The Emperor's New Clothes
Starting from the back again, i.e. from now until earlier, we just returned from the Casa de la Amistad, where we had the final banquet of the conference, and an exciting performance by Las Colmenitas, the children's theater group, of the Emperor's New Clothes, in Spanish and Cuban style, with music. I couldn't understand most of the words, but since I know the story, it was okay, and the music was entertaining. After the play, the talented youngsters sang and played other songs and danced, and then invited members of the audience to dance with them. Besides Cuban music, they sang a couple of old American popular songs, including "Let it be!" The program was very lively and went on and on. Some of the kids were really cute and sang with a lot of personality. Looked like they had the potential to be big stars one day.
By the way, it's not really then end of everything, even though it was called the final banquet. Tomorrow is the first of two all-day post-conference workshops. I won't be going to the second one, as I'm leaving on Friday morning.
As we entered the center, we were each handed a Cuba Libre in a plastic cup with a straw. Once we finally found a table to sit at (I was with my new Cuban friend from Camaguey, Maria Mercedes), liter bottles of cola, lemon-lime and orange pop were set on the table, and a tray of entre mesas, i.e. appetizers, were put on the table. Since by then we were ravenous, we indulged in the little shrimp puffs, vienna sausages, little pieces of quesadilla, cheese, rolled ham, etc. Then the entertainment started, and we went through the whole play before getting served our meal. I asked for water to drink, to avoid some of the sugar, and had to pay a peso for a 1/2 liter bottle, which bugged me. I decided to save it to take back to my room, as I was out of water there, having not bought enough earlier when we went to the store (was that Saturday or Sunday night?) near El Palenque restaurant. A plate of salad for the table was brought out, consisting of lettuce, shredded cabbage, and a few slices of tomato, with no dressing or oil and vinegar. Then we were each given a can of Bucanero beer, the kind with pictures of pirates on it, labeled fuerte, because it's 5.4% alcohol, as compared with the 3.5% of Cristal. Bucanero, by the way, is made by a company that is a Canadian-Cuban partnership. Finally the main plate was brought out, with a chicken leg and thigh, a heap of Moros y Cristianos, the black beans and rice dish, and french fries that were cold. By then, having eaten the appetizers, I wasn't really very hungry any more, and saved half the chicken portion in a plastic bag in my purse. Since I have a refrigerator in my room, I can save it, and maybe skip lunch tomorrow, or save it for the trip home. I was too full to even try much of the salad, although I ate all of the rice and most of the fries. Then dessert was served, large containers, about a pint, of Alondras brand ice cream in plastic containers with little pink plastic spoons. I only ate about half of it. We were supposed to have coffee, too, but it never came. We danced to the music near our table. Seemed like everyone had way more energy than I did.
The morning excursion was to the Community Mental Health Center of La Playa, with Dr. Ernesto Marzoa, director. Turns out, he was apparently the one who started the ball rolling on getting this conference organized, by sending an email to David Epston in Canada. He gave us the basic rap about the Center while we stood on the front porch of the house, as the weather got warmer and I got sleepier. When we entered the house, we were in a painting gallery, with works by some of te patients were displayed and were for sale. I bought two small paintings by a woman with purple hair (later was told she's well known) for 5 pesos each. Then in the next room were more paintings, larger in scale, priced at 25 Convertible pesos each, and the two best ones were snapped up by another member of te group. I contented myself with taking photos of the works on the wall, so at least I can show them to people. They're a sort of folk art. Someone else had some carved wood pieces hanging one the wall.
Upstairs in the center was the farmacia, which consisted of a collection of Bach flower remedies which are dispensed with by the pharmacist, the psychologist, or the psychiatrist. The psychologist said that they've also copied the Bach remedies and make their own production.
Briefly, because I''m getting tired and it's 11:30 at night, the afternoon was spent in a formal presentation in rapid-fire Spanish about the psycoballet, with mostly Cubans in the room, so I had to sit next to the translator, who was very good. Afterward, there was a performance out in the hall by some of the students who had performed the night before at the theater, with their parents participating. I used my digital camera to take movies this time. I don't know how well it will come out, since this trip is the first time I tried that feature of my camera. I'll have to go back to the manual to figure out how to upload and download and edit the clips, as well as to figure out if there's a way to pause the recording without turning off the camera. I'll have some extra frames, since I thought that taking my finger off the button would pause it, but I was wrong.
Until tomorrow, since I still have a few minutes left over on my card, unless I use them to look at email.
By the way, it's not really then end of everything, even though it was called the final banquet. Tomorrow is the first of two all-day post-conference workshops. I won't be going to the second one, as I'm leaving on Friday morning.
As we entered the center, we were each handed a Cuba Libre in a plastic cup with a straw. Once we finally found a table to sit at (I was with my new Cuban friend from Camaguey, Maria Mercedes), liter bottles of cola, lemon-lime and orange pop were set on the table, and a tray of entre mesas, i.e. appetizers, were put on the table. Since by then we were ravenous, we indulged in the little shrimp puffs, vienna sausages, little pieces of quesadilla, cheese, rolled ham, etc. Then the entertainment started, and we went through the whole play before getting served our meal. I asked for water to drink, to avoid some of the sugar, and had to pay a peso for a 1/2 liter bottle, which bugged me. I decided to save it to take back to my room, as I was out of water there, having not bought enough earlier when we went to the store (was that Saturday or Sunday night?) near El Palenque restaurant. A plate of salad for the table was brought out, consisting of lettuce, shredded cabbage, and a few slices of tomato, with no dressing or oil and vinegar. Then we were each given a can of Bucanero beer, the kind with pictures of pirates on it, labeled fuerte, because it's 5.4% alcohol, as compared with the 3.5% of Cristal. Bucanero, by the way, is made by a company that is a Canadian-Cuban partnership. Finally the main plate was brought out, with a chicken leg and thigh, a heap of Moros y Cristianos, the black beans and rice dish, and french fries that were cold. By then, having eaten the appetizers, I wasn't really very hungry any more, and saved half the chicken portion in a plastic bag in my purse. Since I have a refrigerator in my room, I can save it, and maybe skip lunch tomorrow, or save it for the trip home. I was too full to even try much of the salad, although I ate all of the rice and most of the fries. Then dessert was served, large containers, about a pint, of Alondras brand ice cream in plastic containers with little pink plastic spoons. I only ate about half of it. We were supposed to have coffee, too, but it never came. We danced to the music near our table. Seemed like everyone had way more energy than I did.
The morning excursion was to the Community Mental Health Center of La Playa, with Dr. Ernesto Marzoa, director. Turns out, he was apparently the one who started the ball rolling on getting this conference organized, by sending an email to David Epston in Canada. He gave us the basic rap about the Center while we stood on the front porch of the house, as the weather got warmer and I got sleepier. When we entered the house, we were in a painting gallery, with works by some of te patients were displayed and were for sale. I bought two small paintings by a woman with purple hair (later was told she's well known) for 5 pesos each. Then in the next room were more paintings, larger in scale, priced at 25 Convertible pesos each, and the two best ones were snapped up by another member of te group. I contented myself with taking photos of the works on the wall, so at least I can show them to people. They're a sort of folk art. Someone else had some carved wood pieces hanging one the wall.
Upstairs in the center was the farmacia, which consisted of a collection of Bach flower remedies which are dispensed with by the pharmacist, the psychologist, or the psychiatrist. The psychologist said that they've also copied the Bach remedies and make their own production.
Briefly, because I''m getting tired and it's 11:30 at night, the afternoon was spent in a formal presentation in rapid-fire Spanish about the psycoballet, with mostly Cubans in the room, so I had to sit next to the translator, who was very good. Afterward, there was a performance out in the hall by some of the students who had performed the night before at the theater, with their parents participating. I used my digital camera to take movies this time. I don't know how well it will come out, since this trip is the first time I tried that feature of my camera. I'll have to go back to the manual to figure out how to upload and download and edit the clips, as well as to figure out if there's a way to pause the recording without turning off the camera. I'll have some extra frames, since I thought that taking my finger off the button would pause it, but I was wrong.
Until tomorrow, since I still have a few minutes left over on my card, unless I use them to look at email.
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