Culture, Sports, Events

The month of July is a great time to be in Santiago de Cuba, if you can take the stultifying heat and humidity that typifies that time of year. The two great festivals during July are the traditional Festival del Caribe, also known as the Festival del Fuego or Festival of Fire, and El Carnaval.

One organization that might be able to help you is Global Exchange, an education and action resource centre based in San Francisco. Its mission is to promote human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice around the world.

It is really an individual preference whether one wants to learn salsa in organized classes or make one’s own arrangements, upon arrival, with a private teacher. It is our policy to recommend official Cuban structures and sources of information for arranging one’s visit inside the country. For information on organized salsa classes in Cuba, following are some Cuban organizations and websites that you might want to check out.

Some of the final games of this year’s 2010 baseball series in Cuba – between the Industriales (Havana) and Villa Clara – will be taking place in Havana on March 26th, 27th and 28th (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Tickets (for tourists) are available for purchase at the stadium itself (Estadio Latinoamericano), costing CUC 3 per person. The Estadio advises that they be purchased at 9am on the day of the game. The phone numbers of the Estadio are (537) 870-6752 and (537) 870-8175.

For the April 3-5, 2010 period, the schedule of services in the Russian Orthodox Church in Havana is as follows:

On Saturday, April 3rd, you must be at the Church at 11:30 at night. The Easter Service begins at midnight and goes until about 3 in the morning (April 4th). There is a break.

Manuel Galbán is a Grammy-winning Cuban guitarist, pianist and arranger, notable for his work with the legendary doo-wop vocal quartet Los Zafiros, which he founded, and the world famous Buena Vista Social Club with its repertoire of son, bolero, danzón and guajiro. In 2001 he recorded Mambo Sinuendo with Ry Cooder, winning the 2003 Grammy for Best Post Instrumental Album.

To find out what’s happening in Cuba – dance, music, art, theatre, etc. – there is no one website that provides all the information. Still, some sites do exist that can be consulted, although the list below is by no means definitive.

To find out the schedule of performances by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, check out their Spanish-only website atwww.balletcuba.cult.cu On their homepage click on Presentaciones and their full program of performances for both 2009 and 2010 appears, including date, time, theatre, city and, in many cases, dances to be performed.

Cuba has 50 Protestant denominations, of which over half are members of the Consejo de Iglegias de Cuba (Cuban Council of Churches), which is a fellowship of churches, ecumenical groups, and other ecumenical organizations. The churches, some of which are over 100 years old, are deeply rooted in Cuban society.

The route of Che’s Ejercito Rebelde (Rebel Army) from the Sierra Maestra to the victorious battle of Santa Clara began in the eastern provinces of Granma and Holguín. Important sites include the following:

Cuba is well aware of the value of service animals, especially service dogs, and the tremendous assistance they can provide. Towards this end, Cuba has an Escuela Nacional de Técnica Canina (National School for Canine Skills), coming under the Ministry of the Interior (which includes Cuba’s fire fighters, among others), which trains dogs for police work, drug control at Cuba’s international airports and other installations, rescue work in the event of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. as part of the country’s Civil Defence system), and so forth. Some of the programs at the Escuela Nacional de Técnica Canina involve a three-year period of study, with each student being matched with each dog, taking into consideration the characteristics of both. In these cases, the dogs live with the students in their homes, as part of the study program includes how to care for and train the dogs with whom they’ll be working. Given the nature of this school, it would not be possible to work directly with them.