Today is a hugely important day in Cuba because it is MAY DAY, DAY OF THE WORKERS!!!! Obviously workers are a big deal in this Socialist State, however confusingly they celebrate day of the workers by giving everyone the day off work (!!??!?!?). People have been preparing for the celebrations all week, and lots of shops and businesses etc etc have put up signs declaring their support for ‘primer de mayo’ followed by the popular slogan “TODOS A LA PLAZA”, which my dictionary reliably informs me means “Everyone to the town square!”.
Being an easily influenced sort of
girl, I followed these enthusiastic instructions and Calle B and I
set off at a bone-tingly early 7.10am (it was meant to be 7.00am but
SOMEBODY was late) (that ‘somebody’ was me.) Off we marched!!!!
Fortunately for us we live a small walking distance to La Plaza de la
Revolucion, but others had travelled from far and wide to attend and
I was woken 4am by a rather irate Bajan housemate exclaiming “CHEESE
ON BREAD!!!” at revelers outside our window. At 5.45am I was again
roused from a dream-riddled snooze by some eery, spage-age techno
music echoing through the streets and lots of whooping from Cubans
who had arrived early and were getting excited. People came in their
work uniforms with big banners and papier mache models of Fidel and
also crocodiles (relevance of which remains elusive to me) declaring
their support for the revolution. Although it was still very early, a
huge parade of workers was marching proudly alone, and we snuck round
the people watching the march and GOT INVOLVED! Unfortunately I
didn’t have a 10 foot flag, a “Viva la revolucion!” banner or a
red t shirt that said “#yosoychavez” on the back, so I didn’t
look like many of the other people there, but I did have an
enthusiastic and revolutionary attitude which I believe my fellow
marchers appreciated a lot.
At one point the march came to a stop.
Our group had got a bit split up and I was left with Bajan roommate
and a certain J McGuigan, who is yet to make a name for herself in
Manchester but has a strong fan base in Nottingham who call
themselves the ‘McGuiglets’. We heard one or two words from an
old man who I have convinced myself was Raul and/or Fidel, then they
played the national anthem and chanted “Viva la revolucion! Viva
Fidel! Viva Raul!” and everyone waved their flags like CRAZY! This
seemed to really enthuse the crowd, as the march took up quite a pace
after that and people positively stormed passed the memorial of Jose
Marti, which lies at the centre of the Plaza de la Revolucion. In
fact, they were moving so fast that it was very difficult for me,
Bajan housemate and McGuigan to manoeuvre ourselves to get in a good
position to see the people on the podium. Thankfully, through some
extremely skilled side-stepping, we did manage to get to the
podium-side of the forceful river of people, and only trod on one or
two or three people/children on the way, and THAT’S when I managed
to get my top notch photo of Raul HIMSELF!!! Admittedly, at that
exact moment in time, I can’t say that I was 100% certain which of
the several men on the podium was Raul, or if he was even there at
all. Rumours were flying left right and centre about whether he was
in green, pink or white, so I took photos of all the men and on
returning home we singled him out. He (Raul) was looking pretty happy
and waving cheerfully at all the workers. Standing below there were
also some representatives from all over the world of people who
solodaridise with Cuba. Today was dedicated to Hugo frickin Chavez
who is continuing to remain very popular with the poplace.
We not only got in touch with our
patriotic, socialist roots this week, but also got one on one with
nature on Saturday, as we went for a cheeky trip to Las Terrazas. Las
Terrazes in an eco-community that is a day-trip away from Havana. At
first our plans were nearly foiled as the bus there was full and we
couldn’t find any six-seater taxis, which made the whole thing
incredible economically unviable. However, by a stroke of luck, we
stumbled on a very shiny, red car owned by a nice man called Carlos
who agreed to drive us there for a very reasonable price. Once we got
to the eco-community it became clear it was an incredibly large kind
of place, but luckily Carlos drove us around the little roads so we
could get where we wanted. You’d think riding around in a taxi
inside an eco-community would be frowned upon, but it wasn’t. We
went swimming in some natural pools. Everything was very GREEN and
disconcertingly slimy, especially in the pool. Regular fans will no
doubt be impressed, amazed and proud to hear I actually jumped into
the pool from a nearby rock (more slipped than jumped, really, but
the point remains). Hashtag overcoming my fear of water 2k13! Of the
evening we returned to our New Favourite Club, El Morro in the fort,
but I decided not to make a repeat performance of my Rapping, as –
and i’ll admit this without any shame or embarrassment – i was a
bit nervous it was a one-off thing and I wouldn’t be able to repeat
my roaring success. However, on Monday I was introduced to a group of
hip-hoppers from the US of A as ‘the rapper’, and joined in
their hiphop bodypopping dancing style (lots of twisty-wrist going
down), so you’ll be no doubt glad to hear that I am continuing to
represent the UK hip hop scene here, “across the pond (and south a
bit)”.
I’ll end on some sobering news. The
more sensitive souls among you might be troubled to hear that both my
laptop and my mp3 player have come into contact with a serious amount
of liquid this week, and neither seem to have come off too well from
the meeting. Both have failed to respond well to my fiddling with
them, despite gentle coaxing and frustrated bursts of anger.
Additionally, the laptop has acquired a vaguely unpleasant smell of
gone-off-chocolate-milk. Thankfully Bajan roommate keeps leaving her
laptop unattended and, through some serious sleuthing, I know her
password and so have been hacking it.
Lots of love, Sarah x
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