Rebuilding Old Havana

Nick Dettorre
Reporting from Havana


It is believed Christopher Columbus once described Havana as the, “loveliest land ever beheld by human eyes.” Today, much of the old city is in ruins. Years of neglect and unfortunate weather have reduced many of the buildings in the heart of Havana to rubble. In some cases, facades stand as an empty reminder to 16th and 17th century (or colonial) architecture that once stood proud along cobblestone streets.

A building in a densely populated Havana neighborhood, reduced to rubble on the street. More than two-million people live in Cuba’s capital city, many in buildings that may end up one day like this one.

However, there is some truth in Columbus’ words. Parts of the city are under renovation, and the students tasked with the job are using many of the same techniques that built the city Columbus encountered more than 500 years ago.

Glorias del beisbol

Matt Benoit
Reporting from Havana 

If you’re a sports fan, one of the greatest highlights of going to Cuba is attending a Cuban baseball game.

In our time here, several members of our group were able to take in two games—the first and last in a three-game playoff series between Industriales, Cuba’s most successful baseball franchise, and Isla del la Juventud.

 

The games were held in Havana at Estadio Latinoamericano, the blue-hued home of Industriales. Outside the stadium, a large billboard frames Fidel Castro’s words between a Cuban flag and a baseball.

A Misleading Paradise

Claudia Ramos
Reporting from Havana

Sitting on the window seat of our tour bus on our way to the Varadero beach, lost in the beautiful scene I have of the countryside of Cuba, I cannot help but think of the millions of opportunities that young Cuban people are being deprived of.

On January of 1959 and after a 7-year campaign, rebel leader Fidel Castro arrived triumphantly to Havana. Overthrowing the corrupt regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro introduced radical social changes in Cuba, nationalizing schools, hospitals and industries, making Cuba the only communist state in the Americas. Under Castro’s leadership, Cuba seemed to be a dreamland and people celebrated the achievement of the revolution.

The streets of Havana; a playground

Heather Flynn
Reporting from Havana

In todays’ day and age it is rare to see children in America playing alone outdoors, especially in cities. A lot of children spend time consumed with television, the Internet, or video games. There are numerous advantages to the world of technology we are living in, but sometimes it makes me wonder, what are we giving up when we embrace this technology-crazed generation. Traveling to Havana, Cuba was as if I had taken a trip back to a simpler time, before human interaction was replaced with cyber space relationships. Everywhere we went people were outdoors talking and interacting with each other. Older people would sit and socialize, drink beer, or play games. At night time the Malacon, Havana’s biggest social gathering location would be crawling with people young and old, all interacting and spending time together. Everywhere we went, children could be spotted crouching and playing games in the dirt, or chasing each other up and down the crowded streets of Havana.

 A group of us students meandered down a side street one afternoon and came across three small boys that couldn’t have been older than six or seven. Two of them shirtless, and all three playing on a large metal dumpster with a slanted lid providing the perfect angle for a slide.  One child would climb to the top of the metal and slide down and the other boys would follow suit. They were cheerfully talking and laughing, as they would race to get to the top before their pals. When we began to take pictures they really started showing off, standing on top and posing for the camera. They held up their arms making “muscle man” poses and showing us their muscles. There were no parents in sight, but this didn’t seem to phase the children. 

    Brittany Cardoza poses with three Cuban children on the streets of Havana

Another night after dinner we were walking the streets of Havana looking for a market to buy some water. Turning a corner I was almost run-over by a shirtless boy, about age 11, sprinting up the street. Shortly after 3 more boys joined him, all breathing heavy and panting from running.

Havana, a seductive city

Claudia Ramos
Reporting from Havana

Havana, a seductive city

Walking through the streets of old Havana, it’s inevitable to be trapped by the sun, the music, the culture, and the still vibrant revolution of Cuba.

Founded in the 16^th century by the Spanish conquistadors, today Havana is home to more than 2 million people. Standing on the edge of the famous Malecon, from this distance the city looks like anywhere else, but Havana is like few other cities in the world. This revolutionary city is truly alluring, its mix of colonial architecture, rum and sea, give the city an unexplainable romance the catches your eye from the get go.

In every corner of the city you can feel the spirit of the biggest island in the Caribbean. Trumpets, children running through the streets, and women dressed in colorful dresses moving to the beat of Guantanamera. In Havana you cannot avoid a cup of coffee, a mojito, or a cigar, it’s the essence of this ancient city.

A city where buildings appear to be falling apart, where taxicabs from the 50’s pass by, and where it is common to see a woman hang clothes from a balcony. Meanwhile I listen to the festive melody of “La vida es un carnival” (life is a carnival) being sung to me by an old man sitting on the edge of a cracked sidewalk, I cannot believe I am in this "prohibited island."I continue to stroll down the street and as I look around I cannot avoid smiling back to the people who kindly smile and welcome me to their home; one of the most seductive, elusive places on earth, La Havana, Cuba.

The Rise of Cuban Soccer

Tenzin Choephel
Reporting from Havana

El Estadio de Jose Marti is one of many local stadiums where the Cuban youth play soccer. While baseball is Cuba's national sport, soccer is starting to challenge its popularity. Take a glimpse into the current status of Cuban soccer.

Tales from a Taxi

Tales from a Taxi

Stevee Chapman

Reporting from Havana

Perhaps the most touching story of my time in Cuba began on the second night of our trip. After dinner, many of the other journalists and I decided to get to know each other a little better through a night on the town. While there are probably a few stories that could be told from the few hours of dancing at a Cuban club, this story begins on the taxi drive back to the hotel.

Baseball, Not Just an American Sport

Megan Clark
Reporting From Havana

Baseball, Americas’ sport, in this case though it was Cuba’s sport! The sounds filled up the stadium before you even walked in, before entering I thought there must have been thousands of people there because of the noise. By the looks of it, you would’ve thought we were at the Mariners game because of the amount of people. But the cheers and dedicated fans made you realize we were in a different place. These fans were not the fair weather fans that we are used to; they stick with their team through the ups and downs of the season.

The sound of horns and cheers erupts and the crack of the bat sends a ball flying into the outfield.

"Where are you from?"

Stevee Chapman

Reporting from Havana 

Walking through the streets of Havana, it is so obvious we are foreigners we may as well have a flashing neon sign suspended above our heads. While most of the locals wear old worn clothes, we parade around in our new colorful dresses and tops, some of which may have been recently purchased specifically with this trip in mind. As we explore, our top-of-the-line cameras are out at the ready, prepared to capture any moment that comes our way. What Cubans see as everyday life, we view as a valuable experience that needs to be captured and immediately shared upon return to the United States.

Revolutionary Cuba

Thomas Pankau, Reporting from Havana

 

Gracias

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Christine Rushton
Havana

May 15, 2013

Walking toward the stairwell one morning after breakfast, a graying woman tilted her head in a greeting nod as she held the door open out of courtesy. I stepped through and smiling, opened my mouth to thank her. Silence filled the doorframe as I my mind fumbled to find a language. Gracias, thank you, merci, grazi, spasibo; we had met so many non-Cuban foreigners during the trip that my mind had started to think in French, make decisions in English, and speak in Spanish.

“Cuba-Love is The Meaning” Artwork, Coffee, and Possibilities for the Passionate"

Madison Horner

Reporting from Havana

 

Thursday, May 16^th

The whistling espresso machine and sharp smell of freshly roasted coffee beans almost made me forget I was in Havana as I sat on the patio at Café Escorial in La Plaza Vieja.  Unlike the other local cafes that can’t seem to shake the smell of raw sewage lingering in the damp humid air— all with menus limited to the usual pizza, fish,

mojitos and sparkling water—Café Escorial has a Western European feeling and sells the novel Cuban coffee.  Tourists from around the world looked at maps and read guidebooks as they sipped cappuccinos on the patio. Inside, a few privileged locals waited in line to have a bag of beans ground to take home.  In the square in front of me, school children sang and danced, and the people around seemed exceptionally hopeful this morning.

A Nation Waiting for Redemption

Madison Horner
reporting from Havana, Cuba

A Nation Waiting for Redemption

Sunday, May 12^th

As we passed fields of palm trees scattered along vacant countryside on our way to Varadero on Sunday, our tour guide educated us on Cuba’s “Special Period”. In the nineties, after the Soviet Union collapsed, the country suffered a severe economic downturn.

The Arts

Megan Clark
Reporting from Havana

The arts are so important to the Cuban people. It is not hard to see this right away. As you are walking down the streets in Havana you are surrounded by paintings, sculptures, dancing, singing, and so much more. You are submerging yourself in a whole other world, it is unlike anything I have ever seen. The paintings are filled with such detail and emotion, you feel like you are in that place and time. The streets fill up with dancing at night time as you are listening to music being played at a restaurant. Whether it’s children dancing in the street during the day trying to practice for their dance class, people dancing in the street while enjoying the music being played all around, or everyone enjoying the music and dancing at a club, the Cubans’ love to dance! Our tour guide said whenever he hears music he feels the need to move his hips and dance. Over the period of the trip I began to see the arts play a major role in the life of the Cuban people. It is a way of allowing them to express how they are feeling in a way that they can.

A place for tears and hope

  by Arianna Kemis 

 

HAVANA, Cuba—It begins at 5 o’clock every morning. Hundreds of Cuban citizens gather at a public square known as the Weeping Park awaiting their final interview that will grant them entry visas to the United States.

Chocolate Paradise

Jasmine Goodwin

Reporting from Havana

HAVANA, Cuba - During a tour of the numerous plazas and shops located in central Havana, we had the opportunity to make a stop at the Museo Del Chocolate. It was by far one of my favorite, delicious food moments during my Cuban adventures. 

The Museo Del Chocolate specializes in chocolate - and only chocolate. I visited the shop three times during my time in Havana, and each time there was a chance to view the chocolate being made into various shapes, sizes, or even flavors being added for unique candy and other treats. 

My favorite menu item was a simple drink called "cold chocolate." It tasted similar to a melted chocolate milkshake, and it also came with a friendly price tag: just one CUC per glass. To learn more about the Museo Del Chocolate, view the video below:

Why it changed the way I eat:

Experiencing cold chocolate has set a high bar for any future consumption of chocolate milk or milkshake. 

The Real Havana

Thomas Pankau
Reporting from Havana


My academic work for the day was done: I had just finished helping fellow students, Claudia and Jasmine with their news pieces when we began to head back to our hotel from the middle of Havana. We passed by stray animals, musicians playing money for tips on the streets, and children playing soccer with a deflated ball and shoes that were falling apart. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't clean, but it was Havana as the average Cuban knows it.

Los Industriales- Athletes Playing a Slightly Different Game - Saturday, May 11th

Los Industriales- Athletes Playing a Slightly different Game Saturday, May 11th   “El Triunfo Estara En La Suma Del Esfuerzo de Todos.”  In English, it means triumph is the sum of all our struggles.  The billboard is only one of the many examples of the socialist propaganda that decorates Cuba and appears outside El Estadio Latina Americano, the city’s main baseball stadium.

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Los Industriales- Athletes Playing a Slightly Different Game

Madison Horner
reporting from Havana, Cuba
 Saturday, May 11^th

  
 “El Triunfo Estara En La Suma Del Esfuerzo de Todos.”  In English, it means triumph is the sum of all our struggles.

The billboard is only one of the many examples of the socialist propaganda that decorates Cuba and appears outside El Estadio Latina Americano, the city’s main baseball stadium.

An American in Cuba in Paris

Jasmine Goodwin
Reporting from Havana


HAVANA, Cuba - Le Chansonnier was unlike anything I have ever experienced EVER. We arrived at a house. Yes, a simple, Cuban-looking HOUSE. Little did I know what waited for us behind the wooden doors.

The Cuban Experience

Heather Flynn, reporting from Havana

After a day full of excursions to various historical sights and museums, I along with 14 of my comrades set out into the bustling streets of Havana in search of a good meal and an “authentic Cuban experience”.  Little did I know we were about to be taken aback by the abundance of Cuban culture we would encounter.

Adam Lewis
Reporting from Havana

Cuba Libre!

Cuba’s economic system is more complex than any place I have ever traveled to, let alone researched in school. The strange mixture of capitalism and socialism would make even the most liberal politician in the United States shudder.

Living Despite Anger

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Christine Rushton

May 16, 2013

Greenish brown with ripped fuzz, a tennis ball flew with bullet-like precision past my left ear as I, alone, maneuvered one foot in front of the other through the streets of Havana. The three Cuban boys whose feet shared the uneven cobblestones with my own had shed the ties of their school uniforms and taken up a game of catch. A Cuban carriage taxi driver caught the ball that had just skimmed the hairs of my ear, and lightly tossed it back to the boys as he tilted his head to silently warn them. Hitting a visitor in the streets would not fly as well as their pitches.

By Slide.ly - SlideShow Maker

My Adventures in Cuba

 

Coming to an End

May 18, 2013-Day 9

Alicia Taisey, Havana

            It is about 10:00pm as we sit outside our hotel in a group, sipping on our Cuba Libres. By now we probably have had at least a few dozen of them throughout the entire trip because wherever we went, we were handed a "welcome" drink which was rude to refuse. Even at this time of night though, it was still hot and humid enough to work up a sweat.

Hemingway's Havana

Adam Lewis
Reporting from Havana

It must be with a sense of tempered disgust that Cuban bureaucrats accept their country's idolization of Ernest Hemingway. How could a nation so steeped in socialism give tribute to an author who for the better part of his life lived the American dream -- traveling, drinking and writing his way to unprecedented fame?

The answer: Cuba is changing. The country's tourism industry is growing and their long-held beliefs are giving way to the same free market capitalism we see in the United States.

All the better for me.

I am as much a fanboy of Hemingway's novels as I am an admirer of the bravery he exhibited fighting in one World War and covering another.

I signed on for a 10-day backpack trip through Cuba with the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication because I wanted to witness his influence in Havana, I told my parents. It surely had nothing to do with the 4:1 female to male ratio in our 20-student group.

Instead, he bought a pig.

by Arianna Kemis

Havana, Cuba

“I was four years old,” he had said. “I listened to music, and I felt it.”

 

I never knew that amidst the waving jungle trees and clucks of Cuba’s national bird, the tocororo, I would find a story of music and a lifestyle that epitomizes the struggle of life and love in Cuba.

There, listening to his performing group, I met Junior Santana, a 30-year-old saxophone player and lifelong citizen of Cuba. He was intrigued by why I came to Cuba, and I videoed him as he played enthusiastically for our group.

Recess at Hotel Raquel

Nick Dettorre,
reporting from Havana

On a warm afternoon, late in the week, our tour bus dropped us off near the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the oldest in Old Havana. The neighborhood was undergoing a major renovation, part of a joint effort between the  Gaspar Melhor de Jobellanos Workshop School, which specializes in restoring old buildings, and the City Historian Office, who determines which buildings are next in line.

The plaza had a lot to offer. On display at one museum were several guns owned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevera. The curator explained that some were used in the revolution, a reminder that social change too often walks hand-in-hand with violence.

A growing industry

Kaitlin Gillespie,

Reporting from Havana

The rum flows freely in Cuba.

Only in this country would our tour guide shout out that we’re making a pina colada and bathroom break on the way to the beach. Small huts stand by the side of the freeway, pineapples lined up on the bar, ready to be filled with rum and gobbled up by thirsty travelers.

The Universal Sport-Futbol

May-14-2013

Tenzin Choephel

Reporting from Havana

 

Warming up for a game of soccer on the beach

Tuesday proved to be another day of touring in Havana. We had decided to go to the restoration schools in Old Havana. This is where Cuban students learn different skills to help rebuild decaying buildings in the city. To be honest, I didn’t have much interest in the tour. After a couple days of touring, I wanted to go out and explore the city for myself.

Facing Now to Look Ahead

Rachael Trost

Reporting from Havana

Children running around the square practicing their ballet, little boys sliding down and flexing atop a dumpster, couples embracing along the Malecon at nightfall; it seems that Havana is really a place like no other I have ever experienced.

The view of Havana from our hotel.

Hopeless in Havana

Heather Flynn, reporting from Havana

One of the most exciting aspects of going to college and establishing a career is the unlimited possibilities that the future holds. I can choose to go in many directions with my life, the decision is up to me, and if I work hard enough there is no telling where I might end up. One of the most profound moments for me during my time spent in Havana occurred one day as I was talking to a young man selling paintings at a local art fair.

Two little surprises and a mango

by Arianna Kemis 

Las Terrazas, Cuba 

I had been taking pictures of chickens. I could not resist; the chicks were huddled under their mother for bed after pecking around on a tiny, winding staircase next to a hibiscus hedge.

I thought the tech lead had motioned across the miniature valley to beckon the rest of the group over from the coffee shop to where a portion of us had gone to see a local artist.

So, I continued to take pictures. 

When the chicks had all settled underneath the feathers of their mother in the grass, I looked up to see an older man in an old green baseball cap picking the hibiscus flowers off of the bush.

It was María.

by Arianna Kemis
Las Terrazas, Cuba

We were at Las Terrazas, a settlement high in the jungles of Cuba’s highest mountain range. There, nestled away in Cuba’s sunny, mountainous countryside on the shores of a quiet, green mountain lake, pale homes with clay-colored roofs and open windows lay tucked into the hillsides among the mango trees, bromeliads, and hibiscus hedges.

The group had stopped to visit a tiny coffee shop that was decades old. Our guide, Julio, told us that Café de María had started as support for a servant, María, in the 1940’s when she lost her husband. A business man came and had a cup of her coffee, which she worked daily to make locally for plantation owners and neighbors.

“This must be hard for you,” the business man had said. María had nodded.

Modern Fare, Modest Price

Jasmine Goodwin
Reporting from Havana


HAVANA, Cuba - La Xana was a trendy restaurant specializing in Italian food and was located just a few blocks from our hotel. It ended up being a go-to restaurant for our group due to its location and great food, with good prices.

There were few times we saw expensive food in Cuba, however La Xana was unique because it provided the ambiance of a high-priced eatery, without the high price tag. 

Playing for a Future

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By Christine Rushton

May 16, 2013

HAVANA, Cuba– Lifting the horsehair bow to the taut strings of her violin, the 15-year-old Cuban girl began to perform. She played without sheet music. 

Amanda Michelle Estrar Rodriguez, the young violinist, presented the piece “Abandoned Nest” written by Italian composer Giuseppe Tartini at the Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA) violin competition on May 16, in Havana, Cuba. Her performance pitted her against other Cuban musicians for both the competition and a potential spot as a student at the school.

Fuster’s Fare

Jasmine Goodwin
Reporting from Havana

HAVANA, Cuba - The word "art" can apply to a diverse set of meanings. For some, it means painting. A chef might consider the food they make to be culinary art. A ballerina considers their movement in a pair of pointe slippers to be "performance art." While these are all candidates of being called art, what is it called when all three of them collide to provide an explosive experience that is unlike any other? I found the answer in Havana at the home of an artist named Jose Fuster.

"My house is full of artwork," said nearly every person who considers themselves a connoisseur of knowing and appreciating art. Fuster puts all of them to shame. Why? Because his isn't just full of art, his house is art.

Every Girl's Dream

 

Kelly Montgomery

reporting from Havana

Wednesday Day 5

 

Havana, May 15

            We were told today by our taxi driver and newfound Cuban friend that in this country, "turning 15 is every girl's dream". 
            Teresa Verrajo is unmarried and has one daughter who will be 15-years-old in January, but the preparations for the special day are already underway.

El Mercado

Madison Horner

reporting from Havana, Cuba

El Mercado

Wednesday, May 15^th

Ripe guava, plump mangos, bananas, bananas, and more bananas. —these are some of the fruits you can find in a Havana style farmer’s market. We made a quick stop at small shaded tent on our way to las terraces.  Inside, Cubans shopped through rows of fruit and vegetables, more dogs rested in the shade and two parakeets sang in the background.  I reached above my head for a banana and quickly learned the long yellow variety, that look like the ones I would typically buy at home, are no good to eat.