Cinco (5th Avenue) in Jaimanitas, the local community
surrounding Marina Hemingway. We were
able to locate the Manolito Aguiarer Primary School where we found the opportunity
to speak with the Principal and explaining our goals. He brought in a teacher who would act as our
Interpreter and we set up a time for that afternoon to present to students
there.
Returning
to the marina, we made lunch and final preparations for our presentations. We gathered together a portion of our dental
supplies of over 300 packages of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other personal
hygiene product donated by the Texas Association of Single Sailors (Tass), the
Kemah Friday Night Dinner Group, and our sailing friends at Boca Chica Marina
in Key West. The guys packed them in
backpacks, packed our Noche Noche Valero books and black and white coloring
pages for donation in bags with crayons and pencils, and hauled it all over to
the school a kilometer (half a mile) away in time for the first of two
presentations that afternoon, beginning at 2 pm.
We also
found paintings of Disney characters on the walls of the school between
classrooms. Disney’s influence reaches
the farthest places!
Following
the presentations, with time to spare, we passed out our black and white
pictures of the Sea Creatures, Juni (our heroine in the book), and Nighty Night
Sailboat. Each child was given a box of
crayons and they all immediately began coloring based on the images they had
seen in the pictures. They enjoyed the
project immensely. It was interesting to
note that Juni, the main character in the book is a blonde six year old. Almost all of the children colored Juni’s
hair blonde, except one. As you looked
around the room, there was not a single blonde or redhead in the room. Hair color was dark brown or black. That one young boy, made sure his Juni’s hair
color was the same as all of the other girls in the room. He colored Juni with dark shiny black
hair. Nighty Night Sailboat/Noche Noche
Velero is illustrated with basic bright colors.
We encouraged them to be creative!
When
the second group entered, and were seated, I noticed they did not look excited,
as the previous group was. My guess is
they were becoming teenagers. No smiles
were coming our way. My presentation
introduced the famous author, Earnest Hemingway. This felt like the correct topic as they knew
of him. I explained that he wrote about
what he did in life: as a boxer, a
military man, and as a fisherman. I felt
it was important that they write about what you were most familiar with to
begin with. I tried to speak Spanish,
and the interpreter would correct my pronunciation. I asked questions. “How many of you write poems?” Many of the fifty children had already begun
developing their writing skills. “What
do you write about?” Feelings,
experiences, dreams, and other people.
“Where do your write?” The children had the same hopes and dreams as the
children in America. The interpreter
kept telling me, “This is very good.”
Barbara
and I went through Noche Noche Velero again with this group, but we knew it was
a bit elementary for them but they loved the pictures. After the presentations, a group of children
came in to thank us and presented us with homemade gifts of paper, toilet paper
rolls and boxes. These seemed to have
been art projects they had worked on.
Beautiful paper Mariposas, the national flower, sprinkled with glitter
were handed to us, as were projects portraying the history of Cuba made with
local beans and crayons. Each gift was
more precious that the previous. As the
children left, the older children shook our hands. Some had never shaken hands, so we took the
time to show them a proper handshake, the handshake between two countries.
Our
Travels
The
next part of our adventure involved traveling to a small village about 70
kilometers west of Marina Hemingway and Havana.
Barbara, our chief negotiator, translator, and travel agent, landed us a
’55 Ford Town Car driven by a young, attractive man, Alexander. His price was $45 CUCs (essentially one US
dollar). He was so proud of his
car. Before we began the trip, he wanted
to show Jon and Doug the engine, to reassure us the car was capable of making
the trip. He was a very pleasant man who
gave us a tour of the countryside and helped us find a “Casa Particular” for
the night. Casa Particulars rooms
available in private homes. There are no
motels or hotels outside of the cities as we would know them. The village of Soroa was the destination Barb
had chosen. It was near a beautiful
waterfall, and many of the houses we passed advertised a room or so to rent. In this community, the Casa Particulars were
specified by the term “Hospedaje”. We
had read about little signs on the houses with upside down blue anchors, but
those, we found, would come later. La
Curua was a farm house/ restaurant run by an Italian couple who immigrated to
Cuba six years ago. They had found property
they could afford, and Israel and Juanie set up there home for two guest
rooms. We were charged 25CUC for the
room and were told dinner and breakfast were available at 10CUC for dinner and
5 CUC for breakfast. Barb and Doug chose
the room in the main house, while Jon and I took the single room behind the
house, dining area, and carport. As Barb
and I were negotiating for the room, we noticed they were missing a mattress
for one of the rooms. They assured us
the mattress would be finished by the time we returned from our explorations. Additionally, we found they grew most of
their own vegetables, made coffee from his coffee trees on his farm, and we
were grateful most of the food he prepared for us during our two day stay was
fresh. We were pleased to stay on his
farm.
A
visit to the local waterfall was enjoyable and eventful. We sat down to enjoy Cuba Libres (rum and
cola) and Mojitos at a local open air café relaxing. We began the one kilometer walk to the
waterfall through a local woods. There
was a charge for this, a couple of CUC’s per person, and shortly ended up at
the falls. It flowed gently and
quietly. It was a bit serene. However, nearby, two enterprising men had set
up a makeshift prep area for making homemade Pina Coladas. Rum, freshly cut pineapple, and fresh
coconuts providing out of the shell coconut water for the drinks and meat to
munch on for 3 CUC’s per drink.
Delicious!
Returning
to the Casa, we found our rooms prepared and beer and wine waiting for us. Dinner consisted of a lobster based salsa,
rice, beans, yucca, and white sweet potatoes, and a sweet bread with chopped
pineapple for dessert. We relaxed in a
hammock on the porch and at sunset took showers, getting ready for bed. These showers were an experience. The hot water heater was located just above
the shower head. The valve to turn on
the water was on the wall. To turn the
water heater on, Heaven Forbid, was a switch you had to close for electricity
to run the heater! To accomplish this, you turn the valve on, and then close
the hot water heater switch. I finally
had to ask Jon to help me with this. He
stood there in amazement as he carefully accomplished the task. He suggested I NOT touch the whole apparatus,
and he would come back and turn it all off.
That did involve a shock to him literally as he figured out the proper
sequence to turn it all off! Life is one
adventure after another for us! After
that, Israel turned off the water and electricity for the house until morning
to save money.
Soroa
– Day Two
I
can tell you, we are more used to the quiet of sailing and life around the
marina than we are life on a farm!
Beginning at about 5am, before the sun came up, the rooster was crowing
right out side of our room, then another would respond from the next farm house
over, then he would respond back, and forth, and back, and forth! Then the dogs began, and the birds began, so
by 6:15, we were up. Tired, but up! Sunrise was beautiful with a rainbow of
colors. We had to get ready to go find
the primary school in Soroa. Israel had
promised us a ride to the school that morning, so after a good breakfast,
cooked to order, we all piled into his 1949 Plymouth wagon. It doesn’t have the original engine in it,
but a 1953 Chevrolet engine, which runs fine, he says. He lifted the hood again, and entertained Jon
and Doug by filling the radiator with water and a plastic jug sitting next to
the engine with enough gas for him to accomplish his errands he was going to
run. Israel normally wears a chef’s hat
around his open air restaurant, but changed his hat for his drive into town.
Cautiously,
and never over 30mph, Israel drove the four of us into town to the Escuelea
Verde Primary School. We found this
rural school much smaller than the previous one of four hundred students. Doug reminded us of how much it reminded him
of his one room school house in central Texas as he was growing up. We were greeted by a small boy on the
steps. The school had only twenty-nine
students in attendance, from first grade to the sixth, and the one room school
was divided into three separate classrooms. Divided by partitions that were
open at the top. It was very noisy at
times, and difficult to hear. This was
Friday morning. When we arrived, one of
the classes was outside playing volleyball.
Barb and I were given 2nd and 3rd graders first,
then 1st and Kindergarten, and last were the 4th through
6th graders. While we read
the book to the two younger groups and presented the Sea Creatures
interactively as we had don in the previous school we visited. The older children here needed something a
bit different. As Nighty Night
Sailboat/Noche Noche Velero is Spanish and English, Barb and I read the
Spanish, and we had the class read by each page of the story in English.
After
finishing the presentations, we gave away the remainder of our books and crayon
sets to each of the class teachers, then each child received new pencils and
the dental supplies we had remaining.
The
Principal commented to my husband, Jon, after the presentations, “Never have
these children had such a profound opportunity.
No one has ever visited our school, let alone from the United
States.” He also stated that Noche Noche
Velero was the first book he had ever seen presented in both Spanish and
English, other than for a language book or dictionary.
The
children were released from school as soon as we completed the presentations
and they headed home, some walking, some on a local bus. As we left the school, walking back to our
casa along the two lane road one of the ninas (little girl) ran out of her
house proudly waving her Noche Noche Velero pencil she had received. She was smiling and blew me another
kiss. Again I felt my heart tug with
emotion.
Beautiful
Cuba was a combination of the past, with historic cars; the flora with all of
its exotic flowers and abundant tropical green foliage; and the wonderful,
friendly people we found throughout the countryside. My friend from long ago,
the dark-eyed Cuban beauty, Renee’ was right. Cuba is a beautiful country, and
it was far more than I had anticipated.
It is still the paradise she told me about years ago. Not much had
changed. But it will, as the Cuban
border opens to the United States. We
are “Anticipating Cuba’s Future”.
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