Monday started early, but no-one was complaining.  We’re heading out onto the open, and as it turns out very bumpy, road in Luis’ bus heading for Varadero.

As usual it’s hot but as we start to wind our way along the coast the humidity seems to lessen a little and the trip becomes much more pleasant (less sweaty!) than most of our time on the bus has been.

The countryside is beautiful, apart from the oil wells that litter the coast and the occasional factory along the way which the Health And Safety Executive here would have a field day with.  It’s not so much the sight of the oil production that invades the journey, but the noxious smell.

No road trip would be complete without a soundtrack and it’s my turn to provide a musical education for the ‘young ones’.  The Beach Boys and The Beatles sit side by side with Foo Fighters and Bob Dylan.  To be honest I’m only really entertaining Rob and Avril.  Everyone else is asleep.  That’s a shame because the landscape is stunning.  The coast disappears as we climb a little and the mountains appear off to our left.

We pass through Matanzas, a town that sprawls across rivers and inlets of the bay.  It has a very different character to Havana.  It seems to be in a better state of repair and the buildings are less densely packed.

Eventually we arrive at Varadero.  It’s a beach town.  At least the part we see is.

The church at Varadero is the newest of all the Presbyterian churches in Cuba.  It is a beautiful triangular building with red and yellow light streaming through the stained glass into the sanctuary.

Joel, the minister we met here in Scotland last year, welcomes us and is very laid back about our time with them.  He tells us to go to the beach for a while before lunch before it gets too hot.  No-one is going to argue with that so we walk the two blocks to the perfect strip of coral sand and turquoise sea.

Just for the record, the sea is warmer than our shower at Luyano.  Much warmer.  We all lie around for a while as someone in one of the houses by the beach blasts out ‘Now That’s What I Call Music Stewart Hates Vol 1′.  We bake.  We swim.  We bake some more.  Then it’s lunch time.

We return to the church which has showers at the door and a foot-wash to get rid of the sand.  Lunch is served in the patio area next to the church under parasols and yes, you guessed it, we have rice and beans, but with battered fish and what looks like garlic banana.  It is plantain, a variety of banana, and it tastes bad!  The rest of the meal is beautiful.

After lunch Joel tells us some of the history of the church.  During a government crackdown there was only one member.  Now the church is thriving and serves the surrounding communities where there are no churches.

The church design is all very deliberate.  The triangular shape is the same as the witch-doctor’s.  Every detail was planned to remind people of their faith and their place in the world.  The church sides open up so the church literally has no walls.

We visit a small market to buy some souvenirs then Katie, Alison, Avril and I head back to the beach while Jen and Angela catch up with Marta, another of last year’s visitors to Scotland.  The rest of the gang have gone in search of liquid refreshment and some shade.

The journey back to Havana is much like the journey there.  Most people sleep.

Rob provides the music. Avril and I try to take photos of the gathering clouds.

The evening is quiet and reflective.

Apart from the occasional ‘ouch’ when another patch of sunburn is discovered.

Sunday morning was the only time that the group would separate and experience something different.  We had decided to split into three groups and worship with the three churches we have spent time with here in Havana.

Rob, Alison ad Katie would go back to Guanabacoa with Dyana.  Matthew and Shona would stay at Luyano and Avril, Jen, Eilidh, Erik and I would return to First Havana with Anaitza.

Luis took us and dropped us off before taking the others out to Guanabacoa.  We arrived to find the congregation gathering, all in yellow t-shirts.

We ended up sitting at the back on extra chairs as the church was completely full.  The children from the holiday club were all there, swelling the congregation, but we were told that the church is often full.  It was great to sit at the back… that’s where the fans were!

Worship was full of music; an amazing tenor sang the introit followed by a quartet, and octet, all 90 children and a group from the Korean Presbyterian church in Miami all sang.

The preacher was from the Korean-American group and Frank (conducting the children’s choir in the photo) came and translated the sermon for us.  There was a funny moment when he and Jen (who speaks excellent Spanish) looked at each other… then Frank said ‘No, I don’t understand him either!’.

After worship we got a yellow taxi back to Luyano to find the rest of the group talking about their morning.  Matthew had sung at Luyano, Rob, Katie and Alison had a fantastic rockin’ time at Guanabacoa and we had been treated to some brilliant music.  All in all a great morning at church.

The rest of the day was free.  It was our first real chance to sit down and just relax and I’m glad we had the space.

We decided that after dinner we would gather on our own as a group to share in some worship which I would lead.

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘revolution’ recently and this seemed the perfect topic for Cuba.  We began with ‘The Call To Prayer’, the Muslim-style call from Karl Jenkin’s The Armed Man (A Mass for Peace), a strange way to start a Christian worship.  We talked about Mark’s revolutionary Gospel and how it presents a different way, a revolution of peace and love and justice and grace.  We shared a communion of coke and pringles, a strange way to celebrate a sacrifice.  And we listened to revolutionary songs.  Martyn Joseph’s ‘Strange Way’ and Tracy Chapman’s ‘Talkin’ About A Revolution’.

I think tonight was probably my favourite moment.  It seemed real and right and good in all its strangeness.  A group of people sharing God and finding him in  the ordinary and the strange.

7.00am Cold shower.

7.04am In need of another shower.

It’s very hot today, and humid.

Breakfast is the same as the previous two days; crepes, honey and fruit.  I tried guava and mango this morning.  It tuns out I like mango and don’t like guava.  I’ve thought for years I didn’t like mango because I didn’t like things with mango in them, like Um Bongo.  Well, Um Bongo and other ‘tropical flavoured’ stuff also have guava in them!  Who knew?!?!

We opened our dorm window for the first time this morning.  I know that sounds a bit silly after being here for a few days but the window has shutters on it and frosted glass so it didn’t occur to us that there would be anything out there.  There was.  The street was out there.  Busy with people coming and going and some salsa music blaring from a radio in one of the brightly painted houses.  I liked life from our window.  It was open a lot from then on.

Our day today is filled with visits to two local churches.

1st Havana Reformed Presbyterian Church was our first stop.

We were met by Hector, the minister, who showed us into the sanctuary and explained that they believed that the church had been built to a Scottish design by the missionaries who had come fro Europe.  It’s easy to see why they believe that.  The building is very similar to post-Reformation churches at home.  The design is simple with no iconography.

We were told that we wouldn’t be able to spend much time here because they were in the middle of a week-long holiday club with 86 children.   That seemed to be a shame because we were ushered through the kids sessions and I’d have loved to spend some time finding our about their activities and how they organised their outreach to children.  But they are busy and I know that if I was them I wouldn’t have time to show me around either.  (that probably makes more sense in my head than in a sentence!)

Lunch was….. rice and beans and avocado and other stuff.

Guanabacoa

In the afternoon we headed of to the suburb of Guanabacoa to visit a little church there with a difference.  Well with a few differences actually.

The first difference was the welcome.  We were greeted at the door by a line of people who seemed genuinely delighted to meet us.

The second difference was the church.  It was small and sparse… but it had a band PA set up.

In the land of salsa who knew that in this quiet little suburb hid a rockin rev who loves all things heavy rock.

After the gig we had a chance to talk to the people about their amazing HIV/aids project which has had to overcome both the barriers of the state and the cultural barriers against two of their biggest HIV positive groups, homosexual men and drug users.  Their work is inspiring and made me reflect on how little our local congregations do to meet the needs of their communities.

As we drove home a massive thunderstorm rolled in and just as we arrived back at Luyano the heavens opened.  It poured for a couple of hours with the most awesome thunder and lightening crashing around us.

Statues in the Dark and Hanging Out By the Sea

There is a thing called ‘reading by the sea’ which has something to do with university going back and happens by the shore.  Obviously books and talks don’t mix well with thunderstorms so ‘reading by the sea’ was cancelled.

Instead we visited the ‘illuminated’ statue of Jesus which towers over Havana… but the lights were off.  We did have a great view of Havana at night…

The disappointment of the dark statue was followed quickly by a minor altercation with the police for missing a sign… a sign any of us are yet to see!

We ended up at the Malecon, the sea front in Havana where hundreds of young people were gathered, just hanging out with their friends and dancing to the band playing along the shore somewhere.

It was kind of cool just to sit on the wall and watch the Cuban world go by and great to see that so many young people could gather with very little trouble or sense of threat.  There was even a hotdog vendor!

The best thing about tonight was the tempreture.  The storm had taken some of the heat away and one of our group was even overheard saying she was cold!

It was soon time to hop on to our retro bus and head home for another night of noisy, uncomfortable sleep… but I’m starting to get kind of used to this place.

An early rise and and a cold shower were a welcome start to our first full day in Cuba.

Stepping out of the air-conditioned room into a sauna like church gave us some idea of the day and week ahead but a breakfast of crepes, honey and tropical fruit put the heat to the back of our minds, for now.

Meeting the Locals

‘Getting to know you’ was the theme of our first session with our Cuban hosts Anaitza, Dyana and Meylin.  Sitting outside in the shade we tried to explain ourselves using ‘shields’ and symbols then tried to interpret someone’s.  This was really helpful for everyone because obviously we didn’t know our Cuban hosts but the group from Scotland didn’t know each other well either.

Following the introductions we tried to explain Scotland.

You’ll notice from the photo that Rob had brought his kilt.  Explaining our national ‘man skirt’ caused great hilarity, especially when the sporran was thrown into the mix.

Lunch was rice, beans, avocado, green beans and beef.

The group decided to go for a wander around the neighbourhood.

They discovered pretty quickly why the street was pretty quiet.  It’s way too hot to walk around.  They managed to get pretty far, discovering a shop and a hospital, before returning with the reddest faces I think I’ve ever seen!

There was an air of anticipation as we climbed aboard Luis’ Bus to head out on our first venture into Havana.  Luyano, where we were staying, is a poor neighbourhood with factories surrounding so we were all keen to see what the rest of the city was like.

Plaza de la Revolucion

The world famous Plaza de la Revolucion (Revolution Square) was our first stop.  Fidel addresses the masses from in front of the giant memorial to Jose Marti, educationalist and Cuban National Hero, but it is the iconic image of Che Guevara which dominates the square.  The image on the front of the Ministry of the Interior, based on the photograph taken by Alberto Korda, is made of bronze wire.  It is simply stunning.

Under Che’s image are the words ‘Hasta la victoria siempre’, the last words written by Che to Fidel.  Keep striving until the victory is won.

The National Hotel

Havana was once glorious.  You can see it all around.  The buildings are beautiful, but crumbling.  There are theatres, hotels and galleries.  Music is always in the air.  In the afternoon we found evidence that the opulent Havana still exists in the National Hotel.

Imagine an old style grand hotel with lots of marble, wood and brass, ballrooms, cigars and cocktails and you get somewhere close to the National.  We sat in the courtyard and drank what the waiter promised were the best mojitos in the world… and he wasn’t lying.

But this is Cuba.  The cocktails and the hall of fame showing all the famous people who have stayed in the hotel couldn’t be the whole story.  And they’re not.

The hotel garden is no ordinary garden.  It houses a pool, a bar and bunkers and trenches dug to defend against the potential invasion of America during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

The Canon

In the evening we travelled over to the other side of the bay to the Castillo del Morro, a fortress begun in 1589.  Cuba was an important staging post on the route between Spain and the New World so the fortress has been host to many treasures on their way to Spain.

These days the Castillo del Morro is a tourist attraction with bars, restraunts and museums.  Each night at 9pm a detachment of soldiers dressed in period uniform march out and fire a canon.

We didn’t stay long after the gun was fired, which seemed a shame.  The canon firing seems to be a real social occasion with the Cubans all dressed up and the bars busy.  It would have been nice to just spend some time looking around but instead we headed back to base.

Our group took some time to reflect on our first impressions.  Like me, most commented on the dilapidation of the houses and the very obvious poverty which sits side by side with the grandeur of the National Hotel and the Castillo del Morro.  It’s a strange mix and it’s hard to tell if life is getting better or worse for the Cuban people.

More photos on Flickr

I’m just back from a week visiting the Presbyterian Church in Cuba with a group of young people from the URC Synod of Scotland.  I’ll write about it over the coming days but for now if you have some spare time on your hands feel free to look through the photos…

Last week’s sermon focused on John 15: 9-17 and used some material from the excellent OneKirk worship material and from the equally excellent Lawrence Moore’s blog, Disclosing New Worlds.  As always, youth thoughts and comments are wel,comed.

Just in case you are wondering where I am… bay window, 1st floor… the one on the right.