{"id":213,"date":"2020-02-12T14:52:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T19:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2020\/?p=213"},"modified":"2020-02-12T16:17:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T21:17:51","slug":"rum-and-art-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2020\/2020\/02\/12\/rum-and-art-in-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Rum and Art in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On January 11th<\/sup>, a little over halfway through my first Cuban experience, six days in, ten narrow escapes from cars when crossing the street, three frantic attempts of cleaning my mouth after accidentally swallowing water, and all thirteen of my shirts damp twice-over due to the belligerent humidity; the last thing on my mind was leaving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We started the day in Old\nHavana, buying more freshly ground coffee and fifty cent churros, and ventured\nour way towards the water to preview where our after-lunch rum tour would\nstart. In Old Havana we split up to find lunch, with a few of us making our way\nthrough Old Havana and back towards the Malecon waterfront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the first days of the\ntrip, my focus was on the planned events of the day and whatever adventure was\nbrought with it, when I should have been focused on the memories that I could\nmake for myself. One of these moments came on the way to meet at the rum museum\nwhen we found an antique market tucked away in a broken down, roofless building\nwith carts that could barely stand. Here, I found the atmosphere to be\ndrastically different than that of the markets where tourist traps were found, as\npeople were talking about what they were selling and wanted us to understand\nthe significance of the old spy camera and the transcript of Fidel\u2019s nine hour\nlong speech, among many others. I was able to talk down a couple of items and\nmade off with some unique gifts for my family back home, with the experience of\nbargaining in a foreign language as a gift for myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, we regrouped at the rum museum and began the tour with a startlingly loud ring of the bell from Mike. The tour guide proved to be just as ecstatic as everyone else we had met in Cuba, passionately introducing us to Cuba in the 1700\u2019s and the process for creating sugar that was morphed into rum production. We learned about the machines used to turn sugar cane into molasses, which was then fermented with other ingredients in a wooden barrel, of which the type of wood contributed to the taste. During and after the tour we were able to smell the molasses and taste the rum, bringing what we learned about full circle. Cubans are very proud of what they produce because what they produce is theirs; they don\u2019t have the resource\u2019s found in America because of the embargo, but on the flip side, they don\u2019t take what they do have for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the rum museum we split up again, with some heading back towards Old Havana and others checking out an art market. As we walked into the art market, it didn\u2019t seem like an art market, seeing as every booth held the same chachkies as every other tourist booth we had seen, until we were smart enough to realize there was an upstairs. Going from the first floor to second floor was like stepping on a cloud, from the hustle and bustle of the people trying to sell as much as they could, to artists standing by their paintings proudly and quietly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this market I found\nanother one of those moments as I walked around and found some massive abstract\npieces that caught my eye and started talking with the artist. Instead of trying\nto sell me anything, he pointed out his favorite piece and started describing\nwhy it was his masterpiece. If this was the first day, I might have dropped all\nof my money on this one piece, but with it sadly being one of the last days, I happily\nsupported him by getting a hand painted vinyl record. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While I experienced bargaining and haggling, making rum, and the art world in Cuba on this day, the most interesting part was how it all came together. The same pride that I found in the antique market for the hidden treasures of Cuba I found in the rum museum for Cuban history, and still found in the art market. As the day came to a close and we headed back to our residencia, I thought of how I wanted to carry that same pride in my own life as an ode to what I learned on January 11th<\/sup> in Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n