check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtmZh4Pm-XI
camila
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Our trip to Viñales
Hello!
We had a great trip to Viñales this past weekend. The small valley town is in the western-most province, Piñar del Rio, and we decided to rent a car Friday to Sunday and take what will most likely be our last trip out of Havana. At this point we only have two and a half weeks left before we fly back to Miami and all the students here are fairly crazed, trying to finish our final projects.
Unsurprisingly the valley wasn’t quite as green as it looked in all the photos we’d seen in tour books, but still, Viñales is a beautiful place. The valley is surrounded by huge, flat-sided limestone formations called mogotes. Because the area gets so much rain it is suited for agriculture production and grows a lot of tobacco. After finding casas particulares to stay at for the four of us, we got some lunch on the tiny main drag and found out that that weekend was the town’s annual carnaval, which meant street vendors and reggaeton music blasting in the town square all day with a raging dance party all night. So super fun times! Later that afternoon we went for a drive to a mogote to see the “Prehistoric Mural.” We weren’t sure what to expect, but Kat, a friend who was on the trip, said it was enormous and a very cheesy must-see. So after finding our way we happened upon the biggest “mural” I’ve ever seen. By the looks of it, they cleared off the face of one of the mogotes and painted huge swatches of primary colors on it with a few snails, dinosaurs, and early humans, all under the direction of a five year old. But at least we’ve seen it now…
The next day we woke up early to go horseback riding through the valley. We expected to just tour around for a couple of hours, but soon found out that it was going to be a six to seven hour excursion! It was awkward riding after not having been on a horse in quite a long time, but we got the hang of it after a little while, though my horse was pretty stubborn all day and insisted on taking snack breaks all the time. We made a few stops through the valley. The first was to Cueva del Silencio, where we were treated to a cigar rolling demonstration and a sample puff of the tobacco farmer’s artisan cigar that was dipped in local honey. Next we moseyed on to another cave that was deep and dark and had freshwater pools in the back of it. Though we were all very hot and achy from sitting on the saddle we were too wimpy to jump in to the cool water. Eventually we weaved our way back to the stables and hobbled away tired and sunburned, but still very pleased with our outing. That evening we went to a hotel above the valley for a swim and then returned to the casa for dinner and to get ready for the carnaval party that night. It was a little crazy in the square, but fun to go to a local event.
Sunday we headed out early to go to the beach at Cayo Jutias. It was a long and windy drive and when we finally arrived it started pouring. After the tropical downpour passed we relaxed on the beach for a bit and then started our long journey back to Havana. It took us quite awhile to get back since the rain seemed to be following us and at times we had to pull over because we couldn’t see the road at all. But in the end we made it home safely and had a wonderful time on our trip.
Wow! Only 18 days left and so much left to do!
Love,
Camila
Jessie, Kat, and Tamara on their caballos
Before the long journey on the horses.
Mural de la Prehistoria...
We had a great trip to Viñales this past weekend. The small valley town is in the western-most province, Piñar del Rio, and we decided to rent a car Friday to Sunday and take what will most likely be our last trip out of Havana. At this point we only have two and a half weeks left before we fly back to Miami and all the students here are fairly crazed, trying to finish our final projects.
Unsurprisingly the valley wasn’t quite as green as it looked in all the photos we’d seen in tour books, but still, Viñales is a beautiful place. The valley is surrounded by huge, flat-sided limestone formations called mogotes. Because the area gets so much rain it is suited for agriculture production and grows a lot of tobacco. After finding casas particulares to stay at for the four of us, we got some lunch on the tiny main drag and found out that that weekend was the town’s annual carnaval, which meant street vendors and reggaeton music blasting in the town square all day with a raging dance party all night. So super fun times! Later that afternoon we went for a drive to a mogote to see the “Prehistoric Mural.” We weren’t sure what to expect, but Kat, a friend who was on the trip, said it was enormous and a very cheesy must-see. So after finding our way we happened upon the biggest “mural” I’ve ever seen. By the looks of it, they cleared off the face of one of the mogotes and painted huge swatches of primary colors on it with a few snails, dinosaurs, and early humans, all under the direction of a five year old. But at least we’ve seen it now…
The next day we woke up early to go horseback riding through the valley. We expected to just tour around for a couple of hours, but soon found out that it was going to be a six to seven hour excursion! It was awkward riding after not having been on a horse in quite a long time, but we got the hang of it after a little while, though my horse was pretty stubborn all day and insisted on taking snack breaks all the time. We made a few stops through the valley. The first was to Cueva del Silencio, where we were treated to a cigar rolling demonstration and a sample puff of the tobacco farmer’s artisan cigar that was dipped in local honey. Next we moseyed on to another cave that was deep and dark and had freshwater pools in the back of it. Though we were all very hot and achy from sitting on the saddle we were too wimpy to jump in to the cool water. Eventually we weaved our way back to the stables and hobbled away tired and sunburned, but still very pleased with our outing. That evening we went to a hotel above the valley for a swim and then returned to the casa for dinner and to get ready for the carnaval party that night. It was a little crazy in the square, but fun to go to a local event.
Sunday we headed out early to go to the beach at Cayo Jutias. It was a long and windy drive and when we finally arrived it started pouring. After the tropical downpour passed we relaxed on the beach for a bit and then started our long journey back to Havana. It took us quite awhile to get back since the rain seemed to be following us and at times we had to pull over because we couldn’t see the road at all. But in the end we made it home safely and had a wonderful time on our trip.
Wow! Only 18 days left and so much left to do!
Love,
Camila
Jessie, Kat, and Tamara on their caballos
Before the long journey on the horses.
Mural de la Prehistoria...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Hola!
Well, clearly I need to update more often…
First, happy St. Patrick’s day! I almost forgot since, as you might imagine, it’s not really a big thing here, but we’ll try to celebrate anyway, can’t lose all of our American ways!
A lot has happened since the end of February. We had spring break across the island in Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa, we all finished our second docs, which turned out very well for the most part, went to Varadero for a weekend, and now have fewer than five weeks left!
Overall our week long break was fun filled and exciting, though not very relaxing. Because we are in Cuba with student visas, officially all of our time must be spent doing educational things, so that when we travel as a group, we have to be “learning.” As a result, most days during our break we had to wake up very early to go on short field trips, dance performances, artist studios, and various other cultural activities. During our short amount of down time in Santiago I walked around the central area of town, around Parque Céspedes, and enjoyed the heat in the city. The hotel there was right on the park and had a huge veranda on the street where some friends and I lounged and watched a magic show courtesy of Magic Tony.
Next we took our large Cubanacan tour bus five and a half hours to Baracoa, a somewhat isolated town on the northeastern coast of the island. The journey was interesting as we passed through semi-desert, huge rocky cliffs, deep green valleys, and small communities set on whatever open spaces were available along the highway. When we got to the small town we had a very tasty fish lunch and I had the most delicious shark with the house coconut sauce! Then we were off to our hotel, which was on a bluff on the other side of the bay and on the tiny beach that was supposedly Columbus’s first step in Cuba. Everything was very picturesque, but unfortunately the weather was no good- very cloudy and windy (with occasional showers). Nevertheless we went to a nice beach there and made friends with a cute beach puppy, Papi. We also went for a rowboat ride on a river, though it was too cold and rocky to get into. By far the best thing we did there was climb the high, table top mountain, El Yunque. Seven of us and a tour guide picked local fruit, including fresh cacao fruit (the stuff around the beans they make chocolate out of), crossed a raging river, and climbed up up up for a couple of hours through the dense rainforest until we reached the top. The view from up there was stunning, and after a little break we started the journey back down. On the way up we took a break at a hut in a large clearing that was selling fresh fruit and placed an order for fried bananas and eggs for when we came back down. We chomped on sugarcane and coconut and ate our lunch and rested for a bit than continued down until we finally reached the river. Hot and dirty from our rather tough hike, we jumped in the cold water just long enough to get cool, then continued our trek. Once again we had to cross the roaring rapids then through a cacao plantaion and goat colony to the taxis back to the hotel. The next and last day I was sore and exhausted and we spent the day on the beach again, though the weather still wasn’t great.
Back in Havana I worked long hours to finish up my documentary on the cemetery. Then, this past Friday we took a field trip back to Matanzas, but also to the resort town nearby, Varadero. After visiting with some photographers we had lunch and hung out on the beach of this all-inclusive resort. Wow! These hotels are crazy and the beaches in this town are spectacular (sadly I think I forgot to photograph it during the day…). So we decided to stay the night and explore some more the next day. I woke up bright and early the next morning and booked a snorkeling excursion for me and some friends. Oh man! It was so great. I’ve been dying to see some tropical fish since I got here, I even brought my own mask and snorkel, and the reef we went to was great. I saw lots of beautiful fish and we even had them schooling around us as our guide was treating them to some bread. After our reef time we went to a cave and had a swim there. It was very refreshing!
This week it’s back to school and working on our final projects. We’re planning some other weekend trips before we leave here. I can’t believe how little time we have left, we’re really trying to do all we can before we go.
Love,
Camila
Well, clearly I need to update more often…
First, happy St. Patrick’s day! I almost forgot since, as you might imagine, it’s not really a big thing here, but we’ll try to celebrate anyway, can’t lose all of our American ways!
A lot has happened since the end of February. We had spring break across the island in Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa, we all finished our second docs, which turned out very well for the most part, went to Varadero for a weekend, and now have fewer than five weeks left!
Overall our week long break was fun filled and exciting, though not very relaxing. Because we are in Cuba with student visas, officially all of our time must be spent doing educational things, so that when we travel as a group, we have to be “learning.” As a result, most days during our break we had to wake up very early to go on short field trips, dance performances, artist studios, and various other cultural activities. During our short amount of down time in Santiago I walked around the central area of town, around Parque Céspedes, and enjoyed the heat in the city. The hotel there was right on the park and had a huge veranda on the street where some friends and I lounged and watched a magic show courtesy of Magic Tony.
Next we took our large Cubanacan tour bus five and a half hours to Baracoa, a somewhat isolated town on the northeastern coast of the island. The journey was interesting as we passed through semi-desert, huge rocky cliffs, deep green valleys, and small communities set on whatever open spaces were available along the highway. When we got to the small town we had a very tasty fish lunch and I had the most delicious shark with the house coconut sauce! Then we were off to our hotel, which was on a bluff on the other side of the bay and on the tiny beach that was supposedly Columbus’s first step in Cuba. Everything was very picturesque, but unfortunately the weather was no good- very cloudy and windy (with occasional showers). Nevertheless we went to a nice beach there and made friends with a cute beach puppy, Papi. We also went for a rowboat ride on a river, though it was too cold and rocky to get into. By far the best thing we did there was climb the high, table top mountain, El Yunque. Seven of us and a tour guide picked local fruit, including fresh cacao fruit (the stuff around the beans they make chocolate out of), crossed a raging river, and climbed up up up for a couple of hours through the dense rainforest until we reached the top. The view from up there was stunning, and after a little break we started the journey back down. On the way up we took a break at a hut in a large clearing that was selling fresh fruit and placed an order for fried bananas and eggs for when we came back down. We chomped on sugarcane and coconut and ate our lunch and rested for a bit than continued down until we finally reached the river. Hot and dirty from our rather tough hike, we jumped in the cold water just long enough to get cool, then continued our trek. Once again we had to cross the roaring rapids then through a cacao plantaion and goat colony to the taxis back to the hotel. The next and last day I was sore and exhausted and we spent the day on the beach again, though the weather still wasn’t great.
Back in Havana I worked long hours to finish up my documentary on the cemetery. Then, this past Friday we took a field trip back to Matanzas, but also to the resort town nearby, Varadero. After visiting with some photographers we had lunch and hung out on the beach of this all-inclusive resort. Wow! These hotels are crazy and the beaches in this town are spectacular (sadly I think I forgot to photograph it during the day…). So we decided to stay the night and explore some more the next day. I woke up bright and early the next morning and booked a snorkeling excursion for me and some friends. Oh man! It was so great. I’ve been dying to see some tropical fish since I got here, I even brought my own mask and snorkel, and the reef we went to was great. I saw lots of beautiful fish and we even had them schooling around us as our guide was treating them to some bread. After our reef time we went to a cave and had a swim there. It was very refreshing!
This week it’s back to school and working on our final projects. We’re planning some other weekend trips before we leave here. I can’t believe how little time we have left, we’re really trying to do all we can before we go.
Love,
Camila
Sunday, February 22, 2009
...week six
el megano beach
the bone box buildings at the cemetery
one of the many rivers in matanzas
the party boat near matanzasHola!
So yes, it’s been quite awhile since my last update, but it’s just because time flies here in Cuba and I’ve been having a great time! The past few weeks have been pretty busy with classes, and now that we’ve settled into our new city, we’ve started venturing out of our neighborhood more. A few weeks ago some other girls and I went to Matanzas, a town east of Havana in the next province over. The town itself was okay - pretty sleepy and at the time windy and cold like Havana - getting there and around, however, was quite an adventure. We left our hotel at dawn Saturday morning, cabbed it to the bay, took a ferry ride to Casablanca train station, and waited for the Hershey train to arrive. The train never came. So after flipping through our guidebook we decided to head back to the city and try to take a bus to Matanzas. Luckily there weren’t any issues at the bus station and the ride was easy, but we arrived much later then we expected. Once in Matanzas we walked to the casa particular (private homes that rent rooms to tourists) we were supposed to stay at, dealt with some logistics, and, as our hostess (Margarita) suggested, we took the bus a little ways out of town to a river. It was very beautiful there, not too many people around, and we sipped mojitos on a “party boat” that was docked at the beach and blasting reggaeton.
When we returned to Margarita’s (after waiting 45 minutes for the bus to come) we ate an amazing dinner that she and her husband had prepared. We feasted on a whole grilled fish, salad, veggie soup, sweet potatoes, and super fresh guava juice. The combination of our exhaustion from the day and serious food coma put us to bed before ten, but we woke up the next day bright eyed and ready for an adventure. We had decided to go to Matanzas because we’d heard/read that there were some great caves, one for swimming in and the other for exploring on foot, and nice beaches with good snorkeling. Set on getting in the water, the five of us piled into an old Chevy and headed for a reef. When we got there we saw that it was too windy and the tide was too low to get in, but got a recommendation for a protected ecological area near by that a river flowed through. When we got there we were greeted by a tour guide who told us about the many trees that grew in the mangrove we were in and who joined us on our peddle boat trip down the river. It was calmer in the mangrove and we parked our boats on a small sandbar and jumped in the cold water for a moment. We did a little bird watching and headed back to the dock. At this point we were pretty hungry so we asked our Chevy driver to take us back into town. After some detours, which included picking up his 5 year old daughter to ride with us, we parted ways at a tasty pizza place. Tired once again and not wanting to leave any chance to miss our bus back to Havana, we decided to go over the bus terminal early. When we arrived we found that an unscheduled bus would be arriving within 20 minutes heading to Havana. Finally the unreliable transportation worked in our favor and we were back home before dark!
It seems our trip was well timed because since then we’ve all been very busy with our projects. Every weekend I’m working on at least a couple of shoots and we’re all editing our projects here and there. My second project is a portrait of Havana’s giant cemetery, Necropolis de Colón. I’ve already shot there three times and still haven’t seen the whole place. It’s very beautiful (sorry I don’t have any photos yet, I forgot to take some while we were shooting!) and you can’t see from one end to the other as there is just tomb after tomb with incredibly ornate sculptures, mausoleums, and other memorials for the dead. One of the things that attracted me to the place is that I heard that in order to deal with over crowding and make room for new graves, bodies (or bones at that point) of those who can’t afford to maintain full graves are exhumed when they’re ready, then a box is made for the bones, labeled with the person’s name and date of death and stacked in big, open-air cement buildings. It’s a crazy thing to see, especially when lids are left off because the bones don’t quite fit!
And when lazy Sundays come around I’ve been heading off to the beach! We’ve gone to two of the Playas del Este that are outside the city. They are the most perfect Caribbean beaches. The sand is fine and white with big coconut palms and the water is clear, warm, and turquoise. And with all this sun I’ve been getting very tan! This week is our last week of classes before spring break, we’ll be going to the other side of the island to Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa. Even though time’s been going by quickly, we are all very excited for a break from classes and to explore a new part of the island.
I miss you all. Send me updates about your lives. I’m slowly forgetting what life was like in the land of constant technology and consumerism, and I need to know what’s up!
Love,
Camila
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Feliz cumpleaños a mi
We’re definitely starting to settle in now. I have a little routine and am getting to know some people very well (even the hotel staff, dad!). At night I’ve been taking it pretty easy just because we do so much stuff during the day, but when I’m feeling more energetic I go out to walk in the neighborhood, hang out in one of the many parks or plazas (SF style…), or, my favorite…, some times we go to listen to music and dance.
On Friday we got a walking tour of Old Havana. We learned some of the history and saw the sights, very beautiful. One of my favorite bits was an old square, Plaza de la Catedral, where Havana’s oldest/only cathedral is. Also, I found some diet coke there!! And, sticking out in the middle of all this colonial architecture there is an incredibly modern building that doesn’t fit in at all with its surroundings, but is lovely nonetheless.
Last weekend, my last unofficial vacation, I didn’t do so much. Saturday I slept in, talked to my mom and dad (yay!), but unfortunately missed my chance to go to the beach with some other girls. Instead I did some hw and got some lunch with some of my classmates at places that take national pesos. All together it was 24 CUPs, which is about $1 in Cuban tourist monies, and a little more than an Amerrrican dollar.
And yes, today is my birthday, turning the glorious age of twenty-one. My friends have been very nice to me today and asking me what I want to do, but I just don’t know. We had a delicious lunch at a paladar (a restaurant run out of someone’s home). It was very not Cuban and very much better than any of the food at the hotel! I’m sure we’ll go out and do a little partying as we don’t have class in the morning tomorrow!
Thanks all for the birthday wishes!
Love,
Camila
(ps- more photos to be added soon!)
On Friday we got a walking tour of Old Havana. We learned some of the history and saw the sights, very beautiful. One of my favorite bits was an old square, Plaza de la Catedral, where Havana’s oldest/only cathedral is. Also, I found some diet coke there!! And, sticking out in the middle of all this colonial architecture there is an incredibly modern building that doesn’t fit in at all with its surroundings, but is lovely nonetheless.
Last weekend, my last unofficial vacation, I didn’t do so much. Saturday I slept in, talked to my mom and dad (yay!), but unfortunately missed my chance to go to the beach with some other girls. Instead I did some hw and got some lunch with some of my classmates at places that take national pesos. All together it was 24 CUPs, which is about $1 in Cuban tourist monies, and a little more than an Amerrrican dollar.
And yes, today is my birthday, turning the glorious age of twenty-one. My friends have been very nice to me today and asking me what I want to do, but I just don’t know. We had a delicious lunch at a paladar (a restaurant run out of someone’s home). It was very not Cuban and very much better than any of the food at the hotel! I’m sure we’ll go out and do a little partying as we don’t have class in the morning tomorrow!
Thanks all for the birthday wishes!
Love,
Camila
(ps- more photos to be added soon!)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Happy Inauguration Day!
Today was my first day of class. Early in the morning we went to the University of Havana to receive our language class assignments. Remarkably I was placed in the Literature class with three other NYU students. Originally we were supposed to be in a class with other university students, but due to schedule and Spanish level issues we have a private class with Prof. Jose Luis. He's an old Cuban, very sweet and incredibly smart! During our little intro session we sat outside on some benches in the "Cabezon" a terraced park on campus with giant head statues of great academics. During our hour long chat he covered so much stuff relating both to different types of Cuban literature (poetry, short stories, novels) and the history of the city. He seems to know everything about everything (and not just Cuban stuff) and I'm very excited to learn more from him. Later we watched Obama's inauguration speech, yay! Then spent the afternoon mostly indoors due to a rather impressive storm that's hitting the north side of the city right now (the side we're on!). The waves on the Malecón are huge and the sea water is flooding far into the plaze below the hotel! Tomorrow we have more Spanish class than we'll watch some of the docs from last years students. After we hope to go on a tour of the old city, pending better weather!
Best,
Camila
Best,
Camila
Monday, January 19, 2009
I'm in Cuba!
A little Habanero
Las Terrazas
The Santera
The old cars!
Our hotel at nightHi everyone!
So I've arrived in Cuba safely. It's been a very busy weekend and lots of so super fun times! Tomorrow we start our Spanish class at the University of Havana. I've found that my Spanish skills have been very helpful in speaking to the Cubans, but their Spanish is very different than mine and I've had some trouble understanding them.
Cuba is beautiful and strange and very exciting. Our hotel is right on the Malecón, the sea wall that runs along the Northern edge of the city. While lying in bed I can see the ocean and it's wonderful! The weather has been very cold (for Cubans anyway, I think it's great!) so the ocean has been pretty choppy and dark and crashing over the wall and onto the highway that runs along it. Today we left the city for a rural community nearby, Las Terrazas. It was a great bus ride as we got to see more of the island. In Las Terrazas we had a delicious vegetarian lunch and went for a swim in a cold river pool in the forest!
I hope to update again soon and add some pictures too, so check back!
Love,
Camila
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