Cuba V1

First impressions and getting there

My first impressions of Cuba was when we landed at the airport, while waiting to go to immigration an old movie was playing (it looked as if it came from the 50's) with subtitles in Spanish that has been redone since you can see the old subtitles blurred out like in a bad pirated movie. The next funny moment was as I were going through security after immigration, all the security and airport personal woman wore miniskirts and fishnet stockings, I had to try very hard to keep my laughter in. The country itself is a bit surreal, a mix of old and new, at the airport you see the old American cars from the 50's and Russian Lada cars from the 70/80's picking up people and then a 2012 Audi A4 and new Cadillacs and Hyundai’s at the car rental for foreigners. We would later learn that there is a lot of differences in access and costs between local and foreigners in Cuba including having 2 different currencies, the CUC and MN, the CUC (linked 1:1 to the USD, but you pay 10% tax on USD when you convert) and MN what is used by the locals to buy things. We spent some time on the airport trying to sort out our Religious Visa situation since there was some misunderstanding and the church that we were linking up with was under the impression that we were only arriving the next day so it took some time before we were all settled. In this time we were looking for ways to get to Santiago de Cuba right on the other side of the island, when we left the airport we went to the bus station that we were told is the better option. When we got to the bus station we found out that the buses are all booked out for the next 3 days and the same for the train since there were a festival in Santiago de Cuba starting in 2 days to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the 26 July when Fidel Castro took over the fort at Santiago de Cuba at the start of the rebellion and thus we were stuck in Havana. While sitting in front of the bus station trying to find a way to get to Santiago de Cuba and speaking to a taxi drivers that offered to take us for a large sum of money another mini bus came to drop of people at the bus station and we spoke to him, he said he knows someone who can take us and will be back. We ended up with transport to Santiago de Cuba even if it was a bit more expensive, but would be cheaper than staying 3 extra days in Havana. What followed was a long squashed drive of about 16h that got us to the first Baptist Church in Cuba were we would be spending our 4 weeks in Cuba.

And we start

The first full day we had open and spend it on the street seeing the different sights and places around where we stayed and it is so different the old buildings and old cars it is so different than any place you can visit, I think there was more pictures taken of old cars on the first day that anything else, and we have a team of girls. That evening Jaco and Jana found a old 1955 Ford that took 5 of us on a hour trip through the city it was such a surreal experience and topped of a day in which I felt like a real tourist, just taking in sights, sounds and smells of a new place. The next day we spend out in the streets again, but in the evening we had our first official ministry time when we went to visit a retreat of pastor kids from the few provinces around Santiago de Cuba. The next day we spend the whole day at the beach with them, where I built a “sandcastle” but since the beach is covered with stone it turned into a stone house more than anything else. The next day was church and in the afternoon we met Diana, who housed the team last year and got the connection with the church set up, that evening we were back at the pastors kids for their last night and farewell. The first few days we stayed at the housing in the baptist church head office, it had aircon a benefit when temperatures hover around 40C. Then we moved to the church building where we stayed in class rooms and the new redone pastors house that is part of the church building. We spend the next few morning cleaning the house out, having the afternoon off and using it to spend time with the team and hanging out with the youth of the church and the 2 amazing ladies that was making us the most amazing food. We also linked in with a youth bible study and Charne had her B-day to bring the number of 25year olds in the team to 3, basically making up the old ladies in the team!! Then they took as to go up the “Grand Piedra” (translated “the big rock”) a mountain walk to a BIG rock on top of a mountain. We left at 8am then morning took a truck and bus there and started the 14km hike up the mountain, it was a long walk and quite steep at stages, when we got to the top we still had to climb the 570 steps up the big rock, but at that stage it started raining heavy and we spend the time chilling in the restaurant at the base of the rock. When we got to the top it made it worth it, awe inspiring views from the top. Then we still had to go down, and it rained in bit on the way down. Some of the group got lifts down the mountain at various staged, but 5 of the 19 of us did not get any lifts and had to walk all the way, but I did enjoy it. We got back home at 10pm, fun times. The next day we could get rid of our stiffness by finishing the rest of the clean-up of the house and just chill in the afternoon. For the rest of the week we went to a youth service and church and more hanging out with the people from church. The Sunday night we had the opportunity to go to the National Ballet, the first time in 4 years that they performed in Santiago de Cuba and it was so good to go, some of us felt a bit under dressed since backpacking through the world does not really allow you to carry a suit around (oooo challenge accepted, think how cool that would be, backpacking with just suits??). They performed bits out of 7 of the more famous ballets, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker, Don Quito, Gizelle and Coppella and it was interesting to see, unfortunately no live orchestra, but it was still a great night. And then it was Jansie's B-day on 5 Aug to make it 5 19 year olds in the team. That night was rounded of with a amazing picnic on the roof of the church and a good time of prayer. And thus a close to our first 2 weeks in Cuba and ending our chill time and entering into a time of more ministry focus.

Some more titbits