Spring Break in Cuba 2016
“This is just the beginning of a future that promises to forge strong academic ties not only between students from Boston University and their counterparts in Cuba, but also with students in other parts of the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch speaking Caribbean.” – Dr. Linda Heywood
African American Studies. History and Pardee School-sponsored students were the advance guard for President Obama, beating him there by a week.
The Alternate Spring break course, an intense week-long encounter with today’s Cuba and Cuba’s past, got an eyeful and earful of the island as it prepared to meet the President, but also as a serious introduction to the country. The group of 11 students and three professors heard lectures on Afro-Cuban religion, Cuba’s relations with Angola (from an all-star program of veterans of that struggle), China in Cuba, the Cuban medical system (which included a visit to a Cuban hospital/clinic), a fantastic tour of Cuba’s engagement with modern art and much more.
The students also managed to see important aspects of Cuban life in the flesh, for example the difficulty in using the internet and telephones, but more directly the way in which the long severed relations between the US and Cuba that seem to be coming to an end. They learned from experience about its dual-currency system, and ambiguous feelings that many share about the future of a normalized relationship with the US.
They got the feel of Havana by walking along the Malecon (the harbor front boulevard) and through the squares of the Old city. We sampled Cuban cuisines from the coffee shops to the fancy Palladars (restaurants operated from homes). Some of us bought Cuban art at the largest craft store in Havana and others acquired exquisite cigars from stores in the Old City. One of the high points was visiting the famous Colón Cemetery where the Cuban wealthy from the 18th century to 1959 and revolutionary heroes lay in state. For one group, a unique experience was seeing a boxing match accompanied by live music.
Check out the images below to see what the participants were up to in their Cuban journey:





