Exploring La Habana

Blog by Tess Dreizen

Our first week in La Habana was full of many exciting things. We began our week by visiting the largest amusement park in Cuba. The park is situated in Cuba’s very own Coney Island. However, to our surprise the park was not designed for people our age and many of the rides did not work.Yet it was very interesting to see and helped us to further explore our new city. We then began the week by jumping into our last round of Spanish lessons. The lessons took place at El Centro De Estudios Martianos. This building once belonged to the wife of the son of JosĆ© Marti and was later dedicated to research on Marti. This gorgeous building housed both our daily Spanish lessons and our dance lessons. Dance was very interesting as we learned very advanced moves in Santiago de Cuba, these lessons were far more relaxing. We grouped together and practiced new turns and the Habana way to salsa. In the afternoons we also had percussion class which consisted of the group banging drums in a small dungeon like theater. Although the venue was not actually scary, the noise was. However, we learned many forms of Cuban music and practiced playing the music we’ve come to love. At the end of the week we took a trip to Fabrica de Arte an incredible art building full of live shows and art installations. Each room was filled with a unique exhibition. We very much enjoyed getting lost in the building and exploring modern Cuban art. Overall it was a great start to our adventures in Habana.