| THE
PARTY STARTED just a few hours after I arrived. Decorations were already
in place; the cake was in the refrigerator, the piñata filled with
candies. I was made to feel like I was the special guest of honor when
in fact it was a birthday party for Ellen, my eight-year-old Cuban Goddaughter.
(To get up to speed on my role as El Padrino, read entries at filmtrips.com
from my first visit to Cuba –link1)
Although I
had not visited in two years, my Cuban ‘family’ made me feel like I had
never left. The emotional reception blew me away. It made me wonder how
I could have skipped a year between visits.
In a roomful
of screaming kids, birth control is something that might come to mind,
but not something you expect to see hanging from streamers across the ceiling.
But this is Communist Cuba - where shortages and resourcefulness are a
way of life. Balloons or no, nothing is gonna stop a bunch of Cubans when
there is an excuse to party.
THE FAMILY
has gone through some changes since my last visit. Mostly for the better
I have to admit, even though my buddy and original connection to the family
is no longer a part of it. The bicycle taxi driver, who befriended and
brought me into the family, broke up with Ellens’ mother Elda. God bless
my pal Pedro, he was certainly a fun-loving guy but to put it kindly, hard
work was not his best friend. Samuel, the new man in Elda’s life
has had a stabilizing effect on the family and has brought many improvements
to their crumbling old apartment. (Mind you, every building in Havana is
old and crumbling!)
The extended
family in the apartment includes in-laws and a cousin or two. The two eldest
daughters are no longer at home full-time and their grandfather (Elda’s
father) passed away very recently at the age 90. This left Elda as the
legal owner of the apartment and the matriarchal leader of the household.
THE APARTMENT
renovations are an ongoing do-it-yourself project spearheaded by Samuel
and carried out by family and friends. Poco a poco, little by little, as
they can afford the materials. It is amazing what they have done with cement
and scrap iron. Floors/ceilings have been added to divide rooms with an
extremely high ceiling into two separate floors. A bathroom was added and
the original bathroom is now getting an upgrade. |
