The voyage to the forbidden land

After a 15 hour trip where only seven were spent flying we landed in Habana around midnight. Cuba is on eastern time so were 3 hours ahead. Many people were interested in why I was in Cuba. When getting our bags in the airport the lights went out, also they sell birds in the airport? We were greeted by our teachers and some of the men who work at the casa de las americas (where we are studying in cuba). Our luggae was loaded into a moving van, and then we waited for around 45 min for a bus to pick us up. Right when leaving the airport there were around 6 billboards with che, bush and how the we are the real terrorists and even slogans for protecting the ozone. It was like quintessential cuba. Our casa is on the topmost floor of huge building overlooking the malecon(oceanfront) which is blocked in by a huge wall. The first day in Habana was exhausting and exhilirating. We went to habana viejo which is a really beautiful part of the city. It is where the spanish colonized cuba and so there are many grand buildings and bright colors. Everything is run down with the exception of a handful of nicer places. When walking around we interacted with many of the locals including a group of kids. We chatted with the kids for around ten minutes and our guide geraldo had the kids recite poems and a little girl danced for us. They also told us what they wanted to be when they grew up and some answeres were doctora, biologia, and many lucha (fighters). Now you know i dont like kids but these kids were absolutely adorable and all the little girls came and gave us hugs and kisses on the cheek. Another street guy tried to sell weed to a few of the kids on my program while our professors were there and then asked to be my novio, i graciously declined. But this is Cuba, many girls have already had guys wanting to marry them and take them to the united states. Its been one day!!! I hollered at a transvestite in habana and we took pictures with her, she was quite the sassy one, and then she tried to charge us for it! After walking around habana vieja we were tired and sweaty so we decided to buy some beers and go for a dip in the ocean. Theres no beach where we are so instead you hop over the cement barrier down onto another platform and jump off that platform into the ocean. Then to get out you have to pull yourself ontop of the platform thats covered in slippery algae and coral. I got a few cuts but it was worth it. Swimming was my favorite part of the day. We met locals and chatted with them about various things, when leaving the malecon some street musicians came to sing to us, we told them we had no money but they still sang, so me and 3 others danced in the middle of the street by ourselves and the 75 year old singer showed me some SWEET dance moves, man he could shake it. Let me tell you this guy got down better than anyone i knew. When we left they tried to charge us 10 CUC (equivalent to ten dollars)! The people are definitely trickster and if not careful you can lose a lot of money spending one day in the city. That night we met up with some of the guys we met on the malecon and went dancing. We bought some of the cuban rum and headed over to this random building where they had speakers blasting cuban music. The guys got into a line and started to bust out these dance moves that were honestly amazing. Dancing with them was hilarious, they spin you all over the place and are soo friendly and fun. The people here range from blonde hair and white skin to dreads with dark black skin. It is an incredible mixture of race and culture. I think we are going to go dancing again tonight...i'm exhausted now and i know this writing is probably incoherent but there is so much to write about just from one day! i hope so post pics soon. Until then...chao