Day 5 - Afro-Cuban Dance Group

This morning we went visited the Afro-Cuban Cultural Centre where we experienced several dancers and percussionists performing their native Afro-Cuban music.  They began by portraying each of their Afro-Cuban gods through dance, and followed that by a danced interpretation of early slavery.  It was a powerful performance.  This ended with all of us participating and even some impromptu salsa lessons.

We had a bit of free time after lunch, and several of us went to the grocery store to find some Cuban coffee.  It was an interesting display of what Cubans have to deal with on a daily basis.  About half of the shelves were completely empty, and then some things were in over supply.  They had an entire aisle devoted to ketchup alone.  Another aisle was mayonnaise.  Quite a bit of meat and fish, bottled water, some vegetables, and wafer cookies.  There were a few other non-descript things, but certainly not an abundance of food.  We found our coffee, the brand Milete said was good, and headed out.  On the walk home we passed several embassies, including the Russian and Costa Rican embassy, which are located between the store and our hotel. 

In the afternoon we had our only formal performance of the tour.  We performed together with two other local children’s choirs at the largest cathedral in Cuba.  It’s an absolutely stunning facility and very well kept.  We performed these pieces as we had rehearsed them with the groups earlier in the week.  Our singers began wilting under the heat of the day, but we all pulled through.  It was a great concert, and wonderful choirs to sing with.

After this we had a formal dinner with the other choirs together, followed by a dance party.  It was an amazing site, seeing our choristers and the local Cuban choristers get together and become friends almost instantly.  There was lots of communicating through hand-signs, and sharing of email addresses.  They had an absolutely fantastic time dancing together and having fun.  It was beautiful to watch.