Havana Daydreaming by Philip Theriault

My Cuba Tour - Reports from participants

Havana Daydreaming

	Photos by Philip Theriault, Rick Onorato and Marty Wilkinson

	Learn about ESL Cuba Volunteer

Philip Theriault, Retired Educator, jazz aficionado, and Volunteer Manager for the Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Note: Philip Theriault was a teacher in the February 2008 ESL Cuba Volunteer program and was lucky enough to attend the 2008 Havana International Jazz Festival while on the island.

	Impresario and living jazz legend Chucho Valdés opens the 2008 Havana Jazz Festival.

I FELL IN LOVE with Yolanda while in Havana.

Let me back up a bit before I explain that statement.

My original reason for going to Havana was to volunteer as an ESL teacher, but I found out that the dates of the Havana International Jazz Festival had been changed from December to the week prior to my volunteering. I decided that this was an opportunity that I needed to take advantage of, so I arranged with Cuba Education Tours to travel to Havana a week earlier than the rest of the volunteer ESL teachers.

My Jazz Festival pass was delivered to me at 5:00 pm on opening day. Luckily, I was also told that the venue for the Opening Ceremonies had been changed from the Teatro Karl Marx to the Teatro Mella, a short ride from my hotel.

	Music is everywhere in Havana. A group performs at a restaurant in Old Havana.

At 9 pm, Chucho Valdés (artistic director of the Jazz Festival and founder of the group Irakere of which Arturo Sandoval was a member) and his four-piece group… Spanish bassist Javier Colina, Argentinean guitarist and singer Luis Salinas, singer Mayra Caridad Valdes, a drummer and a percussionist… took the stage for an amazing two hours.

Among the many Cuban artists at this year's Havana International Jazz Festival were Bellita y su Jazztumba, Pablo Milanés, Cesar Lopez and Habana Ensemble, NG La Banda as well as acts from Spain, South Africa, Brazil, Canada and others at venues throughout the city.

	Entrance sign to the best jazz club in Havana, one block from our hotel.

IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, in four days, to attend every event. There was no official program and last minute venue changes exacerbated the problem. Friday and Saturday nights were spent exploring clubs rather than going to soft seaters… not a mistake as Havana is full of music – son, jazz, salsa, reggaeton, hip hop; music is everywhere… every bar, club, and street corner. Around the corner from my hotel, the Hotel Saint John's in the city's Vedado district, is El Zorra y la Cuervo, of which Frommer's has written is, "Havana's best jazz club, and that's saying a lot." It is entered through doors that resemble a British phone booth; one never knows who might show up to perform.

	Our ESL guide Idania, and me.

Festival shows were held in various locations throughout Havana including El Gato Tuerto: the One Eyed Cat, another well known spot.

Often the most interesting musical discoveries can be found in unremarkable places not officially Jazz Festival venues. Café Sofia, on the corner on La Rampa and Calle O next to El Zorra y la Cuervo, is unassuming at best but the tunes heard here rivaled those of official venues and was free for everyone. Sundays, a group, Cuarteto Vocal Universo, performed in the Saint John's lobby bar. The tight vocal harmonies of these four women amazed people in my volunteer group; they were not a part of the festival but their voices will stay with us for a long time.

	Four of our students at the University of Havana.

I HAD ARRIVED in Havana on Saturday, February 9th, and a week later the rest of the volunteers arrived so I spent Sunday getting to know everyone. I left them in the afternoon intending to see a show I was particularly looking forward to attending: Chucho Valdés and Pablo Milanés performing together for only the second time; unfortunately, life intervened and I ended up without my camera, lost all pictures not already downloaded to my laptop and missed the performance… my one regret in Havana.

The next week was spent in a prevolunteering orientation; we visited preschools, elementary schools, secondary schools, FLEX (Facultad de Lengua Extranjeros – the language institute with the University of Havana), Casa del niño y de la niña (an after school program for elementary students) attended a social gathering of a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, marveled at a Santería ceremony, toured Las Terrazas ecocommunity and the University with Dr Delio J. Carreras Cuevas… plus events too numerous to mention.

	My ESL Cuba Volunteer compatriots at the University of Havana. Our host, historian Dr Delio J. Carreras Cuevas is front center in black.

THE VISITS WITH Cubans in their home, the need for all basic school supplies, the respect and obvious affection between the teachers and students at all grades (a hug or a kiss when leaving was not uncommon), the full moon rising over the Capitol building as Colm, another ESL volunteer from BC, and I walked above the Malecón are memories that will stay with me always.

We spent our volunteering hours in a variety of locations: The Casa del niño y de la niña, FLEX, other faculties within the University or a combination of all three – wherever our skills were best suited.

Oh, and as for falling in love with Yolanda?

Yolanda is a love song written by Pablo Milanes for his wife. It quickly became a favorite of all of us. Click here to listen to his concert version of Yolanda!

My students at the Casa del niño y de la niña [House of the boy and girl].

Philip Theriault