EPISCOPAL UP CLOSE
n FA C U LT Y
My HEART Is in
“IT DIDN’T STRIKE ME AS FROZEN IN TIME AT ALL. THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS NOT THE SAME AS THE UNITED STATES, BUT THESE ARE MODERN PEOPLE.”
Four faculty travel to Cuba and find a lush, modern country full of resourceful, authentic people.
Cubans don’t get all of their knowledge of current events from the Internet, however. The government blocks certain websites, and it’s expensive to have Internet at home, so hotspots are set up around the cities in Internet cafes and other, unexpected locations.
“There are all kinds of ways to become educated,” says Spanish teacher Roció Mendizábal. “It’s not always sitting in a classroom. We were students on this trip, and I think we were very good students.” Last summer, four members of Episcopal’s Spanish department visited Cuba — a Caribbean country that is a mystery to many in the United States. Guided by an educational travel group and supported by professional development funds, Sam Slack, Roció Mendizábal, Evan Solís, and Catherine Gomez-Goodnow traveled to Havana and surrounding areas on a weeklong cultural immersion. “When we were flying from Fort Lauderdale to Cuba, it struck me how green everything was,” says Catherine. More than 27 percent of its 43,000 square miles is forest, and another 60 percent is used for agriculture. “We went to Viñales, which is a stunningly beautiful national park,” she says. “The highlight was an agro-ecological farm within the park. Everything there is ecologically balanced with nature.” As part of their curriculum, the faculty saw firsthand the effects of the conservation efforts when they snorkeled in a coral reef. 8
Spanish teachers Sam Slack, Evan Solís, Catherine Gomez-Goodnow, and Rocío Mendizábal in Cuba.
“CUBA’S ARTISTIC CULTURE IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO EXPAND AND EXPLODE.” A scarcity of resources has led the country to appeal to nostalgic tourists who romanticize a bygone era. “The one thing you hear most when people talk about going to see Cuba is that it’s frozen in time,” says Sam. “But it didn’t strike me as frozen in time at all. The infrastructure is not the same as the United States, but these are modern people.” “They know about chic restaurants overseas and the newest food crazes,” says Evan. “They know about American pop culture and fashion trends. Cuba’s artistic culture is going to continue to expand and explode.”
“You might see all these young people — tourists and Cubans — congregating in a church plaza, and you wonder what is so interesting about that place. Then you realize that everyone is looking at their phones, and it’s just a place for wifi,” Sam says. Cubans don’t let these limitations keep them from connecting to their nearest neighbor to the north. Every Monday for around two American dollars, they can load a USB with the latest news and TV shows from North America and Europe. “Everybody goes to the back of a phone repair shop, puts their USBs into a port, and downloads what they want,” Catherine says. She noticed, however, that although Cubans are connected to the modern world, they are not overwhelmed by their technology. They are more enmeshed in their families and friends and don’t seem to be separated from each other by their phones and computers. Rocío teaches Advanced Spanish Literature and was excited about the opportunity to visit the home of Cuban national hero José Martí toward the end of their trip. By that time, they had run