La Marcha: Playa de Girón

On Saturday we had planned a boat trip, but the day before learned that it was canceled because no boats were allowed offshore on April 16 – the 50^th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs. Security was high in case of a contrarevolucionario (counter-revolutionary) attack, which I think was less of an actual threat, and more of a demonstration of how well the government protects its citizens (although my heart still skipped a beat when the jets flew over). But whatever works….I guess. So what else to do but wake up before the sun and head downtown to partake in the celebratory march. Oh, you mean, the celebration of my country’s defeat? Just a tad embarrassing. I thought about whipping out my janky British accent, but decided against it and instead just endured the painful singe of disapproving eyes as we walked down the looooong seemingly never-ending avenue toward the center of the excitement, La Plaza de la Revolución. It actually wasn’t that bad; people were just more confused than anything, wondering what the hell these little yankie blonde girls were doing at their anti-yankie parade. There was a huge section with thousands of students marching and cheering with their signs of Fidel or Che and hand-made banners that read “Viva la Revolución” and “Tenemos y Tendremos Socialismo” (Long Live the Revolution! We Have And We Will Have Socialism) and so on. There were huge speakers at every block, booming radio broadcasts and then, when the march began, relaying the speeches taking place in the Plaza. It was really fun, actually, and exciting to see all of their excitement.

We were supposed to meet up with a group of Charleston students that night, but after waking up at 5 and walking all day, I was out before 9:00 and I think the rest followed suit. Sunday, we worked all day to get a start on finals deadlines. Next week, I have to give a 25 minute presentation on the development of Cuban agriculture and how Cuba is now a world leader in sustainable agriculture solutions – in Spanish. I’m terrified. On top of that, there’s a 20 page research paper, and 15 page Cuban-U.S. relations paper, on which I’m still debating a thesis. I have three weeks and a really poor sense of time management to accomplish this, in addition to savoring the rest of my time here. Must go work on that. Chao!

P.S. Here’s the link to Shelby’s blog. She’s better at the chronological update thing. www.ShelbyinCuba.blogspot.com