Our second sea was more scheduled than Wednesday had been. After breakfast we headed to the pool deck and enjoyed mimosas while playing Apples to Apples. After lunch we all attended the Destination Talk on Havana.
The talk included a Brief history of Havana. We previously had learned that Santiago was the first capital of Cuba, but residents in Havana will tell you that it is the only capital. Great emphasis was placed on highlighting the modernity of the city prior to the Revolution. Havana consistently ranked in the top three of many indicators of progress including number of daily newspapers, movie theaters, and cars. Havana was rife with progress and corruption. Mafiosos moved their operations from Chicago and Atlantic City to open luxury hotels and casinos in Cuba. Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and Al Capone were regulars. Havana was even host city for one of the mafia conventions.
At the time, Batista was president and was as corrupt as the mafia who ran the casinos. As the richer got richer, the poor suffered greatly. By 1959 Batista saw the writing on the wall and knew it was time to cut and run. On December 24, he and his wife were present for the unveiling of the Jesus Christ of Havana, a large sculpture of Christ made of Carrera Marble over looking the city. Then on December 31, he had gathered up his comrades, precious works of art, and $300 million dollars and fled to his friend Trujillo's property in the Dominican Republic. Shortly after, Fidel Castro rolled into Havana to cheering crowds. The first thing Havanas got rid of was the parking meters, which filled the pockets of politicians instead of the public coffers. Pigs were literally let loose to run wildly in Meyer Lanksy's Casino, and the mafia began to pull their investments out of Havana. The Castro's, Che Guevara, and Camille Cienfuegos addressed a cheering crowd in Batista built square now know as Plaza de la Revoluccion.
The talk wrapped up with general do's and dont's, such as have CUCs on you, when you hire a classic car negotiate the rate and time before getting in the car, cigars and rum should only be purchased by licensed vendors, talk to people, and have fun!
Then mom and I stayed for a talk on Santeria by Winslow one of the Impact guides. Santeria is the second most practiced religion in Cuba. It is so integrated with Catholicism that it is difficult to get an accurate statistic on practitioners.
Santeria- way of the saints
Ori- consciousness
Sha- protector
Orisha- protector of consciousness
Combination of two or more different cultures to form a new culture. Americans view Santeria as a syncretic religion while Cubans do not as it is a combination of Catholicism and hundreds of African traditions, mostly based in nature and spirits. Spanish colonists insisted that slaves convert to Catholicism, via cabildos. Through the cabildos the participants paired Catholic Saints to Orisha's. Santeria does not have a written book or physical worship place, everything has been passed down orally since the 1500's. There are over 400 Orisha's, but only a few dozen are widely known and followed.
Example of two religions existing in the same space is the Basilica del Cobre- Our Lady of Charity, just outside of Santiago de Cuba visited by Pope in 2015. While visiting the church you will notice that many worshippers are dressed either white for the Catholic Virgin del Cobre or in yellow, which is the physical color of the church and the color of the Orisha Oshun. Another example of closely interwoven the religions are is The Holy Trinity. In Santeria there is One supreme God with three manifestations; supreme being, the sun, and Olofi the communicator with humans.
Drumming and dancing is an integral part of Santeria. The lead drummer has the Mother drum calls for the changes in rhythms and dancing. Each Orisha has its own rhythm and corresponding dance. There is an initiation process, symbolically die and are reborn over the process of a week. You are told you are a child of a particular Orisha and that is your main guidance. You must wear all white and avoid makeup, perfume, then over the first 3 months there are several restrictions can't eat at the table, must eat with a spoon as you are a "baby", no alcohol or sex, no large crowds, avoid shaking hands, and cannot accept gifts.
To become a priest it is an expensive initiation process, including "being entered by an Orisha", and then you become a Santero/a. There are several levels of priesthood. Highest ranking priest is Babalao, can only be heterosexual male and are issued official licenses.
Animal sacrifice is for food for the Orisha's to feed them. Chickens are the most common, but many small birds or animals are used depending on the Orisha. Animal sacrifice is also common for large life moments such as marriage, death, and birth. The animal is always cooked after for consumption by humans and the blood is consumed by the Orisha's.
Divination or a consulta. There are 21 cowry shells, 5 are set aside as witness. The remaining 16 are split in two groups of 8. One set is placed to the side and the remaining 8 combinations are read and related to common fables or stories and give advice. Winslow indicated it was likely we would see signs in the city if we kept our eyes peeled. And boy, we sure did!
Our action packed day continued with the cocktail making class. After learning so much about rum on Monday, we decided it was worthwhile to learn how to make cocktails especially since there was no opportunity for our usual cooking class. (Whenever we travel we take a cooking class, unfortunately Cuba is not the Food Network hot spot yet and private restaurant owners areh unaware of culinary tourism as a business).
Our class was led by the Bar Steward Manager. He started the lesson with a short background. Our ship Adonia was previously owned by P&O, a British cruise company. When it was acquired by Carnival the food and drink menus were updated for American pallets. While British passengers like dry martinis, Americans like fruity tropical cocktails. The crew met with mixologists and then trained for 2 weeks on perfecting the American cocktails. Thus was born the Cocktail Class. His first lesson he lectured for 25 minutes on bar theory and rum manufacturing, since then he has shortened his talk to 5 minutes and the first drink a Daiquiri within 10. It should be noted that in Cuba it is pronounced die-curry not dak-curry.
A classic Daiquiri is not made with a blender nor does it resemble a slurpy. It is simply the freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime, a teaspoon of sugar, and 2 oz of rum- shaken and served in a martini glass. Ernest Hemingway is the most famous consumer of Daiquiri and even created his own version the Papa. The Papa is made with fresh grapefruit juice, no sugar, and 4oz of rum. Yikes! We also learned Bahama Mama, tropical Daiquiri and of course the classic mojito. We plan to serve classic Daiquiri and Mojitos to friends when we return!
The fun continued with our favorite dinner yet. We ordered many appetizers including scallops and Boston conch chowder, entrees of beef Wellington, rack of lamb, and tiger prawns, and a round of desserts. Fueled for the evening we headed to the Game Show Night. Our group declined a invitation to participate and instead formed a cheering section near the front. When the show began, the contestants disappeared and the befuddled staff asked for volunteers. Always good for a laugh, I ran up and assumed the name tag of Linda. I won the first round, but lost in the finals.
The Game Show was followed by Bandioke- where the ship house band plays tunes and guests do their best to perform live. Up first was the winner of the Game Show who clearly has sang "Mustang Sally" a time or two before. Then next several guests were either tone deaf, drunk, or too nervous to sing. Allison and I went up for Shania Twain "Man, I Feel Like a Woman." Pleased with our performance, we left for the evening. Very tired and still very full.
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