Camaguey (March 14)

We left the hotel on for at 9:00 for a UNEAC gallery.  UNEAC, which translates to National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, is not a co-op.  Artists are chosen by merit for inclusion (i.e. established artists with a body of recognized work).  UNEAC interacts with international organizations. 

After some introductory remarks by the gallery manager who was also one of the artists on display, we had an opportunity to walk around the gallery.  The works were certainly professional, but nothing clicked with us. 

Our second stop of the morning was at a flamenco dance company. Both the music and the dancers had a style that might best be described as classic flamenco with an infusion of salsa.  It was an entertaining combination.  There was the awkwardness of being drawn from my chair to dance with one of the dancers, but that was over reasonably quickly.

 

 

 

 

Continuing on foot, we arrived at  the gallery/home of a pair of artists.  Neither had a style that did the slightest thing for me.  I was put off by nails driven into an old fresco, albeit in admittedly poor condition, for the purpose of displaying a couple of rusting BB guns and some old, completely ordinary swords and bayonets. 

Across the street from the gallery was a plaza with a statue of Ignacio Agramonte.  He was dubbed El Mayor by Henry Reeve, a US Army Officer who after being executed, but not actually killed, joined Cuba forces fighting under Agramonte.  In 2005, the Cuban government honored Reeve by creating the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Serious Epidemics.  This organization is among the candidates for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.

We visited one more artist's studio before lunch.  This artist José Gutierrez (Pepe) used various materials, including goat hide, to make some unusual pieces.  

 

 

We had lunch at Campana de Toledo in the same square where we had dinner last night.  This time there was uninterrupted electrical power, although we did not need it as we ate in an open courtyard. As at other venues we were serenaded during the meal.  ("Would you like to buy our CD?" was a recurring question with every musical/dance group we encountered.)

We had the afternoon to ourselves, but embedded in it was an optional treasure hunt.  The list included eleven items that we had to price in Cuban pesos.

As previously mentioned, in Cuba there are two currencies.  They are the Cuban peso (CUP) and the Convertible peso (CUC).  The former is an internal currency. It is the currency in which people are paid their salary and use to buy things.. The other is the currency we received in exchange for our Euros and US Dollars and used to buy things.  Both currencies are worthless outside Cuba, so the CUC is the way Cuba gathers "hard" currencies for international trade.  One CUC equals twenty-five CUP. 

Okay, back to the scavenger hunt.  In tourist locations, prices appear in CUC.  We were challenged to go further afield to find the price of the following items in CUP.

   newspaper
   book
   beer
   toothpaste
   shampoo
   umbrella
   sandal
   passport photo
   quava powder
   rice cooker
   toilet seat

Pam & I nailed it with the exception of the toilet seat, although we got partial credit for finding a cover for a toilet seat cover.  It was fun and a good motivator to get us out doing some exploring and people watching.

After dinner in the hotel dining room, we were off to see ballet.  The theater was sizable and in good condition.  We were told the dancers were adolescents who were well into their training.  Given the level of technique and discipline we saw yesterday (thank you Russian influence while an ally of Cuba?), my expectations were high.  Entering into the darkened theater where the performance was already underway I thought that the curtains we passed through were in actually the river Styx.  In other words. I thought that I had gone to Hell.  Lots of very young, costumed children were on stage for what was clearly a dance recital.  Recognition was instantaneous having attended ten consecutive years of them when our daughters were of that age.  Auxilio!  (Help!).

Thankfully the younger dancers performances were interspersed with older dancers who in general were quite good.  After forty-five minutes, when the lights came on for intermission, there were numerous complimentary comments about the performance, but no resistance from within our group to the idea of returning to the hotel for the night.